Chapter 15

In chapter 15 Jane Jacobs talk about sluming and unsluming of the neighborhoods. According to Jacobs it is not so easy to unslum the area, because it needs greater amount of public money, but since the area is already undesirable and unattractive, no investments are flowing in. She gives an example of the present urban renewal laws, how government tried to wipe out slums by building new projects intended to get bigger tax yields, but the plan was a complete failure. They just moved the slum and its community from one place to another. Another crucial factor for a slum to unslum is security feeling. If people living there will not be able to walk safely on the streets of their neighborhood and will be scared to get out of their house, the slum will never unslum.

Chapter 13

In this chapter Jane Jacobs talk about how the diversity can destroy the city in not maintained well. Author gives an example how it is done. Everything starts with “outstanding success” and afterwards usually goes downward, because if the area becomes very popular and everybody wants to live there, work there, hang out there… Over some period of time it becomes overcrowded. If one type of business becomes very successful, since people most of the time look at other peoples actions and successes, more such type businesses will be established up to the level, then nobody is going to make profits. The same example can be used for increasing population of that area. If the area became very popular, more people tend to move in, which eventually will lead to overcrowding.

Introduction

Briarwood was long a part of the Jamaica, where English settlers arrived in 1656. In 1905, Herbert A. O’Brien launched a development in the area now known as Briarwood. His wife, Adeline, coined the name because of the briars stuck to her husband’s clothing when he returned from forays to wooden site. The neighborhood was well established in 1936. Since I live in this area I decided to take a better look into the surroundings of this lovely neighborhood. It took me a long time to decide what my interests were about this place, because it is housing area and there is nothing much going on around here and not too many interesting places to write about. But one night, when I was coming home from Manhattan, at a big intersection of Queens Boulevard and 82nd. Street I saw a huge white building. It was the NYC Courthouse. I thought to my self how the it affects the neighborhood? After a bit of thinking and putting the facts together I new that the existence of the courthouse in Briarwood affects the real estate prices and the crime rate in the area.

Thesis statement

The crime in Briarwood has dropped because the of the appearance of the courthouse in the neighborhood.

Supporting arguments:

The rise in real estate prices.

Statistics.

More police reinforcement.

Neighborhoods: Briarwood Reassures Black Family

Neighborhoods: Briarwood Reassures Black Family

By MURRAY SCHUMACH

New York Times (1857-Current file); Nov 12, 1971; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2004)

pg. 42

The article “Neighborhoods: Briarwood Reassures Black Family” talks about the racial issues of briarwood in early seventies. It gives you a story how some vandals burned, a newly moved in, black families two story brick house. In early seventies you could still see some racist habits in the population if the area. I would not even want to imagine how it would be to lose everything that was dear and precious to you in a couple of hours. Just the thought of that drives me crazy. But as they say “There are good people in the world” the poor black family received a call from a white woman from the neighborhood saying that she is going to help them and give them a shelter until they going to find a new roof over there heads. This show that the community’s appreciation towards the “Blacks” is growing. “He paused, looking at the black and white schoolchildren walking together in the street. ”The people are warming up to us” he said”.

http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=44&did=79164505&SrchMode=1&sid=14&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=1204183129&clientId=13031

Where Cultural Diversity Is an Old Habit

Where Cultural Diversity Is an Old Habit

Briarwood, QueensBy JOHN RATHER

New York Times (1857-Current file); May 5, 1996; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2004)

pg. RNJ5

The article “Where cultural diversity is an old habit” by John Rather talks about the cultural diversity of the area that I live in called Briarwood. First author gives a couple of facts about the geographical position and the types of the buildings that were built there: “Briarwood is bordered by four major roadways, the rectangular neighborhood is a predominately middle-income, multi-ethnic community of one- two-family houses interspersed with five-, six- seven-story apartment buildings, nearly all now co-ops.” The major roadways are: south border is UNION Turnpike, north border is Hillside avenue, east is Queens Boulevard and west, Parsons Boulevard.

Next John Rather talks about the cultural diversity of the neighborhood, gives some statistics on the census, ethnic groups and multicultural businesses.

http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=56&did=117250355&SrchMode=1&sid=14&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=1204182913&clientId=13031

Interwiew Answers

1. What is your name?

Jomo Clarke

2. What is your background?

I was born here, but my parents are originally from Jamaica

3. For how long do you live here?

I live here for past 7 years.

