Nicole McGuire- Acitivty 5 Board Meeting

Nicole McGuire
Activity # 5
The Community Board # 1 of Manhattan has a population of 34,420, up from 25,366 in 1990 and 15,918 in 1980.Of them (as of 2000), 23,041 (66.9%) are white non-Hispanic, 2,348 (6.8%) are African American, 4,868 (14.1%) Asian or Pacific Islander, 30 (0.1%) American Indian or Native Alskan, 457 (1.3%) of some other race, 902 (2.6%) of two or more race, 2,774 (8.1%) of Hispanic origins.9.5% of the population benefit from public assistance as of 2004, up from 5.8 in 2000.The land area is 1,100.3 acres, or 1.71 square miles (4.45 km²).



The board meeting I went to was the Battery Park City Community Meeting, which is part of the Community Board # 1, which deals with Lower Manhattan. It’s made up of five neighborhoods: Battery Park City, Civic Center, Financial District, Greenwich South, Seaport, and Tribeca. There is a lot of residential growth happening, and 15,611 new housing units have already been built and in the process of still being built. There are over 31,000 or more residents within these neighborhoods. And the population of residents is continuing to grow.

This meeting was located at Battery Park City Authority, 1 World Financial Center, 24th Floor. The room was pretty large and there was actually a good amount of people that showed up. There was a podium and behind the podium was a huge projector. Since this meeting was about the neighborhood of Battery Park City, it made sense to hold the meeting right in the Financial District. I was one of the first people to show up, and when I turned around I realized how many people actually showed up to these meetings. In my neighborhood, not many residents show up, so this shows how concerned these people are about what’s going on in front of them. The meeting lasted about 2 hours, and many residents had a lot to say about the different issues that were spoken about.

The issues that were brought up at this meeting had to do with traffic safety issues, renewal of liquor liscenses, and permit processes. There was a discussion about safety traffic issues on Murrary Street and North End Avenue. The Vice President for Community Relations, Leticia Remauro, came out to speak about the monthly report of Battery Park City Authority. Then there was another major discussion about regarding permit processes for large events spanning multiple Community Boards. There was a report on Route 9A and West Thames Park by New York State Department of Transportation, discussing the development and operation of the highway system they created called Promenade South. This includes a new plaza area, better crosswalks, a bikeway, and a new and rebuilt entrance to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. Then Tom Amoroso and Mary Kearney both discussed the proposal of the additional loading zone for 325 North End Avenue and how it’s going to affect the community. This then led into how West Street was going to deal with the pedestrian management and maybe even bringing the idea of expanding West Street so that it is not so crowded. And the final discussion dealt with the renewal of liquor licenses to certain restaurants and bars. “When powerholders restrict the input of citizens' ideas solely to this level, participation remains just a window-dressing ritual. People are primarily perceived as statistical abstractions, and participation is measured by how many come to meetings, take brochures home, or answer a questionnaire. What citizens achieve in all this activity is that they have "participated in participation." And what powerholders achieve is the evidence that they have gone through the required motions of involving "those people"” (Arnstein). If they did not bring up these issues dealing with the community than the residents would of felt as if they had no say in their neighborhood. This then could of caused problems within this particular section.

The major discussion at this meeting was the traffic safety issues on Murray Street and North End Avenue. The speaker felt there had to be more signs put up regarding the elementary school and the children playing sign. A lot of the residents also felt the same way, but also added in the fact that more traffic officers should be placed around these streets. Many people have been in accidents due to the poor safety standards. One woman was arguing that even when school is not in session that an crossing guard or traffic officer should remain in the area at all times because it is constantly busy. But the speaker felt that, that was not really necessary and that the signs should be enough signals for the drivers. Than the resident became furious because her daughter was actually hit by a car over on Murray Street all because the driver went through a red light and if there was a crossing guard there this situation could have been prevented. A lot of the residents agreed, but the speaker did not. She felt that even with the presence of more crossing guards it was not going to stop people from speeding. Another resident brought up the idea that there should always be a cop present within these two blocks or put a bump in the road to prevent people from speeding. Since there were other things to discuss at the meeting, the speaker was cut off and the residents were told that they would discuss this issue at the next meeting. “Informing citizens of their rights, responsibilities, and options can be the most important first step toward legitimate citizen participation. However, too frequently the emphasis is placed on a one-way flow of information - from officials to citizens - with no channel provided for feedback and no power for negotiation. Under these conditions, particularly when information is provided at a late stage in planning, people have little opportunity to influence the program designed "for their benefit." The most frequent tools used for such one-way communication are the news media, pamphlets, posters, and responses to inquiries” (Arnstein). At this point, a lot of the residents actually left and were upset that this problem was not solved. A lot of people were saying how it’s not fair that there families have to suffer because the community does not want to hire more traffic agents.

