Activity 8.1 and 8.2 by Patricia Fraser

For this activity our group suggested a visit to Riverbank State Park. I've always loved this park and was excited to show the group around. Because of its location in Central Harlem, a lot of people in the group had never been there. It was fun showing everyone around and telling them about the history and all the activities available to do there. James Kunstler wrote that Central Park "established the value of this sort of landscape as a cultural necessity". With the possibility that Riverbank might close due to state budget cuts, the people of the surrounding Harlem neighborhoods would miss their "cultural necessity". The park provides adults, children, seniors and people with disabilities who live in the area with a place to enjoy nature, Hudson River views, and many athletic and cultural activities in the middle of a city setting.

The second place we visited was Yankee Stadium. I hadn't been to the new place yet, so I was curious to see the new space. What I saw was a newer version of the old stadium, as opposed to Citifield, which looks very different from Shea Stadium. Driving there during the day, and then another time at night, I started to see what some of the locals had been criticizing during the planning stages of the build. The new space seems to take over the area and the lights at night, I kept thinking were obnoxiously bright. The old stadium is in the process of being torn down and I hope that the neighborhood regains useful park and activity space.

This activity made me think about how priorities are set when it comes to allocation of space, especially in low income areas. Yankee Stadium is used exclusively for professional baseball and for months out of the year it goes unused. Riverbank, on the other hand, can be used year round, in many cases for free. The stadium makes money for the players associated with the team, not the community, but at Riverbank, all revenue goes into the maintenance of the park. It seems unfair that this park is being threatened with closure and Yankee Stadium can get torn down and get built bigger, better and more expensive than before.

Bianca Klotsman- Activity 7

I chose to visit Paley Park located at 53ed Street between Madison and 5th Avenue. The park is located directly on the street so that people are attracted to look in and enter. It has moveable chairs and tables that let people be comfortable and have some control over where they sit, also making it a very popluar lunch spot. The waterfall takes up the entire back wall of the small park and its noise blocks out the sounds of the city creating a sense of quietness and privacy. There's ample shade from the trees so people can relax with a breeze. I chose to visit Paley Park on one of the nicer days this early spring and it was extremely crowded. It was mostly populated by men in suits and a few women lunching together and didn's have too many children since there is no playground area. The park blocks out the noise of the city but replaces it with the noisy waterfall that makes it hard to eavesdrop. The park itself is public but privately owned. It is very small and located in a very nice area of Manhattan, so there is no need for surveillance or security. The spot is very relaxing and I think there is no better way to use this space than to just have a quiet place for people to come and have lunch, meetings, or just to relax. Former Chairman of CBS, William Paley paid for and developed the park. Completed in 1967, Paley Park is celebrated as one of the smallest manageable urban parks, and a prime example of a successful privately owned public space. I think this is more of an "adult" park which makes it all the more relaxing and I would definately come back to visit.

The Yankee Standium

Oceane Mercadal

Activity 8.2

To complete the second part of activity 8, group 7 sent my group to visit the new Yankee stadium. I was really not excited to go all the way up in the Bronx because I thought the ride was going to be long and I just hate taking the subway. The ride ended up not being that bad, a good 45minutes but I had reading to do so the time went by pretty fast. Once I got there lucky for me, it was easy to find the stadium considering the size of it. Would be pretty hard to miss it.

I had never seen a baseball game before just because I don’t understand this sport and it doesn’t interest me particularly. I have seen movies where people go to a baseball game and was surprised to see that the stereotypes are true. The majority of people at the stadium where white, which unlike my other group members didn’t surprise me. It is true that it is not the usual habitants of the neighborhood but I have always thought that each sport has its own type of spectators and players. Like my group members said in their posts baseball like all sports need to attract money. I looked up at the price of tickets for a Yankee game and was shocked when I saw that they ranged from $5 to over $2000. Unless you are a really big fan of the Yankee’s I don’t understand why any one would pay that amount of money to watch people hit a ball one after the other.

