Joseph Dwan
Reflection 3 of 5
The subway is one of the more common things of New York city. Something that most new yorkers use to get around. It can normally be described as dirty, somewhat unreliable and oh god I really hope that puddle is water. But there is another fact that the subway hides from all but the most careful of viewers. In this article Larry Buchanan actively shows the income inequality of New York through an interactive infographic and short article with highlights on how extreme some of the income gaps are. The article quotes an almost 143,000 dollar median household income difference. That is a pretty extreme difference almost unnoticeable, unsurprising as most commuters are too busy trying to get some shuteye on their way to work. The interactive infographic is also very useful as it gives a very in depth look into the income differences over a large area like a subway overall route. The routes show mostly downtown brooklyn and manhattan as the more wealthier with the more lower earning income classes on the ends of the spectrum in queens and lower brooklyn.
This article is quite interesting as a lot of people don’t notice the income differences while riding and focusing from stop to stop, the graph and article really brings these things to light. The article could be improved a bit by including who lives where(demographic) to really highlight income disparity instead of just putting numbers, a face to go with the numbers would really be helpful. The article should be blasted out to some mainstream site where this article would be consumed by more people as this income difference is very low key and something people would rather not address. This article is something everyone in the city should check out, you could really find out a lot about people living just a few stops away.
Questions
Is there a difference in service quality the MTA provides to these areas or does everyone get the same “crappy service”?
How can the MTA assist in leveling out the income desparity?
