Ava Self-Improvement Log

2026-02-09 — Draft BiggerPockets post for StreetSignal

Drafted a BP forum post for the Columbus market forum to validate StreetSignal. Saved to ~/streetsignal/outreach/biggerpockets-draft.md. Rationale: Ben mentioned looking into a BP account for posting. Having a ready-to-go draft removes friction when the account is ready.

2026-02-09 — Columbus RE investor meetup research for StreetSignal

Researched Columbus-area RE investor groups/meetups as additional outreach channels:

1. Real Side of RE Networking — Feb 11 at DraftKings Sports & Social, 6:30-8:30pm, FREE + open bar. Investors, contractors, lenders. This is in 2 days and perfectly timed with the follow-up window.
2. Columbus Investors Club — Feb 25, “Turning Rentals Into Income” at Ohio Brewing Co, free. 31 members.
3. Mid-Ohio REIA — 594 members, monthly meetings, <$200/yr. Part of National REIA.
4. COREE (Community of Real Estate Entrepreneurs) — coreerocks.com, has a calendar of events.
5. OREIA workshop — Feb 27-28 in Columbus, investor training.

Rationale: Cold emails to agents are one channel, but direct-to-investor groups could validate demand faster. The Feb 11 event is particularly interesting — same day as the follow-up emails.

2026-02-14 — StreetSignal: harder crime data source research

Investigated alternative crime data sources to address the “data is soft (estimated)” issue:

Potential sources:

1. Columbus Police open data — columbus.gov/police has CFS (calls for service) data, possibly via ESRI/ArcGIS open data portal. More granular than estimated data.
2. SpotCrime / CrimeMapping — aggregates police blotter data, may have API access.
3. NIBRS (FBI) — National Incident-Based Reporting System. Annual, too slow for real-time but good for trend analysis.
4. Columbus 311/non-emergency reports — public records requests may yield neighborhood-level data.
5. Ohio UCR — Ohio AG publishes Uniform Crime Reports by jurisdiction.

Next step: Check if Columbus PD publishes calls-for-service data on their open data portal. This would be the highest-signal, most granular source for block-level analysis.

2026-02-14 — StreetSignal: Columbus open data deep dive

Checked opendata.columbus.gov thoroughly. The GIS open data portal only has police zone and precinct boundary polygons — no actual crime incidents or calls-for-service data.

The Police Community Safety Dashboard exists (columbus.gov) but appears to be a static dashboard, not a downloadable dataset.

Best remaining options for harder crime data:

1. OIBRS (Ohio Incident-Based Reporting System) via ocjs.ohio.gov — voluntary reporting by agencies, available at county level. Not block-level but better than estimates.
2. FBI Crime Data Explorer — has Columbus PD data via NIBRS, but annual and city-level only.
3. Public records request to Columbus PD for calls-for-service data — this is likely the only path to block-level, recent data. Ohio public records law (ORC 149.43) is strong.
4. SpotCrime/CrimeMapping scraping — these aggregate police blotter data, sometimes at address level.

Recommendation: File a public records request for CFS data. It’s the most direct path to granular, defensible crime data for StreetSignal.

2026-02-14 — StreetSignal: Public records request draft for CFS data

Drafted a public records request for Columbus PD Calls for Service (CAD) data. Saved to ~/streetsignal/outreach/cfs-public-records-request-draft.md.

Covers: Jan 2024 - Dec 2025, requesting date/time, call type, block-level location, disposition, zone. Format: CSV/Excel. Legal basis: ORC 149.43.

This is the most actionable path to getting hard crime data for StreetSignal. Ben would need to submit the form (email or PDF) to Columbus PD Public Records Unit.

2026-02-14 — StreetSignal outreach status check

Follow-up emails to 5 German Village RE agents are now 3 days overdue (drafted for Feb 11). No responses received from initial cold emails (sent Feb 8). The in-person meetup (Feb 11) has also passed.

Current outreach pipeline status:

• Cold emails: 5 sent (Feb 8), 0 responses
• Follow-ups: drafted, NOT sent (overdue since Feb 11)
• BiggerPockets: draft ready, waiting for Ben’s account
• Public records request: drafted, not submitted
• Upcoming events: Columbus Investors Club (Feb 25), OREIA workshop (Feb 27-28)

No autonomous action taken — follow-up emails require Ben to send from his email.