Like Jane Jacobs cites in her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, “Generalized parks can and do add great attraction to neighborhoods that people find attractive for a great variety of other uses.” (p.111) I personally would not have gone to the Bronx if it weren’t for the stadium. I grew up hearing that the Bronx was not a very safe area to be in. However now that I have gone to the stadium and seen how the neighborhood looks like it has made me overcome my fear of the stereotype of the Bronx being a bad place to live in or walk around. In a way Jane Jacobs is right by saying that large parks can attract a large amount of people. The new stadium has 51000 seating places so on game days a lot of people can be found in the Bronx even though it may only be for the game period, it still creates good traffic for the neighborhood.

Activity 8(part 2)

Activity 8(Yankee Stadium)
Rosedelle A chery
For the second part of this activity, Group 7 decided to take us to the New Yankee stadium. I was excited to go, in part because I love the Yankees and I never got a chance to visit the old stadium, but also because I went to the Bronx for activity 2, I accidentally ended up there after getting lost. But in getting lost I found a faster way to the Bronx and I was excited to try it out. When I got there I was surprised to see the progress that had been made in the demolition of the old stadium. When I went there in February for activity 2, the building had been stripped down, but most of the actual structure was still up. However, now the building is half way gone. It’s crazy to see that a building that had so much history can be reduced to rumble too quickly. On the brighter side, the new stadium is really pretty. It’s like looking a brand new pair of earrings; it’s very new and very shiny, so to speak.
When I say I love the Yankees, I mean I’m more of a passive fan. For me, it’s nice to know when they win, if I happen to hear about it on the news or something. So going to the stadium wasn’t really that exciting, but it’s nice for me to know that I actually went to the new stadium and in the future I can say that I was there. Jennifer, my group member, pointed out that the majority of the people there were white and she found that really strange because the neighborhood where the stadium was located was an African American and Spanish neighborhood. It didn’t really shock me because when I think about baseball and this is going to sound very stereotypical, I think of it as a white sport. However, I do know that there are many Spanish and black fans of the baseball, but along with the highly expensive prices of a game, I can’t say that seeing so many white people surprised me. Baseball, like mostly everything in this world, is a money making business and in order to make top dollar, people are going to charge that much. Granted I think that it’s unfair and the team would make more money if they lessen their prices, but I also think that they keep it so high so that not just everyone can come in. I’m sure that whoever makes the prices took into consideration the income and the people that lived around there and made the prices high purposely. This is just my opinion, but I’m very pessimistic about the world and people, so I could be very wrong. Sadly, we do live in the kind of world that will set up any kind of barriers to keep out “undesirables”.
I don’t think that Yankee stadium fell into the category of a good public place according to the standards that William Whtye set up in his observations. The stadium does provide an open place and lots of sun (p46), but at the same time it doesn’t provide any shade or a minimal amount or anything else that Whyte describes. The stadium was just a stadium, compared to the places Whtye talks about. The stadium, to me, was an artificial outdoor space. It’s like being in building without a roof; essentially it’s still a building. Either way I did have fun during this activity and I hope to explore more places in the city, even after the class ends.

Riverbank State Park

Oceane Mercadal

Activity 8.1

My group decided to visit Riverbank State Park in Harlem for a class assignment. It was not that hard to get to the park even though I had never been to Harlem before. Once I arrived at the park I was amazed to see this enormous open space, which I had never heard of. It probably took me 30min to get there with the bus, which made me question why coach has never brought us up there to practice on the track.

The park is 28 acres and is the only one of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere. It contains and indoor Olympic size pool, a covered skating rink available to ice skate during the winter and roller blade during the summer, a 800 seat cultural theatre, an outdoor 25yard lap pool, 4 tennis courts, 4 basket ball courts, a 400meter- 8lane track with a soccer and football field, and many more interesting features who attract public from all around New York. The park is opened all year round from 6am to 11pm.

