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State and local policy makers shape the future of the region, but don’t always have the information necessary to make informed choices.  Providing policy makers with timely, accurate and up-to-date information empowers them to make sound decisions by assessing the impacts of different alternatives.  Accurate data also allow the public to benchmark government performance and hold elected officials and policy makers accountable for their actions.  Individual businesses and households also need data to make decisions: where to site a business, buy a home, or raise a family.  Data about the region’s residents, business, and infrastructure are critical to strategically target limited resources.  The evolving regional economy will require new ways to utilize existing data, and invest in collection of missing data.

However, today information in important areas is incomplete or missing, and decision-makers lack objective measures to evaluate the region’s progress. Furthermore, accuracy of basic demographic data and estimates used for a wide range of purposes should be improved.

To address these problems, a regional indicators program should be created to measure progress toward MetroFuture using objective data. The region should prioritize collecting or making available ten critical datasets needed for regional planning. These include such basic data as regional water and sewer infrastructure, parcels, and zoning maps. Additionally, new databases of developments, permits, and brownfields are needed for effective regional planning and analysis. Other missing data include an updated travel demand survey and aerial photography, and compiling and releasing employment and income information already possessed by state agencies. Finally, steps should be taken to prepare for the 2010 Census, and work proactively with the U.S. Census Bureau to ensure they have accurate information about Metro Boston’s communities.

1)    Develop regional indicators to measure progress toward MetroFuture goals
MetroFuture establishes bold, achievable, and measurable goals for growth, preservation, and equity in Metro Boston.  A diversity of policy recommendations contained in the implementation plan are designed to move the region toward a brighter future.  A regional indicators framework is necessary to make periodic, quantitative assessments of conditions in the region.  Such assessments will support policy development as well as accountability.  Regional indicators should include information at a variety of levels, providing an understanding of conditions in the region generally, as well as a comparison of conditions across and within municipalities.  

Issues of regional equity deserve special attention and will be addressed in an “equity report card” that is a companion to regional indicators.  The equity report card will assess inequities in the region and within municipalities, in a variety of different areas; it will help raise awareness of these inequities; and it will support development of policies to reduce disparity.

1.a    MAPC should produce a periodic indictors report and make the data and report available on-line

1.b    MAPC and allied organizations should create an Equity Report card

2)    Collect Metro Boston’s “Top Ten Most Wanted Data Sets”
Certain data sets are not widely available but are particularly important to MetroFuture implementation.  The “top ten most wanted data sets” are missing pieces critical to more informed planning and public policy decisions.  For example, both MetroFuture and the Commonwealth’s Sustainable Development Principles promote growth near existing infrastructure such as water and sewer lines; however, there is no comprehensive collection of regional information about where that infrastructure exists.

While some of the data sets listed below require new data collection, much of this information is already collected by the state for administrative reasons.  Administrative data sets, even those that lack personal data, are often inaccessible to planners and policy makers due to confidentiality concerns, lack of accountability, and lack of consistent funding. Therefore, filling these identified needs does not necessarily involve expensive data collection efforts.  Instead, standards that institutionalize data sharing as part of an overall federated data-sharing infrastructure can make existing data more widely available. Furthermore, the strategic use of technology is transforming the nature of data collection. New urban sensing and data collection technology will make possible an entirely new type of dataset. Sustainable datasets should be updated on a regular or ongoing basis, be stored in an easy-to maintain and share format, and be formatted to facilitate analysis and cross-referencing with other data.

2.a    MassGIS and MAPC should work together to create a Regional Parcel Database.

2.b    MAPC should develop a regional development database

2.c    The Executive Office of Transportation and Central Transportation Planning Staff should complete a household travel demand survey every ten years

2.d    MassGIS should regularly commission aerial photo surveys and derived land use information from the data

2.e    MassGIS, the Legislature, and local utilities should develop a region-wide map of water and sewer infrastructure

2.f    MassGIS and MAPC should create a region-wide zoning map

2.g    The Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development (EOLWD) should participate in the Local Employment Dynamics program.

