Took the 5 train to Borough Hall.
Places visited: Court Street, Livingston Street, Dekalb Av, Atlantic Av, Columbus Park, Korean Veterans Park
Weather: 63° F. Sunny, but windy, with a tad bit of chill in the air.
Time at site: 2:50-5:30 PM.
When I got out of the train station, I noticed the warmth of the sun and the chill of the air. The sidewalks were rather half-filled with people and no one seemed like they were in a rush. Not a lot of people were around the streets today as I had initially thought at 2:50-3:20 PM. But as the afternoon progressed, more people emerged from within and populated the streets.
Court St: The majority of them had business and professional attire on, assuming they work around the area, these on the other hand were somewhat in a hurry. Other pedestrians were amicably walking on the streets whilst carrying their bags. A lot of the benches were already occupied. A lot of the area was underneath the shade of the tall buildings so it was quite chilly. The pedestrian traffic was ok.
Columbus Park and the Korean Veterans Park (Cadman Plaza): This area was bathed in sunlight and it was here that I noticed how clear the day was. There weren’t any clouds obstructing the sun, the day was quite clear and bright, and everything had a different atmosphere than from the last time that we went after the snowstorm. Here, there were a lot of people scattered throughout the benches lining the park. These were a mix of ladies with strollers and young children, young adults eating food from the Hala food truck, and elderly people who I am assuming were resting on the benches. There were also a lot of dog owners walking their dogs and there were also some people (foreigners?) who were walking around, pointing at different buildings, and taking pictures behind the statue present at the park. I had also noticed some college students by the logos from the sweaters that they were wearing (CUNY Tech and St. John’s) and they were all talking while carrying bags with food. The Korean Veterans Park was deserted, aside from a large group of eager pigeons who were pecking at chunks of indistinguishable food on the ground (these pigeons then seemed to all come at me at once which kinda frightened me). I noticed how the building of the Supreme Court of New York seemed to always be in the shadow and how it gave it a depressing atmosphere around it and to the people who were dressed in suits who were standing around the perimeter of the building.
Livingston St: The other majority of the pedestrians that I saw around the neighborhood were common looking people (most were blacks, whites, and latinos) with regular attire that was suited for a spring day. Most of these individuals were either just complacently strolling on the sidewalks, talking to those who were with them, sitting on the benches by the sidewalk, interacting with their phones, shopping with their arms carrying shopping bags, etc; or they were the stall vendors/store employees that are promoting their products to the pedestrians outside. I smelled the cigarette smoke along with the car exhaust. One noise that stood out was the music that the street vendors were playing from their stalls. This was a combination of electronic and some unknown music genre that was quite mellow. I noticed that this area was more empty when compared to Court St. But as I walked closer to Fulton St, it started to get more crowded with not only more adults and younger children but adolescents who were quite loud and rowdy. Some sort of disturbance had just occurred among these adolescents by Fulton and Pearl St that the security guards situated there had intervened.
Atlantic Av/Atlantic Terminal/Atlantic Mall: I then took the 2 train to Atlantic Terminal to see how was the activity in this area of Downtown and to compare the commuter activity of the terminal. The terminal itself was quite empty and so were the streets outside as I exited the train station by the exit facing Barclays Center. There were a considerable amount of people sitting in the sitting area between the main building and the building that houses Best Buy and Burlington, I am assuming that they were enjoying the sun after their shopping. I then decided to walk around the area near the stadium where I found out that not only was there a Shake Shack, but a Snowdays and the Escape Rooms, along with other smaller stores. But regardless of all of these establishments, the streets seemed to be almost deserted. The mall was no exception, it was relatively empty with little pedestrian traffic. The stores were rather empty and I also noticed that usual hubs of activity like McDonald’s were closed due to renovations. As I was leaving the mall, I also noticed that there were less food truck vendors (although there was a new one, Nathaniel’s Hot Dogs). The train station at this time, around 4:40 PM the station was swarming with moving bodies of people exiting and entering the trains. I took the N train home and it was tightly packed with nonexistent space in between each person.