The only unfortunate part of this park, which Patricia Fraser one of my group members told me is that the state, is thinking about closing the park. After having done some research on the Internet I came across an article on Facebook saying that the state wanted to reduce the working hours of the park. The page information is: Save Riverbank State Park hours from being cut in the State budget: Amsterdam News – “Community rallies to keep Riverbank State Park open”. Just like Jane Jacobs said in her book The Death and Life of Great American cities, “Parks are volatile places. They tend to run to extremes of popularity and unpopularity.” (P.89) Several teams practice at Riverbank State Park early in the morning. Cutting hours would result in these teams loosing a practicing area and therefore compromising their sport. Sure the park might not be as popular as it should be but the state doesn’t have anything else for this open space. It would be such a shame to waist 28 acres of green land. The park is only 30minutes away from the city and yet it feels like you are miles away. People are relaxed they go there to chill with their friends or family and enjoy the weather. During the winter the indoor rink allows the park to remain ‘alive’ meaning that the facility is used through out the entire year.

When I went to visit the park with my group members several people where running around the park. Families where relaxing on the grass enjoying the sun, some kids where having fun in the playground under the surveillance of there nannies and a baseball team was practicing on the appropriate field. My friends and I walked by the baseball field near the water and the view was simply breath taking. We stopped for a moment and started taking pictures of the view (i unfortunately can't put the pictures up because when i tried for the previous activity it broke my phone) because it is amazing how you can see Manhattan on one side and New Jersey on the other. If I had the time I honestly would go back to this park just to sit on a bench and enjoy the view of the river. Central Park is a very nice park to relax and have fun with your friends but the view from Riverbank State Park is nothing compared to it, which is why I would bring some friends to chill there if we had the time.

Activity 8

Activity 8( Riverbank State Park)

Rosedelle Chery

For activity 8, my group and group 7 decided to go to Riverbank State Park Yankee Stadium. The first place we went to was Riverbank State park and I must admit that it one of the best places I have been too while living here in the city. I never even knew this park existed before that day and I couldn’t believe that New York had such a great place that wasn’t advertised as much. The ride there, like most of these activities, was very long. Since I live in Rockaway, which is basically on the opposite side of side of the Park, the ride took about 2hrs and 15mins. I think that the distance from my home is one of the main reasons why I have never been to Riverbank, which is Harlem. Not to say that I have never been to Harlem, because I frequented 125^th street a couple of times when I was younger, but that was just to do my hair. Other than that, I never really explored Harlem the way it deserved and now I see that I have been missing out on a lot.

The park really did surprise because it had a lot of activities available and it wasn’t just trees and open field, which I initially thought. Central Park, Washington Square Park and Bryant Park are all common NY parks and they are all great in their own way, however they don’t really offer much. Besides being nice, relaxing and “naturey”, there’s really nothing else there, and that’s what I expected from Riverbank. However Riverbank had a seemly gigantic swimming pool and football/soccer field, a baseball field and basket ball court. Walking around that park was a workout in its self. The fact that park provided all those recreational activity while still retaining the nature aspect really impressed me. Riverbank had a good balance that, to me, made it very welcoming to everyone. While walking around I saw these two men with their kids and at first I didn’t want to just assume that they were gay, but as the kids ran off to play on the park’s carousel, they sat on a bench and started holding each other and being very affectionate. I mention this because it’s a great example of what people, gay people especially, making a very public space private. In the article by George Chauncey, Gay Use of the Street”, he mentions that parks were used as cruising places for gay men and also they were as safe havens from discrimination in closed spaces like bars. He writes “this provided a useful cover for men wandering in search of others. Few gay men stood out among the other couples, families, and groups of friends, and neighbors who thronged the parks, socializing, playing sports, and eating their picnic suppers.(p226)” Chauncey also even mentioned Riverbank State park in this article. He writes “Riverside Park,

stretching along the western shore of Manhattan, where ships of all sorts were

moored, was also a major cruising area and social center, especially for seamen

and their admirers. (227)” After seeing the kids have so much fun on the carousel, I couldn’t resist and decided to try it out. Needless to say, I was very dizzy when I got off, but it was still fun. I didn’t really engage in a lot that the park that to offer because I didn’t except it to offer so many things. I did walk by the Hudson River, which I never really saw that close. There’s nothing I enjoy more than a great view and scenery and Riverside had a great view the water and New Jersey.

