Hacktivate Mesa - 2019
2019 Event Topics
- Having fun in my community
- Recycling in my community
- Sustainability in my community
- Safety and health in my community
- Homelessness in my community
- Opioid epidemic in my community
Having fun in my community
Downtown Mesa is a fun place to be! In or near downtown you can catch a Cubs or A’s game during Spring Training Baseball, watch a concert at the Mesa Amphitheater or Mesa Arts Center, climb to new heights at Riverview and Pioneer Park, cool off at the Mesa High lazy river, grab a bite to eat, and so much more.
Many people aren’t aware of all the exciting and entertaining experiences downtown Mesa has to offer, plus there’s opportunities to add more great things to do. In that spirit, using the data sets provided as well as any others you have access to, we challenge your team to tell us how many people are coming downtown, what do they do and how we can have more fun in downtown Mesa.
Datasets
https://data.mesaaz.gov/Recreation-Culture/Paying-Skaters-Ice-Rink-at-City-Plaza/gd7v-yqei - Aggregated daily counts for 2015 - 2017.
https://data.mesaaz.gov/Recreation-Culture/Ticket-Sales-Ice-Rink-at-City-Plaza/bca4-y9b7 - Individual ticket sales by time, day, type for 2017 and 2018 Merry Main Street seasons only.
https://data.mesaaz.gov/Zoning-Property/DowntownMesa/vsp3-2eiw/data - Map of "Downtown Mesa"
https://data.mesaaz.gov/Financials/Downtown-Tax-Revenue-by-Report-Month/258t-7i6w - Downtown Tax Revenues by Consumer Activity Period
https://data.mesaaz.gov/Financials/Citywide-Tax-Revenue-by-Report-Month/8y5v-kwui - Citywide Tax Revenues by Consumer Activity Period
Recycling in my community
The City provides trash and recycling services to residents
and businesses. Trash is sent to a landfill and materials that can be recycled
are processed and sold for re-use. The City’s ability to maintain a
recycling program is affected by the amount of contamination mixed with the
recycled material. Recently, businesses will only buy recyclable material
from the City if little to no contamination is mixed with the recyclable
material. Additionally, it often costs less for manufacturers to use raw
material than to pay to process and use recyclable material. What
are the issues? What is the impact on people when material is not recycled?
What is the impact on the environment? What is the impact on profit and
prosperity if material is not recycled?
Datasets
https://data.mesaaz.gov/dataset/Daily-Disposal/ne55-bb7w (requires username/password - see city staff)
• Amount of contamination
• Cost to land fill
• Cost of raw material to produce these products – glass, cardboard, paper, aluminum cans,
Sustainability in my community
Sustainability ensures that Mesa continues to be a great place to live, work and have fun by balancing the values of people, planet, and prosperity. “People” means equity for everyone, “Planet” means positive environmental impact, and “Prosperity” means an economically successful and thriving community. Elements of Sustainability include: Waste (Trash), Water Use, Air Quality, Getting Around, Renewable Energy, Urban Heat (Temperatures), and Access to Food.
Using the datasets and others at your disposal, identify patterns and trends and how to improve Mesa’s sustainability efforts – balancing People, Planet and Prosperity. What are the issues? And how can we encourage the design and implementation of a sustainable community?"
Datasets
Public Safety & Hospitals Map - https://gis.mesaaz.gov/addresssearch/
Map of Existing Fire Stations - https://www.mesaaz.gov/home/showdocument?id=5978
Other Resources
Water Use:
- Precipitation:
https://www.esri.noaa.gov/psd/data/usclimdivs/
- closed due to government shut down. Should be back up
when government reopens.
- Watershed
Boundary Dataset Subregions Map: https://www.usgs.gov/core-science-systems/ngp/national-hydrography/watershed-boundary-dataset?qt-science_support_page_related_con=4#qt-science_support_page_related_con
- Water
use data for Arizona: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/az/nwis/wu
Getting around:
- Data
from Mesa’s Open Portal: https://data.mesaaz.gov/browse?category=Planes%2C+Trains+%26+Automobiles
Renewable Energy
- Solar
Radiation Database: https://nsrdb.nrel.gov/data-sets
- Renewable
Energy: https://www.nrel.gov/
- Hourly
nationwide energy use, with information about local utilities: https://www.eia.gov/realtime_grid/#/status?end=20190102T15
Urban Heat
Food Deserts
- https://azdhs.gov/gis/az-food-deserts/index.php
- https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/
- Fruit
and Vegetable prices: https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/fruit-and-vegetable-prices
- Food choices and health, food access: https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/food-access-research-atlas/resource/4f0a943b-f04e-4b0a-99b7-1ce2d168833b
Safety and Health in my community
We seek for a community where residents are healthy and feel
safe and welcome. Factors that contribute to a feeling of safety, health and
welcoming include crime, accident prevention, a wide variety of proactive and
reactive healthcare programs and options and accepting of diversity. Using the
available data, what are the patterns or trends that your team identified? What
are some recommendations your team has for improving the feeling of safety and
health in the community?
Datasets
Homelessness in my community
Individuals and families experiencing
homelessness is a challenge faced by cities across the country and Mesa is no
exception. Many factors likely
contribute to homelessness including insufficient income, increasing housing
costs, mental health issues and family struggles just to name a few.
Organizations like the Center for
Evidence-based Solutions to Homelessness and others have shown there are proven
methods that can help prevent and end homelessness. We are fortunate in Mesa to have many great
social service agencies and a generous community ready and willing to
help. Using the data available, can your
team discover local trends or patterns in homelessness? What are some potential solutions that uplift
our community and benefit those experiencing homelessness?
Datasets
- Ask Evan Allred, City of Mesa, for additional data and numbers from Navigator and Paz De Cristo
Other resources
- Homelessness in Arizona Annual Report 2017 https://des.az.gov/sites/default/files/dl/des_annual_homeless_report_2017.pdf
- Point in Time Homeless Count Analysis August 2017 http://azmag.gov/Portals/0/Documents/MagContent/2017_PIT-Analysis_Final.pdf?ver=2017-09-08-143100-797
- Out of Reach AZ 2018 https://nlihc.org/oor/arizona
- Out of Reach 2018, Full Report https://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/oor/OOR_2018.pdf
- Eviction Rates https://evictionlab.org/
- 2018 Year-end Rent Report - Scroll to "Mid-Size Cities" section for specific Mesa data.
Opioid epidemic in my community
Every day more than 115 people in the United States die after overdosing on opioids. Additional misuse and addiction to opioids across our communities have far flung negative social and economic impacts. Opioid addiction and abuse is a serious national crisis and Mesa Police and Fire personnel are on the front lines, responding to opioid related incidents every day.
Understanding where, how, and the frequency of opioid abuse can be a good start to addressing the crisis and impacting positive change. Using the available datasets and others at your disposal, describe the opioid epidemic in Mesa and some potential solutions to the problem