All posts by Patrick Blake

Project Update: Week of April 27

Updates - Public Transportation

Key Project Activities

In the final week before our white paper is due, we have shifted all of our attention to tying up the loose ends. Over the last two weeks, we have been putting our research onto paper and constantly adding and subtracting from it as we have honed the focus of our project. It’s easy to say you have a lot of useful research, but it isn’t until you actually have to put it on paper that you realize what is relevant and what is not. Our final thesis is that a successful BQX transportation plan should be modeled around previous public transportation projects that have met our set of criteria of a successful transportation alternative. We believe this thesis best represents our two-fold approach to tackling the issue- first developing criteria and analyzing whether they are effective by using them to evaluate other streetcar plans in different cities and then using these evaluations and the criteria again to make recommendations on how to best make the BQX streetcar a success.

Last week, before we left for break, we decided to make an outline and assign roles of each specific part of the white paper to a specific person. We have known the basics as to what each person will be responsible for (e.g. background information, research on the different streetcars systems) but we didn’t assign the smaller roles that usually get caught up in the minutiae, such as who will be writing the conclusion, formatting the appendix or even assembling the white paper completely. By handing out roles, we took some future stress off of ourselves since everything is now accounted for.

Progress

Progress is being made slowly, but surely, this week as everyone is working on translating his or her research and findings into a cohesive section of the white paper. Edwin, who is responsible for the introduction/background and political context, has been consulting our historical narrative, research methods response and our answers to “What’s the problem?” to make sure we don’t leave out anything we have previously discussed. A great background section is necessary since, as we have discovered throughout our research, not many people are too familiar on what the BQX is actually. We can’t start advising people on changes if they don’t know what is changing.

Adrian has been drafting his section of the white paper- his research into the Hoboken-Bergen streetcar line. To best convey his research, Adrian has created two figures, one showing a map of the general area and the other showing a comparison between 2000-2010 census data of the percentage of the population in the area that uses public transportation versus automobiles.

I have been drafting my research on the Baltimore Light rail and have also chosen to use maps to help convey my argument. Instead of making a claim and then trying to find research to back it up, I decided to work backwards. I first found the hard data, such as population densities and the number of no-car households in the area, and then formulated claims based on my findings. At first, when I began researching, I definitely had a bias as to where I wanted to go, but I decided to shift gears to provide a more objective piece. When drafting, I first started by checking each criteria one-by-one. Then, I grouped criteria together and made some changes so my research would flow better and not sound so repetitive and boring.

Mohamed has been formulating his research on “failed” streetcar proposals or projects in different cities across the country. Though not going as in-depth into each project as we have in our “successful” case studies, this portion of research is still fairly important since it serves as a sort of concession statement and helps us see what has lead to these projects failing. A large portion of our policy recommendations will probably draw from this since actions have already been taken. For example, in one city, residents actually voted down a streetcar proposal, something that tells us that democratic participation is probably a good recommendation.

Sonia has still had no luck with reaching out to more community contacts, but we still have Julia Kite at transportation alternatives. Sonia has scheduled a phone meeting with Julia to get more input on our white paper and hopefully help us better develop our policy recommendations. Sonia also has some great ideas for our policy recommendations such as having the government take a more active approach in the BQX project, since it seems like private investors almost have free reign. Another recommendation was having more oversight into projects like this, preferably with a third party acting as an unbiased arbitrator to go over the project plans for the sake of transparency.

Jeffrey has been drafting our section on our research methods and has begun creating citations for our lengthy list of references. Jeffrey also has taken on the role of master editor by connecting the sections in a way such that the white paper has a natural rhythm to it. Since we are all writing different sections and write with different voices, if we don’t actively connect each section, a read through will sound very disjointed.

Challenges

As we began drafting our white paper together, we have come across a few more challenges. First off is that we sort of ignored one of the selling points of the BQX. Many are championing it because it is going to connect Brooklyn and Queens. Most of our research has been looking at the political and economic effects of streetcars, while the BQX is being developed to also serve a unique purpose. We are glad we caught this challenge when we did so we can account for it in our policy recommendations, such as talking about alternative ways to ease transportation between the two boroughs.

Another challenge we see developing is trying to find a way to say everything we want to say. Throughout the course of our research, we almost have become experts on the subject. We even have developed our own personal feelings about what is the best way to go about creating a successful streetcar. We need to make sure to provide all relevant information for an objective, but all encompassing, evaluation and we need to pull from a variety of sources to provide a broad opinion.

