Desiree Caro
While seaching for blogs for this activity i came across this interesting website called urbantravelblog.com. it had a bunch of european cities listed and you could click on any one of them and then articles written by bloggers in this place would come up. New York was not listed as one of the cities so i chose to read a few from the bloggers in london. most of the articles were relating to attractions that people could go do upon visiting these places, kind of like what we do in class. For instance i read an article about London's "Ghost Walk Tour" that takes you all over the city telling you were people of the past have died and where their supposed ghosts are lurking.
Another interesting blog i found seemed to be created by a man living in portland oregon http://urbanadventureleague.blogspot.com/. He also was giving an account of some of the activites taking place in his city. I wasnt really aware that portland was an urban area, but there seems to be some interesting things going on over there. the author promotes lots of bike riding events and comments on the weather they have had over there.
This next website was my favorite one http://urbanadventure.wordpress.com/. Its the same website we used to put our sound recordings online so it had a lot of the same technology. it used sound clips and google mapping to bring urban stories to life. The most interesting thing that i saw on the page was "Urban Sound Week" where people would record sounds of the city and put them up on twitter. this other site was also related to it http://urbanearth.ning.com/# this site was interesting too because it had a lot of unconventional urban areas listed.
I think these blogs compare to my blog in that they tell stories about a certain area that arent necessarily visible to the publice at first glance. all the material used in tese blogs ( including this one) takes observatuion and inquiry and i feel that is soething that we have in common.
Katherine Pimentel
Activity 9 : Why blog if no one reads it
I was having a hard time finding blogs that related to urban life in general so I searched for those relating to life in New York City. Our blog discusses things that take place in NYC and that is our focus, therefore I found it appropriate. The first blog that I found was Curbed NY (http://ny.curbed.com/). The main focus of this blog seemed to be housing and development. Many of the post dealt with new construction projects going on all around the city, rentals and costs of apartments as well as issues like gentrification. Some of the topics that were brought up in class such as the Atlantic yards issue and the changes that Brooklyn has been experiencing over the past years has been addressed. My groups blog did not focus much on property that is in NYC therefore I can not say there was much of a similarity, but the topics were certainly familiar.
NewYorkology is another blog spot that I found (http://www.newyorkology.com/index.php). This one is unique in that it finds events in the city such as plays and art galleries and it reviews them or recommends them. They call themselves “a New York travel guide”. This blog is an excellent source for New Yorkers to learn about what their city has to offer and take advantage of all that there is to see. When our groups had to find a place for our field trips it was very difficult because no one really had any ideas and money was an issue for those who did not work, if we had gone to a blog like this we could have found many affordable things to do that we would have probably never thought of on our own. The only similarities that I found with NewYorkology and my group’s blog was that we visited places that others have recommended although ours did not relate to the arts.
Gowanus Lounge (gowanuslounge.com) looks into current events that relate to the city and centers their posts on that. They read the major newspapers and discuss what is going on, even if it s just to comment on the weather. From my blog I know how much the weather can impact city life and the amount of activity that goes on, especially when I observed parks and plazas. There was even a post on the public library in Brooklyn which one of my group members wrote about, and they were basically trying to let everyone know that it is a great library and they should step in sometime. Much like our blog it is mainly informative.
Streetsblog (Streetsblog.org) is literally what the name is, a blog about the New York City Streets. They discuss streets that need to be paved or those that are dangerous and many accidents occur on them. It helps New Yorkers know where their tax money is going and how it should be spent. One of the articles that caught my eye was the one about the city trying to remove street art vendors from open spaces like parks and they included a quote on William Whyte, "What attracts people most, it would appear, is other people." This reminded me of the plaza activity and how the city focuses on the most ridiculous things sometimes.
City Room(http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/) offers a more political approach to it’s blog. It looks into new legislation and city officials that are making headlines and discusses why it is important to us. They range from what mayor Bloomberg is up to, to the recent doorman strike. My group’s blog did not have much of a political stance except for the community board meeting which included politicians and more legal issues. This blog is from the New York Times so it makes sense that they are so politically oriented.
I have commented on an article in each of these blogs and left a link to my groups blog telling them to check it out as a way of getting our blog out there. All of the blogs that I visited were large and have a large number of followers , the followers may see my comments and click on the link if they are curious about my experience in the city. Our blog is also published in Google reader which should make it more accessible to the public searching through blogs. ( I was unable to post the direct links of the comments because they would show up as errors when i tried to publish the post).
