The Truckee Town Council recently accepted a set of socio-economic metrics as Truckee’s official database of record.

The metrics, comprised of 91 indicators, will be used to annually measure quality of life as it relates to living, working, owning a business and playing in Truckee. Developed based upon a series of Quality of Life surveys, the indicators offer a baseline of “what matters most” to Truckee residents and visitors who responded to four surveys.

Conducted by Truckee Tomorrow, a public private economic development initiative led by the Truckee Chamber of Commerce, the data provided through the Quality of Life surveys and the resulting metrics will offer annual insight into critical issues such as housing and the environment, in addition to safety, security, healthcare, education, recreation, affordability and more.

---

---

“The intention of this Truckee Tomorrow project is to pinpoint local data and citizen sentiment, and to be able to measure it more frequently than the census or other macro surveys,” said Colleen Dalton, Truckee director of Tourism and Economic Programs. “Our goal was to clearly identify one methodology for each metric, which is oftentimes all over the place. With Town Council’s adoption of these metrics as Truckee’s official database of record, all organizations, consultants, and members of the media should be citing this data moving forward.”

Truckee’s metrics were presented earlier this year at the 2019 Mountain Ventures Summit held in Mammoth Lakes, a gathering of small mountain towns across the country. With 41 mountain and gateway communities in attendance including Jackson Hole, Telluride, Mammoth Lakes and more, Truckee’s work was considered so impressive, most of the mountain towns in attendance stated they wanted to join the Mountain Towns Quality of Life project. The number one metric for each town to benchmark is: “would you recommend (town name) as a place to live to a colleague or friend?”

---

---

More recently, the work done on the socio-economic indicators helped provide clarity on the housing inventory and short-term rentals in Truckee.

“As a partner of the Mountain Housing Council, we were able to provide critical baseline data within the municipal boundaries of Truckee that correct the perception of the penetration of the short-term rental market,” said Dalton. “With housing being such a critical issue for our community, it is important that we are working with facts and understand that Truckee has unique data as compared to the region.”

The next phase will include creating awareness of these metrics, developing a user-friendly representation of the data, re-measuring, and improving the systems for measuring these indicators on an ongoing basis.

“This is going to benefit all of us to be using the same data in our talking points,” stated Town Council member Dave Polivy. “A lot of us are out there communicating whether it’s with the press, visitors, with other jurisdictions, so having the same playbook is really key.”

The comprehensive list of Truckee’s official database of record can be found at http://www.truckee.com/socio-economic.

To view Truckee’s presentation at the 2019 Mountain Ventures Summit, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRTKYOPrfcw&t=8s.

About Truckee Tomorrow

Truckee Tomorrow is a public private partnership with the overarching goal to create a diverse economy, while maintaining and growing a diverse, vibrant middle class. Led by the Truckee Chamber of Commerce in partnership with private investors and the Town of Truckee, the initiative brings the business community together for a collaborative approach to driving projects to tackle the issue of recruitment and retention of employees; workforce development through expanding on existing programs of education providers; and taking a long-term, forward-thinking approach to diversifying Truckee’s economy and create a rising tide economy. Learn more at http://www.truckee.com/truckee-chamber-commerce/truckee-tomorrow/.

About Truckee Chamber of Commerce

The Truckee Chamber of Commerce is the largest, most connected business organization in Truckee. Founded in 1912, and incorporated in 1953, the Chamber of Commerce is dedicated to stepping up to the greatest challenges in our community by acting as a catalyst for business growth; a convener of leaders and influencers to get things done; and champion for a thriving community. Learn more at http://www.truckee.com/truckee-chamber-commerce/.

Source: Truckee Chamber of Commerce