Took the 3 train to Borough Hall.
Places visited: Court Street, Remsen Street, Cadman Plaza, Fulton Street, Jay Street, Dekalb Av, University Plaza, MetroTech Commons, Lafayette Av.
Weather: 65° F. Sunny and little to no wind, warm. Very nice out.
Time: 2:45-4:50 PM.
When I got out of the station, even though it was the same time as April 3, I was surprised to see that there were a lot more people outside. Certainly a lot more common folk, there was the same amount of business/professional looking people, but now there were more children and teenagers among the mix of pedestrian traffic in Downtown Brooklyn. But this time around, it was more civil and toned down. I did not witness a fight like I did on April 3.
Court St: The streets had a faster pace to it than April 3 but there seemed to be an equal mix of people who were in a hurry and those who were amicably strolling by. As I was walking I heard a man gruff out “Keep it moving.” as he walked past me (I found this action to be annoying because there was plenty of space in the sidewalk to walk past the bodies here without being rude).
Jay St: Walking towards CUNY Tech, I was surprised to see that the sidewalks around the school were barren and devoid of human presence. Perhaps the reason for this could be that the majority of the student body was still in class and at 3:15 PM there wasn’t an influx of students who were entering/exiting City Tech. There was nobody around the campus (or in the open space that the campus has by the side of Tillary St). There was a small group of 8 people with backpacks in a run down area around the campus (a closed down building with the title of CUNY Brooklyn Community College) who were having a very heated discussion of who among the group should do something so I decided not to interact with them (I was unsure if they were actually Tech students, no indicators).
Cadman Plaza: The same scenario as that of April 3 but what I noticed was that there were more people wearing headphones/earbuds than before. A lot of them were alone as opposed to the usual pair of persons that I saw on April 3. This also meant that there was less interaction between them as opposed to have someone to talk to. There weren’t as much people with strollers and smaller children as I saw on April 3. There was certainly more street vendors in the area, aside from the Hala food trucks, selling an array of item ranging from phonetic books, lace stockings, watches, and bibles. One particular individual, a middle aged man, was also giving out certain Barack Obama DVD’s.
MetroTech Commons: As I ventured away from CUNY City Tech, I then walked towards NYU Tandon School of Engineering via the walkway across the Marriott. Likewise, the spaces surrounding the school was rather empty. Aside from the pedestrian walking towards some unknown destination, there were a few stragglers who seemed to be students but they were always engaged in a conversation with the person who they were with. I then walked around the campus to find myself in a open area that was surrounded by multiple buildings (some part of the NYU campus, while others were commercial buildings). This area was, too, rather empty. But there was a small group of boys playing football. I then heard an adult woman call out to them to line up, so I am assuming they were either there for recess or a trip (a camp perhaps since the adult woman was wearing a shirt that is common in summer camp supervisors/teachers).
University Plaza: Around the LIU area around the campus was also empty. With a handful of people sitting around the sitting area in University Plaza. While walking around, I noticed that even an open area inside of the campus was also empty. It seemed that the people who were walking in the sidewalk were high schoolers and adults who were making their way across DeKalb Av. (Where are all of the students?)
Dekalb Av: Undiscouraged in the absence of people in these areas, I go back to Dekalb Av on my way to Brooklyn Tech High School and this is where I find all of the human activity that the last couple of places were lacking. One particular place that I noticed that a pizza shop (2 Bros. Pizza) was rather busy with what it appeared high schoolers and construction workers in their establishment.
Lafayette Av: Eventhough at 4:00 PM, the school schedule should have ended a long time ago, there was still a lot of students around the area hanging out in the food establishments around the area (deli’s, pizza and burger joints, McDonald’s, etc). As I walked around the BAM building, I encountered BAM park and across from it (St Felix St), I saw some interesting artwork that was mostly depicting women with unruly hair.
Fulton St: As I made my way back to the more commercial district of Downtown Brooklyn via Fulton from Lafayette, I ended up being in a somewhat deserted area with no pedestrian traffic and I noticed that the surrounding area was mostly dominated with building sites. At a closer inspection, I realized that it was going to be a future residential area. Upon further consideration, I then realized at that moment that a lot of the surrounding areas of Downtown Brooklyn were under construction, which should not have been surprising since in my research, I knew that the neighborhood was still under a lot of reconstruction that was initiated with the rezoning that had started in 2004, with the goal of making the area a more commercial, entrepreneurial and residential district. I then walked towards the new mall building, City Tower, to see what other projects did the rezoning plan set by the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership accomplished and was surprised to see that it was already open and had a very modern look/design to it that I hadn’t noticed before. And it was I walked along the store fronts in Fulton St that the pedestrian traffic increased, which was different from what I was on April 3. There was more variation in the people who were outside (bigger age range, more college students). There was also an increase of street vendors and food trucks so the usual smells of cigarette smoke was combined with the smell of Hala food, burgers, coffee and hot dogs. A lot of the doors to the stores were thrown open due to the warm weather there was a lot of store employees outside advertising to make more customers come inside their stores, and because of this I saw a greater interaction of the pedestrians with the employees that might have never happened otherwise.
The area of the campuses of Berkeley and ASA College were similarly empty.
Remsen St: To finish off my attempt to see what the neighborhood was like around the areas with college campuses, I then went to Saint Francis. Again, the area around the campus, although it wasn’t empty of people, for there was a lot of children (I’m assuming that they come from the school across the street, The Packer Collegiate Institute), there were no college students. As I went around the block, I saw a lot of people shopping in the Perelandra Natural Food Center and Hale and Hearty Soups.
