Three city open-data feeds as structured data: Pittsburgh code violations, New Orleans code enforcement, and Las Vegas restaurant inspections
Cities publish a lot of useful records: which properties have open code violations, which addresses keep coming back for weeds, sanitation, or exterior problems, and how local restaurants scored on their last inspection. The records are public, but each city publishes them in its own portal, in its own format, built for looking up one address at a time.
I built three Apify Actors that turn three of those city feeds into clean, structured rows you can schedule, filter, and pipe into a spreadsheet or database. Disclosure: I built these, AI-assisted, and I sell runs of them on Apify.
1. Pittsburgh code violations
The City of Pittsburgh publishes Permits, Licenses, and Inspections (PLI) code violation cases through the Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center (WPRDC), updated daily. Checking a neighborhood or a list of properties means re-running the same portal search again and again.
The Pittsburgh Code Violations Scraper returns cases with address, parcel ID, case type (for example vacant building, weeds and debris, or structure), outcome, and coordinates.
Use it for: distressed property lead lists, watching new violations in a defined area, and screening properties before you spend time on outreach.
Limits: a case row reports what the city recorded. An open case is not proof of the current condition of a property, and court fields are empty in the current source data. Check the source record before acting on a row.
https://apify.com/groundplanes/pittsburgh-code-violations
2. New Orleans code enforcement violations
The City of New Orleans publishes code enforcement violations through its official open-data API, updated daily. The violations cover everyday problems that signal a neglected property: weeds, sanitation, rodents, roofs, and exterior condition.
The New Orleans Code Enforcement Scraper returns rows with case number, property address, violation date, code section, the violation itself, and the full code text.
Use it for: building a weekly list of new violations by area, finding repeat problem properties, and contractor or investor lead screening.
Limits: a violation row is a city record, not a final legal judgment. Cases move, get corrected, and get closed, so check the current status in the source before acting on it.
https://apify.com/groundplanes/nola-code-enforcement-violations
3. Las Vegas restaurant inspections
The Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD) publishes restaurant inspection results for Las Vegas and Clark County, including Henderson. Grades are public, but tracking new inspections across a city by hand means checking the district portal again and again.
The Las Vegas Restaurant Inspections Scraper returns inspection grades, demerits, and violations from the official SNHD data. You can filter by city, ZIP, grade, and date, and a monitor mode returns only new inspections.
Use it for: food safety checks before you eat or book, monitoring grades for restaurants you follow, and building local lead or content lists from new inspections.
Limits: a grade reflects one inspection on one day. It does not guarantee the current condition of a kitchen. Check the date on the row and the source record.
https://apify.com/groundplanes/las-vegas-restaurant-inspections
The pattern
All three follow the same rules I use for the rest of this catalog:
- Public source data only, read through the city or district feed or API
- Structured JSON out, with counts stated when a run hits a cap (a capped run says so, it does not silently truncate)
- Schedulable, so a weekly check costs minutes instead of an afternoon
- Status reporting that flags a partial result instead of calling it complete
If you check any of these three city feeds by hand today, one scheduled run is the cheapest test of whether automating it is worth it.
Found a problem or need a field? Open an issue on the Issues tab of the Actor page; we respond quickly.