I was really shocked to find out that the park was built on top of a sewage plant. I guess building on top of a sewage plant has its benefits, in that, it’s better to have a beautiful park taking up place, providing great scenery, rather than a great bog sewage plant, that would not increase tourism to Harlem or better the community. I was disgusted to learn that the park is being threatened to be closed down. I think that closing down the park would be a horrible idea and would not benefit the city in anyway. One of the reasons New York is so great is because it’s supposed to diverse in the things that it offers its citizens and tourist. Rather than trying to close it, city officials need to focus on preserving it for future generations. The city needs to advertise it more so that more people can go there and provide revenue for Harlem, which benefits everyone. Jane Jacobs said it best in her book “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” when she said “consider state parks deprived places that need the boon of life and appreciation conferred on them”(p90). Granted River bank isn’t neglected but it needs to be sustained and not closed. But of course, like hospitals, schools and even fire stations, whoever is running the city and making these decisions to close down these vital places, is clueless about how to many the city better and make current places more efficient , however, I digress.

Like most of New York great little treasures, Riverbank provides an oasis from the hectic city life and offers another view for the both visitors and citizens. It allows people to see another side of the city, instead of just the hectic and busy big apple. With the many recreational areas, picnic places, grassland, trees and relaxing areas, Riverbank State park provides a place for nature lovers and sports jocks or people that just want a great place to hang out.

Activity 8.2

Jennifer Rios

Activity 8.2

For activity eight, group seven recommended that my group visit the Yankee Stadium. Due to the fact that this stadium is new and I have not been able to see it in person, I was excited to finally be able to see what the big deal was about this stadium. I expected this stadium to be rather similar to the previous one, which was not a big deal either. Once I got to the Yankee Stadium, I was surprised at how the old stadium was already gone. I was aware that the stadium was going to be demolished soon but I was hoping that I would have been able to compare both stadiums at once. Despite my interest in wanting to see both stadiums, I am in no way interested in baseball. I feel that sports are yet another way to milk the money out of people for the benefit of the sports team.

Once I got into the new stadium, I began to compare my surroundings to what William Whyte mentioned about what would make a good open space. I realized that stadiums in general fit most of these requirements as well. Although I was in a stadium, which is closed off by walls, I feel as if it can also be one of the areas that were analyzed by Whyte because of the fact that some parks are also closed off- usually with fences. This coincides with the idea that, “small parks, especially those enclosed on three sides, function well” in terms of the requirements he said were necessary for open spaces. I came to the conclusion that this may be a reason why people are comfortable spending hours at baseball games, due to the fact that a majority of the necessities outlined by Whyte are present in the stadium. For example, stadiums consist of various areas for people to be able to sit and watch the game from. Along with there being a variety of selections for one’s seating, people are also able to enjoy being out in the open. By being exposed to the environment, people are also able to enjoy the wind and the sun, which are guaranteed to reach people since they will technically be sitting outside. I believe that the Yankee Stadium is an area that Whyte considered a “semioutdoor” area. He mentioned that, “Most new urban spaces are either all outdoors or all indoors [and that] more could be done to encourage inbetweens” (Whyte, 45), which is what Whyte meant by semioutdoor.

