Text Box: Boundaries abound in New York City

In New York City, crime data collected by police precincts are unrelated to educational attainment (analyzed by school districts), income (analyzed primarily by census tract and community districts), and health outcomes (generally analyzed by community health districts). Turning to political representatives to rationalize these systems only begets more confusion, as each level—city, state, and federal—has yet another set of administrative boundaries, each without a structured relationship to the others or to any of the other administrative units.