The Largest Community-Led Audit Just Happened in SoMa, San Francisco

Newest SoMa West Community Benefit District uses data to map resident concerns.

rubbish writer
rubbish stories
2 min readAug 28, 2019

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The SoMa West community deserves some major props! Not only did they recently form the largest community benefit district in San Francisco, but they are cleaning up their neighborhood by partnering with rubbish!

Residents have long been ready for a change to a healthier, cleaner, safer and more vibrant neighborhood. When residents and community members made their priorities heard, the SoMa West Community Benefit District (CBD) took action.

Zone for the newly formed SoMa West CBD
Concerns tagged with the rubbish app in the new SoMa West CBD zone

By partnering with rubbish, the SoMa West CBD and its residents are stepping up to embrace new technology to enhance their streets and make it cleaner for everyone by working together.

To take charge of their streets, they used the rubbish app to audit and document litter and problem areas in their neighborhood. In all, 22 community members participated, 74 blocks were surveyed, and 27,461 concerns were reported. The top 3 concerns were street litter (48%), graffiti (10%) and stained sidewalks (31%). After residents completed the audit, rubbish used the data to determine the litter footprint, and pinpoint which areas need attention.

Rubbish will share data and location-based insights from the audit with the community, SoMa West CBD and the mayor’s office. Together, they will target their resources to address issues on their streets. Then, rubbish will follow up with the community for another audit in 2020 to track the progress.

The largest CBD in San Francisco, SoMa West’s community benefit district is newly created but already setting new standards by undertaking the largest community-led audit of its kind. By using rubbish’s technology and data insights, they will improve efficiency and best target resources for cleaning efforts.

We look forward to supporting SoMa West in their goal to make their community clean, safe and beautiful for everyone living, working, owning, and visiting the neighborhood to enjoy :)

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