Data NY

Below is a transcript of a phone conversation i had with a water company. they sent me a water test kit in the mail, unsolicited. i'm relatively new to the neighborhood so I assumed it was from the official municipal water company. However, it was a private company that (I assume) would use this opportunity to sell me something I don't need.   I started recording because I was curious about the results of the test and wanted to capture the specific numbers so I could check them out later.   I was also surprised this wasn't an official government request, but didn't think it would be a sketchy sales call.  I missed the part of the conversation when he told me he wasn't from the town / municipality or when he mentioned that they sent the test kit because of a bacterial "bloom".  I started recording once he started discussing the results of the test.   To get the transcript I put the call on speaker phone and used the MacOS voice memos application to...

Overview I recently had to choose a child care center for my child.  It was a difficult decision because I find it worrying to leave my little one in a stranger's hands.  Additionally, since there are so many young families and children in the neighborhood it can be difficult to secure a place for child care at the last minute.  So I set about doing some research on the child care facilities in the neighborhood. Child care is something concerning every working parent, so it can be difficult to find objective information.  Some people love their child care provider and others harp on any flaws.  Among some neighborhood moms, there was gossip surrounding scandals involving some of the local child care centers.  To reduce bias in my research, I decided to drive my analysis using data provided by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygene (DoHMH).  The data is available here . Analysis To do the analysis, I filtered on the two major Long Islan...

Making the best of the "Best of" lists I'm the kind of person who loves to optimize my life.  I love searching social media sites like Yelp to find the "best" tacos near me .  When I purchase gadgets or household appliances I always read some expert's opinion, like when I'm looking for   TV antennae .  Being a "data person", naturally I gravitate toward any kind of data-driven analysis. Every year around this time, magazines and newspapers publish their opinions on "Best Movies of the year", which of course is the kind of thing I like to read.  "Why watch those lesser movies if I can watch the *best* ones?" is how my brain thinks.  But there are so many lists, it's impossible to know which one I will agree with.  NPR might have a hidden gem, but they ignore some of the big blockbusters i know I would like.  Rolling Stone might have more of the low-brow winners, but ignore the more high-brow entertainment that the NY...

About a year ago I stopped taking the subway for work.  I did this because I couldn't get motivated to get to the gym, and it was the " Summer of Hell " of 2017.  I was totally disgusted with the 30 to 90 minute transit delays turning my crowded-yet-mercifully-short subway commute into the world's worst carnival ride. When I turned in my Metrocard for a Citi-bike membership, I was stunned by the cost savings.  Bike share membership was much cheaper, more efficient, and often more pleasant than taking the subway.  Even after I enrolled in a gym near work just to use the shower (getting over the bridge can be strenuous), my monthly costs were less than $50. Biking, jogging and walking was often faster, healthier, and more pleasant way to get to work. However, my nerve was shaken when I saw a bad bicycle accident.  I had seen a bikers take spills before.  Once I was riding to Queens from Manhattan after work on a summer day, and one biker coming towards me...

One thing I noticed in LIC is there is so much illegal parking.  Almost every time I go for a walk there are trucks parked on the sidewalk loading and unloading, cars parked on the sidewalk, or cars blocking driveways. If it's especially egregious, I will report the situation via 311.  Most times I get a response saying that by the time the police got to the scene the person was gone, but I keep thinking that if I persist the situation will get better. I noticed that 311 publishes their data onto Google BigQuery, so I decided to put together a report to illustrate the problem. As of this October 2018, there were 2500 reports of illegal parking in the neighborhood!  In 1700 of these cases, the parking violation was no longer occurring by the time police arrived or the police took no action.  Only about 500 times did the police resolve the situation or issue a summons to the offending party. On average, there are between 6 and 12 reports of illegal parking each...