One-mile Radius Research Articles

Assessing the acute effects of exposure to community violence among adolescents: A strategic comparison approach

This paper examines whether exposure to spatially proximate homicide affects norms, attitudes, and the adaptive strategies adolescents take to insulate themselves from violent victimization. Drawing on survey data from a large sample of urban youth (n = 3195), we assess the impact of homicides occurring within a one-mile radius of respondents’ homes on a variety of psychosocial outcomes. We exploit random variation in the timing of survey administration to compare the survey responses of youths who were exposed to a homicide in the immediate vicinity of their homes in the one-month period leading up the administration of the survey with students who did not experience a homicide near their homes during that period but would the following month. This strategic comparison approach minimizes the confounding influence of endogenous processes that funnel children and families into places where homicides tend to concentrate.

Cold Roses

Cold Roses Juliana Gray (bio) Vermont’s Green Mountains jut into the horizon like the dramatic, unlikely slopes I drew as a child. They seem so close, as if walking a few miles in their direction I might suddenly bang my knee against the incline. That illusion—that the mountains were only a mile or so around the bend—was unshakable during my drive here. Now, walking the hills above town, I feel it again. I take a few pictures, but the February day is bright, so I mostly capture sun flares against dark hills. I’m at an artists’ residency, and I should be writing in my cozy little studio. But it’s a rare sunny day, and I’ve been eating rich dining hall food with no exercise. Stretching my legs in sun, luxuriating like a cat, I strip off my coat and tuck my phone into my back pocket, earbuds connecting me to a true crime podcast for company. Back in my room, I post my bad pictures on Facebook and make a joke about how much I’ve missed my murder podcasts. “A lovely place for murder!” a friend comments. Amused, curious, I look online. And in no time at all, I find one. ________ Jodie Whitney was 35, with brown hair and a toothy smile. She worked at Stoweflake Mountain Resort in Stowe; she was married, and had a three-year-old daughter. On May 24, 2004, her husband reported her missing, saying he last saw her that morning before he left for work. She never showed up at the resort that day, and she never came home. Her Jeep was found behind a barn, not far from her house. Jodie wasn’t in it. ________ The podcast I had listened to during my walk was indeed about a murder, or rather, a likely murder. Eight-year-old Relisha Rudd was living with her mother in a homeless shelter; Relisha was taken by a friend, a man the mother trusted. She didn’t, at first, perceive that her child was in danger, and didn’t report her missing. Relisha was Black, so it was somewhat unusual to hear her case covered [End Page 166] by a popular podcast. Crimes involving people of color or marginalized victims such as drug users or sex workers are underrepresented in the media. The most popular stories are about murdered and missing white women, especially if they’re young, especially if they’re middle- to upper-class, especially if they’re blonde and beautiful. Think Natalee Holloway, JonBenét Ramsey, Gabby Petito. The podcast made a point of this underrepresentation, suggesting the police’s initial failure to investigate Relisha’s disappearance may have been linked to her race and her family’s precarious economic status. By the time police got involved, Relisha had missed over a month of school, and her mother hadn’t seen her in 18 days. When police did start to ask questions, the man who had taken her killed his wife, then himself. Relisha has never been found. ________ Police began searching for Jodie right away. Like most Vermonters, she was white. In all, 50 officers and a canine unit conducted a ground search in a one-mile radius around Jodie’s abandoned Jeep. There was an expanded search, an aerial search, a search of three miles of the nearby Gihon River. An unidentified woman at a hospital in Dartmouth, New Hampshire seemed to fit Jodie’s description, but she wasn’t Jodie. Soon people were comparing Jodie’s disappearance to those of two other young women in the area. On February 9, 2004, U Mass Amherst student Maura Murray vanished after an apparent car crash in rural New Hampshire. Then, just over a month later, 17-year-old Brianna Maitland disappeared after leaving her job at a restaurant in northern Vermont. The similarities—missing women, abandoned cars, geographical proximity—were compelling. People began to murmur about a serial killer. Then, on June 2, just over a week after she went missing, Jodie’s body was found. Her husband was already in custody, giving his confession. [End Page 167] ________ My writing studio at the...

Assessing the Impact of Ferry Transit on Urban Crime

In 2017, over a dozen ferry stations were introduced across the NYC region on multiple dates, serving roughly 10,000 customers per day. We measure a negative association between these stations and crime reduction, a significant decline of 11 crimes per week (11%) at a one-mile radius around the stations, and about 1 crime per week (32%) over the extremely narrow base of crime at the station itself. We also find no evidence of crime displacement. This study first utilized a traditional difference-in-differences methodology, but we also used a new tool, the causal random forest. Both methodologies are compared and contrasted with an eye toward user understanding. The results of our analysis are consistent and coherent across all the different methodologies, with the causal random forest finding more pronounced effects by taking into account two major factors: the propensity of the regions for treatment, and the interaction between elements of interest.