At first I was a little bit uncomfortable at this board meeting because I felt like the other residents knew that I did not belong to this neighborhood. “Meetings can also be turned into vehicles for one-way communication by the simple device of providing superficial information, discouraging questions, or giving irrelevant answers” (Arnstein). No one said anything to me and I was shy to make any comments since I really had no say on what goes on in their neighborhood. A lot of the issues that were brought up were not really solved such as the traffic safety issue. This also happens in my community also, because on my block we used to also have traffic safety issues, and it was a while before signs were posted showing that there is children in the area playing. Luckily no children were ever hurt or killed but the cars were always speeding and since there is a huge hill on my block you could never see the cars. Even though the issues were not necessarily solved a lot of the residents seemed happy enough with being able to speak there mind and let out there feelings. At certain times I felt a lot of tension between the different residents because everyone had a different opinion. But I found this meeting to be very informative because it shows that there still are a lot of people out there that care about their neighborhood and the people who live in it. But it is sad to know that there are a lot of people who do not know what goes on right in their own neighborhood and everyone can make a difference if they just try.

Johanna Kelly-Activity #6

Johanna Kelly
Activity #6- Gendered/Sexualized Places

For this activity, I took a walk around my neighborhood in the East Village. I spotted many stores in the area that seemed to be very gendered. For example, at the Polish hair salon, I observed that only women worked there. They are notoriously known for gossiping while being there. Thus, is also being gendered bias saying that only women in salons gossip. A few feet away from the salon, was a Polish deli where Polish women shopping for groceries. This store also seemed to be gendered since very few men were there shopping.
As I continued to walk up the street, I noticed a deli where men would stand either inside or outside the store. They were busy buying their lotto tickets or the scratch offs. It was interesting to see how the deli had become a social gathering of men. I could hear them cursing in Polish as they did their scratches. Later on, I passed by a men’s barbershop. It specifically said on the store that they only did men haircuts. I also encountered a gym and noticed something interesting. The majority of the women were running on the treadmill and using the elliptical. Most of the men were using the weight machines or picking up weights. So it was interesting to even perceive these gender differences in a gym where both men and women were.
Something that I noticed were also the laundry mats. I looked at the time hours and they seemed very plausible. The laundry mat was opened from 7AM to 11PM. These hours seem very reasonable for enabling working people in doing laundry. In the article, Dolores Hayden states, “Because of residential zoning practices, the typical dwelling will usually be physically removed from any shared community space-no commercial or communal day-care facilities, or laundry facilities, for example, are likely to be part of the dwelling’s spatial domain” (Hayden, 174). This indicates that because of residential areas, such facilities are not available to perhaps women with families. However, the laundry mats located in my neighborhood prove differently because they are available to all people of distinct working schedules. In addition, it is opened seven days a week. Therefore, single working mothers have the same advantage of using those facilities as married women do.
A very entertaining place that I recognized in the East Village was the popular restaurant/bar Lucky Cheng’s. This place is definitely considered as sexualized and gendered space. Drag Queens work their as waitresses and thus, it becomes a place where certain people would like to go. This activity through my neighborhood was engaging to see how the gendered and sexualized places were mixed in various places.

Maria Popa - Activity 6

We went on both our field trips this past Sunday, and it truly was an informative and productive day. We started the day at Astor’s Place, and Johanna guided us around the East Village. We walked by Cooper Union College, and then spent some time in Tompskins Park. I couldn’t help but notice that unlike Central Park, where I usually go, this park was much more crowded, and the majority of its patrons were young people. Around 1 in the afternoon the park was full of families with little children, groups of teenagers, people walking their dogs, and a couple of homeless people sleeping on benches.

We walked around the East Village for a couple of hours and almost every street we walked on was full of people. Jane Jacobs would attribute this to the fact that this is a diversely developed neighborhood. None of the streets were strictly residential or for business; they all had a combination of small shops, restaurants, business offices and apartment buildings. Most of the people walking around that time were locals, and our group couldn’t help it but look very touristy and get a couple dirty looks as we were taking pictures of a community garden and blocking the entire sidewalk.