Group Dynamics and Process

Even though we haven’t met face-to-face this week, we have still been communicating via email. Everyone knows what is expected of each other and we each have made sure to pitch in and help where it is needed.

Project Brief Update

Future of Public Transportation, Project Brief - Public Transportation

A Streetcar Named BQX

What makes a successful Streetcar and can the BQX be one?

Earlier this year, the city proposed a plan to implement a streetcar line. The proposed streetcar line would run along the Brooklyn-Queens waterfront from Sunset Park to Astoria. The streetcar would run parallel to existing traffic on its own lane, and it would provide some much needed transit to these underserved areas. The Brooklyn-Queens Connector (BQX) is a bold project, and it comes with both advantages and disadvantages. Our research aims to provide a thorough investigation into the proposed streetcar line. Our project will focus on the criteria that the BQX needs to satisfy in order to successfully and efficiently supply transportation to underserved areas. We will also explore the potential consequences, both positive and negative, of the implementation of the BQX. Many people who do not live in the areas where the BQX is proposed to run through are completely unaware of the impact such a large public project will have on surrounding neighborhoods. By analyzing consequences, we will not only determine how this streetcar will affect New York City; we will also be able to provide a template to evaluate future streetcar plans and inform the general public elsewhere on what the implementation of a streetcar project completely entails. We are ultimately interested in finding out what it will take in order for this proposal to be successful and what this will mean for the the future of transportation in New York City.

We will carry out this research in two parts. The first is more of a scholarly approach, where we conduct media reviews, literature reviews and secondary data analysis. We will review current articles and studies written by those more informed on the economic, political and social repercussions of introducing a new streetcar system. We will also create a historical context for our research by studying the history of streetcars in New York City and examining modern, successful streetcars across the United States. The streetcar is currently planned to be completely operational by 2024 – a hopeful estimate given the significant red tape associated with such a project. As a result, most of our analysis will be based on already recorded results since there is no way for us to critically study the BQX line and its aftereffects in person at the present. The second part of our research is where we take a more active role and gather first hand data through surveying community contacts and conducting community mapping. Our current community contact, though we aim to reach out to others, is Julia Kite, Policy and Research Manager at Transportation Alternatives. By meeting with someone who is familiar with alternative forms of transportation and who also has experience analyzing the effects of current transportation methods on the city, in this case, buses and cars, we will have a better background with which to evaluate the successfulness of the BQX streetcar. Community mapping is integral to our research since we will need to understand the areas being affected by the implementation of a streetcar before we can make any judgements as to its effects. This mapping will done through personal exploration of the neighborhoods where the BQX is proposed to run and through analysis of already collected data, perhaps with the aid of the Social Explorer tool.

Our research will begin by analyzing the historical background of streetcars in New York City. Streetcars were once common in the city, but they soon fell out of favor with the rise of automobile ownership and traffic. Also contributing to their downfall was the city’s annexation and subsequent administration of the once-private trolley car systems. Understanding the factors that surrounded the initial uses of the streetcar will help us gain a better understanding of the consequences that may occur if the BQX is eventually implemented. Next, we will look at current streetcar systems in Hoboken, NJ, Baltimore, MD and Washington D.C. as case studies for the possible New York City streetcar. These case studies will help us define what makes a streetcar successful and efficient, definitions that we can then apply to the current propositions for the BQX. In choosing these specific locations, we will study the application of streetcars in cities that are similar to New York City and which have other municipal public transportation options available. Finally, we will shift our attention back to New York as we analyze articles and reports written by professionals who have a better understanding of possible detriments and outcomes of the implementation of a streetcar system in New York City. The economy of the city, and the social and political problems that come along with it, are not black and white issues. Being able to read others’ opinions will help us make an even more informed judgement as to whether the streetcar will be successful. 

After our historical research, we will go out into the field and conduct our own personal research. If a picture is worth a thousand words, seeing something in person must be priceless. By visiting a neighborhood, one can experience and learn much more than simply reading about it. How a neighborhood “feels” and the interactions and attitudes of people who live there are not something that is easily documented in an article. We then will turn to our community contact, Julia Kite. She will help us get a better understanding of the financial repercussions of installing and maintaining the streetcar. For example, she might provide details about which private company is likely to fund this government effort and how the streetcar may improve land value more than other modes of transportation. We may include a second community contact, such as Queens Public Transportation Group, who is more directly associated with the particular communities being affected by the streetcar. 