The Impact of Police Killings on Proximal Voter Turnout

This paper studies how spatial proximity to pre-election police killings affects voter turnout. I argue that incidents of police violence have neighborhood-level effects. Nearby voters are more likely to learn about proximal killings than those further away. If perceived as unjust, police killings teach political lessons that reduce voters’ trust in government and political efficacy. In turn, this impacts voter turnout. Observing the 2016 presidential election, I test this theory using geolocated voter data and a difference-in-differences design with matched groups. I find that pre-election police killings reduce voter turnout by 3 percentage points in the killings’ one-mile radius. Space and race matter. Police killings reduce Black voter turnout by 5.9 percentage points in the killings’ one-mile radius, but Black voters one to two miles away from the killings are unaffected. However, police killings do not affect White and Latino voter turnout regardless of the distance.

Rail accidents and property values in the era of unconventional energy production

We estimate the effect of 33 derailments involving hazardous materials on property values in New York State between 2004 and 2013. Difference-in-differences analyses show that, on average, a derailment depreciates housing values within a one-mile radius by 5%–8%. The prices of affected properties return to pre-accident levels after about 480 days. In addition, we find that the impacts of derailments on property values are limited to the local area. These results provide evidence for evaluating the economic costs of rail transportation to nearby communities and for considering policy options in the current era of U.S. energy transformation resulting in substantial increases in the rail shipment of fuels.

The Real Effects of Environmental Activist Investing

We study the real effects of environmental activist investing. Using plant-level data, we find that targeted firms reduce their toxic releases, greenhouse gas emissions, and cancer-causing pollution. Improvements in air quality within a one-mile radius of targeted plants suggest potentially important externalities to local economies. These improvements come through increased capital expenditures on new abatement initiatives. We rule out alternative explanations of decline in production, reporting biases, and forms of selection, while also providing evidence supporting the external validity of environmental activism. Overall, our study suggests that engagements are an effective tool for long-term shareholders to address climate change risks.

The effect of entry restrictions on price: evidence from the retail gasoline market

I exploit a change in Spanish regulations to test the effect of the relaxation of entry restrictions on the equilibrium retail price of diesel. In February 2013, a Central Government reform permitted gasoline stations to operate in industrial and commercial areas. Over the following 2-year period, this deregulation led to a high number of new market entrants in these newly designated free entry areas. By isolating markets exposed to entry and markets unaffected by new entrants, and adopting a difference-in-difference approach, results show that gasoline stations exposed to a new market entrant within a one-mile radius lower their prices by an average 1.04%. This result is significant, representing almost one fifth of the average retail margin. Additionally, the results show that the reduction in the equilibrium price is caused by the first market entrant and that the effect decreases over time.

The Urban Food Hubs Solution: Building Capacity in Urban Communities

Access to affordable fresh food is an ongoing challenge for underserved urban neighborhoods across the United States. Several are designated food deserts with no access to a full-service grocery store within a one-mile radius. The Urban Food Hubs of the College of Agriculture, Urban Sustainability, and Environmental Sciences (CAUSES) of the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) exemplify the University’s commitment to building capacity in the food desert neighborhoods of Washington D.C. The four components of the Urban Food Hubs are food production, food preparation, food distribution, and waste and water recovery (http://www.udc.edu/category/causes). They are designed to not only provide access to fresh food, but also to create jobs, improve public health, mitigate water management problems, and create urban resiliency. The contributions in economic, social/cultural, and physical/environmental impacts, and the five pillars of economic development that track the broader impacts of urban capacity building are described here. The Urban Food Hubs demonstrate the investment metropolitan universities could make to ensure the long-term economic, social, and environmental health of each community. The model is scalable and replicable in other metropolitan areas including those that experience high pressure on land-use and those experiencing decline.

