Good morning. Today is Thursday. We’ll take a quick look at what surveys say about New York and how they shape perceptions of the city. We’ll also see how community gardens play a role in protecting against extreme weather.
New York, New York, it’s a helluva town, as the song says. That is most stressful city in U.S.A.
And it is geekiest city in the country, with the most comic stores and the most video game stores.
Surveys say so.
Week after week, month after month, surveys tell us New York comes out on top for this or that. We wondered what all those findings add to the feel of the city, so we did a quick, non-exhaustive survey of surveys that ranked or ranked New York.
That is Dream city number 1 – the city everyone dreams of living, surpassing San Diego, Los Angeles and Denver in a survey by Cinch Home Services.
But that survey also says it’s not always easy to live in one’s dream city. Of the 1,067 people surveyed, many said they’ve made sacrifices to live where they want, rush into savings, get a second job or give up vacation days to earn extra pay. Half of Gen Zers polled said they’d be willing to live in a closet – if it’s a closet in the place they’ve always dreamed of.
New York ranks second, after Seattle, as the place college students want to live after graduation, according to Next Cities Index from Axios and Joint Laboratories.
That is 58th happiest place to liveaccording to personal finance page WalletHub. Number 1 is Fremont, Calif., followed by Columbia, Md. And San Francisco. New York scored higher in two out of three categories – “mental and physical health” and “community and environment” – but was dragged down by how expensive it was.
And there are rats here – New York has Ranked 3rd in the list of 50 “most culinary” cities in 2020 and 2021, according to Orkin, the pest control company. (The 2022 list has yet to be published.)
“The surveys are about asking about perception,” said Louise Mirrer, president of the New-York Historical Society. “Look, we all know that the way people see New York is the same as New York. That’s why so many city dwellers worry not only about the real crime in the city, because there are actual statistics that tell us about it, but the perception that crime has increased significantly. Look at the stats, crime hasn’t increased as dramatically as you think people are saying. “
However, New York still ranks 20th on Time Out’s list of the 53 best cities in the world for 2022 – out of US cities, only Chicago ranks higher. Edinburgh tops the list (“one of the most beautiful cities to explore on foot” as well as “always welcoming and progressive”). New York “feels more vibrant than ever” and is recovering from the pandemic, Time Out said.
“New Yorkers don’t need the confirmation or the complexity that investigations invite,” said Harold Holzer, director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter University. “I think we’re as far away from the surveys as we are from the criticism of a visitor from Kansas, even though most Kansasians like New York.”
And, he said, surveys prove it.
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Extreme weather is on the rise, which could mean more flooding. Community gardens are also growing, which should help make the weather less extreme. I ask Winnie Huwho focused on transport and infrastructure, to explain what small local green spaces can do.
How do community gardens form in flood control?
I like to think of community gardens as the horses of urban public spaces.
They do many things. They grow food. They provide open space in a crowded city. And they helps control flooding by absorbing rainwater otherwise it will run into the street and down the sewer system. The gardens basically hold the rainwater so it can’t go anywhere else. It just goes into the earth and stays there. Many gardens have also raised beds, compost and mulch, which help absorb more rainwater.
The impact can be quite significant. According to Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law group, and other advocates, in total, community gardens across the city can divert approximately 165 million gallons of stormwater runoff from streets and sewers each year. . 2016 analysis.
The Drew Community Garden in the Bronx is a prime example of why community gardens are natural sponges. The members have transformed a barren wasteland into a lush landscape of trees, bushes, grass and flowers that soak up rainwater runoff.
But some community gardens don’t just collect rainwater.
Yes, they are also recycling it. They collect rainwater from the roofs of sheds, gazebos, climbing trellises or neighboring buildings through a “rainwater collection system”. Then they use it to water their plants. It’s a win-win arrangement as a lot of the gardens don’t have a water source and would otherwise have to run hoses to the curbside fire hydrants.
inside Community garden mobilizes change In Upper Manhattan, rainwater rolls down the corrugated iron roof into a white pipe that connects to a large plastic tank. The rainwater collection system costs about $15,000 and captures up to 2,000 gallons of stormwater runoff per year. GrowNYCThe nonprofit that installed it, has worked with community gardens to build 115 stormwater collection systems since 2002.
In some places, there is tension between community gardens and homes. Is the city speaking with a voice about what it stands for?
City officials, as well as environmental and housing advocates, say this is not either the case — New York needs to have both affordable housing and a community garden if the city is to be. want to develop.
But on a practical level, they’re struggling to build both in a crowded city with limited space, and too often, it seems like one comes at the expense of the other. This waterfall, Pleasant village community garden in East Harlem, dating from 1978, will have to vacate part of the garden to make way for affordable housing.
What about designating community gardens as significant environmental areas under state law? Is that catch?
More than 70 environmental and community groups have city officials petitioned to designate gardens as “environmental important areas”, which would give them more legal protection for development.
But so far, the response from the city has been less than promising. City park officials, who oversee the majority of community gardens, say that there is currently only one such name in New York City – for Jamaica Bay and its tributaries, the aquatic wetlands. tides and surrounding areas. They say community gardens under the Parks Department’s jurisdiction have been protected from development under city rules.
METROPOLITAN . Diary
Welcome picnic
Dear Diary:
When we first moved to New York, my husband was assigned to the New York Coast Guard Station on Staten Island. Young and growing up, we moved in with our grandparents, who graciously took us into their Manhattan apartment, and he went to work from there.
We parked the truck on the street, and my husband used to start his days off in the truck waiting for the street sweeper during the alternate hours.
One sunny morning, my grandmother made pancakes and a late breakfast with the enthusiasm that retirees have for.
Feeling bad that my husband didn’t even get a chance to have breakfast, I brought his brunch picnic style, and we put it in the back of the pickup, checkered blankets and all.
