Author: Mohammed Arafa

From this class and my classmates as well as the article and experiences we analyzed in class taught me so much about the problems we face in New York as residents. We learned so much about the affordable housing crisis and how low income people are being pushed out of New York City by the forces of gentrification. Also what I found extremely interesting was the idea of the global North vs. the global south and the lack of social mobility in our society. Also learning about how the local government subsidized housing for lower income people by negotiating with developers to build new building and leave a certain number of those new apartments for low income housing. I loved how all what we talked about for the living in New York City section of the course and how it directly pertains to our lives in New York City.

The how we work section of the course was also extremely interesting. Learning about the effects of technology in New York City. Learning about how advancement of technology has destroyed some sectors of the New York City economy and grew others. For example one sector of the New York City economy that was decimated by the growth of technology is the production sector that employed low-level unskilled workers in New York. With the growth of technology more high-income jobs have been created leading to an influx of money into NY. This leads to gentrification and the increase of housing prices. This interconnection is what I feel is the basis of the class and learning about how we work and how that affects how we live and how it affects how we shop. Each section of the class plays into the other and the issues for one area maybe caused by another. That is what I liked the most about this course; it illustrated the complexities of a society such as our own and illustrated the issues that we will all have to face.

The interview for the how we shop team were extremely enlightening for life in New York City and how it is continually changing. Learning about the role local shopping streets play in a community and the benefits they offer. The Interviews we did with local shop owners taught me a lot about the real lives of these people and how they are real people with real problems. Also presenting at the common event really opened up my eyes to the many different problems affecting New York City. I learned a lot from how transportation in New York is extremely slow to how many lower income people aren’t provided with affordable healthy alternatives. However I thought that 10 minutes to present a semester long project was much too short and if all the different groups could have presented together or at least in the same session then our presentations would have illustrated a more comprehensive portrait of the problems in New York City.

The number of local businesses in New York City has been steadily declining in part due to the forces of gentrification. What has been happening is that areas that used to house lower income people are now housing wealthier people. These wealthier people do not frequent local businesses and instead choose to go to more upscale businesses. Along with the decreased income these local businesses also face increased rent. Landlords who want to drive out these local businesses to make way for more profitable businesses increase the rent tremendously and these businesses have no alternative but to leave the place they have working for so long. As professors Zukin stated in her interview local government also plays a part in destruction of local shopping streets. While gentrification raises the rents that shop owners must pay the local government also raises the property taxes for single landlords to raise the rents higher. This affected David Owens a vintage shop owner on the lower East side when his landlord gave him a bill for $40,000 in property taxes. Instead of pay David Owens moved his shop a few blocks down the street where he can manage to pay the rent. While lower East side of New York has been subject to increasing rents for retail shops it’s still not nearly as high as places like the meatpacking district and Soho. While local shopping streets aren’t dying breed many people have been fighting for their existence and trying to ways awareness for the problem facing local shopkeepers. One such movement that is trying to raise awareness about the problems facing local shops is the take back to New York movement. This movement argues that it is not fighting for nostalgia it is only fighting for the right of successful local businesses to exist, employ people, and be a part of the community. While this is A good start for helping sustain local businesses it will not be enough. I believe the most important thing for local businesses to survive is the adoption of new technology to reach more customers. While people enjoy visiting local businesses they usually only visit businesses with an online presence. These local businesses can take advantage of the growing hipster movement that seeks to move away from produced products and consume new and creative ideas such as those offered by local business.

Three questions I would ask a local businesses owner would be:

1. Why did you choose to open a business and why did you choose this location?
2. What are the major problems facing local businesses like yours?
3. How has the community you working in affected your business?

Local shopping streets are usually the face of a neighborhood. Local shopping streets some see as a relic of a past age that has been made obsolete with the advancement of technology and the growing popularity of online shopping. With the forces of gentrification in full swing and more and more ethnic communities being forced out due to gentrification many local shops have since followed suit and have closed down. While more and more local businesses close down, big chain stores have been expanding. While these big chain stores offer their customers more convenience and lower prices local customers feel a sense of lose with this change.

In Global Cities, Local Streets: Everyday Diversity from New York to Shanghai, the authors state “ When local shops change from one type to another, longtime residents and user experience a wrenching sense of loss. They have lost their “moral ownership” of the street, a sense of belonging that goes beyond legal property rights, and is based on a deep identification with culture of the space”. Local long time customers feel comfortable in their local shops because its all they know and when they see the local shops they care for so deeply being taken away and the changing neighborhood, they feel as though they are being pushed out of their own city. The city their parents and grandparents grew up in and they are being forced out and replaced.

I personally don’t feel that local businesses will not die out because they offer something that chain stores and online shopping don’t and that is human interaction. I believe with local businesses lagging far behind the chain store’s in terms of adapting and applying new technology they have lost a lot of business. However with the increasing technological proficiency of each new generation local businesses will adapt to the new technology and gain a lot of ground. Especially because they actually care about there customers and their customers care about them. While technology continues to advance and destroy the normal person-to-person interactions that permeated our society I believe local businesses become a bastion for human social interaction.

