Rachel Swed
Reflection 4 of 5
Inequality and New York’s Subway
A huge problem in New York is inequality and huge income gaps between citizens. In the article, Inequality and New York’s Subway, Larry Buchanan brings up very valid points about the injustice in New York by simply looking at the subway system. He provides an interactive infographic that shifts for different subway lines. The infographic shows the income of people who live around those stops. Through this interactive, you can see that there is a great inequality between these boroughs. Majority of this information shows that Manhattan has the highest median income out of the five boroughs in New York. There are huge gaps in income between not only boroughs but also between stops on the subway lines!
I feel like this article can be improved by solely listing out the census of New York City boroughs. One disadvantage of listing out the subway line system is that many people get on or off multiple stops so the accuracy of income status could be inexact. Nevertheless, from this information, readers can observe that there is a lot of inequality in New York. I happen to enjoy the interactive article, it was very creative but I wish the author provided a little more information on it. For example, it would be helpful to know the demographics of racial groups that inhabit around each train stop. In obtaining that data, readers could grasp a better understanding of the socioeconomic trend of New York City’s population. However, this article served to be thought-provoking to me because I was never aware of the vast differences in household income among boroughs, streets, or even a few subway stops away!
Questions:
- Why did the author use the subway system to explain the inequality in New York? How did Buchanan come up with the idea to use the subways?
- Will The New York city government do anything to combat the difference in income and help New Yorkers?