Interplay of takeaway food outlet exposure and income on diet and obesity: a cross-sectional study in UK Biobank

BackgroundThe proliferation of takeaway food outlets has been called a public health problem by Public Health England and the Chief Medical Officer for England. Evidence indicates that the density of takeaway outlets in neighbourhoods can promote unhealthy eating and obesity. But takeaway outlets tend to cluster in deprived areas, and vulnerability to unhealthy food environments might vary across social groups. This study examined the interplay between exposure to takeaway outlets and individual-level socioeconomic position in relation to diet and obesity. MethodsThis cross-sectional study included UK Biobank participants based in Greater London (n=51 361) aged 38–72 years with valid height and weight data, food frequency data, and food environment exposures. Food environment exposures were estimated using geographic information systems and food outlet data from UKMap, as counts of outlets by type, within one-mile radius Euclidean (circular) buffers centred on each participant's home address. Our primary exposure was the number of takeaway outlets as a proportion of all food outlets. Participants were jointly classified on the basis of household income (four groups) and quartile of neighbourhood takeaway outlet proportion to create 16 exposure groups. Regression models estimated the odds of frequent processed meat consumption and obesity. We calculated relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI), relative to a single reference group. Participant data were collected during 2005–13 and analysed in 2016. FindingsBoth income and takeaway exposure were systematically associated with frequent consumption of processed meat and obesity. In mutually adjusted models, lowest-income participants were more likely than highest-income participants to be obese (odds ratio 1·53, 95% CI 1·38–1·69); and relative to those least exposed, highest takeaway exposure was also associated with obesity (1·76, 1·61–1·91). In additive models, the combination of lowest income and highest takeaway exposure was associated with substantially increased odds of obesity (2·75, 2·33–3·24), with the RERI indicating significant interaction. Results were similar in diet analyses. InterpretationWe have confirmed the findings of earlier work showing independent associations between income, neighbourhood takeaway outlet exposure, and diet and adiposity. Moreover, we provide evidence of the double burden of low income and an unhealthy neighbourhood food environment, resulting in higher rates of unhealthy diet and obesity. FundingBritish Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, National Institute for Health Research, and the Wellcome Trust, under the auspices of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration.

Community Design Impacts on Health Habits in Low-income Southern Nevadans.

The purposes of this exploratory study were to: (1) characterize selected community design features; and (2) determine the relationship between select features and physical activity (PA) levels and nutrition habits for a small sample of low-income southern Nevadans. Secondary analysis was conducted on data from selected participants of the Nevada Healthy Homes Partnership program; self-report data on PA and diet habits were compared to national guidelines. Community design features were identified via GIS within a one-mile radius of participants' homes. Descriptive statistics characterized these features and chi-square analyses were conducted to determine the relationship between select features and habits. Data from 71 participants were analyzed; the majority failed to reach either PA or fruit and vegetable guidelines (81.7% and 93.0%, respectively). Many neighborhoods were absent of parks (71.8%), trailheads (36.6%), or pay-for-use PA facilities (47.9%). The mean number of grocery stores was 3.4 ± 2.3 per neighborhood. Chi-square analyses were not statistically significant. Findings were insufficient to make meaningful conclusions, but support the need for health promotion to meet guidelines. More research is needed to assess the impact of health-promoting community design and healthy behaviors, particularly in vulnerable populations.

How much neighborhood parks contribute to local residents' physical activity in the City of Los Angeles: A meta-analysis

ObjectiveTo quantify the contribution of neighborhood parks to population-level, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). MethodWe studied park use in 83 neighborhood parks in Los Angeles between 2003 and 2014 using systematic observation and surveys of park users and local residents. We observed park use at least 3–4 times per day over 4–7 clement days. We conducted a meta-analysis to estimate total, age group and gender-specific park use and total MVPA time in parks. ResultsAn average park measuring 10 acres and with 40,000 local residents in a one-mile radius accrued 5301h of use (SE=1083) during one week, with 35% (1850h) spent in MVPA and 12% (635h) spent in vigorous physical activity (VPA). As much as a 10.7-fold difference in weekly MVPA hours was estimated across study parks. Parks' main contribution to population-level MVPA is for males, teenagers, and residents living within a half mile. ConclusionNeighborhood parks contribute substantially to population MVPA. The contribution may depend less on size and facilities than on “demand goods” – programming and activities--that draw users to a park.

Registered sex offenders and house prices: An hedonic analysis

The sex offender registry system provides consumers with locations of registered sex offenders. This paper uses two methods to evaluate the impact of sex offender registries on house prices in Memphis. Using an hedonic spatial error model, we find that each additional sex offender in a one-mile radius results in a loss of about 2% of the property value and that a 10% increase in distance from the nearest sex offender increases value by about 0.17%. At the mean values of the independent variables we find a 7% loss of value within a one-mile radius and a 14% loss of value within a 0.1 mile radius.