At the conclusion of our research, we hope to produce a white paper that is able to adequately convey our findings on how the BQX streetcar can be implemented best. Our white paper will take all of our contributed research and cut it down into a succinct report that gives context as to what we are researching, our comparisons to current streetcar systems across the United States, and our summarized findings and judgement. We also hope to produce a popular education/public engagement product that is interesting enough to attract an audience, while also being in-depth enough in describing our findings. We currently have two ideas for our public engagement product- a pamphlet and a website. The pamphlet would be stylized in the way MTA bus schedules and timetables are and would highlight our key findings neatly so any layperson can pick it up and understand what we are saying. A website, which is the direction we are leaning, can be accessed by virtually anyone, anywhere and it also allows us the opportunity to say as much as we want and be as in-depth as we please.

We will work on researching our respective white paper topics and have a short draft of each section by Monday, April 4. We will stay in contact and meet before and after class in order to resolve any questions and concerns that come up. We will then draft and begin revising our white paper by Wednesday April 20th. During class on April 20th, we will discuss final revisions on our paper and complete any changes by the due date on May 2nd. Concurrently we will be drafting our public engagement piece,  having a first draft done by April 20th and completed revisions by the due date, May 18th.

We will divide the project into different sections upon which one group member will focus their research. For the white paper, Edwin will research the history of streetcars in New York City, Adrian will research the streetcar system built in Hoboken, New Jersey, Patrick will research the streetcar system in Baltimore, Maryland, and Mohamed will research the streetcar system in Washington D.C. Sonia will serve as a liaison between the group and Julia Kite at Transportation Alternatives by receiving input and relating our ideas. Jeffrey will compare and contrast the compiled research, organizing our findings. Currently, our public engagement product is going to be a brochure, neatly and succinctly displaying our findings and results.

The Role of Government in AIDS Prevention

Uncategorized

I really appreciated that How to Survive a Plague was told the way it was. Instead of only having someone narrate what was happening, archival footage was shown, adding a first hand source for what was really going on. I know when I was in High School and Middle School, the AIDS epidemic was told from a sort of revisionist point of view. I’ll admit, I can understand how teachers may want to glance over the ineptitudes of the US government and the deaths of millions of people when trying to explain a virus that may eventually kill someone to a bunch of children and young adults. At some point though, it’s necessary to look at the facts and actually make an attempt to understand what has happened and what is currently happening. Just because it isn’t heavily publicized today, HIV and AIDS are still around and people are still being affected.

Something that I feel is intertwined with the discussion of the AIDS epidemic is the role government should play in an individual’s life. A lot of emphasis throughout the film was placed on how the government wasn’t doing enough in financing, researching and providing a cure. As said in the film, “Health Care is a right” and like most, I believe the government should do everything in its power to provide and protect this right. Though having a cure is great for curtailing and slowing the rates of infection and mortality, it completely skips the issue of prevention. I think the lack of education provided by the government is even more atrocious than their lack of care for a cure. Throughout the 80s, the Reagans were fairly silent about the issue and press secretary Larry Speakes usually called AIDS a joke. I think the dispersal of information may have been the greatest contribution ACT UP made. No longer were people so unaware of what was happening. Distributions of pamphlets and AIDS “glossaries” helped people understand HIV and AIDS and how they could stop it.

If the US government as a whole made a push to educate people on the symptoms, consequences and means of prevention of AIDS in the 80’s, maybe the disease wouldn’t have spiked as much as it did in the mid-90s. Now, hindsight is 20/20 and I feel a national campaign in the 80’s on condom usage and other means of HIV/AIDS prevention probably wouldn’t have gone over too well with the general public. As some see today, there’s a court case every other week about how the government can’t tell people what to do with their bodies or lives. The relationship between the government and the people it is supposed to protect is a confusing one, and it is hard to assess how far the government should meddle in one’s life. Should state governments be able to outlaw abortions and tell pregnant women what to do with their bodies or is simply banning soft drinks larger than 16 oz. like Bloomberg proposed in 2012 the right amount of nanny state interference that people desire?

The BQX and the Real Estate Industry

The Capital of Capital

Reading this article, I noticed many parallels between the real estate industry and the BQX, the proposed streetcar that is to connect Brooklyn and Queens. First off is the idea that real estate can bring money into neighborhoods. Developers felt that the building of large retail and grocery chains in poorer neighborhoods would provide the residents of said neighborhoods with jobs. These jobs, though, were often low paying and had high turnover rates. One of the advertised benefits of the BQX is that it provides a means for people in underserved neighborhoods to reach jobs that they wouldn’t be able to reach easily otherwise. What is not brought up, though, is that many of the available jobs in these neighborhoods around the proposed BQX route are specialized jobs, mostly in the tech industry. In both cases, money isn’t really being brought in; rather, opportunities are being opened for a select few.