After our lunch break at Tahini we set off for Brooklyn. I haven’t walked across the Brooklyn Bridge for a while, and have forgotten what a big attraction it is for tourists and locals alike. It was a warm and sunny afternoon, and the walkway was very crowded. There were people jugging, biking, rollerblading, as well as people who moved at a speed of 1 mile per hour, and stopped at every 5 feet to take pictures, but most people were not visibly bothered by it.

After we got off the bridge we walked around Dumbo for a while. I never knew what Dumbo actually stood for (down under Manhattan Brooklyn overpass) and never really walked through it. The area is very old, and as our tour guide, Maya, informed us, it used to be an area of factories, but those got converted into lofts for artists in the 1960s, and now most of them look abandoned. The streets in Dumbo see far less pedestrian activity than the streets in the East Village. The main streets had 2 or 3 car lanes, and except the occasional jogger, we were the only ones on the sidewalk. As we got further from the bridge, we walked around the older part of the area. The only people we saw there were the people hanging around the projects, and a couple of camera crews on old, cobbled streets, shooting by abandoned, graffitied buildings.

Last on our agenda was the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory. The shop is in an old light house and the only one in NYC, needless to say the line was 30 minutes long and people kept lining up regardless of how long the line was. Outside the ice cream shop, there is something like a dock area and people can sit by the water and eat their ice cream under a picturesque view. Throughout the time we were there we saw 2 couples come to take wedding pictures, and Qunicenera party. There were also little children riding their bikes, parents playing with their children, big groups that came just for the ice cream, dog walkers etc.

Even though I’ve been to both areas before, I’ve learned a lot on this trip. As a group we were able to recognize several things we read for the class in daily life.

maria popa - activity 5

Manhattan Community District 4 includes the Chelsea and Clinton neighborhoods on the West Side. It has a total population of 87,479; 60.3% of which are white, 20.8% are Hispanic, 8.3% are Asian, and 7.3% are African American. 81.2% of them rent in the area, and 18.8% own the housing units they live in. The median household income in the area is $61, 525. (nyc.gov)

Community district 4 holds its meetings in conference room B in Roosevelt Hospital. The hospital is close to the end of the district on 58th street (the district ends at 59th street) and 10th Avenue, and it is about 15 minutes from the subway stop. But despite it not being conveniently located in the middle of the district and near a subway stop, there were over 100 people attending the meeting. Except a couple of Asian attendees, everyone else at the meeting was white; every member of the community board (present at the meeting) was white and predominately male.

I attended the community board meeting on Wednesday, April 07, 2010 and the first issue raised by the board’s chairmen was the shootings that took place in Times Square on Sunday. Even though the shootings took place right outside the community district, the chief inspector of NYPD came in at the beginning of the meeting and gave a detailed account of what happened and assured the community members that despite media allegations the police department was adequately prepared to handle the attacks. To my surprise, there was only one question from the crowd and that was a plea to the police inspector to put more police officers on the west side of 8th avenue. If I lived so close to the shootings I would be very concerned, so I expected more questions from the crowd.

Next on the agenda was the public session. Coming in to the conference room, everyone was required to sign in on either the “speaking” or “non – speaking” sheet. At the time I came in there were more people on the “speaking” sheet than on the other one. Popular topics of the public session were: the opening of the “Excel Lounge” on 56 street (everyone who spoke was in favor of it), the Hudson Hotel acquiring a cabaret license (everyone who spoke was against it), the failure of the Hudson Hotel of dealing with late night noise issues and traffic congestion caused by the taxis at its entrance, as well as their inadequate garbage disposal (one woman was complaining that they do not recycle and don’t have their dumpsters emptied frequently enough so there is an odor by her apartment). These are some examples of “citizens achieving dominant decision – making authority over a particular plan or program” (Arnstein, 242), because these residents actually had the power to decide whether to grant liquor or cabaret licenses to certain hotels, or to allow the opening of a new lounge in their neighborhood. A representative of the company who will build Excel Lounge came in with presentation posters of their plans to convince members of the community to allow it, at least making them feel like they had a say in it. There were also some other groups that spoke during the public session; a representative from “The Highline” park came in to announce their new, summer hours of operation, as well as some small, independent groups that organize community activities such as movie nights with documentaries about community district boards.