Interventions to improve access to fresh food in vulnerable communities: a review of the literature

Background: “Food desert” is a term used to describe low-income communities without access to healthy, fresh food within a one-mile radius of their residence. The limited access to healthy foods in urban African-American communities may be a critical factor in the development of nutritional disorders and associated chronic disease in this vulnerable population. Research has shown that community gardens are a promising intervention for addressing food quality and access issues. This study aimed to assess whether improving the local food environment through community gardens can increase accessibility to healthy foods in Metropolitan Atlanta communities assumed to be food deserts. Methods: A systematic literature review was conducted to identify best practices of community garden projects in order to address food deserts in metropolitan cities. Next, a windshield survey was conducted in the Adamsville community in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia to determine if a food desert was present, and to provide an analysis of the local food environment. Results: Twenty-nine articles were reviewed and eight best practices were identified as effective strategies in metropolitan cities. We found that community gardens had only minimal impact on food access issues in urban communities due to seasonal accessibility and low yield. The windshield survey revealed that the Adamsville community was not a food desert because it had access to healthy foods within a half-mile radius. Conclusion: While the literature review revealed that community gardens had a minimal impact on food access in urban communities, food policy advocacy and supermarket tax incentives were identified as effective ways to promote healthy community development.

I am Hungry: Cheap eats in Cyberspace

I AM HUNGRY (IAH), a free mobile App for the iPhone and Facebook, was introduced in early 2010 by a small Web 2.0 startup business. This location based App provided users with a list of restaurants and food specials within a one-mile radius of their current location. It offered significant benefits to both restaurants and end users, yet IAH struggled to generate a sustained revenue stream. The case is set in late 2010 when co-founders Markarian and Kravets evaluated IAH performance and considered their options. The two segments, Mom and Pop restaurants and college students, presented different challenges. In the restaurant segment, IAH faced a dilemma not uncommon to Web startups. Should they push for growth (number of restaurants) at the expense of revenue (offering the App free) or should they charge for the App at the expense of growth? Focusing on the end user, the case discusses the outcomes of an IAH promotion at Collegefest, a heavily attended back-to-school event. Data from Google Analytics and Facebook Insights revealed that the event was a success in terms of user traffic. But, was that enough? The case asks students to deliberate on the appropriate performance metrics for evaluating next steps.

From the Macro to the Micro: A Geographic Examination of the Community Context and Early Adolescent Problem Behaviors

This study examined how multiple dimensions and levels of the community context associated with early adolescent problem behaviors in rural communities. Four thousand, five hundred and nine eighth-grade students in 28 rural and small town school districts in two states participated in surveys regarding substance use and delinquency in 2005. Locations of alcohol retailers, tobacco retailers, youth-serving organizations, and student residences were geocoded. Associations of the number of proximal alcohol and tobacco retailers, and youth-serving organizations with an early-adolescent problem behavior index were tested in Nonlinear Mixed Models that controlled for multiple district-level and individual characteristics. Multi-level model results demonstrated that the number of alcohol and tobacco retail locations within a one-mile radius of each adolescent's home positively associated with student-reported problem behaviors above and beyond the influence of school district and individual characteristics. Results suggest that the proximal community context added significantly to the district context when understanding the occurrence of early adolescent problem behaviors. Recognizing this variability in geographically determined risk within a community will likely enhance the effectiveness of community prevention activities.

Access to grocery stores in Dallas

This paper presents geo-spatial information concerning access to grocery stores in Dallas County, Texas. A map shows the spatial distribution of neighbourhoods classified according to the number of grocery stores within a one-mile radius. Neighbourhood-level data from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission and US Census reveal distinct demographic characteristics in areas with many versus few grocery stores. No-grocery-store neighbourhoods are predominantly low-income and concentrated in southern Dallas, and African-American neighbourhoods have significantly fewer grocery stores. Disparities in access to nutritious food suggest the possibility of a breakdown in food security, afflicting as many as 400,000 low-income residents. The demographic correlates of grocery store access are analysed in light of economic and behavioural theories of consumer decisions about what to eat and firms' choices of where to locate stores.

Is the Opening of a Neighborhood Full-Service Grocery Store Followed by a Change in the Food Behavior of Residents?

