Activity # 2- Nicole McGuire

Nicole McGuire

2/12/2010

Activity # 2

The place that I was recommended to visit was the Bay Terrace Mall located in Bayside, Queens. When I was first told about this place, I thought it was going to be a small mall area with a few places to shop. But when I reached my destination I was actually surprised by what I saw. The mall is outside and separated into different sections with numerous restaurants and shops. It reminded me of the outlet stores located in Long Island called Tangers. The mall being outside kind of gives it a suburban feeling because it is not cluttered up all in one building.

I decided to go during the middle of the afternoon and since the mall was outside it was pretty quiet and not to many people were around. The only people that I saw were the people who work in the stores, mothers with their young children, and elderly women. The mall is surrounded by a huge parking lot which shows that most of the people who shop here do not come from this neighborhood. “Automobiles are often conveniently tagged as villains responsible for the ills of cities and the disappointments and futilities of city planning” (Jacobs, 7). The use of cars also gives it an suburban feeling because people in cities usually take buses and trains to get to their destinations but no trains are that close to this mall but you could take the bus. The stores were random in the sense that they were not organized in any particular way. The restaurants were not all right next to each other and the shops were separated also. I felt lonely being there and almost felt out of place. “The sidewalk must have users on it fairly continuously, both to add to the number of effective eyes on the street and to induce the people in buildings along the street to watch the sidewalks in sufficient numbers” (Jacobs, 35). If there were more people around I might not have felt so out of place. Or maybe if there was more people my age walking around in the different shops then maybe I would of felt a little more comfortable with the situation.

As I was walking around I also noticed that there were huge apartment buildings right near the mall. There buildings were so high and isolated from the streets and from the mall. It almost seemed as if those buildings represented a different part of the city that’s how separated it felt from where I was standing. I did see those buildings when I got off the Q28 bus and just looking at them made the whole environment uncomfortable. “ The high-rent tenants, most of whom are so transient we cannot even keep track of their faces, have not the remotest idea of who takes care of their street, or how” (Jacobs, 39). While I was walking around all I could think about is how desolate this area is and all the danger that could be caused within this one area and the people in those apartment buildings would have no idea what was going on. There were no people really paying attention except some security guards but even they were busy talking on texting or talking on their cell phones. Some of these women were even letting their children just run around some of the areas not realizing that their child could easily get kidnapped and no witnesses because there was no one actually watching.

Just from walking around the mall you could tell that not many people in the neighborhood have much contact with what goes on within the mall or if they even have any type of contact with the neighborhood itself. The neighborhood did not seem bad but I did not feel safe. I do not know if it is because I have never been here before or because of it having such low density. “The trust of a city street is formed over time from many, many little public sidewalk contacts” (Jacobs, 56). This statement is true because you get to know your street and neighborhood through making contact with the people you surround yourself with. Maybe the people who live in this neighborhood feel safe because they see one another on a regular basis, but for one of the first times in my life I felt really uncomfortable walking around not knowing a single person and as if I was all by myself in an huge outside mall.

Activity # 2 - Maria Popa

I’ve never been to Staten Island before yesterday, and if it wasn’t for this assignment I probably never would have gone. I cannot say that I was impressed by Staten Island, but nonetheless it was an experience and now I can say that I’ve been to every borough of New York City.

First, I was very surprised by how many tourists equipped with New York City maps and video cameras took the ferry to Staten Island. I always thought of the island as a mostly residential area, but it perfectly fits Jacobs’ idea of a “mixed-use” neighborhood development. Tourists are attracted by the free boat ride and spectacular view of the Statue of Liberty, and the attractions located right outside the St. George terminal such as the Staten Island museum, the ballpark, city hall, and fast food restaurants as well as ritzy steak houses.

Yet, Staten Island mainly caters to its residents, not tourists. The hill across from the waterfront and the ferry terminal is covered with apartment buildings, and at the bottom of the hill there is a police station with about 20 cars out front (to assure a sense of safety as soon as someone steps on the island, I suppose) and a small shopping plaza. The plaza has everything from fast food – Popeye’s, a steak house, a Laundromat, a liquor store, a wine and beer store, a tax office, and a gym. The shopping plaza is neighbored by the police station on one side and a couple of buildings decorated “office space for rent” posters, on the other.

Despite the sidewalks, the shopping area, the playground, and the nearby police station, I was the only person walking up and down the street, and could not help but feel uneasy. I saw no one walk in or out of any of the stores or offices I mentioned above. The streets were busy with cars, but the sidewalks were empty. This made me understand what Jane Jacobs meant when saying that “the simple needs of automobiles are more easily understood and satisfied than the complex needs of cities” (7). The streets were spacey enough to prevent traffic jams, while the sidewalks were narrow and did not encourage any street activity.

Although the street seemed to have everything a resident of the neighborhood needed it was incredibly empty for a Saturday afternoon. I don’t know where all the tourists from the ferry went, because they weren’t on the street. The area’s residents weren’t there either, even though there were plenty of apartment buildings just behind the shopping area. And despite the police station, the street still felt unsafe because there were no pedestrians whatsoever. Jane Jacobs would attribute this mainly to the lack of “eyes upon the street to ensure the safety of both residents and strangers” (35). This proves Jacobs’ argument for higher density, because if the city had a higher density and instead of a shopping plaza, these shops were on the first floor of apartment buildings, the street would be used for a variety of reasons and by a variety of people. The continuous number of people on the street would add to the “number of effective eyes on the street and to induce the people in buildings along the street to watch the sidewalks in sufficient numbers” (35) thus making the street safer.