The State of Code Enforcement

Where we are

Where we want to be

• Overview
• Review Problems
  
• Address concerns
  

Presentation goals

Services

• Market analysis

• Lead generation + marketing

• Real time dashboards

• Algorithm design

• Data collection and analysis

• Digital + physical prototyping

Clients

• AutonomouStuff

• Caterpillar

• Watch Me Work

• NEXMachine

• CEFCU

• Sicada

• Aunt Yogi's Kitchen

• TADA Cognitive Solutions

• Digital Dipstick

• Eat And Evolve

• Civic Serve

I have a record of solving hard engineering problems

• Won Junior Wind Turbine efficiency challenge:

  • Built a wind turbine that was 100% more efficient than the competition.

  • Had a good process for iterating and improving my design two times faster than the competition

Case: AutonomouStuff

• Created process to reduce wire harness fabrication time by 33%

• Seamlessly integrated GPS, military grade IMU, Stereo Vision, Lidar, Radar into Polaris off road vehicle

• Independently led $30,000 DARPA robotics project.

Case: AutonomouStuff

• Independently led $30,000 DARPA robotics project. Duties included:

  • Establishing a customer relationship

  • Estimating + Budgeting the project

  • Designing and fabricating fixtures

  • Managing local suppliers and fabricators
  • Fulfillment logistics

"We made those points because of AutonomouStuff"

Velin Dimitrov, WPI Team Captain

WPI was the only team with an Atlas Robot to win the driving challenge

Case: Caterpillar

• Automated maintenance of 200+ virtual machines that ran simulations of MineStar
• Reduced core task run time by at least 91%
• I'm good at saving my clients' money:
  • Redesigned a validation tool reducing its part count by 47% (i.e. 49 to 26 parts)

Case: CEFCU

• Identified over 3,000 local commercial borrowers on whom to focus sales effort.

• I'm good at managing people:

  • Managed a distributed workforce of over 200 people around the world

  • Built custom processes to validate the work of my distributed workforce and guarantee the accuracy of my data.

Case: TADA Cognitive Solutions

• I automate processes:

  • Prepared dozens of live interactive dashboards for mine site monitoring and production improvements

Case: Tradekeeper

• Collected, cleaned and analyzed over 3,000,000 insider trading documents from the SEC's EDGAR database.

  • I can handle uncertainty: EDGAR is abhorrently under documented

  • I find ways to save lots of time: Engineered a way to speed up download times from over 36 hours to under 9 hours.

Current Project

• Doordash meets Meals On Wheels

• Point of Sale software for Meal prep businesses:

• I build apps with rich functionality:

  • Payment processing via Stripe

  • Inventory management

  • Shortest path delivery routing via Routific

• In talks with 22 businesses.

• Describe what I do
• Review Reinvestment Fund's MVA Deliverables
• Explain how I will deliver a better product
• Address concerns

Presentation goals

Reinvestment Fund MVA

• They'll collect data. We'll get them plugged into our community so they can get:

• Home sale prices

• Building permits

• Vacant lots / housing

• Foreclosure

• Abatements

• Section 8 Housing

• Owner Occupancy

• Renter Occupancy

Reinvestment Fund MVA

• Geocode the data to Census block groups

• Inspect and validate the data

• Spatially cluster that data to identify areas with common characteristics

• Map the result

• Make corrections to the map by visually inspecting points of interest throughout the city

• Repeat 3 through 6 until the data is representative of the ground floor reality

• Deliver the MVA in printed and perhaps digital reports

Reinvestment Fund MVA

• $60k - $75k

• Typically lasts between 4 and 6 months depending on access to the data

• Worst case has lasted 1 year

• The additional cost for buying missing data needed to complete the project will be passed onto the City

• Describe what I do
• Review Reinvestment Fund's MVA Deliverables
• Explain how I will deliver a better product
• Address concerns

Presentation goals

Scious MVA

• I'll do it

  • affordably - 15% off of RF's $60k to $80k asking price

  • better - I'm a local committed to improving our city

  • faster - I have a head start

  • and will strive to make it repeatable

    • Implement processes to make the 2nd, 4th,... 10th MVA as painless as possible to produce

RF MVA

Scious MVA

• Data collection. We'll get them plugged into our community so they can get:

  • Home sale prices

  • Building permits

  • Vacant lots / housing

• Data collection. Assemble stakeholders just as RF proposes:

  • Home sale prices

  • Building permits

  • Vacant lots / housing

    • I have a head start on this - see this map I made.

RF MVA

Scious MVA

• Data collection continued:

  • Foreclosures

• Data collection continued:

  • Foreclosures

    • Already collected + mapped

    • Joe hired me for my initiative and curiosity

    • I'm familiar with the County DBs so I can get data faster.

RF MVA

Scious MVA

• Data collection continued:

  • Abatements

• Data collection continued:

  • Abatements

    • I have a head start by virtue of working in this department

      • I know our people

      • I have easier access to our systems

    • Interviewing staff to understand pain points

RF MVA

Scious MVA

• Data collection continued:

  • Section 8 Housing

  • Owner Occupancy

  • Renter Occupancy

• Data collection continued:

  • Section 8 Housing

  • Owner Occupancy

  • Renter Occupancy

    • I've been working on a better system to conduct tenant self inspections that could save us over $20k per year.

