Ashley Hahn reports on Philadelphia's "Community Sustainability Initiative," a data-driven process for evaluating public investments. Questions remain about how the new decision making framework will change planning operations in the city.
According to Ashley Hahn, the "Community Sustainability Initiative" (CSI) (which was announced in August) "is intended to help City Council take a data-driven approach to public spending based on seven different measurements of neighborhood health – from housing and commercial corridors to public amenities and education. These metrics, not just which neighborhoods are best organized or outspoken, will influence neighborhood improvement strategies over time."
The data-driven model for evaluating public priorities is not without precedent in Philadelphia: "CSI sounds an awful lot like work the Philadelphia City Planning Commission has already been doing under the citywide comprehensive planning effort, Philadelphia2035, and 18 related district plans to give different areas of the city policy and spending recommendations. The citywide vision was adopted by City Council in 2011 and the district plans are still in progress."
The article goes on detail how the City Council's new framerowk for decision making might complement or supplement the framework already in place under Philadelphia2035: "Given solid information, and the will to trust it, Council could actually be guided by independent findings that echo recommendations in Philadelphia2035’s Citywide Vision and the priorities set in individual District Plans. That could put Council and PCPC squarely on the same page. Wouldn’t that be something?"
FULL STORY: Will the Community Sustainability Initiative turn City Council into planners?
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The full staff of a federal program that distributes heating and cooling assistance for low-income families was laid off, jeopardizing the program’s operations.
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