New Dallas code compliance dashboard shows where the nuisances are citywide

Few city departments are as important to Dallas residents as Code Compliance.

Yes, police and fire provide essential public safety. But when your neighbor has left that junky car parked out on the street for weeks or an area gang has sprayed graffiti on a storefront around the corner, you want someone from the city to come out and do something about it.

So we welcome the city’s new Code Compliance Performance Dashboard that allows residents to readily access the status of complaints. The dashboard, updated daily, allows residents to track how and when the city responds to not only their own complaints, but also to each of the thousands of complaints it receives each month for everything from illegal tire dumps to high weeds growing on vacant lots.

An interactive map populated with data stemming back three years allows users to see violation hot spots and what types of infractions have occurred there. Thinking about moving to a new neighborhood? The map will show you if it has a history of illegal tire dumping. Other areas of the dashboard list the top five violations citywide and the number of violations by both council district and city service area.

For example, as of Monday morning, the dashboard reported the city had received 6,318 total service requests in October. The top five were high weeds, litter, vegetation projecting over public rights of way, bulky trash set out too early and improper outside storage. The southwest service area had the most violations so far this month.

The new site has some annoying kinks. It runs a bit slow, and it can be confusing in its terminology. One would assume, for example, that service requests denoted as “closed” were resolved. But that’s not always the case; sometimes they’ve just been referred to other city departments.

Members of a Dallas City Council committee raised that concern during a recent briefing of the new dashboard. But overall, council members praised this new tool for offering more transparency and better service for residents.

We do, too. Such public-information dashboards, such as the ones previously launched by the police, fire and building permits departments, hold those city officials accountable for performance.

We’ve had concerns about code enforcement lately, particularly around the city’s response to complaints about substandard conditions in some multi-family housing complexes. Pressures on the department are only expected to rise in the next year as the city implements its new short-term rentals registration and enforcement program.

The council increased the department’s budget from $41.6 million last year to $45.2 million this year to help it meet its goals. In the meantime, the new code compliance dashboard will help everyone keep a closer eye on not only what’s happening in their neighborhoods, but also at City Hall.