Mapping the occurrence addresses outlined on the property dockets (with respondents and # of violations at that address over time) has some drawbacks.
- Ownership of properties can change hands over time, and aggregating violations across owners of the same address can be problematic for some interpretations of the data.
- None of the data provided on the City of Evanston website indicates which violations were UPHELD by the judge or dismissed. The outcome of these cases is not available in this data.
- Some property dockets omitted the occurrence addresses entirely. (See that list here.)
To see the live map, either click on the image or this link.
This data, as mapped, also creates more questions that are–as of yet–unanswered. Such as:
- Are there actually more property violations in certain wards OR are the properties in certain wards investigated more than other wards?
- Does the density of single-family homes vs. multi-unit homes influence the number/frequency of investigations of property violations?
- Does the ownership of properties (on-site homeowners vs. landlords) influence the actual number of properties with violations? Or the frequency/number of investigations?
What DOES the mapped data tell us? Not much that is useful to use as a City, but mapping this data would be very useful to City Aldermen who are trying to understand where issues are in their ward that may need to be addressed, such as:
- Problem landlords that could be taking advantage of renters, and creating unsafe living conditions.
- Resident homeowners who are struggling to maintain their residence and could use the assistance of a resource to support them. (Such as Rebuilding Together, Habitat for Humanity, Senior Services, etc.)
- Vacant buildings which could create safety or health problems for other residents in the community.
- And so on.
Caveat: Not all property dockets listed at the City of Evanston website provided occurrence addresses, and some property dockets listed non-property-related cases (such as police matters). Police matters have been omitted from the dataset and the non-listed property docket cases can be seen here.
For a summary of all blog posts regarding Property Violations, click here.
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