#311 assignment

I chose to look at three very distinct zip codes (Little Italy in the Bronx, Astoria Queens, Columbia St Waterfront District, Brooklyn) to see which was the noisiest. What I came away with was the realization that there are two types of data: reported data and actual data.  

From this chart it would appear that the CSWD (11231) is the noisiest, which I know firsthand not to be true.  What I then concluded that while CSWD may not be the loudest, its citizens are the first to speak up if there is a bothersome noise.  

It makes sense given the socioeconomic backgrounds of the three neighborhoods that, in the words of true BX poet French Montana, neither Astoria or Little Italy are "worried 'bout nothin.'"

Since I have a dog myself that has a small case of separation anxiety and depending on the day, barks until the dog walker comes, I wanted to see how the complaints laid out around NY. 

Brooklyn had the most dog complaints followed by Queens. My guess is that since Queens is the largest borough and Brooklyn is the most populous that this is a major factor for the results founded. 

Dog barking complaints seemed frivolous compared to some of the others like constructions after hours or alarms. I was surprised to see the amount of closed cases vs open. Based on the data, 96% more of the reports were closed than those that stayed open. 

To look a little further into the complaints, it was interesting to see if these cases were repeat offenders or if they were sporadic around the boroughs. In Brooklyn, an address on Devoe street had 55 closed cases. In the Bronx, Fish Avenue had 23 closed cases and 1 that was still open since 1/1/15. Within Manhattan, Avenue C had 39 closed cases and 5 open. When searching Staten Island I quickly searched my own address but luckily nothing came up. I'm guessing those who couldn't stand my dogs barking went straight to the super instead. 

I definitely understand that a dog's incessant barking can get to be a bit much but I never would have thought over 7k complaints in just one year.

by Rachel Glickhouse

After sifting through NYC Open Data's 311 noise complaints in a pivot table, I sorted by descriptor (the type of complaint) and by zip code. From January 1, 2014 through January 1, 2015, the 11211 zip code--Williamsburg--had the largest number of 311 calls related to noise.

So then I decided to narrow it down. What types of noise are people complaining the most about?

To drill down more on loud music and party complaints specifically, I took a look at the data and found the following:

Zip code: Washington Heights (10032) has the largest number of loud music and party complaints in the city.

Borough: Manhattan has the highest number of loud music and party complaints. Brooklyn is number 2, followed by Queens.

Location Type: Streets and sidewalks were the most common location type for music and party noise complaints throughout the city, followed by clubs, bars, and restaurants.