HOME: Oakland Equity Indicators | Neighborhood and Civic Life | Environmental Health

A safe, clean, and healthy environment is a key component of neighborhood quality. The three Indicators in this Topic explored different attributes of neighborhoods that have an impact on resident health. The first Indicator compared park quality in Council District 1 and Council District 7. The second Indicator compared the rates of service request for illegal dumping in majority Latino and majority White census tracts. The third Indicator compared the pollution burden score in majority Asian and majority White census tracts.

Environmental Health scored 46.7, and the individual Indicators showed notable room for improvement. Park quality, the first Indicator, scored the highest in the Topic at just 57. The second Indicator, abandoned trash, scored the lowest in the Topic at 28. The third Indicator, pollution burden, received a score of 55, revealing geographic disparities in different areas of the city.

Council District 1 received the highest score of 2.9 (C+), while Council District 7 received the lowest score of 1.8 (D+). These scores differed from the citywide average of 2.5 (C). The annual list of Parks in Jeopardy (parks that received an F rating) included parks in all Council Districts except Districts 1 and 6. The data source analyzed Lakeside Park separately, and it received a relatively high score of 3.0 (B). The average overall park rating in Council District 1 was 1.59 times the rating in Council District 7.

Rates of illegal dumping requests per 1,000 population were highest in majority Latino census tracts (102.8) and lowest in majority White census tracts (26.1). Majority African American and majority Asian census tracts had similar rates of illegal dumping service requests (82.6 and 82.0, respectively). The rate for non-White/mixed census tracts (69.4) was similar to the citywide rate (66.9). The rate of illegal dumping service requests in majority Latino census tracts was almost four (3.94) times higher than the rate in majority White census tracts.

The two majority Asian census tracts in Oakland had the highest average pollution burden (51.6), far higher than the average for majority White census tracts (31.8). Majority African American and majority Latino census tracts also had higher average pollution scores than majority White census tracts (37.4 and 40.6, respectively), as did non-White/mixed census tracts (37.9). The pollution burden score in majority Asian census tracts was 1.63 times higher than the score in majority White census tracts.