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Stockton Budget Crisis (June 2009; Flash, map). On June 23, 2009, Stockton City Council approved a spending plan for fiscal year 2009-10 that called for layoffs and service reductions citywide. At the center of the budget is the general fund, the largely discretionary part of the budget. The general fund had been damaged by declining sales and property tax revenue in the slumping economy.
I developed an interactive online budget game to give users a better understanding of some of the choices that must be made to balance the budget. The project also featured a clock, built in Flash, that counted down to the city’s budget deadline as well as an interactive map detailing how specific neighborhoods would be affected by budget cuts.

State of the City (February 2009; video, audio, live chat). “Stockton will survive (the economic downturn) and will emerge stronger and more resilient because of the fact we will work together to make it happen,” Mayor Ann Johnston told about 900 civic and business leaders during her inaugural State of the City address. This project required me to coordinate Recordnet.com’s first live reporter chat, which drew more than 300 users. I also shot and edited video, edited audio and created and posted several buttons while on deadline. In addition, I coordinated a live chat with a reporter the day after the speech.

Fireworks over Stockton (July 2009; Flash). After Stockton City Council eliminated its 2009 Independence Day fireworks display to save money, I created an interactive fireworks display that could provide users with a little July 4 spirit any time during the year. The project was developed with the Flint Particle System and it became Recordnet’s most-viewed Flash feature to date.

Air Pollution and Cancer (August 2009; map). A Record analysis of Environmental Protection Agency data showed the risk of getting cancer from simply breathing the air is higher for the county’s more economically depressed and ethnically diverse neighborhoods, including some of those closest to the urban core of the city. To illustrate this issue I created an interactive map comparing by census tract the risk of getting cancer from air pollution in Stockton. The borders of the map were drawn by hand in Google maps.

Stimulus projects (March 2009; database). Of the $787 billion in the federal stimulus package, millions of dollars are expected to flow into San Joaquin County. Some of those dollars will come from $26.6 billion in funds for surface transportation funds. This database allowed users to search for stimulus-funded road projects in their home communities. It required me to create an easy-to-use searchable database, a style for the database and a landing page.

Runner Girl (February 2009; video, audio, database). Nine weeks to whip your body into shape. Nine weeks to teach your feet, your legs, your lungs that there’s no such thing as pain. Nine weeks between this moment and 13.1 miles of unadulterated half-marathon bliss. For this project I filmed and edited six videos, edited podcasts and created a database for a training log.