http://www.mikemaciag.com/portfolio.html Mike Maciag's online portfolio RSS feed en-us http://www.mikemaciag.com/article_list.php?id=12 I requested court records for paid and unpaid parking citations from the city of Atlanta. After cleaning up and analyzing electronic data, I found the city had lost about $10.5 million in unpaid tickets. I eventually learned the city’s parking enforcement was extremely weak. I also used a few online resources to track down and interview one scofflaw with $4,100 in unpaid tickets. http://www.mikemaciag.com/article_list.php?id=19 A profile story about a local disabled man who is active in the community. http://www.mikemaciag.com/article_list.php?id=21 I analyzed demographic data after it was released by the U.S. Census Bureau and wrote this story. http://www.mikemaciag.com/article_list.php?id=16 My analysis of data from Erie County’s mileage reimbursement program showed many employees were reimbursed large amounts, with 25 county workers receiving more than $5,000 each in 2009. I also found out that two council members were paid to drive to council meetings and another councilman was paid about $45,000 over the past several years.

The county Controller's Office conducted an audit of one county department after the story ran.

A database of mileage reimbursements was posted online with story.

In addition to the main story below, here's a related article on mileage reimbursements for county council members. http://www.mikemaciag.com/article_list.php?id=15 I began looking into the condition of the state’s bridges by obtaining data and learning about the inspection process. Federal inspection data showed Pennsylvania had the highest percentage of “structurally deficient” bridges in the country. By analyzing state inspection data, I also found about one out of five bridges in our area was considered structurally deficient.

I posted a searchable database of bridge inspections on our website to accompany the story. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation later created a similar online database. http://www.mikemaciag.com/article_list.php?id=14 A bill passed last year eased penalties for some Florida motorists caught driving with an invalid license. Using court data and police records, I found more licenses were suspended and that thousands of repeat offenders continued to drive with invalid licenses. Many of these drivers eventually caused serious accidents. http://www.mikemaciag.com/slideshow_list.php?id=1 St. Paul Catholic Church in Erie, Pa., held their annual Italian festival in August 2007. This slideshow includes outdoor games and dancing along with comments from festival participants. http://www.mikemaciag.com/slideshow_list.php?id=2 This slideshow accompanied a story another reporter wrote about family-owned motels in Erie, Pa. I interviewed a mother and her two daughters about the hotel’s history. http://www.mikemaciag.com/slideshow_list.php?id=3 Three teenage boys were washed into a large underground storm sewer one evening in Erie, Pa. All three were pulled out of the sewer, and our photographers took many pictures of the dramatic rescue. I worked late that night to compile all the photos into this slideshow. http://www.mikemaciag.com/video_list.php?id=1 Jerry Uht Park, the baseball park for the Erie SeaWolves, has some of the best views of any minor league stadium, according to ESPN. This video includes shots of different parts of the park. http://www.mikemaciag.com/video_list.php?id=2 This video accompanied a story I wrote about people riding their bikes to work. I followed a woman as she rode her bike home. http://www.mikemaciag.com/sites_list.php?id=14 This was part of a project on Erie County's mileage reimbursement program.

County employees who drive their own vehicles for work are reimbursed at a set rate. The database contains reimbursements paid in 2009 and 2010.

The database accompanied a story I wrote for the paper. http://www.mikemaciag.com/sites_list.php?id=3 Thieves known as the “Blue Jean Bandits” stole expensive designer jeans from several retailers in Atlanta. I looked at hundreds of police reports and created a map and database of all related crimes from 2007 and 2008. http://www.mikemaciag.com/sites_list.php?id=4 I obtained data for more than 16,000 Georgia bridge inspections from the Federal Highway Administration's National Bridge Inventory. Using Microsoft Excel, I cleaned up the data and made several conversions. The resulting spreadsheet was then posted as an online database using Caspio. http://www.mikemaciag.com/sites_list.php?id=15 The ‘Most Wanted’ page lists suspects wanted by the Erie County Sheriff's Office. In addition to the main page, I built a submission page and search tool for the site.

Two new suspects are featured in print and added to the database each week. http://www.mikemaciag.com/sites_list.php?id=16 The Erie County Department of Health conducts inspections at restaurants, grocery stores and other businesses.

Inspection results are currently posted as PDF files on the health department’s website. I wrote a PERL script that scrapes information from the PDF files and compiles the data into a spreadsheet. The data is then uploaded to our online database each week.

Readers can search by business name or view a map to search by location. http://www.mikemaciag.com/sites_list.php?id=13 I wrote several stories on overdue refuse collection money owed to the city of Erie. The city was owed more than $1 million in overdue payments and penalties earlier this year. This database contains all accounts at least two bills delinquent. http://www.mikemaciag.com/sites_list.php?id=6 An Atlanta cycling group counted the number of cyclists riding along various streets throughout the city. I wrote an article about the survey and used their results to create this map mashup. http://www.mikemaciag.com/sites_list.php?id=10 Our crime map displays area crimes reported to the Erie Bureau of Police and Millcreek Police Department. I also created a search feature to view specific incidents.

I update the database with new incidents each weekday. http://www.mikemaciag.com/sites_list.php?id=17 We spent several weeks working on a story on Unicredit, an Erie debt-collection agency accused of using a fake courtroom and other unfair practices.

This page features a searchable database of cases and map I built. http://www.mikemaciag.com/sites_list.php?id=18 Maps and interactive data tools displaying results for the 2010 census.