Thanksgiving is just around the corner. It presents a great opportunity to take time to think about what we are thankful for. Here at DataSF we are thankful for many things: open data (of course!), our Data Coordinators who help shepherd open data to the portal, civic techies who regularly surprise us with novel uses for open data, and a the public that loves data almost as much as we love publishing it.
But above all else we are thankful to be living in a city like San Francisco. A city that celebrates the arts. A city that advocates for green spaces. And most importantly, a city that protects and cares for the less fortunate among them. In other words, a city that reflects our values. Below find a few highlights from the open data portal that demonstrate each of these.
We are Thankful for Public Art
Started in 1932, the Civic Art Collection now comprises over 4,000 objects. Below is a listing of public art works currently available for viewing. Select a location from the map to find out more.
We are Thankful for Green Spaces
What would San Francisco be without its diverse species of trees and beautiful parks that populate our city. You may not realize it but the city cares for over 400 species of trees. Even more impressive than that, the city tracks every single one.
In the first page below you can select your favorite species of tree and find its location around San Francisco. I’m personally fond of the Yoshino Cherry. On the second page, you can find a listing of San Francisco public parks. You can filter by type of park and see the average public score for the currently selected parks.
We are Thankful for our Young Readers
No one reads like the youth of San Francisco. Below is a sneak peak at a soon to be released dataset on library circulation. Sorry, but it is just a static image at this time. Follow us on twitter to be the first to know about its full release.
We are Thankful for those Protecting the Next Generation
Each day almost 200 crossing guards ensure the children of San Francisco make it to school safely and on time.
We are Thankful that we don’t have to Cook Thanksgiving Dinner!
San Francisco is a culinary delight. While you could spend all those hours making dinner, why not just eat out? More time for data analysis! Below is a map of every food establishment in San Francisco.
We are Thankful that our City Builds Inclusive Housing
San Francisco cares about people and cares about ensuring they can afford to live in our city. This problem has no quick or easy fix. In recent years San Francisco has made sizable strides to increase the supply of inclusionary and affordable housing. You can read about the full range of programs here. Here we highlight two.
The Inclusionary Housing Program requires “developers of projects with 10 or more units to pay an Affordable Housing Fee, or to instead sell or rent a percentage of the units at a “below market rate” (BMR) price that is affordable to low or middle income households.” The first page shows the number of projects and total below market rate units created since 1989.
The Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development (MOHCD) and the Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure (OCII) in partnership with non-profit and private developers construct affordable housing projects. Pages two and three cover these affordable housing projects. Page two shows the operational MOHCD and OCII affordable housing projects as of 2015. While page three shows all the MOHCD and OCII affordable housing projects currently in progress for 2016.
These are just a few of the things we are thankful for. What about you?