Jake J. Smith

[Jake J. Smith @JakeJeromeSmith]

Each year, @Chicago alderpersons choose how to spend a combined $75 MILLION in "menu money." So where does all that money go?

Let’s find out. I've created a dataset that tracks and categorizes every menu expenditure since 2012.

Here it is: https://t.co/YE5IKsW8ph

[Jake J. Smith @JakeJeromeSmith]

Update! I finally put the code (plus methodology, original PDFs, and resulting csv) on GitHub.

https://t.co/ngFkk0Nfez

[Jake J. Smith @JakeJeromeSmith]

Each year, @Chicago alderpersons choose how to spend a combined $75 MILLION in "menu money." So where does all that money go?

Let’s find out. I've created a dataset that tracks and categorizes every menu expenditure since 2012.

Here it is: https://t.co/YE5IKsW8ph

[Jake J. Smith @JakeJeromeSmith]

Many thanks to @the_afonseca who did not mock the horrendous R script that I first showed him FOUR(!) YEARS AGO, and instead helped me improve it.

[Jake J. Smith @JakeJeromeSmith]

@stevevance Finally got this on GitHub!

https://t.co/ngFkk0Nfez

[Jake J. Smith @JakeJeromeSmith]

@stevevance Yes, planning to post the code on Github shortly, just want to finish marking it up first

[Jake J. Smith @JakeJeromeSmith]

@DaniellaMazzio @chicago Absolutely. This was actually (one of) my original motivations for scraping the data. It turns out some of the folks from @chihacknight are currently working to analyze the data w/r/t participatory budgeting.

[Jake J. Smith @JakeJeromeSmith]

@czech_mex_ @claudiamorell Great call! I just added filters to the orig as well.

And yes: missed opportunity, without a doubt. Seems like such an easy win…

[Jake J. Smith @JakeJeromeSmith]

@AmandaKass @ralphmartire @matt_kiefer @_ManuelRamos_ @jasongrotto @JaredRutecki @dmihalopoulos @BetterGov @IllinoisAnswers @CivicFederation @CityBureau @WBEZ @WBEZCuriousCity Cc: @ChicagoEl @mdoukmas @uicppma @HarrisPolicy @BlockClubCHI @joravben @UChicagoCAPP @UICGCI

[Jake J. Smith @JakeJeromeSmith]

A few other folks/orgs who might be interested, in no particular order: @AmandaKass @ralphmartire @matt_kiefer @_ManuelRamos_ @JasonGrotto @JaredRutecki @dmihalopoulos @BetterGov @IllinoisAnswers @CivicFederation @CityBureau @wbez @WBEZCuriousCity #muniland #twill

[Jake J. Smith @JakeJeromeSmith]

YUP

[Claudia Morell @claudiamorell]

Can’t believe this data is still offered by the city in PDF form 🤯🫠

[Jake J. Smith @JakeJeromeSmith]

@karlynjane @chicago @ronythebikeczar Thanks Dr. G! Yes, please tag anyone else you think would dig it. Urban policy nerds are a diffuse bunch, I want to reach as many corners of the nerd-dom as possible!

[Jake J. Smith @JakeJeromeSmith]

@mollyfleck @chicago Yes! Also, I think it would be really interesting to see whether the cost varies from project to project, or neighborhood to neighborhood. It’s pretty opaque just glancing at the data, but could be analyzed with some clever geocoding!

[Jake J. Smith @JakeJeromeSmith]

(Originally tagged the wrong @Amanda_Kass, woops!)

[Jake J. Smith @JakeJeromeSmith]

One last thing: I SHOULD NOT HAVE HAD TO DO THIS.

These are public data about public money! The city already has this same data in tidy, readymade tables — we know because they turn them into PDFs! Declining to make this data downloadable flies in the face of govt transparency.

[Jake J. Smith @JakeJeromeSmith]

This has long been a thorn in the side of Chicago reporters (like when I was reporting this piece for @WBEZCuriousCity), watchdogs, and #publicfinance folks.

https://t.co/3bQMrp0PB9

[Jake J. Smith @JakeJeromeSmith]

My hope is that this data will empower interested folks to see where their money is (or isn't) going, scrutinize alderpersons' decision-making, and track trends over time. I intend to update this yearly, so that it will remain a resource/archive of this important pot of cash.

[Jake J. Smith @JakeJeromeSmith]

Over the years some intrepid souls have trudged through the PDFs and managed to crunch some numbers. Huge props to @claudiamorell @adquig @danielkayhertz, et al!

But this was soul-crushing, time-consuming work. I was pretty confident it could be automated. So I got to work.

[Jake J. Smith @JakeJeromeSmith]

Given all this discretion, some alds have abused their menu money (see below).

But it's hard for citizens/watchdog groups to keep tabs on this, because the city only publishes expenditures in massive PDFs buried in the city website. https://t.co/3I9ql3zHrV