During the formal part of the meeting, the board chairman introduced the new members of the community board. Afterwards, the chairmen of the transportation planning committee, the waterfront and front committee, the business license and permit committee, quality of life and cultural affairs committee, and Chelsea preservation and human services committee, took turns to read several (27) letters of their individual committee meetings and resolutions. I found this part to be a little confusing since they didn’t introduce some of the issues they were talking about but just announced their decision. After the head of the committee announced their resolution, the board members voted whether they were in favor of it or not (they were in favor of all the 27 resolutions). One of the most important topics that the community was concerned about was the closing of St. Vincent Hospital’s Emergency Room. This was a fairly new issue in the community, and many of the residents of the district were outraged that their community no longer has a 24 hour emergency room and asked everyone to go to rallies and work together to force the city government to save the emergency room. All of the board members agreed that this was an important topic and that they would discuss it in depth at the meeting on Tuesday where all the board members will be present. This last part would be part of the manipulation ring on the ladder of citizen participation, because even though community members are allowed to express their concerns, board members would often “strongly encourage them to take it to the specific committee meeting”.

Ultimately, I was amazed and pleased to see so many people – from retirees to high school students – care about their community and actually speak up for what they believe in. It seemed like they were all friends (there were numerous inside jokes that I was completely out of the loop on) and worked together, joined committees, started websites, movie nights etc. to improve their community. And even though Arnstein labels committees and such meetings where the members are allowed to speak about their concerns as nonparticipation and a way for the government to manipulate the people and “serve no other purpose [but] educat[ing] them or engineering their support” (237), to see how passionate they were about their community made me eager to go to a meeting in my own community.

Tamon Charles-Activity 4

Scavenger Hunt

7. According to a foreclosure tracking firm, the Borough of Brooklyn has faced an all time high of in foreclosure homes. As of January 2010, there was an increase of 35% compared to December of 2009. The most tattered Brooklyn neighborhoods affected include Bedford-Stuyvesant, Flatlands, Canarsie, East New York and East Flatbush respectively.

Brooklyn foreclosure counselor Stephan Dookeeram, [who works with the Pratt Area Community Council] said that he has been seeing a faster pace of foreclosure homes listing because of job losses in this economic struggle. Homeowners operating a second home as rental housing have also been losing these second homes due to foreclosure because their tenants no longer have sources of income as well.
My experiences of this task were studying the various areas and then maneuver myself around to find evidence of foreclosure to complete this assignment. I think that it is also interesting to find these homes/buildings amongst a neighborhood that you may initially think that seem to be flourishing as you find other homes being utilized until you find a few that are vacant.



8. New York City Department of City Planning declares that “zoning shapes the city. Zoning determines the size and use of buildings, where they are located and, in large measure, the densities of the city’s diverse neighborhoods. Along with the city's power to budget, tax, and condemn property, zoning is a key tool for carrying out planning policy. New York City has been a pioneer in the field of zoning policy since it enacted the nation's first comprehensive Zoning Resolution in 1916.”
The New York City Department of Buildings primarily has the responsibility for implementing the Zoning Resolution and also for interpreting its provisions. One such neighborhood that is affected by this is the Williamsburg area.

In the Greenpoint-Williamsburg area in Brooklyn, Community District One covers approximately 184 blocks where the zoning, for the most part, does not permit new residential buildings. This area under study is bordered by the East River, the Williamsburg Bridge, the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, and McGuinness Boulevard.
The Department of City Planning has proposed new zoning changes to allow for housing as well as open spaces, for both light industry and commercial uses, along the two miles of Brooklyn’s East River waterfront and the upland neighborhoods. The proposed actions include a zoning map and zoning text changes to facilitate the new housing and local commercial development. Also, in concurrence with the Department of Parks and Recreation, the city map will change to launch a new, 27.8-acre waterfront park.

Maria Popa - Activity 7 Seagram Building Plaza

The Seagram Building Plaza is one of the “successful plazas” Whyte studied. He attributes its success to the fact that it is open to the street, has plenty of sitting place, and it has trees to provide shade as well as privacy and “on a good day, there would be a hundred and fifty people sitting, sunbathing, picnicking and schmoozing” (14). I observed this plaza on a nice, warm, Friday afternoon and during what Whyte calls peak time - from noon to a little before two (18), but despite the nice weather there were not many people there. During the peak time the number of people who were using the plaza was consistently around 50 or 60, and after two o’clock it consistently stayed around 30.

