Gotham Gazette - Measuring Up

Citizens Union Foundation Gotham Gazette

Measuring Up

A new approach to government accountability -- officially called "performance assessment" but more colloquially, compstatmania -- compiles, analyzes and interprets statistics in order to spot trends, gaps and overlaps in city services. It's not magic -- it's hard work, and requires lots of attention to detail and follow-up. On this page, Gotham Gazette looks at this approach to improving city services.

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Reports:

Manhattan Vacant Housing Survey
A survey by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer finds that there are a significant number of vacant apartment buildings and empty lots in the borough that could support affordable housing and generate additional tax revenue for the city. The report found 1,723 buildings with vacancies and 505 empty lots, most of which are located above 96th Street in Northern Manhattan. (04/24/2007)

State of the City's Housing and Neighborhoods
This annual report from the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy looks at the quality of life in New York City's neighborhoods, drawing upon more than 1,800 types of data, from more than a dozen different government sources. Among the key findings is that less than five percent of home sales are affordable to New Yorkers earning the city's median income. (04/13/2007)

Counting Greenhouse Gas Emissions
An inventory of the city�s greenhouse gas emissions, released yesterday by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, finds that the city�s emissions in 2005 accounted for approximately 1 percent of the U.S. total. While per capita emissions were far lower here than in the United States as whole, they have been increasing in recent years, the inventory found. The figures on the emissions, which are considered largely responsible for global warming, will serve as the benchmark for reducing such pollution by 30 percent between now and 2030, a target the mayor set late last year. (04/11/2007)

Traffic and Health Problems
Over two million New Yorkers live within 500 feet of a major roadway, putting them at risk for pollution-related health problems, according to this report by Environmental Defense. "All Choked Up: Heavy Traffic, Dirty Air, and the Risk to New Yorkers" sums up the science of these risks, and suggests some solutions. (03/29/2007)

Fewer Female Smokers in NYC
Smoking is down sharply among New York City women, according to data released by the Health Department. The number of female smokers has fallen by 123,000 in New York City, down from 20 percent in 2002 to 16 percent in 2005. The decline in female smoking was greatest among women who are white, 18 to 24 years old, and living in Manhattan. The information is from the 2005 Community Health Survey, a survey of 10,000 adults in all five boroughs. (03/23/2007)

Schools Needing Improvment
The New York State Department of Education yesterday announced it had placed 35 more schools, nine of them in New York City, on its list of failing schools, known as Schools Under Registration Review. At the same time, state education commissioner Richard Mills announced he was removing six city schools from the list. This brings the total number of schools in the state on the list to 65, with 35 of them in the city. (03/16/2007)

NYC Hospital Admissions
Although non-residents of New York City account for a small share of all hospital admissions in the city, they represent a significant portion of admissions for some clinical conditions (cancer, orthopedics, neurosurgery, and cardiac procedures) and at some hospitals. Moreover, because non-residents are often admitted for more favorably reimbursed tertiary care procedures, they represent a significant source of revenues at several of New York City's hospitals. (03/15/2007)

Is The City Ending Chronic Homelessness?
The number of homeless families living in shelters reached a record high last month despite Mayor Michael Bloomberg�s high-profile campaign to reduce chronic homelessness, according to this report by advocacy group Coalition for the Homeless. 9,287 families stayed in shelters in February, the highest number since records began being kept in 1979, and a 17.6 percent rise from February 2005. (03/08/2007)

Delivering City Services
The administration has released its 2007 preliminary Mayor�s Management Report, which provides statistics on the delivery of city services during the first four months of the fiscal year. According to the mayor, the figures �demonstrate that we are continuing to build on five years of successful policies and are moving the city in the right direction." Among the findings: homicides decreased slightly; streets are cleaner than ever; calls to the city�s 311 hot lines for non-emergencies increased by 7 percent; and the number of families entering the homeless shelter system rose. Most press accounts, however, focused on the 21 percent increase in major felonies in public schools. Much of that rise was in thefts of valuable items, such as laptop computers. (02/16/2007)

Crime in Parks
New Yorkers for Parks issued crime data for the city's 20 largest parks. The most number of felony crime complaints between April and September of last year were at Flushing Meadows Park (35), followed by Prospect Park (25), which included a murder. (01/22/2007)

Fiscal Picture in NYC Brightens
"The city's short term-fiscal picture appears even brighter than the Mayor's most recent projection," writes the Independent Budget Office in its most recent annual assessment of the city government's finances. The report predicts a surplus of $2.1 billion this year and a $688 million surplus in 2008. It attributes the windfall to strong performances by Wall Street and the real estate market. (01/11/2007)

High Schools' Annual Report
The Citywide Council on High Schools� Annual Report recognizes the efforts of the New York City Department of Education in focusing on student achievement, accountability, and additional facilities but, in a detailed analysis of the education department's graduation and class size data, finds �a cloud of legitimacy over these numbers.� In the case of the department's graduation rate methodologies, the report concludes that they �differ from other reputable methods and... result in the most favorable statistic possible.� (11/20/2006)

City's Economy Slows in 2nd Quarter of 2006
New York City's economy is showing signs of slowdown but a recession is unlikely, this report from the city's comptroller's office finds. The slowing growth is due largely to a cooling real estate market, it argues. The report also focuses on the tourism industry as a sector of the economy that is performing well. (11/02/2006)

Health Profiles Of 42 NYC Neighborhoods
The New York City Department of Health And Mental Hygiene has released its "2006 New York City Community Health Profiles," which offers a look at the health of 42 neighborhoods, accessible by zip code, by borough, and by 10 major health issues. For example, the neighborhood with the largest percentage of obese residents is East New York, Brooklyn (31 percent); the small percentage of obese residents is on the Upper East Side and Gramercy (eight percent). Greenwich Village, Soho and Tribeca (which are grouped together) have among the lowest annual death rates in the city (a rate that decreased 20 percent over the past decade), but the highest rate of child lead poisoning in the city, and residents of these three neighborhoods were more than 60 percent more likely to engage in binge drinking in any given month than New Yorkers overall. (10/31/2006)

Rating New York�s Buses
The M14A, which crosses Manhattan via 14th Street, is the city�s slowest bus, traveling at about 3.9 miles per our, or just a little faster than many people walk, according to a report by the Straphangers Campaign and Transportation Alternatives. In addition to rating the slowest buses, the report looks at the reliability of bus service, particularly whether the route has bunches and gaps and in services. The M1, which goes through Manhattan on Madison an Fifth Avenues, was rated the least reliable. (10/25/2006)

Math Scores
The longer New York City students stay in school the worse they do in math, according to scores on last academic year�s standardized math tests released last week. While more than three-quarters of third graders met state standards for math, only about 39 percent of eighth graders did. Students across the state had a similar decline, from 80.5 percent meeting state standards in third grade, to about 54 percent achieving that level by the end of middle school. (10/18/2006)