Contact Know Your Block
Email me, or use the form to send a message without giving your name or email address. I read everything, and I answer most emails within a few days.
What to include in your message
Press and interviewsInterviews, numbers for a story, background on the data
NBC4 covered the site in September 2026 (links on the About page). If you're working on a housing, rental, code-enforcement, or neighborhood story, I'm glad to help.
- Interviews. By phone, video call, on camera, or in person in Columbus, usually on short notice for a deadline.
- Numbers for your story. One complex, street, neighborhood, issue, or time window, with a clean chart or map if you need one. Simple pulls in a day or two.
- Background on the data. What the city's records do and don't show, and where the numbers can mislead, on or off the record.
Email a media or interview request →
Boilerplate, use as is
Know Your Block (knowyourblock.org) is a free, independent map of official City of Columbus code-enforcement complaints. It joins the city's public complaint records and lets anyone search a Columbus address to see what has been reported there, at the same building, and on the surrounding block. It is built and run by Gabriel Peck, a Columbus resident, and is not affiliated with the City of Columbus.
Describe the records as reported complaints, not confirmed violations. The window is January 2025 to the present, more than 76,000 records at 38,000+ addresses.
A record looks wrongWrong address, wrong category, or a duplicate
Include the address as it appears on the site, the record number
if you have it (they look like 26470-03431), and what
you think is wrong. I check it against the city's original record
and fix what is mine to fix. If the city's own record is wrong,
I'll point you to the right office.
A question, a bug, or an ideaAbout the data, the method, or the site
If you have a question the site doesn't answer, ask. I'm happy to explain how a number was made and what it does and doesn't mean. If something broke, say what you were doing, what phone or browser you were on, and what you saw. Ideas are welcome too, especially from renters who wanted something the site didn't give them.
Data for research or organizingFree, as the full dataset or a custom cut
Tenant groups, civic associations, students, nonprofits, and anyone else doing serious work on Columbus housing are welcome to use this data.
- Records 76,000+ complaints at 38,000+ Columbus addresses, January 2025 to the present, refreshed as the city publishes, usually monthly
- Each record Address, coordinates, date, the city's record type, plain-language categories, a 1 to 4 severity score, and the complaint text
- Formats CSV of the full joined dataset, or a cut by neighborhood, issue, time window, or building type. Charts on request
- Turnaround Simple pulls in a day or two. Bigger asks, tell me your deadline
- Not on offer Rankings of landlords or companies, and any claim the records don't support
How the dataset is built is on the About page.
I own or manage a property on the mapHow your records appear, and what can be fixed
Write to me and I'll look at the specific records with you. I fix display errors, and every page says what a complaint is: a report someone filed, not a finding that anything was wrong. I don't remove accurate records on request. Every complaint here was filed with the City of Columbus and is public whether or not this site exists.
Problem at a property right now? I can't send an inspector or change a city record. Report it to Columbus 311 or call 614-645-3111, which creates the official record. For a dispute with a landlord, start with Landlord won't fix it.
Common questions
How do I contact Know Your Block?
Email gabe@knowyourblock.org, or use the contact form to send a message without giving your name or email address. The form can't get a reply to you unless you leave a way to reach you. Messages go to Gabriel Peck, who builds and runs the site, and most emails get a reply within a few days.
Can I get my property removed from the map?
Not if the records are accurate. Every complaint shown was filed with the City of Columbus and is a public record whether or not this site exists. Errors in how a record is displayed will be fixed on request, and the site says plainly, everywhere it can, that a complaint is a report, not a finding of a violation.
Messages go to Gabe Peck in Columbus ·
LinkedIn ·
GitHub ·
gabepeck.com
Operated by Canary Civic LLC dba Know Your Block. Not affiliated with the City of Columbus.