Journalism runs on a fundamental idea. For people to make good decisions in their democracy, or even just in their lives, they need good information.
Another way to put it might be: Better living through data.
That’s why, starting this week, you’ll see more information about public services in neighborhoods across San Diego.
It’s part of an automated data-gathering effort serving Times of San Diego and the newspapers of the San Diego Community Newspaper Group. The data comes from the city’s public data service, but it’s analyzed to represent exactly how those services are working in individual neighborhoods citywide. You can see some examples here:
- In uptown.
- In the downtown area.
- In Navajo and College area.
- In the Peninsula Beacon area.
- In the Beach & Bay area.
- In the La Jolla area.
Of course, neighborhoods go by a lot of names, and different people see them differently. Here’s how we’re covering different neighborhoods.
The data starts with the official maps of more than 50 community planning districts, or community planning areas, that make up San Diego. Even if your neighborhood goes by another name, you’ll probably recognize the planning area’s name, too.
We use this data because it’s official, and it’s consistent: Smaller neighborhoods may be well recognized, but it’s hard to draw a line around any neighborhood and be sure everybody agrees, down to the block.
But the city’s district lines are universal, so we start with areas everyone can see and agree upon.
Reports for your neighborhood newspaper
For the different regions our newsrooms cover, there’s a second question: Which areas best represent the audience for a local newspaper? In some cases, there’s no perfect answer. (You might live in the College Area, work downtown and shop uptown — and you and your neighbors might have a different opinion on where each area begins and ends.)
Here’s what you can expect to see in city data reports for our neighborhood newspapers:
- Beach & Bay Press includes city data for the districts of Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, and for Mission Bay Park.
- Peninsula Beacon includes the districts of the Peninsula (better known as Point Loma), Ocean Beach and Midway-Pacific Highway, including the area surrounding San Diego International Airport.
- Mission Times Courier includes the College Area and the district called Navajo, covering neighborhoods such as Allied Gardens and San Carlos.
- La Jolla Village News includes the city districts for La Jolla and University City, the neighborhoods and commercial zones inland from UC-San Diego.
- Uptown News includes city districts spread out above downtown: Old Town San Diego, uptown, North Park, Normal Heights and Kensington-Talmadge.
- Downtown News includes the official city area for downtown, but also for Greater Golden Hill and Barrio Logan, and the bounds of Balboa Park.
Wait. My neighborhood isn’t on any of those lists!
Don’t worry. The lists above cover the areas served by those community newspapers. But we’ll be examining data from across the city. Talk to us at data@timesofsandiego.com about what other neighborhoods YOU want to see.
Right now, most of the data comes from the city of San Diego. So if you live in La Mesa or any other city, you won’t see data from your community yet. But it’s coming. Email us about more that you want to see.
And more about those community planning areas
If we really want to get technical, our data is broken down across 57 neighborhoods. But you’ll note the city lists 52 planning districts. Our data also tracks with the city’s maps for five other areas that aren’t on the planning district list:
- The boundaries of Balboa Park, Los Penasquitos Canyon and Mission Bay Park.
- The area called “Military Facilities,” Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.
- The area called “Reserve area,” which is the San Diego airport.
Have questions about our data, or something you’d like to see? Talk to us at data@timesofsandiego.com.