RF MVA

Scious MVA

• Data collection continued:

  • Schools

  • Food access

  • Job Access

• Data collection continued:

  • Schools

  • Food access

  • Job Access

    • It will be fairly easy to map spatial access to local jobs from poorer communites

    • Isochrone maps

RF MVA

Scious MVA

• Data collection continued:

  • Evictions

• Data collection continued:

  • Evictions

    • I'm on a mission to understand the full gravity of Peoria's eviction crisis
      • Been to eviction court
      • I've met with Prairie State Legal
      • Working with County to map the problem

RF MVA

Scious MVA

• Inspect and validate the data

• Inspect and validate the data:

  • Have driven to 20 of the over 6,000 properties flagged vacant by the USPS.

    • Many are vacant but don't appear abandoned:

      • For sale

      • Not for sale but being maintained

    • Need utility data

RF MVA

Scious MVA

• Spatially cluster data to identify areas with common characteristics

• Spatially cluster data to identify areas with common characteristics

  • I can spatially cluster data

    • Map of traffic accidents

  • RF's clustering technique is a currently a mystery and out of our control

    • Are we sure it's right?

    • Can we improve it?

RF MVA

Scious MVA

• Map results

  • Probably interactive

  • Improvable?

• Map results
  • Interactive
  • We can improve and tweak the maps to our needs over time

RF MVA

Scious MVA

• Make corrections to the map by visually inspecting points of interest throughout the city

• Make corrections to the map by visually inspecting points of interest throughout the city

RF MVA

Scious MVA

• Repeat data collection and cleaning cycle until the data is representative of the ground floor reality

• Repeat data collection and cleaning cycle until the data is representative of the ground floor reality
  • As the study nears completion I will schedule city travel tours with policy makers to warm them to the findings

RF MVA

Scious MVA

• Final deliverable: MVA in printed and digital reports

• Final deliverable: MVA in printed and digital reports
  • With a focus on making a "State of the City" dashboard
    • Will be a consolidated repository of report data
    • Provide constituents with easy access to the underlying data
    • Can be updated with ease

Scious MVA Summary

• 15% off of RF's $60k to $80k asking price

• Strive to complete the project within 4 to 6 months (depending on access to the data)

• The additional cost for buying missing data needed to complete the project will be passed onto the City

  • I will make deals with data vendors to save the city money

    • I've secured nearly $11,000 in free vacancy checks for a year from lob.com

• Describe what I do
• Review Reinvestment Fund's MVA Deliverables
• Explain how I will deliver a better product
• Address concerns

Presentation goals

If we do this it will be slower because city staffers are more nimble to consultant inquiry than to internal inquiry

• Bring me on as a "Data Scientist in Residence" or a "Consultant in Residence"

  • I'll maintain my current schedule

  • I can supply my own technology as needed (Laptop, GPS recording system for spot checking data)

If we do this it will be slower because city staffers are more nimble to consultant inquiry than to internal inquiry

• If we don't give me a title change then know that I've overcome almost every challenge of slow response times

  • Found workarounds to not having needed applications installed on my computer

  • The director of Data.gov helped me get access to a list of 90,000 addresses in our county for our vacancy checks

The impact of RF's analysis will be better because they've done this in 30 other cities

• The actions we take with this data are more important to our economic outcomes than the data itself.
  • A stack of maps never changed the world.
    • We need local explorers and doers locally to push the right policy that the underlying data advises.
  • The actions we take, not the data, will decide how our city will improve or deteriorate.

The impact of RF's analysis will be better because they've done this in 30 other cities

• There is no doubt that RF is experienced at delivering city MVAs
• We can't yet reasonably conclude that RF's work in other cities has had a significant positive impact on those cities
  • If we still decide to proceed with their solution, we should better understand their impact.
    • Ask for ROIs
    • Reach out to their past clients to assess the value

Baltimore block groups 3 years after MVA

63% stayed same

17% improved

20% declined

source

Baltimore block groups 3 years after MVA

63% stayed same

17% improved

20% declined

source

Baltimore block groups 3 years after MVA

63% stayed same

17% improved

20% declined

source

The impact of RF's analysis will be better because they've done this in 30 other cities

• We can and should work with other cities to learn what they've done.
• I can visit (three) cities to learn from best practices and past mistakes.

RF has a unique way of clustering the data that would be tough for us to replicate

• We can learn more about their technique in follow up meetings
  • I'll talk to their data analysts
• We can cluster the data according to the metrics we value rather than a one sized approach.
  • Weighted inputs

Scious Advantage

• Project dollars go to a local company.

• I've already generated $11k in value and will generate much more.

• The job will be done better because we care more about our city than any out of state group will.

• We will do it faster because we are already connected to our systems and people.

Scious Advantage

• We will develop key relationships with local authorities that will stay and mature here long after RF has left.

• Put a stop to relenting our authority to foreign groups that want little of Peoria short of a paycheck.

• Destroy the narrative that we're not smart enough to make our city a better place to live, work and grow.

con·scious