Craig Calderone discusses in his article the Tech boom in New York City and the many changes that have occurred to allow this tech boom to continue to grow. For example Calderone discusses how the Bloomberg administration was the one to begin the shift from a focus and dependence on only the financial sector to allow the tech industry to grow in New York City. Also Calderone discusses the change in attitude with regard to failed startups. For example he states that “Instead of ridiculing founders for their failed startup, founders were deemed ‘experienced’ and asked about when they would start their next endeavor.”. This represents exemplifies the changing attitude of new York, for example no one who launched a failed startup in New York in the financial sector would be considered experienced. Jason Bram and Adam Forman both discuss the Tech sector boom in New York and how this boom has lead to a tremendous increase in the number of tech jobs in New York City. As seen in Bram’s article, while Wall street employment fell by over 11 percent, employment in the tech sector increased by 71 percent.

As we discussed in class when a city is dependent on only one sector of the market, that city is vulnerable and while New York is becoming less and less dependent on the financial sector, the city becomes stronger and it’s economy less susceptible to collapse. How ever we cannot over look the negatives of this technological boom, as many of my class mates have written the increase in these high paying jobs leads to an influx of money in lower class neighborhood which leads to gentrification. This eventually leads to the expulsion of the original residents. Lastly Lawrence Grodeska’s article deals heavily with the positives of technology. Grodeska discusses the many positives that can be brought about with the introduction of “Civic tech” into the government. For example he states with the induction of more and more civic tech, government is more transparent and more effective in providing the services that it’s people require. Not only that but also Grodeska argues that civic tech allows the citizens to be more involved in government. He mention’s many Civc tech “tools” that are used to allow the people to become more involved in their communities. For example Neighborland a tool used to allow civic leaders to reach the residents of a community and inform them. All these tools can be used to greatly improve the way we interact with the world around us but we must also not forget that with everything come negatives. For example while technology in our lives keeps progressing at a phenomenal rate we must allow our laws and law enforcement time to adapt to the changing problems facing our society.

I would say that most people in NYC have become more and more dependent on Technology. For example New Yorkers depend on Technology for transportation, paying their bills and even finding a place to eat. I would say even I am extremely dependent on technology for schoolwork and even my day-to-day life. For example since I commute from Staten Island with my phone I can find out exactly when the bus is coming, about what time ill get to school and I can even read my textbook all on my phone. Also these technological breakthroughs that make our lives easier, also make new innovations and breakthroughs easier. For example with the technological breakthrough of the computer many modern day scientists can now run calculations in seconds when previously it would take weeks. However with the introduction and dependence on technology come a lot of problems that were never there before. For example with the automation of factories, factory workers are in short demand. However you could see a large increase in the demand for software engineers and computer experts. This presents more problems. Firstly the demand for these positions may not create nearly as many jobs as there were factory jobs, which leads to a lot of unemployment. Secondly to fill these positions you need highly trained people most likely college graduates. While this creates jobs for college graduates it displaces and unemployed those without the means for this kind of education and training. While there is no doubt in my mind that New York will become more and more technologically dependent some day in the future we might be the ones with the outdated skills and so we must make sure that we balance our technological development as a city as to not displace those who have not adapted to the technological breakthroughs.

The lifeblood of any great city is the people living in it. So New York as a great city must look out for all the people living in this great city. When the government of the people looks out for people and protects the people’s interest that is when government is at its best. One of the biggest problems facing the people of New York is the lack of affordable housing and the massive increase in rent prices in New York. Even when developers build “affordable” housing the market value of these apartments is so high that even at below market prices people still can’t afford them. However if they can afford them you will usually have a ridiculous number of applicants all applying for the same apartment. So what I think needs to be done is for local governments to allow transparency when dealing with developers which will allow the people living and applying for these apartments to make sure the developers are keeping their promises. For example if a developer agrees that they will list 30% of their apartments at below market value but then they don’t provide the same amenities that the other apartments offer the residents will be able to be informed about their problem. Also I believe city government should use its strongest tool to help the people not the developers and force them to develop affordable housing. Of course we need to balance the peoples need for affordable housing with the developers need for profit or else developers won’t want to build in New York. Another useful tool mentioned earlier by Crystal is the use of rent stabilization and rent freeze zones that will allow people to live in an apartment without worrying that the cost of living there won’t change over night to some ridiculous cost. One class project we could do as a class is to form a website with the common problems that tenants in New York face and try to inform the public as to how these problems originate and what are something that other people have done to find solutions to these problems. Also we could have a forum section where people can post about the problems they are facing as tenants of NYC and what they are doing about it.

Public housing when maintained properly can be extremely useful to residents who need a place where they can “breath” so to speak. A place that can provide them with the security and affordability they need to get back on their feet or try and move up in the world. It is a place where people who want to improve their own live and/or the lives of their families can go to try and provide a safe area for their families to grow up and make enough money to move up someday. What they have become with the beginning of the 1970’s is not what they were designed for they need to be a place where the youth is nurtured not corrupted and where families grow together not fall apart. That is why i would expand affordable housing and build them in such away where not only the government would maintain but also the residents could contribute. For example the housing projects i would construct would contain public gardens where residents could grow their own fresh grown vegetables. They would also contain a youth center where parents can leave their children and feel secure while also making sure their children are safe. The buildings i would construct would also be close to public transportation so that it is accessible to residents without a car. The buildings i would construct would be rent controlled because people usually living in public housing cant afford the regular price of rent in the city. However this idea of affordable housing would probably be extremely expensive and not very profitable for those who build it that is why i would have the government build it. Also i would not force my residents to furnish the houses.