Posted on by olgapinkhas

Reflection- Common Event Seminar 4

As a second semester sophomore at the Macaulay Honors College here at BC, this is my fourth Macaulay Common Event. I can definitely say I felt the most prepared for this event and most comfortable with this presentation, even though it seemed to be the most “intense” one compared to the previous events. What really helped me (and my group) in terms of preparing for the presentation was practicing in front of an audience. Practicing the presentation in class and constantly editing it was a big help. Writing a script was very helpful as well. Although, we didn’t follow a script exactly, writing out and discussing what everyone was going to say using parallel language was very helpful. Feedback regarding presentation style was particularly helpful because I feel like that was our biggest weakness when we were starting of.

All of the presentations were very interesting. Particularly, I liked how many of the presentations had very specific targeted solutions down to what NYC department should make what changes. I also liked how although there was a similar theme in each room, there was variety in the presentations we heard. It was interesting to see how every topic on bettering the city was so interconnected. The coordinator in the room asked very good questions. They were difficult questions, but the kinds that really provoked thought and discussion, which I think this event was all about. The only criticism I have is that I wish that the coordinator would’ve spoke more about her experiences and  background and that there were more adults working in relevant fields present. I think this would facilitate even more discussion and would take the projects a step further.

If I had to give advice regarding the common event to future Seminar 4 students, I would say to tailor the presentation to bettering our city. Furthermore, to be excited about this presentation instead of dreading it. It’s really not an environment where students should be worried and tense. Instead, it’s more about being proud of a solution you’re proposing to a problem that is relevant and significant, but at the same time being open and dynamic because all of these problems are incredibly complicated and an easy cookie cutter solution doesn’t necessarily exist. In this advice also lies my key take away from the conference and the ultimate experience I had. This was truly a learning experience and a realization that NYC is a vigorous city. There are many great things about NYC, but it is also very problematic. NYC belongs to all of us and as the rising generation, the future of NYC is in our hands with both the good and the bad. Fixing the bad is evidently much more complicated than I imagined before learning all the pertinent information during this seminar. However, the challenge doesn’t scare me or drive me away; instead, it pushes me to be more creative, and I really think that there is a lot of hope in the future of our city (especially with all of the great ideas I heard during the conference).  Ultimately, I had a great experience and am proud of our project and everyone else’s. I am excited to see some of our potential solutions be implemented decades down the line. With that, I’d like to extend a great thank you to Alexis, Professor Alonso, my group-mates and the whole class!

 

 

Posted on by olgapinkhas

Saving Mom & Pop Shops – What is everyone else doing? Case Studies:

It takes a simple stroll through NYC to notice the frequency of empty store fronts and realize the emergent crisis. Long-established small businesses are being forced out of neighborhoods by crazy rent increases when their leases expire. This has been an ongoing issue that has been getting progressively worse. Since Mayor de Blasio and our City Council-member Corey Johnson have been in office, more than 1,000 small businesses have closed every month, and up to 8,000 jobs have been lost. This is obviously bad for small business owners, but importantly local neighborhood residents are also complaining, indicating how essential mom and pop shops are to the character and livelihood of a neighborhood. To use Jane Jacob’s language, they make up the beautiful “sidewalk ballet”, and this ballet is evidently shrinking and turning vibrant neighborhoods bland. An introduced solution is the Small Business Jobs Survival Act (SBJSA). This bill would give small businesses a 10 year lease with a right to renew that lease. If an agreement would not be reach, a third party mediator would then determine a fair rent. Although this bill sounds great in theory, it has been met with a lot of opposition and red tape. The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) has been working to block this vote because such a bill is against their interests. To further understand how to solve this crisis, my post will address two case studies of what measures other cities took.

Continue reading “Saving Mom & Pop Shops – What is everyone else doing? Case Studies:”

Posted on by olgapinkhas

Rezoning and the Pitfalls of Mixed Use Zones

The illustration above shows the changes in zoning in Greenpoint and Williamsburg between 2002 and 2012. The fundamental trend that was seen in the last couple of decades regarding areas like Greenpoint and Williamsburg revolved around the idea that the city had too much land zoned for industrial use, much more than necessary. This idea combined with the fact that manufacturing activity has been on the decline in NYC together led to major rezoning that transformed these former manufacturing and industrial districts into residential developments. It is also important to note that there were other external pressures pushing for this kind of rezoning to take effect, like lobbyists that represent large scale developers who were looking to profit. The consequences of this are the reality of our present day. By 2008, NYC was losing industrial employers, which has an extremely negative effect on the local residents of those districts. Manufacturing jobs have greater opportunities for advancement compared to other entry level jobs that do not require a college degree/the English language. Furthermore, industrial jobs pay better than retail and employment, which are analogous to the types of jobs individuals without a college degree/the English language could potentially sustain. In other words, the people that were really suffering from this loss of industrial businesses in our city were immigrants. This is extremely important because it demonstrates exactly how gentrification truly harms the poor and the detrimental effects it specifically had on the Polish community in Greenpoint. At this point the city began to change its course of action and “mixed use zones” were created.

Continue reading “Rezoning and the Pitfalls of Mixed Use Zones”

Posted on by olgapinkhas

NYC’s Creative Class Present Day- The Lowline

The Lowline Project

The Ted Talk above was delivered by Dan Barasch, the cofounder and executive director of a new project called the Lowline. This project, as explained in the video, aims to use innovative solar technology to create New York City’s first underground park from a historical trolley terminal on the lower east side. This park would serve as a creative and green cultural space ironically situated in a gentrifying and overdeveloped area of our city. When reading about this project, I immediately drew parallels to our readings, specifically to Brian Tochterman’s discussion of Florida’s view of the creative class in the city and the necessity of the creative class in terms of stimulating the economy. Furthermore, a parallel can also be drawn to Tom Angotti’s discussion of the Growth Machine and the perpetuation of the myth that growth primed by real estate brings money into neighborhoods.

Continue reading “NYC’s Creative Class Present Day- The Lowline”

Posted on by olgapinkhas

NYC Past to Future Lens Through Moses’ Eyes

The impact that Robert Moses had on NYC is indisputable. During his reign as the “building maestro”, he completed massive projects in with speed and efficiency, building hundreds of miles of new roads, thousands of acres of parklands and beaches, multiple art complexes as well as new bridges, and more (page 2-3). Despite these indisputable remarkable feats that he accomplished, a massive controversy exists questioning his methodologies and ultimate impacts: did he propel NYC into the future with massive modernization efforts and through projects focused on eradication of slums and building of new roads or did he displace great numbers of innocent people and nearly destroy the city as we know it? In my personal opinion, the answer to this controversy is not at all black and white and in a way I think Moses did both. However, after completing this week’s reading, I found myself focusing on a different approach to the readings. I had the following question in mind: what would New York City look like today if Robert Moses still had the power he once yielded? The pictures above provide a visual model with a potential answer to this question.

Continue reading “NYC Past to Future Lens Through Moses’ Eyes”