Another large parallel is seen when looking at what the Real Estate Board of New York and the BQX hope to bring to the Brooklyn Waterfront. REBNY hopes to rezone industrial sites for manufacturing from the waterfront so that residential and commercial buildings can be developed. The BQX is supposed to provide transportation for many of the residents living in the public housing units along the waterfront while also raising property values along its route. Both can be seen as the beginnings of gentrification along the waterfront, which may only serve to benefit wealthy residents or investors in the area. Though they were probably developed with pure intentions, both ideas don’t necessarily take into consideration future outcomes and repercussions felt by those living in the area.

The final, and what I believe to be the most important parallel, is private funding and intervention in projects that are supposed to benefit the public. Most, if not all, real estate companies are private and are supposed to have their clients’ best interests in mind. Yet, a lot of the time, the real estate industry has other priorities and can serve as another artificial means of segregation in New York City. Many agents often discourage people of color from renting or buying in certain, white neighborhoods. In an effort to keep property values where they are, racial steering keeps people of color in historically black neighborhoods and whites in historically white neighborhoods. Another example on the real estate front is the subsidizing of low-income housing for private investors. Though intentions are well, what these companies often do is use their profits from subsidized housing and invest them in high-risk, commercial ventures. Basically, the rich exploit the city to get richer. To compare this to the BQX, one only has to look at who is currently going to front much of the streetcar’s bill. Private investors who are the driving force behind the organizing and financing of the BQX have other business ventures in neighborhoods along the BQX route that can greatly benefit from a reliable transportation source. To me, this seems like a huge conflict of interest.

Faulty Logic and a Bad Model

A Plague on Houses

As we have seen with other forms of urban renewal, there is a sort of sick cycle associated with benign neglect and planned shrinkage. When Fire Alarms are ignored, or when fire services are actually withdrawn from certain neighborhoods, there is an increase in the spread of fires. Instead of a single house burning down, entire blocks and subsequent neighborhoods are reduced to rubble. With a lack of housing, those displaced by fires are forced to rely on mutual-aid networks to help them find housing, often in already-cramped housing units in other neighborhoods. With denser populations come a rise in fire causing factors, such as higher densities of smokers, electric appliances and greater accumulations of trash. Thus, fires arise again, burn down even more neighborhoods, people are displaced, rinse and repeat.

I think one of the many faults of this whole idea of benign neglect and planned shrinkage can be blamed on incredibly faulty logic. Moynihan uses the idea that since there are many more arsons and fire alarms in neighborhoods full of people of color and the poor, it must be these people who are setting the fires and triggering the alarms. I have never taken a statistics class in my life but I do know that correlation does not imply causation. Just because there is some sort of correlation between two distinct variables, in this case primarily poor and black neighborhoods and the number of fire alarms, does not imply that one is that cause of the other. Moynihan casually dismisses the fact that fires in abandoned buildings, cars and piles of trash are not always deliberately set and the fact that landlords and business owners commit arson as an insurance fraud. Instead, he labels most fires as arsons and the blame is on poor nonwhites.

What bothered me most about the reading was the mathematical model that was proposed. As an engineering student, I’m fairly familiar with mathematical models and what they set out to do. They’re meant to provide some insight into real-life situations using different mathematical concepts and other fun stuff. What they’re not meant to do is completely replace any actual research. Mathematical models do not stand on their own; they simply summarize and illustrate known phenomena. What Rand did with his proposed model was calculate a number, make some assumptions and then construct some relationship because “analyzing the real data would have been ‘too laborious.’” Models used to dictate Resource-allocation and Firehouse siting are not like my old physics lab reports; when lives are at stake, you really should avoid falsifying data to make your “findings” seem more reasonable or correct. Also, when your model is too difficult for a layperson to make sense of it, it really fails at being a proper model at all.

After doing a little further reading, its crazy how much of an impact the ideas of benign neglect and planned shrinkage had on the communities that were affected. Not only were entire neighborhoods destroyed, but research has also shown that planned shrinkage has played a role in the “rising number of violent deaths, deviant behaviors implicated in the spread of AIDS and the pattern of the AIDS outbreak itself” in the neighborhoods affected, all of which have been recognized to contribute to the plight of nonwhites in America.

