Planning the Future of NYC

I attended the seminar about food sustainability and distribution to lower-income city residents on February 26. At the end of the lectures, which were given by two different women, I understood that healthy food is difficult for lower-income residents to come by. This is, of course, comes as no surprise. Especially in a city like New York where everything costs an inordinate amount of money, finding a decent, healthy meal is something that poses worry even to those who don’t live paycheck to paycheck.

My mother and I really like the farmer’s markets that come to my neighborhood on Sundays because they usually sell the most delicious fruits and bread. The main problem, however, is that everything is pretty pricey. Despite the price, my mother continues to buy apples and various vegetables from the markets. She has the option to do that, but lower income families cannot, especially when cheap, heavily processed foods are not only cheaper, but more filling. In the lecture, we were told about how food stamps are being used at these farmer’s markets so that those who need assistance have more of an option to purchase fresh, organic produce.

However, the amount of money that stamps or other kinds of assistance provide are so low as to be mostly insignificant. Lower-income families would certainly need to subsidize their spending habits at farmer’s markets with their own money, which often isn’t possible. It’s an admirable idea to make farmer’s products more available to those who can’t afford it, especially because times are also difficult for the farmers themselves. However, it’s also unrealistic, and I believe that the effort is a bit wasted.

I have always been interested in solar power. That’s why I chose to attend Solar One and Pratt Institute seminar. I expected the second speaker to offer information complementing our class material. In Solar One I expected a more general oration on the current methods and common knowledge about photovoltaic plates. I was pleasantly surprised when Chris Neidl presented the Empire State Social Initiative (ESSI). This plan reminded me of the great visions by urban planners such as Frank Lloyd Wright because of the magnitude of the plan. The basic goal is to create a 100-fold increase of PVs in ten years by going through Albany, a feat in today’s economy. Neidl also described five reasons for utilizing solar power, one of which I ddn’t even know, which is that solar power can benefit the eletricity grid. That presentation informed me that there is a concrete plan to turn New York into the solar capital of the country. Ron Shiffman delved into the concrete topics we discussed in class. As I expected, much of what he said went along with our class discussion. Overall I agreed with what he said, the main idea of which was to not neglect those who are not as privelaged as others.

For your final project, you may need to embed a map - I suggest learning how to build and save your own google map. When finished, maps can be embedded into many domains including blogs, wikis, and powerpoint.

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Especially for the groups working on Coney Island and Columbia/Manhattanville, you may want to look at data and information available at:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/ops/html/nyc_feedback/nyc_feedback.shtml

There are neighborhood score cards, rating systems, summaries of what people think about quality of life in the neighborhood and so on…

I’ve set up a series of tabs to organize this blog - please post accordingly. Instructions about using the blog are found in posts categorized under “using the blog” - so check them out.

To embed video clips, copy the “embed code” from the original website (ex. youtube). In the blog dashboard, select “add new” post. Switch to the “HTML tab” and paste the video embed code into the window. Save draft and click publish.

If you want to check the video, font format, etc…, click “preview” before publishing.

The video should embed similarly to this:

Hi everyone - Post your comments on the film by going to the “Discussion Posts” tab (top of screen), selecting “Cities in Film” from the dropdown menu and clicking “edit this entry” at the bottom of the page.

You will come to the “back end” of the blog. You are registered as an editor so you can access this area and change content. Add your comments to the top of the editing box, title your entry with a “header 2″ font (you see a dropdown menu with paragraph, click there), and put your name in bold at the end.

Then click “save draft” and publish. If you forget the final steps…it won’t save your entry.

BROKEN GLASS: PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE SOUTH BRONX                                     

BY RAY MORTENSON - On view through Mar 8th

Made between 1982 and 1984, the photographs in Broken Glass: Photographs of the South Bronx by Ray Mortenson focus on the burned out, abandoned, and razed structures of entire city blocks in the South Bronx, documenting the aftermath of a widespread urban economic crisis that plagued the United States in the 1970s.  Putting the political, economic and social causes for this collapse aside, Mortenson’s photographs consider the land and loss in human terms.  They project a haunting silence, reminding us that these neighborhood streets were cradles of the community, lined with the homes of individuals and families.  Hints of a once prosperous district are revealed in Mortenson’s work through a stark black-and-white portrayal of what remained. The exhibition is generously supported by the Marlene Nathan Meyerson Family Foundation.

More information at: http://www.mcny.org/exhibitions/current/photographs-of-the-South-Bronx.html

THE REBIRTH OF THE SOUTH BRONX
6:30 PM  |  Tuesday February 17th  | 2009

Join Majora Carter, founder of Sustainable South Bronx and president of the Majora Carter Group, for a presentation on the revival of the South Bronx in the aftermath of the devastation of the 1970s and 1980s. Born, raised, and currently residing in the South Bronx, Majora Carter has worked tirelessly to restore her community to health and environmentally sustainable productivity. Her work has earned her a MacArthur Foundation “genius” award and many other honors. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Broken Glass: Photographs of the South Bronx by Ray Mortenson and Growing and Greening New York: PlaNYC and the Future of the City.

For information, tickets and reservations:

http://www.mcny.org/public-programs/all/The-Rebirth-of-the-South%20Bronx.html 

Likely to be used later in the semester…Please download and install Google’s SketchUp software http://sketchup.google.com/

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