Grading Downtown KC: 19 indicators up, 11 down.
This report card shows how Downtown Kansas City has progressed since the beginning of this decade. The 30 different statistical measures
	were chosen to reflect a wide range of economic and lifestyle activity.
Category	What measuring	Time period	Statistical data	Good or bad	Notes
People	Estimated population change	2000-2007	up 39 %	good	Downtown's core population is now about 14,600, including the West Side but excluding prisoners and the Longfellow neighborhood. It has added about 600 new residents a year.
	New housing units	2000-2007	up 3,978	good	Downtown Council's tally counts lofts and condos, both rehabs and new construction.
	Single-family home resale prices	2002-2007	up 34 %	good	Average price has gone from $113,800 to $152,700, despite a tough market metro-wide. The increase is three times the local inflation rate.
	Condo resale prices	2005-2007	up 45 %	good	Average resale price has jumped from $182,900 to $264,400, one of the best performance in the entire metro area.
	Tourists -- total hotel room nights	2000-2007	down 3 %	bad	2007 was the best year since 9/11 for tourists downtown, but still below pre-9/11 level in 2000. So far, the first quarter of 2008 hasn't kept up 2007's pace, despite a big Big 12 tournament.
	Conventioneer hotel room nights	2001-2007	down 42 %	bad	Conventions have been slipping for decades, but 2007 showed the beginning of a rebound.
	Total workforce	2001-2008	up 0.8 %	good	Downtown Council estimates from early 2008 show it's up less than 1,000 total jobs, to about 101,000, with the Power & Light District turning the trend from negative to positive.
	Rush-hour traffic counts	2001-2007	down 6 %	bad	Reflects city public works counts taken at rush hours at eight intersections spread across Broadway, Grand, Main and Oak, in areas not hindered by construction.
	Cultural event attendance	2000-2007	up 10 %	good	Includes Lyric Opera, KC Ballet and Symphony's classical series. Symphony is now setting attendance records.
	Positive image of downtown	2002-2008	up 37 %	good	Polls for The Star asked city and suburban residents whether downtown's image reflected positively on the metro area. The yes answer jumped from 35% to 48%.
		People category total:		7 good, 3 bad
Office & business	Total office space	2001-2007	up 2 %	good	While H&R Block's headquarters was added, this number isn't bigger because some older space was converted to residential.
	Office vacancy rate	2001-2007	up 33 %	bad	Empty office space in downtown buildings has surged to an average annual vacancy rate of 20%.
	Class A office rental rate	2002-2007	up 5 %	good	Rates for downtown's best space just started going up more, but the overall increase stayed below the inflation rate.
	Class B office rental rate	2002-2007	down 2 %	bad	With so much Class A space available, prices for older Class B space were depressed.
	Share of metro office market	2001-2007	down 20 %	bad	Downtown's share of the metro area's Class A & B office market dropped from 39% to 31%.
	Total businesses	2000-2005	up 1 %	good	Data comes from Census Bureau, so it's dated. But it shows the number of businesses rising in Crossroads and Loop, even before the opening of the Power & Light District.
	Private-sector jobs	2000-2005	down 12 %	bad	Again, data comes from Census Bureau, so it's dated. Downtown lost 9,400 in this period after climbing in the late '90s, but has had a few high-profile additions since 2005.
	Earnings tax revenues	2002-2007	up 24 %	good	Data tabulated by city's finance department. Largest likely cause is increasing salaries over time.
	Hotel room supply	2000-2007	down 2 %	bad	Hilton President hotel reopened, but downtown lost the former Convention Center Hotel and smaller boutiques.
	Hotel occupancy rate	2000-2007	down 5 %	bad	Hotel occupancy has been steadily falling this decade; averaged 62.1% in 2000 and was 58.8% last year. In 2008 so far, occupancy is off from 2007, even with the Sprint Center open.
		Office-business category total:		4 good, 6 bad
Quality of life	Violent crime	2001-2006	down 26 %	good	Crossroads and Quality Hill led the way, down 65% each. Most other sections were down, but the West Side was up.
	Property crime	2001-2006	down 36 %	good	Crossroads was down 52%, Crown Center down 49%. Parts of downtown had some of the best per-capita crime declines in the entire city.
	Feelings of safety	1998-2007	up 21 %	good	From KC citizen surveys: On average, 41% feel safe now, compared to 34% a decade ago.
	Retail shops	2004-2008	down 3 %	bad	Downtown Council business directories provide the counts for all 2004-08 comparisons. This decline reflects fewer book, music, women's clothing and convenience stores.
	Service businesses	2004-2008	up 6 %	good	A few more florists, health clubs and photography studios, but fewer auto repair shops.
	Restaurants	2004-2008	up 4 %	good	Newly opened eateries in Power & Light District puts this trend on the positive side of the ledger.
	Bars & nighclubs	2004-2008	up 38 %	good	Includes Power & Light District and symbolizes the big boost in nightlife downtown.
	Litter index	2003-2007	up 4 %	bad	Downtown had been doing better in Keep Kansas City Beautiful's street surveys, thanks to cleanup crews in the Loop. Although 2007 broke that trend, it's likely a statistical anomaly.
	Art galleries	2001-2008	up 63 %	good	One of downtown's big success stories this decade. The Crossroads is now an active arts district.
	Satisfaction with condition	2000-2007	up 70 %	good	From KC citizen surveys: Satisfaction with downtown maintenance & preservation has gone from 27% to 46%.
		Quality of life category total:		8 good, 2 bad