Charles Kan
On a Sunday Morning, I went to Riverbank State Park which is located at West 137 street to West 155th Street. The weather was okay like breezy and partly cloudy, but still the view was very nice to look at. This park has a skating rink, indoor pool, tennis courts, basketball courts, softball/baseball field, handball courts, and a track field with a football/soccer field. As well, the park was very clean which provides comfort to people who are walking around and sight seeing. There were many young kids and a few old people playing basketball, also there was a team practicing baseball. The thing that surprise me the most is that there were some women that was planting flowers/ gardening. I thought the park does not allow people to garden. While walking in the park, I notice that there were many parents bought their children to the children park to play and have fun. In addition, some of them also bought their dogs with them for a walk.
The Second field trip I went to was Yankee Stadium, which was not on Sunday but actually Thursday, April 15 which was the day that I went to see the game. I sat all the way in the upper decks behind home plate which provided a good view. 
The tickets were to expensive if you want to sit in the lower decks or the stands. Good thing they won, if it wasn't I would came back home all gloomily and piss. Okay, before the game I walk around the area, and saw that many workers were preparing food and cleaning up the restaurants for those who want to eat there and watch the game on T.V. But, I notice there are more customers in those restaurants/bar when the game is over. In addition, there were plenty of vendors and stores selling Yankees merchandise. Also, there were people standing around selling their Yankee tickets to people, which is understandable because they want to make money. However, in my thinking, I don't really trust them that much because the tickets, itself could be fake. There were mostly young man and old men going to the game and support their team Yankees but there were also some fan girls too. Next to the New Yankee Stadium, you still could see the old stadium but only half of it because they are tearing it down.
Desiree Caro
Riverbank State Park was the location of our first field trip for this assignment. I had previously been there a few times but i never really got a chance to take a look around. I visited the park, located on West 137th street, on a Sunday morning. the weather was fairly cool and breezy, but still sunny, overall a good day for the park. Upon entering the park i noticed an abundance of places for people to utilize during their trip to the park. Basketball courts, a track, numerous fields and a lot of free space. In addition to these outdoor utilities, the park also offers an indoor pool, a skating rink, and a children's park. the park also appeared to be very well kept and in very good condition. on the day that i visited the park there were a lot of people using the spaces provided for them; people playing basketball, soccer, football, running&walking on the track. there were also a lot of people using the free space, just leisurely strolling and relaxing and even gardening in designated spaces. I feel that this park is definitely a strong essential for the community. it provides a place for people in the area to go and do constructive things in a safe environment.
The second field trip i went on was to the Yankee Stadium 161st street in my hometown of the Bronx. Throughout my whole life I've been to the stadium dozens of times but this is only the second time that I've been to the new stadium since its been built. i wasn't actually able to go into the park this time but i walked around the neighborhood. it wasn't a game day so the entrances of the stadium were not crowded by their usual groups of people. Right next to the new stadium were the remains of the old Yankee Stadium, now just twisted metal and rubble. I think that the neighborhood surrounding the stadium is very interesting because it is not just a typical place where people live but its also a tourist attraction, which means more people and more things to do in an area which ordinarily would not have much to do. in a mile radius from the stadium there is an abundance of food, bars, souvenir shops, bowling allies, and a newly opened shopping center that includes a Toys R Us and various chain stores. All these attractions cause a lot of people to come through the area on a daily basis whether there are Yankee game or not. There are also a number of schools in the area. All of these factors allow for a large number if people passing through the area, which i feel gives the area a certain vitality.
Katherine Pimentel
Activity 8 : group member field trip
For our first field trip we visited Riverbank State Park on 137th Street. It was a breezy Sunday and I assumed that there would not be too many people outside but to my surprise the park was being put to much use. Upon entrance the first thing I saw was the basketball courts, they were all being used by young men. Adjacent to the court was the large track .Around the track there were a few people walking and jogging and the interior part of the track was full of teams playing football and soccer. The park itself is very large and aside from the courts and track center there is also an indoor pool, skating rink, sprinkler, children’s park and regular grass space. I noticed that the park had little plots of land intended for gardening. There were a few women here with their children teaching them how to plant flowers and vegetables. I am not sure if these plots were rented or if any one cold go in and plant, but I found it to be an interesting option for those who live in the city because there is obviously a lack of space for that in the typical New York City apartment. Jane Jacobs describes the use of the park in her book and she states that the people in the neighborhood make it either successful or not. “Generalized parks can and do add great attraction to neighborhoods that people find attractive for a great variety of other uses… The more successfully a city mingles everyday diversity of uses and users in its every day streets, the more successfully, casualty (and economically), its people thereby enliven and support well located parks that can thus give back grace and delight to their neighborhoods instead of vacuity”(Jacobs,111). I would have to say that Riverbank is a successful park because even during a windy and cloudy day, people still found reason to go and use that park. Not only were people there for recreational purposes but they were also there with teams from the community thus making it a fully functioning neighborhood park.
