My Portfolio
My favorite stories from when I wrote for Politico.
Social Services
Homelessness
Single adults in homeless shelters are on the rise
Discrimination, scarcity still barriers for homeless looking for housing
Annual homeless count in New York City shows 6 percent decrease (2018)
City spending $364M per year on hotels for homeless people
Opioid crisis driving record number of deaths among city’s homeless, report finds (2018)
With new homelessness plan, de Blasio gives himself an extraordinarily difficult task (with Laura Nahmias and Gloria Pazmino)
De Blasio playing catch-up on unsheltered homelessness (2017)
Homeless providers look for more support from de Blasio [$]
Annual count finds 40 percent increase in unsheltered homelessness in 2017
Advocates count roughly 100 unsheltered homeless people in city hospitals [$]
Homeless deaths increase in 2016
At least 212 homeless people died in 2015
Challenges grow along with de Blasio’s expanded efforts on unsheltered homeless (2015)
City data shows extent of homelessness, visible and not (2015 – where I looked at whether unsheltered homelessness was growing)
Supportive Housing
Poverty
Veterans
Affordable Housing
De Blasio housing plan shapes up as historic-scale ‘trade-off’ (Where I compared de Blasio’s housing plan and the rent burdens / housing needs in the city)
Rent regulated landlord costs increase, complicating another rent freeze [$]
With favorable start, de Blasio claims ‘momentum’ on affordable housing (with Sally Goldenberg)
Real estate during de Blasio’s first two years by the numbers [$]
Children
Education
Education under de Blasio’s first two years
Poverty and test scores in NY (Scatter chart!)
Data show breadth of challenges for city’s homeless students (with Eliza Shapiro)
Remaining Renewal Schools show gains but face long odds (2018 – story with Eliza Shapiro and fancy graphics with Todd Lindeman)
One-fifth of Renewal Schools barely showing progress (2017) [$]
Capital Data: Measuring de Blasio’s Renewal Schools (2015 – with Eliza Shapiro)*
Children’s Services
Health
Buprenorphine access limited by geography (with Amanda Eisenberg; interactive map) [$]
NJ medical marijuana doctors [$]
State doubles down on medical marijuana amid uncertainty (map) [$]
Map: Insurance company enrollment, by county* (with Dan Goldberg)
Map of Obamacare enrollment by county*
Mapping New York’s measles vaccination rate* (with Dan Goldberg)
Immigration
Civil Rights
Transportation
Uber biggest in Manhattan and gentrified Brooklyn and Queens (with Dana Rubinstein)*
SNAP recipients may have problems accessing discounted Citi Bike membership (with Amanda Eisenberg and a map)
Environment
Foam container industry spends big but loses support in City Council (with David Giambusso)
After years of conflict, Council to vote on waste equity bill (with Danielle Muoio and a map)
Public Safety
Crime
My reporting on the research and history of crime in NYC*
Under de Blasio, police review board [CCRB] takes a softer touch
Bill Bratton’s second tour by the numbers
Analysis: Homicides and police stops by precinct*
De Blasio begins re-election year with crime and police stops down
Stop and Frisk
Bloomberg’s ‘stop-and-frisk’ legacy would complicate presidential bid
Trump calls for national stop and frisk but data shows no connection with crime (with Azi Paybarah)
Deep Dive: No link between stops and shootings
Fewest stops in 2017 but most still involve people of color (Carto map) [$]
Stops increase in early 2017 [$]
Stops decline even as reports question the data (with Colby Hamilton)
NYPD police stops fall again in first quarter 2016 [$]
Police stops decrease late 2015, still racial inequality* [$]
Racial breakdown persists as police stops decrease (2015 Q3)
Police stops continue dramatic decline under de Blasio (2015 Q3)
Numbers behind de Blasio’s stop and frisk claim
Homicides and police stops by precinct (June 2015)*
Differences in police stops across precincts (2015 Q1)*
Police stops decrease, but still focus on people of color (2014 Q4)
Marijuana
Marijuana enforcement declines dramatically (11/2018)
Data don’t show link between marijuana complaints and arrests (7/2018)
New York City ready to overhaul approach to marijuana arrests (5/2018 with Gloria Pazmino)
Disparities continue in marijuana arrests (2/2018)
Racial disparities in marijuana convictions in all five boroughs (5/2017)
De Blasio’s claim of “ending” marijuana arrests has hazy backaing [$]
Pot arrests increase, still racial disparities (2016 – map)
Marijuana arrests now show de Blasio effect (7/2015)
Black and Latino marijuana arrests remain high under de Blasio (11/2014)
Politics
De Blasio claimed a mandate. Political scientists suggest there’s no such thing.
How Corrupt is Albany? (referring to academic research on corruption)
Capital Data: De Blasio’s long-term approval (Using academic research to analyze de Blasio’s approval)
Where the action is in state Senate races (2018)
A test-case for New York campaign finance (analyzing the relationship between City Council elections and campaign funding)
With return of the counties, an ‘intricate dance’ is underway in speaker’s race (with Sally Goldenberg)
Outside-income ban affects few Council members
City Council Speaker’s discretionary money pot increases [$]
Council hearings guarantee turns out, for now, to be a non-issue
De Blasio’s polling strength heading into reelection [$]
Poll breakdown contains positive indications for de Blasio [$]
De Blasio appointment list heavy on public-sector managers and Bloomberg alumni
Council can carry out about half of Speaker Mark-Viverito’s proposals [$]
Mark-Viverito playing the long game in campaign fundraising
Two years of the Mark-Viverito-led Council, by the numbers [$]
2017 Election
De Blasio and Massey way ahead of rivals [$]
In recent months, de Blasio turned to donors outside New York City
Massey campaign has spent over one million dollars on 22 different consulting firms (with Laura Nahmias)
De Blasio’s focus on small donors yields big increase in matching funds (with gif)
De Blasio gets bulk of money from big donors [$]
De Blasio polling tracker (charticle!)
Unions are biggest donors to city campaigns so far this cycle [$] (see a short free version in the Strategist Newsletter here)
How the money is stacking up for the City Council speaker’s race [$]
Levine outraises speaker rivals in latest filing period [$] (with Conor Skelding)
Campaign finance tracker: City Council speaker’s race
Ulrich rarely votes no on Council legislation, but has split on big de Blasio priorities (with Gloria Pazmino)
Finance
Budget
De Blasios budget gaps are growing and concerning some experts [$]
City budget under de Blasio’s first two years by the numbers [$]
Amid criticism, mayor increases rate of capital spending on infrastructure
Capital Data: De Blasio’s historically low deficits
The secret to de Blasio’s dance-free budget
Why is the Council mad about ‘units of appropriation’? (unit of appropriation explainer)
Capital Data: Breaking down N.Y.C.’s $78 B. (from the magazine, with charts made fancy by Mattias Mackler)
Economy
De Blasio enters election year with a growing economy, and some uncertainty
Economic growth during de Blasio’s first 2 years [$]
N.J. economic recovery still lagging, despite recent jobs numbers (with Matt Friedman)
Princeton Nobel winner on poverty and local [NJ] data
Nobel Prize economist on the politics of de Blasio’s income agenda
*These stories all had interactive Leaflet maps that stopped working when Capital NY / Politico switched to a new CMS. We were told all our content would come over to the new CMS, but it turns out that didn’t include the interactive maps. I was of course very disappointed that my stories lost a big part of their content. After the change, I started using Carto, which cannot be customized as much but the maps in those stories still work. I’ve added one of my old Leaflet maps to the maps page (my casino map!) and I might add more in the future.