Toronto Canada Neighbourhood of Willowdale – An Analysis of Calls to the City Helpline [OC]

If you are interested in the minutiae of neighbourhood differences in the city of Toronto, Canada then you have come to the right place.

Background:

I was looking at the publicly available 311 call data for fun (I have odd interests) and I decided to conduct a little investigation into the types of calls that Willowdale Ward residents over index vs under index on compared to the wider municipality.

Analysis:

So, what did we find… well, wildlife and tree-related issues are more common here! The findings aren't shocking, as Willowdale (as its name suggests) has more trees and green space than many other areas of the city, and is a bit wealthier than average. I do find it surprising, however, the sheer volume of calls that are related to garbage / recycling pickup; bin replacements, things not being picked up etc. are overwhelmingly the number #1 reason that residents of Willowdale and every single ward in the city are picking up the phone and yelling at the municipality.

Notes on the data source:

I think its pretty cool that the city publishes 311 data like this. It's much more granular that my analysis shows; they separately track, for instance, the number of calls related to Coyote attacks, loose dogs, and even bee scares!

Keep in mind that this data does *not* include phone calls to emergency services (e.g. medical, fire, police), health, or the city transit services; all of which have difference contact methods.

In case you're wondering what falls under 'under', it includes a plethora of items like road update requests, business practice complaints (e.g. taxis, illegal dumping), landlord complaints, snow clearing requests, as well as 'unknown purpose' calls and a whole host of miscellaneous issues)