The second field trip the group chose was Yankee Stadium, we could not go see a game or go on one of the tours but we walked around the neighborhood and made observations. There was a game on Sunday when I arrived at 161st and all of the Yankee fans were outside ad they were very excited because apparently the Yankees had won. the people range from the old to the very young. There were mostly groups of males, couples and families going to spend their Sundays together. People were very swift to leave and they rarely stayed to hang around the area. There was a lot of pride amongst all of the Fans including those from the opposite team. I noticed many tourists who came for the experience of watching one the United States most popular baseball teams. The area surrounding Yankee stadium is very Yankees oriented, there are bars, restaurants, a bowling alley and many shops that cater to the Yankee fan. The site of the old stadium is clearly visible to the public and it brings much attention to the people who visit the area therefore they take time out to take pictures After about a two block radius the neighborhood was just residential of Hispanic and Black residents. “There’s no pretense, however, that they are anything but false fronts. The souvenirs shops and snacks emporia within extend into a backstage retail space out of all proportion to their facades. The object is clearly to make room for as many customers as possible in order to move massive volumes of cheap merchandise off the shelves”(Kunster,220). I chose this quote from Kunster because the are surrounding the stadium is full of shops catering to those who see the game and who are die hard fans, yet there I nothing there for the residents of the community. They are of primarily low income and many times cannot afford to go to any of the games. Every time there is a game they have all of these outsiders roaming their streets who are not part of the community and cold careless what goes on there.
Charles Kan
Around my neighborhood, there are a lot of good neighborhood that is for conventional shopping, schools, day care, and many others. In my neighborhood which is Chinatown, offers a good transit system. It is because of Canal street station and grand street station which is really convenient for those who have to work uptown or out of the borough. It is also easy for commuters to go on bus and call for taxi or car service in case they are late to work. The picture shown in the right show a park. its not just an ordinary park, it a park also filled with old man and old women playing cards, chess, checkers, and mahjong. Many of them are there to enjoy and have fun while some of them are just hanging out and talking to their friends. The picture on the left is a very conventional shopping for any age people but mostly for younger generation like us. This place is called Elizabeth Center, a center that has a game store, jewelry store, pharmacy, barber shop, spa. and many other store. 
While I was walking around, there are couple of day care/ evening clinics. The most famous Daycare is a building owned by the government which provide many old people to go there to eat, hang out, and a place for them to learn English. It is really lively around this area, every minute you will see them entering or leaving
These two picture you see to the right is place where a lot of males go to. The most famous place to gamble in Chinatown is OTB, where many of them go there to gamble on Horse Races. This place is always men, there are some middle income men while there are a lot of low income men. You can tell that many of them are low income because of their manners and attitudes. I also see a lot homeless people there, some of them smell while some wear really old clothing that are dirty and in wrinkles. This OTB place open till morning to late at night. The picture in to the left of the OTB picture, is not any regular barber shop. It is a barber shop but behind it is where people gamble not with cards but mahjong. They have a license there for them to gamble there. However this is fill with women more than men. I think is the women mostly Chinese women find this place to be more convenient and less dirty than the ones the men goes too.
In my neighborhood, there are no queer/gay individuals claiming space, however there a place called New York Area Bisexual Network located at Chamber street and Broadway which is a 5 to 10 minuter walk from Chinatown. When I search up gay map pf new york, it shows up where gay bar, club, lounge and also hotels are located. In Chinatown, there are many places occupied where there are a lot of private activities. Such private activities are people selling fake LV, Gucci, and may fake items which they are not suppose too. Many of them were caught and the places they engaged in these private things has been search and clear up. But still, there are a lot more left which is still happening.
My best friend attends John Jay. For a while now he has been trying to get me to go visit him at his school. I decided to visit him during my long break on Tuesday. I decided to walk to John Jay, because I do not like to transfer between trains, and I had enough time to walk there and back. My friend had told me that his college was located on 58th street and 10th Ave., so I started my journey around 2 PM. I got to John Jay around 3 PM, and I noticed a lot of students in the streets because they were all carrying books on criminal justice, and they were either rushing to get to class or gathering on the sidewalk with their friends. At first glance I didn’t know what to think of this school, I could see the students but what buildings belonged to the school? I meet with my friend in front of the “T-building,” he explained to me that John Jay is made up of four buildings: the T-building (Tenth Avenue building), N-building (North Hall), the W-buildint (Westport building), and finally the BMW building. He told me that most classes were on the N,W, and T buildings. I decided to spend most of my time in the T-building because this building has the schools library, threater, a gymnasium, and a swimming pool. The first thing I noticed when I entered the building was that all students must scan their Id’s in order to get access to the building. I noticed a student eagerly looking through her bag looking for her Id. I assumed she was a freshman because all the other students had their Id ready in hand by the time they reach the gates. I used my Hunter Id to get in the college. Once in the college, the atmosphere of the building changed completely. From the outside, the building had the atmosphere of any other city building, while on the inside, the atmosphere on the inside was much more academic. There were students studying in the halls, people rushing in to class, professors pushing AV equipment in to classrooms. This visit to John Jay helped me experience a different college and see the difference between Hunter College and John Jay.
