Trains ACE23 Chambers ST.
One of the most striking features once a person gets off of the train is that it appears to be very diverse, in terms of both class as well as race. A closer examination though reveals that their appears to be an association between race and the class a person belongs to. From my observation I could deduce that minorities (African American, Latino) worked as security, and did much of the manual labor jobs. In contrast white, and in some cases Asians occupied the upper class, and appeared to be working in white collar jobs. The following picture I feel illustrates an aspect of this race class dynamic.
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| Man working |
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| Difference in appearance |
The food in this area was distributed evenly, and the price was modest considering the area is a high income neighborhood. The neighborhood had a pizzeria and a Dunkin Donuts, which are restaurant that a person can find anywhere. Some of the restaurants, and super markets that were also operating in the area could be considered upper class, or gave the impression of being a restaurant of a higher standard. The following pictures demonstrate this. The supermarket was an Amish market, which looked like they sold more expensive food/organic. Takawachi Bakery was another store, which looked like it sold high end goods.
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| Takarachi Bakery |
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| Amish Market |
The area also had tourist attraction, which would further explain why it would be considered a high income area. It would also cause many in the community to be concerned with the image that they were giving off. It in this case we can find two examples which illustrate this dynamic. The way a park is built and the image of the park can sometimes be seen as a reflection of the community. This is why the park by chambers street, was a very high class park because it contained a fountain in the center of it. Although, the park had a limitation on when it could be open and this is why the following picture demonstrates a sign saying that the park is open until midnight. This I believe reflects how important image is for this neighborhood because if the parks were open all the time, then there would be homeless people living in this area.
At the same time during my walk through the area found 2 homeless people one was asking for change and another was sleeping on the stairs of the building. This picture shows two aspects of the community in general, and to a certain extent out desensitizing of the homeless in New York. The reason being there is a woman sleeping on the stairs to a building and no one is attempting to provide any amount of help for this person. If a person notices the picture, there is a man who is casually passing by without taking into consideration the homeless person. This further shows the issues of homeliness, and how people in the area view it.
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| Homelessness |
Ironically, though this is problem that people do not one address because as I was taking this photo. Someone had notices that I was taking a photo of a homeless person, and appeared to be offended, and a bit upset at me for taking the photo. This show me that this problem is something the average person does not want to deal with, and further attempt to prevent other from drawing attention to the issue.
Most of the buildings further convey a feeling of upper class because of the architect, and the way the buildings appear. There was also construction being done in the area, which showed the class dynamic further because. The construction workers that I witnessed who were wearing the green jacket, and construction helmet looked like hard working individuals. The people who were wearing the orange coats were probably the ones who were in charge or the architect because they did not look like they were working physically and the construction hats that they were carrying did not look worn out. These people appeared to be of European descendant.
There was also a lot of security in this area. This could be related to the fact that some of the buildings were a tourist attraction, such as the St. Paul’s Chapel, which was across the street from wear I took the photo of the homeless person.
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| St. Paul's Chapel |
The photo of the homeless person asleep on the steps is really striking, because, as you said, someone is walking by and taking no notice of her. The person walking by also appears to be in a uniform and wearing a badge (although I could be mistaken), which I feel like would make the situation even more sad. Perhaps he is a security guard for the building and it could (or could not) be part of his duties to ask this woman if she needs help, depending on his decision, and he has decided to turn a blind eye. This makes me wonder about the concentration of homeless people in the city--I didn't see any in the neighborhood I explored, perhaps because it's not a tourist attraction. I wonder if some homeless people try to find tourist-y areas to panhandle because tourists are "easy targets" whereas native New Yorkers are, as we know, pretty desensitized to seeing homeless people.
ReplyDeleteI saw superficial diversity in my area as well, initially I saw diversity in race and ethnic groups but after reviewing the images, I've realized that minorities are either store workers, security or people that were just walking by. When I look closely at the guests of five star hotels near by or residents of high rises they do not show the initial diversity I witnessed. A few homeless people I saw in the area seem to have their occasional spots close to the stores, since securities of residential building and hotels had to remove them from their buildings.
ReplyDeleteThis was interesting because I did Futon Street and it's not too far from here, I stopped at the church but I can definitely see the contrast of this area and just east of it in income levels as it's almost cut in half when you walk just a few blocks over but it was quite similar in that the higher paid and nicer dressed people more than likely were white and the other ethnicities I was able to observe turned out to be other minorities in service positions that catered to the higher working class.
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