Discussion Question: Is it ever ethical to use a mathematical model to analyze and predict solutions to social problems that are dynamic, as in they are not defined by concrete factors?

Choosing a Focus

Future of Public Transportation

Hey Guys,

It seems we really have a whole lot we can work with, so we should come together and try narrowing our choices. Some ideas we discussed in class that we can look at are Safety and Public Transportation and the Technological Future of Transportation. Looking at Safety, we can possibly look into Vision Zero,  Subway Crime (slashings, sleepers, vigilante justice) and general Station Safety. We can also look into the relationship between Subway crime and overcrowding or delays (if there even is one). Along the lines of technological advances, we can look into the Brooklyn-Queens Streetcar, the updating of train stations and the repercussions of a new line.  Some other things mentioned were City Infrastructure as a whole and the quality of the MTA in relation to the rising costs.

In addition to whatever topic we choose to investigate, we need a finite problem relating to our topic, something we should keep in mind.

See you guys in class!

Do the Ends Justify the Means?

The Roots of Community Planning

A common theme that has appeared through the last couple texts is exchange. Looking at Robert Moses, Jane Jacobs and now the history of community planning in New York City, there is usually some sort of agreement and exchange at hand when looking at how the city’s neighborhoods were planned, zoned and subsequently “renewed.” Robert Moses is known for all of his architectural additions to New York, but what was lost when building these developments is often skipped over. For example, Moses often used the much-contested theory of eminent domain to find space for the 627 miles of highway he helped build in the city. As a sort of “thank-you” for the seized land, Moses would build new public housing buildings. Unlike earlier public housing projects, these units were meant for those displaced by the “urban renewal.” The displaced were often of color and didn’t have many other options to find affordable housing in the city. These exchanges lead to what can only be seen as the creation of artificially segregated ghettos.

Looking past Moses’ time, we continue to see these planning exchanges. What is said to be one the most important land-use reforms since 1916 was the development of community boards and districts. This concession was supposed to be a way to provide some sort of autonomy to neighborhoods across the city, supposedly allowing residents to have a say about the future of their land. Yet, with community boards came a drawback. Community board votes actually weren’t worth much, since they were only advisory and final decisions were reserved for the City Planning Commission and the City Council. The position of board member was simply a title, since members often had to answer to borough presidents anyway and their votes basically meant nothing.

Now considering these aforementioned trades, I wonder if they were, or are, actually worth it. Could Robert Moses have found some sort of way to change the city in the ways he did without completely destroying neighborhoods and further ostracizing people of color and the poor? Was it worth surrendering your rights to lands around your neighborhood for at least getting your voice heard? Without being able to answer these questions, one can still look at the outcomes today. Community districts, I believe, have a played a pretty decent role in getting things done around the city. When you happen to be loud enough for those in charge to hear, stuff eventually gets done. Also with the vast infrastructure Moses had helped lay, New York certainly did evolve into one of the most prosperous cities in the country. There is no way to tell if the way we got to where we are today was truly the “right way.”

Changing the American Dream

Situating North American Cities

What was most surprising to me in the past reading was how the idea of the “American Dream” has changed so much over the past two centuries and how this has affected generations to come. Looking at many of the first colonists, the American dream originally focused on freedom: freedom of religion, freedom of speech and the freedom to conduct business and pursue a better life. As these colonies advanced and grew, the dream did as well. No longer were people happy simply being free; they wanted to move up in life. It became about building the biggest and best cities with the best technology to produce the best goods that money could buy. Forming cities became magnets to the iron shavings of colonists looking to make it in the world. The small cities that first developed by waterways out of survival turned into bustling port cities while small towns situated by waterfalls and other bodies of running water became major textile hubs. There was the rise of what could be considered the first middle class, a working class.

As this working class advanced with the technology around it, the American dream did as well. Working in large cities was great and all, but who wanted to deal with all the pollution and waste? With the advent of cars and the improving railroad and trolley systems, the working class sought escape from the city, leading to the rise of the suburbs. Here, I think, is where things start to get interesting. As this middle class leaves the city, they leave behind many things. They leave their dilapidated neighborhoods, their tight living quarters and they leave behind groups they consider to be of a lower class. What they don’t leave behind are their jobs, leaving those that are left behind little or no opportunity to advance as the original middle class once did. This social class segregation can still be seen and felt today, especially in neighborhoods all throughout New York. Many neighborhoods in Downtown Brooklyn that were once home to some of the richest New Yorkers in the early 20th century changed and were considered to be some of the worst neighborhoods in the borough up until about a decade ago when gentrification really took off.