A Lesson on obtaining data
The size of the file - 1.7 gigabytes - presented some problems. The data was analyzed on a Gateway 486 PC with an 800 megabyte harddrive. Using Nine-track Express, I heavily filtered the data to bring in only the information I absolutely needed.
Using FoxPro, I would look at 300 to 400 megabyte chunks. For instance, when looking at who had tickets dismissed, I brought in only the fields for dismissal, name, amount, location and date. This cut the record length more than 70 percent. The hardest part of this endeavor, it turned out, was getting the tapes in the first place (see sidebar).
Spending three weeks analyzing and playing with the data also drove home another point: Reporters should always do their own computer work, even if it is with the assistance of a more experienced or skilled programmer. Several story ideas were born from the long and often painful task of learning the database and attempting to analyze it.
- Widely hated meter maids, who endure the curses and shouts of angry ticket recipients, are major money makers for the city. We found one meter maid had written 15,210 tickets totalling $516,000 in just one year of work. The same meter maid was paid $433 a week for her work.
- We were able to produce a chart showing readers the 40 locations in Boston that would most likely result in your car getting a ticket.
- Rental car companies were the biggest scofflaws in the city. Two companies owed the city a combined $1 million for parking tickets amassed by rental drivers who never paid up.
It took three years for the Boston Herald to obtain a copy of the city's parking ticket database on 9-track tapes.