ABSTRACT Background: Low-income residents of neighborhoods lacking a full-service grocery store may find it difficult to access healthy and fresh foods. However, will the mere opening of a full-service grocery store in such neighborhoods promote healthy food behaviors? This pilot study primarily sought to: (1) determine if food purchasing and consumption patterns change six months after a full-service grocery store opens in a neighborhood previously lacking access to healthy and fresh foods; (2) identify the characteristics of residents who had begun to use the new grocery store; and (3) identify factors that influenced where residents shopped for food. Methods: Six months after a full-service grocery store opened in a poor neighborhood, 78 adult residents, forming a convenience sample, were interviewed to assess their food purchasing and consumption behaviors at two time points (current and retrospective one year). All lived within a 2-mile radius of the store. Fisher's Exact Test was used to assess differences in relevant behaviors between those who had started to use the new store and those who had not. Results: Sixty-two percent of the interviewees used the new store. Those who used the new store were more likely to live within a one-mile radius than those who did not. The availability of cultural (ethnic) foods, and store safety were the most commonly cited reasons for why people chose to shop where they did. A comparison of food behaviors before and after the store's opening revealed no significant changes. Conclusion: It may take more than six months to observe the effects of a neighborhood full-service grocery store on residents' food behaviors. While our findings indicate that close proximity to a store influences where people shop for food, factors other than proximity are also important. Marketing and nutrition education may help accelerate the desired changes in food behavior.

An Evaluation of the Effect of DC’s Voucher Program on Public School Achievement and Racial Integration After One Year

This study evaluates the initial effect of Washing, DC’s Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) on the academic performance of public schools and its effects on the opportunities that District students have to attend integrated schools. The OSP is a federally sponsored school voucher program that provides vouchers worth up to $7,500 for an estimated 1,800 to 2,000 students in the District of Columbia. The authors measure whether a public school’s test-score gains are related to its distance to the nearest voucher-accepting private school or the number of voucher schools within a one-mile radius of a public school. The evaluation finds that the OSP has had no academic effect, positive or negative, on the District’s public schools after its first year. The study also compares rates of racial integration in DC’s public schools and private schools participating in the voucher program. This is part of the first-year evaluation of the OSP. The authors plan to continue evaluating the OSP using a variety of approaches.

Statistical Environmental Justice Assessment for a Transportation Corridor

Executive Order 12898 requires federally sponsored transportation projects to evaluate environmental justice criteria. These federal requirements for transportation studies have proven difficult to evaluate because of the wide range of potential scenarios that can disproportionately affect sensitive populations (either low-income or minority groups). Therefore, environmental justice assessments typically have been conducted in geographically broad areas without refined resolution for the populations closest to the transportation route. This study uses geographic information systems technology with statistical methods to provide for a more refined analysis at the census block level. The study centers on a proposed commuter rail project in the Interstate 35 corridor in the eastern Kansas/Kansas City, Missouri, area. The project involves construction of five new commuter rail stations, and the study aims to ascertain whether construction and operation of the rail system would have disproportionate impacts on low-income people. Comparisons of the median incomes in census blocks in the county with the census blocks within a one-mile radius of the five proposed stations are provided as the basis for a quantitative environmental justice assessment. The environmental justice parameter of low-income level was evaluated using analysis of variance. Results of the study indicated that the mean of the median incomes in census blocks around one rail station differed significantly from the mean of median incomes in the census blocks around the other four stations, and from the blocks in the rest of the county. The study is useful for demonstrating the importance of using a quantitative method as a tool for environmental justice assessment.

Neighborhood characteristics and emergency department utilization.

Neighborhood environments have been linked to the prevalence and incidence rates of a variety of diseases and injuries. This study assessed the relations between neighborhood demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and emergency department (ED) utilization. Billing data for the calendar year 2000 for adult patients residing within a one-mile radius of the study ED were geo-coded based on home addresses and merged with neighborhood data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Annual ED visit rates per 100 population were computed for each census block within the study area and analyzed in relation to neighborhood characteristics. The study area consisted of 714 census blocks and 42,278 adult residents, with a total of 16,427 visits to the study ED. Annual ED visit rates increased from 17 visits per 100 population for neighborhoods where less than 50% of the population were African American to 51 visits per 100 population for neighborhoods where all residents were African American (p < 0.001). Annual ED visit rates decreased from 53% for neighborhoods where <20% of housing units were owner-occupied to 27% for neighborhoods with >45% owner-occupied housing units (p < 0.001). Multivariate linear regression modeling revealed that proportions of African American residents and owner-occupied housing units were significantly associated with ED utilization, independent of age and gender compositions and the distance between residence and the study ED. Even within a small geographic area, ED utilization may vary greatly by neighborhood characteristics. Neighborhood racial composition and housing tenure are independent predictors of ED visit rates in this urban community.