My name’s Joe Hong, and I’m the data reporter for Gothamist and WNYC. I describe my job as putting numbers to the collective experience of living in New York City.
This winter was an especially miserable one for New Yorkers who endured more than 40 inches of snowfall. But that snow didn’t just fall – it remained on the ground for weeks, collecting all kinds of soot, bacteria and animal waste. Most people probably didn’t want to look at the piles of gross snow, but I did.
Equipped with a couple of buckets, a pair of rubber gloves and some shovels, I set out for several neighborhoods across the city, from Washington Heights to Jackson Heights, and scooped up about a gallon of snow at each location. I scraped up the top layer of the grossest looking snow I could find. Some areas had yellow stains, others were covered in a fine black powder.
We sent off these samples to a lab on Long Island, and largely confirmed what we already knew: the snow soaked up all the city’s filth. The lab detected waste from warm-blooded animals in our Jackson Heights sample, which also contained high levels of lead compared to drinking water. The sample from Washington Heights had a high level of strontium, a metal used in fireworks and found in coal ash and fertilizers.
Whether I’m scooping up gross snow, analyzing election results or investigating outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease , my work is guided by the principle of trying to help readers understand this city through data. On-the-ground investigative work like this takes a lot of resources: time, people, conversations with experts, and yes, sometimes even buckets and shovels. Support from readers like you makes this work possible and keeps it freely available to all New Yorkers. Because we believe that everyone deserves access to local news.
