I write about cities and urban policy for The New York Times from Washington.
What I Cover
I’m interested in housing, transportation and inequality — and how they’re all connected. I try to make visible for readers the often-unseen policies and forces that shape cities and their residents’ access to opportunity. That means I care about zoning rules that dictate what kinds of housing can be built, infrastructure decisions that reinforce or relieve segregation, and urban planning choices that determine who gets to live near parks, good schools and jobs.
My Background
More so than my education, it is the places I have lived that have shaped my thinking about the topics I cover. I grew up in Chicago, where I first learned about the value of architecture, the toll of racial segregation, and the importance of public spaces and transit. I have lived in car-dependent Sun Belt cities (Orlando and Atlanta), in mid-sized cities (Tallahassee, Fla., and Norfolk, Va.), and in expensive coastal cities such as San Francisco and where I now live, Washington — a place where competing political ideas about urban America often collide.
Journalistic Ethics
All Times journalists are committed to upholding the standards of integrity outlined in our Ethical Journalism Handbook. I strive for my stories to reflect the diversity of the places I cover. That means I try to include voices from a range of racial and economic backgrounds. I seek out both powerful officials and residents who may feel powerless. I often rely on data to help me tell stories, and I try to consider who may be missing from that data. And when I interview people who may be particularly vulnerable, I try to help them understand what it may mean for them to share their stories in The Times.
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