Volunteers use app to survey Memphis in effort to fight blight

Over the month of October volunteers will be documenting the state of Memphis neighborhoods in an effort to fight blight. The City of Memphis Department of Neighborhood Improvement has organized volunteer surveyors to complete the Bluff City Snapshot, an initiative to survey every property in the Memphis city limits. Surveyors will use a mobile app to photograph, rate, and specify issues for every address in Memphis.

Rychetta Watkins, City of Memphis AmeriCorps VISTA Coordinator, said they are attempting such a large-scale survey in a relatively short amount of time because the resulting information will provide a more consistent baseline for future blight reduction efforts in Memphis. Once the surveying is completed in early November, the resulting information will be plugged into a multivariable database that will also pull from organizations like the tax assessor’s office, environmental court, and the code enforcement office to create a “big picture” of Memphis’ problem areas.

“Going forward the City of Memphis is going to use this baseline data to help track the efficacy of their blight remediation initiatives,” said Watkins. “This kind of smart, data driven approach to gauging the quality of neighborhoods can only pay off. We can make sure we are maintaining neighborhoods before they deteriorate into blight.”

Watkins said the City is hoping to have the database finished up early next year, at which point it will be fully available to the public. The comprehensive database will give the local government an idea of where certain funds should be allocated to best serve the community, while individuals, churches, or neighborhood groups can use it to see where they could bring assistance to neighbors or family members.  

Watkins said the main goal of this initiative is to, “help raise the level of the overall quality of our neighborhoods.” A difference she hopes to see in the near future.