Oh SNAP! We're obsolete! (Pittsburgh, Oakland: sales, foreclosures, crime)

[BrianTH]

OK, not really, but the City has released a beta version of an interactive guide to its neighborhoods called PGHSNAP, which in turn is feeding into its PGHPLAN process (they are putting together a comprehensive development plan for the City). It takes the form of a very large interactive PDF, which you can download here:

Department of City Planning : PGHSNAP - Download Center

If you plan on playing with this for long and have the harddrive space, I highly recommend downloading it to your computer and not just into your browser.

Anyway, in the "Assets Profiles" part it divides the City into "Sectors", and for each sector it presents a brief narrative and then some basic population information, a map with information about building conditions and permits, a transportation map, a parks and recreation map, a schools/hospitals/libraries/emergency services map, a historic assets map with attached pictures, and a public art map with attached pictures.

It then has a subsection on each neighborhood in the Sector. The neighborhood subsection has a brief narrative then tables about population, housing (including age distribution and value/price data), jobs worked by residents, jobs available in the neighborhood, educational attainment and income, public safety, the built environment, a natural environment map, a zoning map, and a transportation summary, all presented next to the overall City numbers for handy comparison.

But wait, there's more!

It also has various citywide maps and neighborhood ranking/top-ten tables (Densest population? North Oakland Highest percentage of older residents? Glen Hazel Most carbon-neutral commutes? Bluff/Uptown Highest median income? Point Breeze Lowest crime rate? Swisshelm Park Greatest increase in median home value 2000-2008? East Allegheny).

And there is even more!

The Action Planning section has citywide maps for "core blight indicators" (foreclosures, vacancies, and so forth), "housing characteristic indicators" (median home sales prices, building conditions, etc.), and "quality of life indicators" (poverty, crime, etc.). That is followed by action planning matrix map (I'm not even going to try to explain what that means, but it is interesting), citywide and by sector.

As noted, this is just the beta version: the official 1.0 version is apparently going to be released in March, and presumably updated with fresh data periodically after that.

Anyway, to me it is amazingly cool to have all this information available in one relatively user-friendly place.

[mckeesport_alum]

I agree this is definitely worth the download. Any stat freak will love this - lots of interesting information. Thanks for posting!

[Lobick]

Came across version 2.0:

http://www.pittsburghpa.gov/dcp/snap...0_Oct_2011.pdf

Sorry if this is a re-post.

[Impala26]

I was at the kickoff meeting at CMU last night. Pretty good turnout!

The one thing I was frustrated about was how many audience members were asking Port Authority-specific questions. City planning can communicate with PAT, but they can't dictate their decisions or control state funding. Other than that, most of the folks there were informed and seemed generally willing to participate.

I just hope PAT's mess (and state transportation funding in general) doesn't stymie these planning efforts completely.

[BrianTH]

I can't believe the number of people I encounter who insist on the view that the City is responsible for PAT.

[SouthHillsHappy]

Cool! Thanks!

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

I can't believe the number of people I encounter who insist on the view that the City is responsible for PAT.

Tell me about it. We have people on this sub-forum for crying out loud who think Mayor Ravenstahl "isn't doing enough". He has NO CONTROL over anything PAT does or does not do! He has NO CONTROL over what Gov. Corbett does or does not do! He has NO CONTROL over what the state legislature does or does not do!

[raubre]

The Mayor may not have control, but he can speak up for his constituents and tell the state or governor firsthand how it will effect the people who voted ghim in and thier livlihoods. How does he expect people to come downtown if no one can get there?

This is a huge concern for the city of Pittsburgh and it makes him look as if he really doesn't give a rat's ass about the people who live, work or hang out in his city.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by raubre

The Mayor may not have control, but he can speak up for his constituents and tell the state or governor firsthand how it will effect the people who voted ghim in and thier livlihoods. How does he expect people to come downtown if no one can get there?

Our illustrious governor (thanks, everyone, for voting for him, by the way) already knows this and obviously doesn't care. A relatively unpopular Democratic mayor whining to him won't be likely to influence him.

[raubre]

Originally Posted by Impala26

The one thing I was frustrated about was how many audience members were asking Port Authority-specific questions. City planning can communicate with PAT, but they can't dictate their decisions or control state funding. Other than that, most of the folks there were informed and seemed generally willing to participate.

ITA. I think they need to communicate and express the concerns. But it looks like no one cares and it makes Pittsburgh look bad.