Stage 4 · Build, and every week after

A measure, a trend line,and somewhere to go with it.

Once a project is public, the question becomes which concern is gaining ground this week. We score that on a fixed rubric, the same way in every market, and report the movement with the number. Every scored market is also listed in the project tracker.

Where you are in the project
  1. 01LandSite Favorability screen
  2. 02AnnounceCounty Brief
  3. 03EntitleEngagement plan and toolkit
  4. 04BuildSentiment MonitoringYou are here
  5. 05DeliverCommunity Benefits Reporting

What a score is made of

The Local Sentiment Index blends two layers. The public record carries the most weight, because a council vote or a docket filing is a harder fact than a post. The digital layer shows where things are heading before they reach a hearing.

Layer one
Public record

Council and commission minutes, utility commission dockets, permit filings, petitions, hearing turnout, moratoria and litigation.

Layer two
Digital signal

Search behavior for the project and its concerns, local forums and subreddits, and the tone of local coverage.

Reported with
Loudness, scope, veto point

How big the fight is, where the concern lives against where the decision is being made, and whether any local body can actually say no.

Scored across a fixed set of concern categories

Each one opens to its evidence and its public-record and digital split on every published page. Market-specific categories are added where the record demands them and marked as provisional.

WaterElectricity and rate impactJobs and economic benefit credibilityZoning and processNDAs and secrecyNoiseTrafficHealthProperty valuesSchools and childrenWildlife and landAnti-corporate sentimentAnti-AI sentimentE-wasteLocation and disaster risk

Every score is published with an uncertainty band. Half of resamples fall within it, and a move smaller than the band is reported as no change.

What you get every week

Published markets are refreshed on a periodic cadence. Monitored markets are re-scored weekly, and the report is about what moved.

  • Score and band. The number, its uncertainty band, and whether the change since last week is real.
  • Category movement. Which concerns rose, which fell, and the evidence behind each, in residents' own language.
  • Venue shift. Whether the concern is moving from social media into dockets and hearings, or the other way. Concern that reaches the public record lasts longer, so this is the signal we watch most closely.
  • Calendar. The hearings, filings and votes coming in the next thirty days, and which concerns each one will surface.
  • Comparable markets. Where this project sits against every other market scored, on sentiment against loudness, so that a loud, mixed market is not mistaken for a quiet, negative one.
  • Analyst access. Hours each month with the analyst who scores the market, for the question the report did not anticipate.
Weekly sentiment report: sample deliverable mock-upThe GridSight
DeliverableWeekly sentiment reportScore, band, category movement, calendar

Markets published so far

Ten markets on one rubric. Each page shows the score, the band, loudness, scope, the veto point, and every category with its evidence.

MarketProjectScoreBand
Saline Township, MIRelated Digital / Oracle29Negative
Nashville, TNDC BLOX, Nashville Zoo31Negative
Hanover County, VATract, HHHunt, LS Power and others35Mixed
Effingham County, GAProject Camellia / OpenAI37Mixed
New Albany / Licking County, OHMeta, Google, AWS, Microsoft cluster40Mixed
Charlotte, NCAmerican Tower, Hood Road41Mixed
Coweta County, GAProject Sail, Atlas Development / Prologis41Mixed
Box Elder County, UTStratos / O'Leary44Mixed
Memphis metro, TN / MSxAI Colossus 1 and 244Mixed
Richland Parish, LAMeta Hyperion51Mixed

Higher is better sentiment. Scores as of the most recent published refresh; the date is stated at the top of every market page.

Browse all 1,200+ projects in the tracker

Where this sits in the process

Monitoring runs through construction and into operation, where the benefits scorecard picks up the trend.

Score your market.

Tell us which project you are watching. We will show you what the record says today and what a weekly read would cover.

Score your market