Ivan Tellez
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For the plaza observation assignment i visited Seagram Plaza in midtown Manhattan. on the day that i visited the weather was fairly nice but still breezy so i expected a good number of people would be utilizing the area. while at the plaza i looked for some of the main contributors to a successful plaza (as outlined in the film we watched in class): sittable space,relationship to the street, chairs, sun exposure, water, trees,and food. Seagram plaza had a good amount of each of these things without it being too busy. i noticed that the were wide ledges on the edge of the plaza where a lot of people were sitting. these wide ledges allowed people to sit facing outward toward the street but also to sit facing inside toward the building and the 2 large water fountains- doubling the amount of people it can hold if necessary. .JPG)
More sittable spaces was also located at the very front of the plaza at the steps where some people would sit in the corners of, as well toward the back of the plaza where there were a few benches and trees. the water had a very calming effect on the surroundings in the plaza. people seemed to be gravitated towards it. and although the trees were bare during this time of year there were a good amount of people still sitting beneath them. i think this is because under the trees there are a few benches that might be of more comfort to the older people visiting the plaza. something that i found interesting next to these benches was a bike rack (one located on either side of the building). i thought the racks were really convenient for people who were visiting the plaza, and showed that the plaza is not just to be used by the people that work there but is also welcome to all. .JPG)
It was a cloudy day so there was not much sun exposure, but had there been a sun on that day you could tell that most of the plaza would be directly covered by it. on that particular day there were about 40-50 people any given time that i was there. most of the people were sitting in groups of 2 or more; also a large amount of them seemed to be eating food from one of the three street vendors located nearby. another popular activity among those in the plaza was "people watching" (an activity that i myself have been more than guilty of). mostly everyone was looking around gathering their surroundings and watching the busy people on the street going to and from work. Seagram plaza seems to be a very successful and popular plaza in the area; it allows for relaxation, conversation, or just passing the time.
I arrived at Grand Central station around 5 pm last Friday. I have been in Grand Central stations a couple times before but never to observe other people. i decided to spend some time on the main floor. There is a clock in the middle of the floor, and a lot of ticket booths all around. Large groups of people would gather. There was a group of people to the left of me that caught my attention. It looked like a family on vacation. The older man, who appeared to be the dad, carried a big backpack. The mom was pushing a baby carriage. A small boy, around the age of 6, was nagging at his mom because he was tired of standing. And an older daughter around the age of 16 was listening to her iPod. They were trying to figure out which way the Empire State building was, and had a medium size map of New York City. As the mom and dad argued on which rout to take, the daughter got in to a small argument with her younger brother. The brother had taken her iPod and didn’t want to give it back to her. I found it interesting that due to the arguments everyone had forgotten about the baby in the baby carriage. I would assume that they would be more worried about the baby but everyone was too busy fighting with each other.
I decided to move to the lower level and sit in a table where it would be easier for me to observe people. As I walked by the women’s restroom, I noticed a large line of women waiting eagerly to use the restroom. As I looked for a table where I would be able to observe people, I wondered why the women’s restroom always has a line. I came to the conclusion that it is not as easy for a woman to go to the bathroom as a man. A man can just un-zip their pants and pee, while in the other hand, a woman has to go through a more rigorous ritual that requires much more time.
I finally found a table that gave me a good view of the main stairs, where I would be able to see more people. At first it was overwhelming to try to keep track of people because there were people running up and down the stairs. I noticed an old man with a cane. He was being tackled by people that were late for their train, as they ran down the stairs with little regard of others. The old man was dressed in a suit, with dress shoes and a very sharp hair cut. I would assume that he was on his way to a date because he carried roses on the same had that he had his cane. I thought that the old man would never make it up the stairs but after navigating his way up, he looked back at the stairs with defiance.
Ivan Tellez
Charles Kan
Next to 77 Waters, there was this small park/area where you can sit and relax. There were a couple of people sitting there eating their lunch that they bought from store or home. Around this area, there a Halal food stand right across 77 Water street and if you walk a couple of blocks down, there Subway's, McDonald, and a Duane Reade.