While inside of the new Yankee Stadium, I was not intrigued by anything in my sight except for the size of the place. While analyzing my surroundings, I noticed that a majority of the people inside of the stadium were Caucasian, which was a bit strange for me to see. The reason why I found it a little strange was because of the fact that the neighborhood in which the stadium is located has a large African American and Hispanic population. Therefore, I had expected to see a lot more minorities in the stadium than what I did get to see. When I first realized this it got me a bit angry because of the way in which even baseball can cause some kind of division between the populace. For example, a way in which this division is created is through the high prices charged for certain seats. Since the residents around the Yankee Stadium are considered working class, it may be hard for these people to afford tickets that are so expensive. Being that the Yankees already have plenty of money as it is, they should be more considerate to the fans who support them but who are not able to buy tickets.

Bianca Klotsman Sexualized/Gendered/Queer Spaces

I live in New Jersey, so I chose to write about the Upper East Side around where Hunter is located because that is where I predominantly spend most of time in New York City. At first glance, I never really noticed any sexualized/gendered/queer spaces because when that comes to mind I instantly think downtown…the Greenwich Village, Tribecca, and Soho, but when I took a closer look some things stuck out more than others.

1)For working parents, there are plenty of day care services for their children available around the East side, such as private schools that offer pre-K or strictly day care for toddlers. Nanny Services are also very commonly used by working parents.

(2)I noticed that many males go to supermarkets and the cleaners and places such as nail and hair salons are known to be feminine. Even some department stores have more females than males such as Barneys and Henri Bendel as opposed to Macy’s. Places that are gender separated include Saunas, public restrooms, and many massage clinics.

(3)When I think of queer/gay spaces, my mind instantly wanders downtown where the homosexual nightlife is incredible. There are the obvious gay bars and parks, but there are also those areas that only the queers know about. I recently learned that the basement floor of the Hunter Library is a queer designated area. There are gay organizations and surprising gay cruises for couples to meet.

(4)When I Googled “Gay map of New York”, I found an incredible website (http://www.gaymap.info/-download-maps/Gay_NewYork_08.pdf) with everything one needs when visiting NYC such as hotels, bars/restaurants, saunas, gyms and more with a helpful map and so much information.

(5)Walking around the streets of the Upper East Side mid day, I didn’t find too people doing “private” things in public except for Central Park where on this gorgeous day I found a few young couples making-out and getting very intimate with one another. I also found a few girls tanning in the sun in just lingerie.

Activity #3 - Public vs Private by Patricia Fraser

I had spoken about this in class but forgot to write it down! So many activities, feels like not enough time! But I digress. For this assignement I walked down to 60th Street and Lexington Avenue, and crossed over to 2nd Avenue to continue on the 58th Street. In this particular area near Hunter College, alot of spaces gave the impression of being private. The majority of the buildings, especially within the side streets were residential brownstones. As I had said in class, the gates separating the homes from the sidewalks spoke clearly to me that no trespassers were allowed. Even the merchants located along Lexington Ave give off an air of privacy because you have to ring a bell and be invited into some of the stores.

I came across very few public spaces in the neighborhood. The picture above, of a residential building's open space was not very inviting. Not many people were sitting there when I walked by. William Whyte's documentary and book talks about the elements that make for a usable public space and this particular space lacked some of those elements. The most important, being sitability, was missing. There were not various places of different heights to sit. Upon close inspection the walls had very little space to sit comfortably and the spaces where you might be able to sit were in the direct line of site of the building doorman. The people sitting outside were talking to the doorman, which led me to believe that they were residents, and therefore, the seating area was private. Also there was no water source to drown out noise or enjoy, and no food carts, but there were lots of tress. One of the pictures included with this blog shows a structure that at first glance seems like an enclosed cell, but as you get closer, it is in fact a structure to sit in, although no one was there when I passed by.

Bianca Klotsman Activity 8.1: Group Activity

For our group activity, we decided to go to Riverbank State Park located on 145^th street and Riverside Avenue. The park is not in plain view and took some time for me to find because in order to get to the park, you have to walk down a long overpass that leads you closer to the Hudson River. Riverbank is the only state park left in Manhattan and brings a very suburban feel to such a hectic urban environment, which is a rare find. I didn’t expect the park to be so clean and beautiful; and the weather that day was incredible, we chose the perfect day to go.

