311 TRASH COMPLAINTS AND COMPLAINTS OF DIRTY CONDITIONS ACROSS NYC BETWEEN THE YEARS 2018 THROUGH 2023.
Research Question: Which neighborhoods in NYC received the highest number of sanitation complaints related to excessive trash accumulation or unclean conditions?
Has the number of sanitation complaints related to excessive trash accumulation or unclean conditions in these NYC neighborhoods increased or decreased between 2018 and 2023?
What are the most common issues effecting high-risk areas?
Does a higher Department of Sanitation budget generally coincide with a decrease in complaints visually?
Audience (Relevant NYC Community Board Committees): The target audience is made up of the NYC Community Board Committees for the top five neighborhoods at risk. These committees are concerned with all district issues. Pinpointing the root causes of sanitation issues can serve multiple purposes: it aids in addressing resident concerns, pinpointing problematic zones, and advocating for necessary resources. All NYC Board committees contribute to the city’s budget process. Additionally, it falls within the community board’s review to address neighborhood needs, meet with city agencies, and offer recommendations during the budget process. This research holds value for the Community Board as they possess the capacity to advocate for change.
Each row in the 311 data set contained a single incident that was reported to 311 services. First, I filtered the data set to only include Department of Sanitation complaints relevant to the research question. Once the data had been cleaned and appropriately categorized, I visualized the number of incidents that occurred in each zip code area.
This was accomplished by making a dot map with a blue gradient to represent the density of reported incidents. Below the dot map, is a table showing the five community board zones with the highest number of complaints. Brooklyn District 1 & 12, Staten Island District 1 & 3, and Queens District twelve were the top districts with the most 311 complaints.
The second visual is a time-series line graph, displaying the change in the number of complaints over time in these high-risk areas. As we can see, there was a huge spike in 311 complaints during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Brooklyn District 1 & District 12, as well as, Staten Island District 3 received more complaints in 2023 than they did in 2018. Queens District 12 and Staten Island District 1 had less complaints in 2023 than in 2018. This suggests an overall drop in complaints over the past six years, with the exception of a spike in complaints during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The third visualization is a stacked horizontal bar chart detailing the types of complaints these areas receive. The most common complaints overall seem to be “Missed Collection” and “Dirty Condition.” I’ve included a filter to visualize how the complaint types change by year. As we can see, after 2020, the data begins to include more detailed reporting. We being to see more incidents of Dead Animals, Illegal Dumping, Litter Basket Requests, and Residential Disposal complaints, whereas, before 2021, the majority of the complaints were related to “Dirty Condition”, “Missed Collection”, and “Vacant Lot”.
There is also an additional stacked horizontal bar chart detailing what type of location these incidents occur in. Incidents will generally occur on the sidewalk or street. The bar chart is stacked to include the different types of complain descriptions that usually accompany these location types. Most notably, aside from missed collection and trash complaints, many street complaints are related to illegal dumping and recycling. Sidewalk complaints can include dead animals, dirty sidewalks, and recycling. However, the majority of these complaints are related to missed collection and excessive trash accumulation.
Finally, I included a dashboard to show the expense budget for the department of sanitation for the years 2018 through 2023. The first visual is a line graph showing how much money the department of sanitation allocated to each district. The second visual is a bar graph showing how much money was allocated to Waste Disposal overall, each year. We can see from this graph, that District 1 and District 3 in Staten Island were given the two highest budget amounts and they are also the two district with the highest number of complaints.
Conclusion: To conclude, this analysis began by filtering the 311 dataset to focus on Department of Sanitation complaints relevant to our research question. After organizing the data, we created visualizations to illustrate complaint distribution and trends.
The dot map highlighted complaint density by zip code, while a table showed the top five community board zones with the most complaints. A time-series line graph revealed fluctuations in complaints over time, notably spiking during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
We further examined complaint types and locations using stacked horizontal bar charts. “Missed Collection” and “Dirty Condition” emerged as common complaints, mostly occurring on sidewalks or streets.
Finally, a dashboard showcased the Department of Sanitation’s budget allocation from 2018 to 2023. The visualizations revealed correlations between budget distribution and complaint volumes, particularly in Districts 1 and 3 of Staten Island. District 1 in Staten Island received the highest budget from the Department of Sanitation. When we analyze the number of complaints in this area, we see a sharp drop in complaints in 2023 compare to 2018. Staten Island District 3, also received a steady budget increase between 2018 – 2023. However, the number of complaints in this area was greater in 2023 compared to 2018. It is important to note that the dramatic spike and decline of complaints during COVID-19 effects the conclusions drawn from this analysis.
Additionally, Brooklyn District 1 is absent from the budget analysis. This is because it was not among the Top 15 districts with the highest budget. It is, however, one of the top 5 district with the most 311 complaints related to trash accumulation and dirty conditions. This may indicate an area of neglect when visually analyzing the expense budget.
In summary, these visualizations provide valuable insights for decision-making and resource allocation within the Department of Sanitation.
Recommendations: Staten Island District 3 received one of the highest budgets. The budget amount steadily increased each year between 2018 – 2023. However, the number of complaints was still larger in this area in 2023 than in 2018. It may be helpful for a deeper analysis into how the Department of Sanitation is allocating resources in this district zone.
Brooklyn District 1 was not among the top 15 districts with the highest budget, however, it garnered a notable number of complaints. It may be in the best interest of this district to request a budget increase.
Issues:
First, the five most at-risk district zones were categorized as such based on the number of complaints rather than the number of complaints per resident. If an area has a lower volume of complaints but a high volume of complaints per resident, it should be categorized as a high-risk area. This issue can be resolved by incorporating population data for future analysis.
Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a huge spike in 311 complaints followed by a rapid decline in the following year. It may be helpful to do a deeper analysis to understand what caused this spike, and furthermore, what caused the rapid decline.
Data after 2021 seems to contain more detailed reporting than the years prior.
Finally, upon further research, 311 data seems to contains a reporting bias. A study conducted by White & Trump, found that more 311 calls are made by individuals that engage in high-cost activities (voter turnout, and census return rate), than those that engage in low-cost activities. Hence, it can be inferred that the quantity of 311 complaints in a specific area does not always indicate it has more urgent needs.
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