The Dallas Morning News
Driving at a crawl through the streets of South Dallas in a maroon Nissan with tinted windows and rap music playing low, Bruce August and Marcus Wingo get more than a few dirty looks.
The police have pulled them over twice.
But the two young college students are not in search of trouble or drugs. They're part of a team of six students conducting a "windshield" survey to gather data on the condition of about 12,000 parcels of land throughout Fair Park and surrounding neighborhoods.
The area being surveyed includes streets littered with abandoned homes, vacant lots and decaying buildings. At a time when many say neighborhoods in this section of the city are nearing a historic turnaround, Jim Murdoch said he hopes his $15,000 study can offer city planners more accurate data to predict, plan and measure future South Dallas revitalization efforts.
Dr. Murdoch, a professor of economics and public policy at the University of Texas at Dallas, said he believes it's important for universities and their students to get involved in improving their communities. He wants to do a similar survey in West Dallas later this year.
"The more people that are thinking about it, the more likely it is that good things will happen," Dr. Murdoch said.
In a windshield survey, most of the information is gathered from the car of the researcher. All but one of the six survey takers are UTD students. They will work through much of the summer, making several runs through the assigned area.
The initial part of the study, funded by the Foundation for Community Empowerment, is to determine the land's use and the condition of the structures. Other phases may determine more details about the property or structures, including the condition of yards, whether there are bars on the windows and other characteristics considered by urban planners, Dr. Murdoch said.
As part of their work, the students grade the condition of residential units on a scale of 1 to 4, with 1 designating those that should be demolished and 4 denoting those that are most livable. Dr. Murdoch said he has tried to have the students rate the residences consistently by discussing the definitions and mixing up the teams that drive together.
In addition, he said that businesses in the survey would be classified by various categories such as retail, convenience stores or grocery stores.
The city is not directly involved, but officials hope to utilize the data once the project is completed at the end of summer or early fall, said Daniel Oney, research manager in the city's Office of Economic Development and a former student of Dr. Murdoch.
Mr. Oney said that such coordination with independent groups is a key part of urban planning and that Dallas needs to do it more often.
"If you look at cities that are more mature in their planning and sort of economic development research functions ... there's a lot more cooperation between the universities and the local think tanks and the city staff," Mr. Oney said. "The city has often the vision for the area through kind of the planning process. The academics can come in with their tools and combine that with the city's sort of practical experience."
In addition, the information collected in studies like this one provide more detail than is generally available through the U.S. census or other common sources, said Phil Ashton, an assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago's College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs.
"Having that kind of rich data is in a lot of cases kind of a starting point for revitalization and planning," Mr. Ashton said. "It gives a portrait that could be used in a more profound way."
Mr. Wingo, 22, grew up in South Dallas. He said the work he has done over the past few weeks has forced him to take a more critical look at neighborhoods he never used to think were in particularly poor condition.
"It kind of got a little personal to me because depending on what we grade it, it may change the outcome of how the neighborhood looks," he said. "If some stuff needs to be torn down, I don't mind putting that kind of grade on it to where they may tear it down."
For the residents who live among the abandoned homes and empty lots, anything that could bring attention to their battle for better living conditions is a positive.
"I think it will enhance the efforts in getting some responses," said Helen Sorrells, who lives near several abandoned homes, some infested with drugs and prostitution. "I think it takes everything to get them to really ... get on it and see some action."