Author Archives: Kaitlyn Kelly

National problems of toll collection K.Kelly

Posted on by
Reply

This class has taught me so much about transportation and I really believe my eyes have been opened to a lot of things that I didn’t know were happening. In analyzing all the things we discussed in class I believe the most important issue is the tolling of bridges. As the years go on, the bridge tolls go up and for what reason? When looking at the graphs we were shown in class there were many other bridges that had lower tolls, or no tolls, in which the money could be coming from. It would be a better plan to toll all the bridges at a lower cost than specific bridges at crazy rates, like $14. I understand that the Verrazano is an extremely popular bridge and by tolling it so high, there is an extreme amount of profit made. However we aren’t seeing this profit being used in efficient ways. About half of what they make in profit is being used in general maintenance but what about the rest, pure profit, which isn’t fair.  Making profit is important to the economy but it could be more evenly dispersed through out the transportation systems, especially if there are bridges that aren’t even charging a toll.

When looking at the demographic of people using the bridges, most of them come from closer areas to the bridges rather than far away, so perhaps there could be a better resident discount for the people living close by. Another idea would be having a better commuter discount. The port authority used to have a plan where if you went over the bridge 50+ times in a month you only had to pay $2 for every time you went over the bridge, which is reasonable seeing as you are using the roadway everyday. Both the “buyer” and the “seller” are getting what they want.

Another important issue I find about the tolling of bridges is the fact that living on Staten Island, I cannot get off the island without paying at least one toll. If I plan on going to and from the shore I pay three tolls.  If I want to go to a concert at Giants stadium I pay another three. I think the government should either reduce the amount of tolls paid leaving the island or decrease the price. Being tolled to leave the island makes you feel like you are trapped. They even put a charge on taking the Staten Island Railway to the ferry, which was the only free way of getting out of Staten Island using public transportation.

I believe that tolling is not only a problem in NYC but nation wide. The government finds away to get money from the people of the country and milks it any way they can. Yes, the economy needs to be stimulated because we are in a deficit. However there are many different things that can be done to make money rather then, continuously increasing the tolls of certain bridges. I’m not saying take away tolls completely but there needs to be a balance in the way they are distributed through each city and state that they reside in.

Plan NYC Housing and neighborhoods Kaitlyn Kelly

Posted on by
Reply

In the chapter of Plan NYC about “Housing and Neighborhoods”, they discuss their plans to both build new housing, as well as take old houses and restore them. I believe it would be better financially to restore the old homes because of the downward real estate market. I also don’t believe that government funded housing for those who cannot afford to buy their own, should cost so much to build. This will raise the taxes for the people who work for a living. In my opinion, taking from those who work and giving to those who don’t isn’t appropriate. However, restoring old buildings would cost less money and be more “green”, seeing as that is also one of the goals of Plan NYC.

Rezoning is “Initiative One” of this chapter, which I believe is an extremely good idea. It brings about a “lift” for the neighborhood. They restore buildings, bring in new residence, and facilitate a better economy for the neighborhood. Plus, it is a more efficient way of getting people to live closer to transportation, rather than living where they need to drive cars to travel everywhere. Public transportation is a big part of the rezoning process; it brings people closer to transit, so they are better able to travel to places such as work, school, and shopping. “By encouraging denser development in neighborhoods well served by transit while limiting growth in auto-dependent areas, we can steer new development to areas where residential growth is sustainable”, according to Plan NYC. Therefore, this will stimulate both city and economy growth.

In “Initiative Nine” of Plan NYC, they discuss their plans to build and move more retail toward housing, to improve the number of places in a walkable distance. This will be done to also “go green” and reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions. This initiative also includes the building and providing of fresh produce and affordable health stores in in more neighborhoods. According to Plan NYC, stores selling these products do not exist in most neighborhoods. They plan to build permanent produce and health food stores within close proximity to more and more neighborhoods. Also while these stores are being built, more then 1000 “bodegas” are selling fresh produce and low-fat dairy products. I believe these health food stores and bodegas are a great addition to the city. The number of non-diet related diseases is rising, as well as the obesity rate. By combining both a large number of affordable health food stores within a walking distance can improve the diets of the residents, as well as their exercise and lessen the amounts of greenhouse gas emissions.

I believe these plans for improvement on the housing and neighborhoods are mostly very good ideas. They all give good production points and ideas toward improving the city in many ways, including proximity, moving homes toward more transportation, rezoning plans, retail and produce building and the reduction of greenhouse gases. All of these can improve the city in a positive way.

Kaitlyn Kelly, Kelly Depietro, Anthony Liguori Taz 54

Posted on by
Reply

            Delancey and Essex Street is located on the lower east side of Manhattan, New York.  There are a variety of subway lines to get to Delancey Street and Essex Street Subway stations, which include the F, J, M, and Z train.  However, the M only runs on the weekdays during the day and the Z only runs at rush hour in peak direction.  Also, if coming from the Williamsburg Bridge, it is the most heavily traveled East River Bridge for bicycles as 4,000 people commute daily by bicycling.  The bus is also available to commute to and from this lower east side area by the M9, M14a or the B39 as other options. 

The Delancey and Essex St. subway line is extremely popular.  As of 2010 the amount of passengers rose increased more than 7%.  This rose to 6,745,791 passengers on average. The subway itself is on relatively good condition even though it’s over 60 years old.  It has been kept up and maintained, to keep up with the busyness of the station.  It’s ranked fifty five out of four hundred and twenty-two, in Manhattan. Another popular station in this section is Delancey and 6th avenue, which is over seventy five years old and also in good condition.  It houses two murals of artwork on the staircase exits, as well as several others, which contributes to the aesthetics of the station making it more bearable to be in.