2.h    The Department of Revenue should make available timely demographic summaries of state income tax filings by municipality

2.i    The Massachusetts Permit Regulatory Office in collaboration with MAPC should implement a statewide permit tracking database

2.j    EPA, the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, and MAPC should create a Brownfields database

3)    Implement a regional research agenda to inform planning and development policy
A regional research agenda is necessary to coordinate and focus research efforts to support MetroFuture implementation.  The primary data collection described in Recommendation 2 is one component of these research efforts; detailed, context-driven analysis is also necessary to support regional dialogue, legislative action, and place-based or project-based planning.  

Many regional academic institutions, advocacy organizations, public agencies, and private sector entities are already conducting research relevant to MetroFuture implementation.  MAPC should continue and expand its relationships and collaborations with these partners.  MAPC should also consider developing an agency-specific research agenda that would support specific MetroFuture implementation campaigns and address regional topic not studied by other stakeholders. 

3.a    The MAPC Data Center and GIS Lab should develop and implement a regional research agenda

4)    Ensure Massachusetts is accurately counted in the Decennial Census
U.S. Census population statistics determine the size of the state’s congressional delegation and Massachusetts's share of over $300 billion of annual federal funding.  The uniquely comprehensive Decennial Census population data is used to influence the distribution of public funding, inform the design of public programs, and guide business decisions.  With its moderate growth rate, Massachusetts is at risk is of losing congressional representation and funding to faster growing states.  Under-counting the region’s population in the 2010 Census and subsequent Decennial Censuses could cost the state millions of dollars and affect the funding for many programs that support vulnerable populations and basic infrastructure.  

Public agencies at all levels of government have the responsibility to support an accurate census count. 

4.a    The Secretary of State should form a statewide Complete Count Committee to prepare for 2010 Census

4.b    Each municipality should create a Complete Count Committee to implement local outreach plans in cooperation with Census officials

4.c    Every municipality should designate one individual responsible for Census 2010 preparation

4.d    The Commonwealth should allocate $3 million in funding for outreach efforts to hard-to-count populations

4.e    The Legislature should provide funding to assist municipalities with outreach to hard-to-count populations

4.f    School districts should implement the “Census in the Schools” curriculum

4.g    Community-based organizations should assist the Census Bureau in reaching out to hard-to-count populations

5)    Inform US Census efforts through the Population Estimates Program
With the leadership of Secretary of State William Galvin, Massachusetts currently funds a Population Estimates Program, contracting with the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute.  Each year the Census Bureau issues annual population estimates for each municipality in the state; many of the recent Census estimates have undercounted the population for a variety of reasons, with a variety of impacts.  The Population Estimates Program helps protect the Commonwealth against undercounting by (1) conducting independent annual estimates, (2) developing local and regional partnerships to collect relevant data, (3) working with the Census Bureau to ensure that they have up-to-date and complete information, and (4) supporting necessary challenges to the Census numbers.

Census assumes no change to group quarters, like dormitories, nursing homes, or other institutions when calculating annual estimates unless provided with evidence to the contrary.  In the first year of the project, the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute-Population Estimates Program identified over 230,000 persons living in group quarters in Massachusetts; 38 municipalities in the MAPC region submitted information to the estimates program about group quarters in their communities.  This program help will improve the accuracy of Census 2010, but does not replace the need for education and outreach for the decennial Census.

5.a    The Secretary of State should contract annually with the State Data Center at the Donahue Institute to prepare independent annual estimates of the state’s population

5.b    The State Data Center at UMass Donahue Institute and Regional Planning Agencies should work with municipalities to gather local data in a timely manner

5.c    The Secretary of State and State Data Center at UMass Donahue Institute should provide support for municipal challenges to Census annual population estimates

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