4. Do you rent or own?

I rent

5. Why did you move here?

I moved here because I went to college nearby. Saint John’s. You know it right. And it was really inconvenient for me to drive from Long beach (That is where his parent live) every morning. I just took too much time.

6. How the prices of real estate changed in this neighborhood since you moved here?

When I moved in the rent was around 1300 dollars, can’t remember precisely, and now it is 1650 dollars a month. Do the math.

7. What do you think about the safety in this neighborhood?

I think it is safe to live here. In past 7 years I barely herd a police siren around here, plus it’s a calm neighborhood, mostly old folks live around here so I don’t hear any loud music or parties at night.

8. How is the public transportation in this area?

Sorry I cannot answer this question, because I do not use it, my car takes me wherever I need to go. I know there is a subway not far but I have no idea what trains go there.

9. What kind of businesses are nearby?

There is a shopping plaza about 10 blocks away from my house. It has a Laundromat, dry cleaners, pizza place, Chinese food restaurant and a blockbuster. Also there are a few gas stations; I think its “GETTY” and “EXXON”. There

10. What are the recreation sites around here?

None that I would go to, I know there are a couple of bars around here and that is it I guess.

Interwiew questions

1. What is your name?

2. What is your background?

3. For how long do you live here?

4. Do you rent or own?

5. Why did you move here?

6. How the prices of real estate changed in this neighborhood since you moved here?

7. What do you think about the safety in this neighborhood?

8. How is the public transportation in this area?

9. What kind of businesses are nearby?

10. What are the recreation sites around here?

Forgotten NY

As a resident of New York for the past 4 years I feel that I have learned enough to consider myself a true “New Yorker”. I have done the usual tourist attractions such as visiting the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, and taking the Double Decker tour bus through Manhattan, and I can find my way to just about any location in the city, be it in a car or by subway. Therefore I entered my exploration of the Forgotten-NY.com website somewhat skeptic about what I could possibly learn about NY that I didn’t already know.
The first thing that caught my eye on the website was the link to the history of the subway and trains. I ride the subway regularly and I have always been fascinated by the innovation and convenience of this mode of travel as we don’t have this luxury back in my home country of Lithuania. The most interesting section to this part of the website was the “A Staircase too far Below the Platforms” link. It reminded me of some kind of horror movie title so I decided to explore it. Most of the pictures were from the 1930s but the construction seemed fairly modern, and by the looks of the walls I was pretty surprised to see that they were doing graffiti even back then in the 1970s?
Of course my next stop had to be to the link with the most unique name, “Queens Crap”. I’ve lived in queens as long as I have been here in the United States so I figured why not learn a little more about what’s going on around me. First off, the mascot of the site is hilarious. It is a so-called Crap-O-Sphere named "Crappy", which is a picture of a globe sitting on a toilet. But the site turned out to be mainly a news page giving updates about what’s going on in queens. It appears to be updated daily, and I noticed a few things that were reported here that were also reported in the 10 o’clock news, but it is very specific to queens.
The main page contains many pictures to links that will give you information about almost any neighborhood in New York. It contains countless links and could occupy a curious mind for hours. I would recommend this website to anyone doing research on New York, or to someone who is just interested in learning more about the history and current status of this great city.

Briarwood Sidewalk

This is the sidewalk that runs next to my house. As you can see in the picture it is an ordinary New York City concrete sidewalk. It usually clean and neat. When we have snow day like past two days area of the walk is always shoveled by the tenants that live in the house. Since the people that live on this block know each other pretty well they usually help one another sweeping the sidewalk or shoveling it in this case. The part of the pavement that has contact to our house was recently renovated, because the construction company that is doing some work down the block had a huge cement truck parked in our driveway which ruined it completely.