Like Whyte said, most of the people on the plazas are “young office workers from nearby buildings” (16). Both men and women dressed in business attire came on the plazas to eat their lunch. Many of the men bought their lunch from the Halal stand right next to the plaza while the women had salads in plastic take out containers or brown bags. Whyte states that “the best used plazas are sociable places, with a higher proportion of couples …and more people in groups” (17), but most of the office workers came on their own or in twos at the most. The largest group I saw on the plaza was about 6 office workers, both male and female, who stopped under the flag pole and chatted for a couple of minutes then went into the building.

The Seagram plaza has everything Whyte deems necessary to be successful. There is plenty of sitting place, and yet many of the younger people like to sit on the steps and block other people from entering the plaza. It also has a couple of trees in a section in the rear right, which seems to be separated from the rest of the plaza since it is so dark and seems claustrophobic. The whole time I was there, I never saw a woman go in that shaded section, there were at most two people in there at once but they were always men and tried to stay far from one another. I also noticed that most of the women liked to sit by the water. My friend and I were also sitting there, and had to lift our feet many times to let women walk across the 1 foot wide ledge to get towards the middle of the pool. Women prefer sitting on that wall because it is high from the street, it is facing the plaza, and most importantly the large pool of water provides protection, so they feel safe yet not alienated from the rest of the plaza.

Although I did not notice any surveillance cameras or security guards patrolling the area, for a brief period of time there were a couple of policemen walking back and forth Park Avenue, right in front of the plaza, but they did not stop anyone and eventually left. I think this plaza as many other popular public spaces are trusted to be patrolled by the people who use them because it is in their own interest to keep the plaza clean and free of crime. Also, I haven’t seen any signs that indicate that certain areas are private, but I’m sure the Seagram Building itself is not a public place.

I did my observation of the plaza immediately after we watched the movie in class so I was a little disappointed not to see the passionate lovers or the girl watchers, Whyte poked fun on. But I immediately recognized certain elements he focused on such as how people enjoy the sense of adventure of walking along the small ledge along the pool, or how some like to sit on the steps and clog walking areas, and how no one really likes to use the vast empty space in the middle of the plaza and either stand by the flag pole or sit on the walls all along the plaza. I felt comfortable there not only because I was with a friend, but also because there was a diverse group of people there from school kids running around, to old men reading or simply watching the street, and young office workers on their lunch break, so no one really feels like they do not belong there.

Johanna Kelly-Activity #3

Johanna Kelly
Activity #3- Public vs. Private
For this activity, I decided to visit the Gramercy Park on 18th street between Park and Third Avenue. Even though this park is located on the street where the entire public can see it, the park is actually private. This means that it is private property that can be only owned by certain people. The public is not eligible to go inside Gramercy Park and sit there like other parks allow us to. A tall gate circulates the entire park and is closed with a lock. Thus, only people with a key to the park are allowed to go inside. This indicates that the park is a private place located here in midtown Manhattan. Even though the streets are open to the public, the park is not.
The park appeared to be very elegant and not like every other park you see here in the city. The gates around the park looked very rich and they had a lock on the entrance gate. However, you could see through the gates and observe what was going inside the park. This park reminded me more of a garden because it had a lot of open plant spaces. I could imagine how much flowers there must be in the summer. There were benches in the park but they were empty. Because it was a cold day, there were not so many people hanging out in the park. However, you could tell that the people that were in the park were of a high middle class. I spotted two elderly ladies sitting on the benches and they were dressed in long coats with fur collars. They were talking amongst themselves; however their volume was very low. Thus, I interpreted that they were of a higher class just because they were so proper and how they were interacting with each other. They were sitting on the bench with great posture. Therefore, I knew that those ladies were of a higher class and could be able to afford going to a private park.
It was very interesting to me how something like a park could be even considered a private spot. Usually, when I think of walking on the street, I perceive everything as public because everyone is entitled to walking where they wish. However, everybody does not have access to Gramercy Park. In the book, The Geography of Nowhere, James Howard Kunstler states, “But it only made sense as something that ordered the relationship between the yard and the sidewalk. The wooden prickets had meaning only in the relation to the spaces between them, which allowed a person on the street to see through the fence and yet still be informed that the private yard beyond it was a separate place from the public street” (Kunstler, 250). This quote evidently connects back to the separation of Gramercy Park and the public sidewalk/streets. Even though it is titled as park, it could also be considered as a private yard that is separated from the “public street.” In suburban areas, the people’s homes and yards are considered private spaces. However, right over the fence/gate, is a street/sidewalk and that is already considered to be public. As I was looking at the park through the gate, I felt as if I was watching someone sitting in his/her yard. This activity was very interesting to see how private areas do exist in city streets and sidewalks.