Here’s an event featuring the author of this week’s reading, on Thursday for anybody who is interested!

Next class we have another field trip, this time to Bushwick for an anti-gentrification walking tour of the neighborhood, guided by a local housing activist. We will meet at 3:45pm at the Morgan stop on the L train (Bogart Street exit). Please don’t be late!

Be sure to bring a laptop (or two – having a backup just in case is always a good idea) that has your presentation on it.  While there will be projectors available for your use in the John Jay classrooms, there will NOT be computers.  So be prepared.

You may have seen the following announcement on the Common Event web site:

“DUE TO CONSTRUCTION AT THE MACAULAY BUILDING THAT WEEKEND, THIS EVENT WILL BE HELD AT JOHN JAY COLLEGE (524 WEST 59TH STREET).”

We have just learned that you will only have 10 minutes to present at the common event at Macaulay, May 2-3. This means that your presentation should still begin with a 3-5 minute description of the issue, but you will have only 5-7 minutes (for a total of 10 minutes) to outline your proposal for addressing the issue. One person from your group should register for the common event as soon as possible, here.

p.s. Abstracts are for scheduling purposes only and will not be published. In other words, do your best to summarize your presentation but do not put too much time into writing your abstracts.

I am happy to announce that Brooklyn’s Interference Archive will be able to accommodate us for a guided tour of their new exhibit, “We Won’t Move: Tenants Organize in New York City” on Tuesday, April 14. We will tour the show from 4-5pm, in lieu of our previously scheduled class meeting. The exhibit is billed as “an exploration of collective action by NYC tenants for decent and affordable housing from the 1940s to the present.” As such, it overlaps significantly with our focus on New York City’s housing crisis. The topic is also central to questions of income inequality – the focus of that week’s readings – as so many households experience shelter poverty due to the affordable housing shortage and wealthy landlords and developers see their incomes rise as a result. To reiterate: Our Tuesday, April 14 class will be held at Interference Archive, 131 8th Street, No. 4, Brooklyn, NY 11215 from 4-5pm, NOT in Boylan Hall. Please do not be late.

Here are some themes and ideas – some of which we have covered in class, some of which we will cover in class – to get you thinking about the challenge, problem, or crisis your group will decide to study (remember, your research topic proposal is due next class, 3/10). You are NOT limited to this list, it’s only meant to get you thinking.

Housing
Unaffordable housing (“shelter poverty”)
Homelessness
Vacant land and buildings (“warehousing”/speculation)
Public housing (NYCHA)
Subsidized housing (“inclusionary zoning”)
Displacement and gentrification
NYC’s shelter infrastructure

Climate Crisis
Hurricane Sandy
Rising sea levels
Disaster preparedness
Environmental racism

Income inequality
wage stagnation
precarious labor
privatization of public space

Policing
Police brutality/impunity
Mass incarceration
Stop and frisk
“Quality of life policing”

Your neighborhood observation assignment grades have now been sent via email (using the email address listed in your Macaulay eportfolio account). Good work, everyone!