There are usually kids running up and down the sidewalk playing different childish games. As you can see in the middle of the picture I have taken there are two kids playing with the snow which supports my statement. For the most people that live on this street this sidewalk in not only a walk way but also a place to hang out or exchange some unimportant information. At summer time we usually have a barbeque at least once a week on the part of the sidewalk area next to our house. As I have mentioned before the folks that live on my block know each other pretty well once a year, usually the second Saturday of July the whole block comes together to a block party and take a guess where it takes place… So as you can see the sidewalk is not only the just a gray path like most people would describe it, but it also has a great importance in the social life of the neighborhood and my block in this case.

House built after 1950

I live in an area called Briarwood. This is the house I live in for past 2 years and share it with two more roommates. According to my landlord it was built 1970. As you can see from the picture it is still in a very good condition, although a few minor repair jobs have to be done. If the picture would be larger and a little bit more detailed you could see that there is small crack above the garage door. Another thing is the entrance storm door has to be repainted, because the old black paint is starting to peal. But those are just minor scars of the overall good looking house, and they do not really affect the quality of living.

My room is located on the second floor, right above the garage. Since the garage entrance door is old and it makes a lot of noise when it is opened and even more ear popping noise when it is being closed. Every morning the lady that rents the garage comes to pick up her car wakes me up like an alarm clock, or I can even call it an advanced alarm clock( because when she opens the door my bed is shaking and vibrating) exactly at fifteen minutes past seven o’clock in the morning. Another thing that really bothers me is finding parking. As you can see in the picture there is a big orange sign in front of the house saying NO PARKING. This street sign costed me a lot of money. The story is that whoever is making construction work down the block needed an access to parking space right next to the house I live in and they posted a sing without warning the people that live on this block, so one beautiful winter morning I come to take my car to work as I notice that there is something sticking out of my hood. It was a parking violation ticket for one hundred and fifty dollars. I guess those are the only discomforts I have.

Besides us there are two more families living in this house. One above us and one below. On the first floor there is a young African American family that just moved in a few months ago. They have a little baby named Ryan. He is a very nice little boy and he does not bother us with constant screaming. In conclusion I just to say that I really like the place I live in.

Summary of Chapter #9

In this chapter Jane Jacobs elaborates her ideas about the need of making small blocks instead of having as she calls “Super-blocks”. Having small blocks gives one an opportunity of knowing your neighborhood better, because instead of taking the same path to every morning one could have an chance to get to the same point in some other way, by walking on other streets than usually and discovering new, never seen before place, see new people or even interact in some kind of social life. Jacobs gives a strong argument about that. According to her book it would also help to create local businesses, since there would more diversity and a bigger stream of people. Author also gives a great example of how it could look like by explaining the planning of the Rockefeller center

Summary of Chapter #3

In Chapter number three Jane Jacobs explains the necessity of sidewalks in the communities or neighborhoods social life. The main criterion for the sidewalk social life to exist is the feeling of safety and trust. She gives various examples of social behavior in different neighborhoods of how people interact with each other or they just stay to themselves. The existence of sidewalk life depends not only on the diversity of the area but also on the existence of the “social centers” like grocery store, barber shop, Laundromat, bars,(the places where people living in that neighborhood usually socialize, exchange local gossip, or hear the latest news… ), but also on type of city planning or even census. According to Jacobs it is more plausible for sidewalk life to be present in “Garden city” type areas than in projects, since the density in those districts is much lower and it is easier to know people that surround you, because there are so many of them.

She gave a few examples of public life that I actually have experience myself. For example my local grocery store. I go to that store every morning and the owner right after saying good morning pours a medium size cup o coffee and takes out a pack of cigarettes that I usually smoke, without me saying a single word.

Summary of the introduction

In the introduction of the book Jane Jacobs is giving us an idea what she is going to elaborate about further in her book “The Death and life of the great American cities ” .She introduces a few major early twentieth century theories how the city should look like and how it should properly operate. For example the European architects plan ( better word to describe it would be DREAM) called “Radiant City”, where in the you would have a tall skyscraper in the middle of a beautiful, green park and surrounded by cultural centers. Another major theory described by Jacobs is the “Garden City” planning, where the plan was to build a suburb kind of towns with low density and a lot of parks and recreation places. She criticizes a lot the current or “modern” city planning theories as well as the orthodox ones. Also Jacobs mentions in the intro that nobody cares about the what people that occupy some certain neighborhood need, all “they” care is money.