Deanna Martinez
Whether we ignore their requests or give them our patronage, sympathize with them or look down on them, solicitors are a part of every New Yorkers’ daily life. The video below, The Panhandler Party, created by Panhandler Party Productions, mocks the different types of solicitation that occur in the subway and shines a light on many of the issues that surround it, such as social class and power dynamics. We explored New Yorkers’ attitudes toward those who solicit money in the subway system. Inspired by this video and an interactive map on The New Yorker website, entitled “Inequality and New York’s Subway,” which graphically depicts median household income around each subway stop, we travelled along the 6 train, which runs up and down Manhattan’s east side. We visited the wealthiest stop, 77th Street on the Upper East Side, the poorest, 125th Street in East Harlem, and one of the busiest and most diverse stops where many local New Yorkers can be found, 14th Street – Union Square. We took on the roles of solicitors ourselves, asking randomly selected individuals on their way to and from the trains to take our survey. We compiled our answers into the following Prezi, which illustrates our discoveries about the similarities and differences in attitudes toward solicitors on each of the three stops.