When you first walk in to the secluded park, you find a waterfront restaurant and an amazing view of the George Washington Bridge and surprisingly my hometown. I even had my apartment building staring right at me from across the river. The park has so many recreational activities and sports fields such as a massive soccer and football field combined, a baseball field, basketball courts, tennis courts, an Olympic size pool, a skating rink and probably more that we didn’t see.

There were so many people of all ages on the day we visited. A lot of people were working out by either running on the track or playing a game of soccer and others occupying the many other fields. It looked like fun so I joined them on the track for a few laps. Others were also tanning, jump roping, and children were playing tag. In one part of the park, there was also loud music being played.

I learned that because of budget cuts, the state is considering closing this massive park down. Personally, I think this is a horrible idea just from seeing how many people actually use the facilities and it keeps the Harlem community closer. This field trip was a lot of fun and I discovered a place which I will most definitely come back to visit.

Activity 8.1

Jennifer Rios
Activity 8.1

My group decided to go to the Riverbank State Park, which is located on the Hudson River in Manhattan. This location was chosen by another group member named Patricia, who seems to know her way around Manhattan very well unlike me- who had no idea this park even existed. I have lived in New York for twenty years and was always a huge fan of parks when I was a child. It was very common to find me in a park every weekend with my brothers in order for us to satisfy our need to compete against each other. Central Park was always a big deal to me because of its size and the environment, which seemed to be the closest that I would ever get to nature due to the fact that I am a city girl. Now that I have seen the Riverbank State Park, I think I have found a new favorite park to spend my time in. With a park this large- and just 45 minutes away from my neighborhood- it was astonishing to find out that I was not even slightly aware of this park existing.

Upon entering this park, I was taken aback by the many recreation opportunities that are provided to the public. Such opportunities range from a pool, a skating rink, a restaurant, and a theatre. The park also had plenty of open space, which is very important in terms of creating a balance between cities and nature. This open space is beneficial to the residents of New York City due to the fact that most of these people are used to being surrounded by buildings. In Riverbank State Park, New Yorkers are able to get away from the streets of the city and enjoy some time with nature. This open space is also beneficial to people who do not participate in any of the recreation activities and instead are able to, “look at the passing scene and the pleasure of being comfortably under a tree while doing so” (Whyte, 46). Despite the fact that the inside of the park consisted of a lot of open spaces- symbolizing nature and freedom- the outside of the park that I happened to come across gave me different feelings and impressions of the park. While on my way to Riverbank State Park, I was able to catch a glimpse of its exterior, which consisted of dark grey walls. I believe that these walls are ways to fence off the park from the rest of the city, in order to keep it safe from intruders who may do harm to the park. I agree that the park must be kept safe but I also feel that parks should not be closed off to the surrounding areas. By preventing such restriction, more people would be aware of this park, such as people like me- who had no idea that this park existed.

Despite the exterior of the park looking as if it would like to keep people away from enjoying its many recreation opportunities, there seemed to be a good amount of diversity in regards to the people who were spending time at the park. I saw a majority of minorities as well as Caucasians but what I found interesting was that there was a separation among the differing racial groups according to the type of recreation they were taking part in. For example, when it came to people playing basketball or just hanging out by the basketball courts, a majority of these people were minorities. Caucasians were more likely to be found in the skating rink compared to the basketball court. I found this to be very intriguing because despite efforts to bring people together through commonplaces such as parks, and no matter how restricting it looks from the outside, people tend to influence themselves in terms of where and who they decide to congregate with. “Thus [the spaces] fail in their central pretension- that of eliminating gross differences between architectural and urbanistic space, of extending in time the areas in which urban life could freely flow back and forth between the two” (Whyte, 45).