| NUMBER OF BLIGHTED PROPERTIES |
|
| 2017 TOTAL |
What are we measuring?
For our purposes, we are defining "blighted property" as any property in the city in violation of the City's structural codes or designated by the City's Department of Community Development as being a chronic problem property to the neighborhoods.
What is our goal?
Our goal is to reduce the number of blighted properties by 2% from the previous year.
How are we measuring?
The data is measured annually at the end of the calendar year.
Did we meet our goal?
YES. We aimed to reduce the number of blighted properties from 1,243 to 1,218. Our final result was 1,197.
| NUMBER OF CHRONIC PROBLEM PROPERTIES REMEDIED |
|
| 2017 TOTAL TO DATE |
What are we measuring?
A "chronic problem property" is a property designated by the Department of Community Development as being a continual problem within the neighborhood, including continuous Codes Enforcement violations, tax deliquency, concentrated blight, and location in redevelopment areas, historic districts, or proximity to community facilities. A property is considered remedied when either Community Development has acquired and disposed of a property through the Homemakers Program or the owner has remedied the violations.
What is the importance?
A remedied chronic problem property will directly reduce the number of blighted properties as tracked above, because they are included directly into the count of blighted properties.
What is our goal?
Our goal is to keep the number of remedied properties at around 16 per year, as most remedies are accomplished through acquisition, which requires annual funding.
How are we measuring?
The data is measured quarterly. Each quarter includes the count from the previous quarter, giving a year-to-date total.
Did we meet our goal?
YES. We remedied 18 properties.
| NUMBER OF PROPERTIES TAKEN TO THE PUBLIC OFFICER HEARING |
|
| 2017 TOTAL TO DATE |
What are we measuring?
The "Public Officer Hearing" is a monthly meeting where the Public Officer (designated by the Mayor) hears property cases and may issue orders requiring owners to make repairs to or demolish unsafe structures. We are counting the number of properties taken before this hearing.
What is the importance?
Issuing a repair or demolition order is one of the tools used to compel owners to correct Codes issues on blighted structures, because failure to comply with an order may result in the City designating a house as unfit for habitation or demolishing it and billing for the costs. A steady number of orders issued may reduce the number of blighted properties as tracked above.
What is our goal?
Our goal is to stay within a manageable range of cases annually, between 135-145.
How are we measuring?
The data is measured quarterly. Each quarter includes the count from the previous quarter, giving a year-to-date total.
Did we meet our goal?
YES. We took 139 properties to the Public Officer Hearing.
| NUMBER OF STRUCTURE CITATIONS |
What are we measuring?
A "citation" is any time an inspector issues a ticket summoning an individual to municipal court for violations on a structure that is not in compliance with City code.
What is the importance?
Issuing a citation is one of the tools used to compel owners to correct Codes issues that contribute to the appearance of blight, because a citation may lead to cumulative fines until all vioaltions are corrected. Increasing the number of citations issued may reduce the number of blighted properties as tracked above.
What is our goal?
Our goal is to increase the number of citations issued to at least 8 annually.
How are we measuring?
The data is measured quarterly. Each quarter includes the count from the previous quarter, giving a year-to-date total.
Did we meet our goal?
NO. We did not achieve our goal, but we did improve our number of citations.
| NUMBER OF DEMOLITIONS COMPLETED |
What are we measuring?
A "demolition" is any time the City's Public Service crew demolishes an unsafe structure.
What is the importance?
Tracking the number of demolitions performed tells us how many blighted structures have been neglected to the extent that the City has to demolish them. Demolishing properties will directly reduce the number of blighted properties as tracked above.
What is our goal?
There is no goal for the number of demolitions to complete, as demolition is a tool only used when necessary.
How are we measuring?
The data is measured quarterly. Each quarter includes the count from the previous quarter, giving a year-to-date total.
Did we meet our goal?
No goal was set.
| NUMBER OF INSPECTIONS PERFORMED |
What are we measuring?
An "inspection" is counted any time an inspector visits a property to evaluate it for possible codes violations or to check progress on existing violations.
What is the importance?
More inspections mean we are focusing our energies on directly addressing and evaluating Codes issues that may contribute to the appearance of blight.
What is our goal?
We aim to increase inspections by 10% from the previous year.
How are we measuring?
The data is measured quarterly. Each quarter includes the count from the previous quarter, giving a year-to-date total.
Did we meet our goal?
YES. We exceeded our goal, increasing our number of inspections performed by 17%.
| NUMBER OF VIOLATION INQUIRIES |
What are we measuring?
A "violation inquiry" is any time a concern is called in by a citizen to have an inspector evaluate a property OR any time an inspector proactively records a violation noted in the field.
What is the importance?
Fewer violation inquiries mean fewer properties have Codes issues that may contribute to the appearance of blight.
What is our goal?
We aim to decrease this number of inquiries by 2% from the previous year.
How are we measuring?
The data is measured quarterly. Each quarter includes the count from the previous quarter, giving a year-to-date total.
Did we meet our goal?
NO. Instead of lowering our numbers, we raised them by 2,531 or 16.5%. After studying the data, we determined this was caused by changes to our solid waste ordinance. New violators and educating citizens lead to an increase in solid waste violations of roughly 2,500. We expect that increase to level out this year.
| NUMBER OF VIOLATIONS FOUND |
What are we measuring?
A "violation" is any time an inspector find a property in violation of the city code when responding to a violation inquiry.
What is the importance?
Fewer violation inquiries mean fewer properties have Codes issues that may contribute to the appearance of blight.
What is our goal?
Our goal is to decrease the number of violations by 2% from the previous year.
How are we measuring?
The data is measured quarterly. Each quarter includes the count from the previous quarter, giving a year-to-date total.
Did we meet our goal?
NO. Instead of lowering our numbers, we raised them by 2,643 or 21.2%. After studying the data, we determined this was caused by changes to our solid waste ordinance. New violators and educating citizens lead to an increase in solid waste violations of roughly 2,500. We expect that increase to level out this year.
| PERCENTAGE OF VIOLATIONS CORRECTED |
|
| 2017 PERCENTAGE TO DATE |
What are we measuring?
A violation is considered corrected when the property is brought into compliance with City code, either by the property owner or by a City crew.
What is the importance?
A higher percentage of corrected violations means properties have been remedied of issues that contribute to the appearance of blight.
What is our goal?
Our goal is to maintain a rate of 85-100% corrected at any given time
How are we measuring?
The data is measured by counting the number of violations quarterly (each quarter includes the count from the previous quarter, giving a year-to-date total), then dividing that into the total number of those violations that have been corrected.
Did we meet our goal?
YES. The goal was not met in the first quarter. All following quarters, we were near the high end of our goal range.
| PERCENTAGE OF PROACTIVE ENFORCEMENT |
What are we measuring?
Proactive enforcement is any time a codes inspector discovers a violation while patrolling the inspector's assigned area, as opposed to being called in by a citizen.
What is the importance?
Steady proactive enforcement means citizens are not having to take the time to make calls about Codes issues, and issues may be addressed in a quicker manner. Proactive enforcement also increases both education of ordinances and awareness of enforcement, which leads to fewer Codes issues that may contribute to the appearance of blight.
What is our goal?
Our goal is to maintain at least 70% proactive enforcement.
How are we measuring?
The data is measured each individual quarter.
Did we meet our goal?
YES. Three out of four quarters we met or exceeded our goal of 70% proactive rate.
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