Driving is not very common in this district.  Only .8% of the lot area is used for parking facilities.  These small percentages of land allocated for parking is small even in comparison to other districts in the area.  Midtown (1.8%) and the West village (2.0%) allocate more than 200 square feet designated to parking space.  The parking garage local to this area, Delancey and Essex Municipal Parking Garage, is located on 107 Essex Street.  It consists of 356 spaces at $3 for 1 hour, $1.75 additional hour, or $250 a month.  Parking in this lot is the cheapest in the entire downtown Manhattan.  Other maps demonstrate and support the aforementioned statistic of land allocated to parking garages as they are sparsely spread out across the lower east side.  As you go north or west, parking garages become more available and expensive.

            However, a significant portion of the district is designated towards multifamily residential (34.1%, 11500 square feet).  Apartments in this area include the Forward Building on 175 East Broadway, 38 Delancey Street, Blue Condominium on 105 Norfolk Street, 154 Attorney Street, and the Switch Building on 109 Norfolk Street, One Avenue B, plus several others.  The price of renting an apartment ranges anywhere from $3500-$15000 a month, but the average cost for an apartment is about $7,000 a month.  This abundance in residential area includes the 21.6% of land allocated to mixed residential and commercial area.  This district community utilizes a much larger percentage of land to housing in comparison to the other local districts.  Residential area in this land is still very valuable despite its abundance.  Its location is so valuable due to its proximity to Midtown, along with the services and amenities it has to offer itself.     

            The main streets in our area between Essex and Delancey are extremely wide which for traffic flow is convenient, however it can be extremely dangerous. Between 1998 and 2010 the department of transportation recorded 523 motor vehicle accidents 134 of which included bicyclists and pedestrians. On the side streets however they are extremely narrow and it’s often hard to get a single car through, especially when there are cars parked on the sides. This generates good business for the parking garage located in our section.

When looking at the Pluto data and narrowing down our area of land from the district to our specific lot, it seems that a majority of the land is used for commercial real estate.  This however is not only restaurants and bars but any other business in the area.  We need to narrow down our searching fields and go out into the field and survey the land. When researching the restaurants and bars in the area between Delancey and Essex we found there were a little over two hundred and ninety restaurants. When researching the restaurants in our area, we are going to focus on the menus.  The type of foods offered and the prices of those meals could affect the type of people who will eat there.  If our location has a large amount of reasonable priced restaurants, then more people will go there to eat.  Also we will check out the health department ratings that the restaurants in our area received.  If there are a majority of A ratings in the area then more people will go there to eat since cleanliness is important to people.  

We are curious to see how local residents utilize this area of the lower east side of Manhattan. There are several questions that we would like to research.  We would like to look into whether the population primarily goes to the bars and restaurants in the local area.  Also, are the local bars and restaurants strongly correlated together? For out of town people, do the taxis make one way trips to the restaurants to drop them off?  Since most people usually go out to bars or restaurants in groups, common to this area, is the number of people per taxi ride higher?  These questions will be a primary topic that we hope to address. 

Another important aspect of our neighborhood is that one of the apartments that Baruch college uses for dorms are located in our area. Because there are kids living there, other kids from Baruch might travel there for the night life as well. This would explain some of the taxi data going to and from the area. They also might have family coming to visit or friends from other colleges. Do these students use the subway or taxis to acquire their necessities or do they stay local and walk? Is the subway less utilized by Baruch students if staying in the lower east side as a result of using taxis?

Kaitlyn Kelly 500 words on Sprawl

Posted on by
Reply

There are many aspects to look into when planning a city such a transportation systems and street designs. The planning of the city also focuses on what the people see and how pleasing it is it to the senses. However the most important aspect of urban planning is safety. Everyone is worried about their safety whether its on the streets or behind closed doors. Many people, including me, see New York City as a cesspool for crime. However, much to my surprise, New York City crime rates are have dropped to their lowest in the past ten years.

Before reading Suburban Nation, I fell into the population of people that thought Suburbia and Sprawl are the safest areas to live. Duany, Plater-Zyberk and Speck describe the victims or sprawl in chapter seven. Explaining that children, stranded elderly, commuters, the poor, and municipalities are in even more danger living in the suburbs than they are living in the city. I want to focus just on the children and their “safety”

The chapter goes on to explain that the new generations of “culd-de-sac kids” are prisoners of an unchallenging environment. Which may be physically safe but mentally binds them. In big cities such as New York City, children are exposed to a more “rough” style of living where they have to walk places and take public transportation to get where they would like to go. The suburban children are stuck and are at risk of not having a well-rounded lifestyle. This could impede their mental development, because they don’t know anything else. These are the children Professor Peter’s explained are raised like veal. In the car to go to school, to come home, to go to play, to come home, and the cycle continues. In the city the children have a place to go without needing their parents to drive them. There are things to walk around and see and do. They can go play ball with their friends or go grab a bite to eat without needing their parents to drive them there and then pick the up These things give a person a sense of individuality which is important especially as teenagers. Most teenagers need to find themselves and they are not able to do this while they are living in a suburb suffering the “bored teenager” syndrome.

The constant need to be driven is in turn has a hindrance on the mother of the child because she spends 85% of her day in the car fetching the children and running errands. Spending your day in a moving vehicle isn’t safe for a truck driver, let alone a woman and her children. This could also pose problem for the woman’s social skills and general mental health.

Overall, the chapter on victims of sprawl opened my eyes to a different aspect to safety in the city. I never realized the burden of living in suburban areas where you have no means of transportation as a kid because everything is driving distance away. It makes me appreciate growing up in the city, especially New York City where you have the world in your hands.