Data & Methodology
All data in this analysis comes from public City of Philadelphia sources. We're publishing the underlying data so anyone can check our work.
Analysis Workbook
Excel file with record-level data across 6 tabs: F&B licenses, F&B appeals, two-path timeline matches, Frankford east-west comparison, corridor approval summary, and full methodology notes.
Download Excel WorkbookWhat's in the Workbook
Tab 1: F&B Licenses (1,075 rows)
Every food & beverage business license issued on the 7 study corridors since 2007. Includes address, corridor assignment, revenue code, issue date, OPA zoning, building size, and NCA classification (Frankford Ave only).
Tab 2: F&B Appeals (250 rows)
Every food & beverage use appeal (ZBA, LIRB, BBS) on the study corridors. Includes appeal number, created/scheduled dates, decision, appeal grounds text, restaurant type classification (sit-down, take-out, unclear), and pathway (special exception, variance).
Tab 3: Two-Path Matches (198 rows)
The core timeline comparison dataset. Each row is an F&B business matched to either a ZBA filing (ZBA path) or a buildout permit (by-right path), with the number of days from start to business license. This is how we calculate the 5-month vs 10-month headline numbers.
Tab 4: Frankford East-West (varies)
The natural experiment: Frankford Ave addresses classified as East (NCA overlay) or West (by-right) using spatial join against the NCA polygon. Includes zoning permit dates and days-to-BL for the size-stratified comparison.
Tab 5: Approval Summary (7 rows)
One row per corridor with aggregate statistics: approval rates, burden rates, ZBA processing times, and two-path median timelines.
Tab 6: Methodology
Detailed documentation of data sources, classification methods, matching logic, and key definitions.
Data Sources
- Business licenses (2007–2025): Philadelphia business license records from OpenDataPhilly / CARTO
- ZBA appeals (2007–2025): Zoning Board of Adjustment appeal records from OpenDataPhilly / CARTO
- OPA property records: 29,904 parcels across all study streets from CARTO
- L&I permits: 65,521 building and zoning permits for timeline reconstruction
- 311 complaints: Quality-of-life complaint data from OpenDataPhilly
- BID boundaries & NCA overlay: GeoJSON shapefiles from OpenDataPhilly ArcGIS
Questions about the data or methodology? Contact Jon Geeting at jgeeting@gmail.com.