Results tagged “queenscollege”

A negative byproduct of the disparities between New York and the rest of the country is that after every Census, Congressional seats are reapportioned based on population. Each state will always have two Senators, but New York is likely to lose at least one seat in the House of Representatives.

The 2nd Ave. subway isn't scheduled to receive any passengers until 2014, but some residents are relishing the prospect of a new line, while others suspect it could deliver trouble. People living on East End Ave. or York Ave. are cursed with a hike to the nearest subway station, but also somewhat insulated from the increased crowding and pricing pressures that easy access via a subway accompanies. The construction of the 2nd Ave. subway could change the whole neighborhood. The New York Times reports that real estate developers are already touting proximity to a subway line as a selling point for new buildings along 1st Avenue.

Gotham Gazette has an excellent look at the effects of "a housing bust" by Queens College demographer Andrew Beveridge. This map shows how much income goes towards mortgages; Beveridge notes:

The median income of those paying less than 30 percent of their income on housing is $120,900. For those paying between 30 and 50 percent of their income, though, the median is $74,390, and for those paying over 50 percent the median income is $39,900.

Continue reading "Map of the Day: How Much Income is Going To Mortgages"

The Princeton Review released its annual "The Best 366 Colleges" rankings, and NYC college schools make some interesting showings. The New School is number 1 for "Best College Town" (Barnard, Columbia, and NYU are also in the top 10), while Queens College is the third most sober.

Ladies, it's time to throw your hat in the air a la Mary Tyler Moore: It turns out that young women are earning more than young men in cities like New York, Chicago, Boston, Dallas and Los Angeles.

TV star Matthew Fox went to his alma mater today to give the Class Day speech at Columbia College. Fox, class of 1989, was a controversial speaker choice amongst the Columbia community, given that other Columbia University schools had, er, Nobel Laureate and former Treasury Secretary types speaking. Just Jared has a partial transcript of his remarks:

“You may have an idea where you want to be in 20 years and some of you will get there. But if you do, I guarantee you won’t have let yourself take chances. Eighteen years ago sitting in these seats, as hung over as I was, I remember a sense of accomplishment & a sense of fear. In defining the future for yourselves, the safest choice may not be the best choice...

Continue reading "Matthew Fox's Class Day Speech at Columbia"

Congratulations to everyone graduating this month! As NYU's commencement was today, with speaker jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, we decided to list the many NYC commencement speakers, with help from The Chronicle of Higher Education (if we've missed any or gotten it wrong, let us know in comments):

The wedding season is in full swing: Second week in a row where there are over 30 weddings in the NY Times Weddings & Celebrations section. Here we go:

It's officially spring, and that means lots of NY Times wedding announcements. Twenty-six, to be exact.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A(nother) pedestrian struck on Bruckner Boulevard in the Bronx, high carbon monoxide readings in Queens and a technical rescue in Manhattan
• That big six-alarm apartment building fire in Queens last month? It turns out a man who was squatting there with his girlfriend purposefully set a fire in a closet "hoping to dissuade her from using drugs and engaging in prostitution there."
• A metal beam falls from scaffolding and hits someone on the head in Midtown

The Journal-Times of Racine, Wisconsin has a great video feature on the Wagner Company which makes Festivus Poles. Wagner typically produces railings, which is probably why making a Festivus pole is so easy. They are 100% aluminum and come in a 6 foot floor model as well as a 2 foot 8 inch table top model. And check out how you can take care of the surface:

Surface Finish: In keeping with the precepts of Festivus, the Festivus Pole is to be "unadorned and lusterless". As such our Festivus Poles are provided unfinished -- as extruded -- and you might see die lines and occasional scratches in the surface. Unfinished aluminum will develop a layer of oxidization that may come off as black on your hands while handling. If you wish to avoid this issue, you may coat your Festivus Pole with any commercially available car wax product but you could be crossing the line by being too concerned with outward appearances.

Fun fact: Tony Leto of Wagner went to Queens College with Jerry Seinfeld and, after seeing the Festivus episode, he bought the domain name for FestivusPoles.com!

If you count yourself as a New Yorker and a movie lover, it's tough to not have a special affinity for films by Woody Allen. Practically the filmmaker laureate of the city, Allen's prolific 40 plus year career is getting a three week long screening series at Film Forum starting this Friday. Gothamist loves Allen's movies (both the highs and the lows) so much that we thought we'd chat with an Allen expert, Queens College professor Bob Kapsis, about how to plan our screening calendar during "Essentially Woody."

Oh, how we love census data! Where would we be today if we didn't know that "the share of households with married couples in the United States dipped to a historic low of 49.7 percent in 2005?" That knowledge changes everything. Well, actually no, not really. But it is interesting.

After data released this week by the Census Bureau showed how crappy NYC commutes were, Queens College went over the data and came up with some interesting news: The number of mass transit users has grown as well, suggesting that if you're going to have a long commute, why not read a book and not deal with jerky drivers and bad roads. The NY Times reports that Queens College demographers found "tens of thousands of workers have stopped driving to their jobs and switched to riding subways, trains, buses and ferries."

The latest figures reinforce just how unusual New York is in its reliance on public transportation. No other American city makes half as much use of mass transit. Of the 6.2 million transit riders in the country, more than 40 percent live in the metropolitan region, which, by the federal government’s definition, includes the city and 18 surrounding counties in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Continue reading "More NY Area Commuters Use Mass Transit"

State Comptroller Hevesi's foot, meet State Comptroller Hevesi's mouth! At the crossroads of bad introductions and bad commencement speeches, Alan Hevesi was number one - with a bullet - when he lamely tried to fete Queens College honoree Senator Charles Schumer by saying, "We really feel bad for poor Chuck, the U.S. Senator, the man who, uh, uh, how do I phrase this diplomatically, who will put a bullet between the president's eyes if he could get away with it. The toughest senator, the best representative. A great, great member of the Congress of the United States.'' You can believe if with your own ears by watching this video. And then when Hevesi realized he essentially called for the death of the President by way of NY State's senior Senator, he had to apologize to President Bush, Senator Schumer and Queens College students and called his speech "stupid" and "moronic," and adding, "What I intended to say is that Chuck Schumer is incredibly smart, courageous, willing even to stand up to the president of the United States on issues of public policy. What came out of my mouth is that Chuck Schumer is smart and brave and capable of putting a bullet between the president's eyes."

- The only two other metropolitan areas (500,000 people or more) in the country where non-white races "exceed their share of the national population" are Houston and Honolulu

- Guess what? With more police officers in the subways, crime goes down. At least crime like smoking, drinking alcohol, and turnstile jumping is done, as some new NYPD stats say that the number of summons issued was down 18% versus 2004 - even in spite of the new rules of conduct (but the MTA did collect more in fines).

The U.S. Census released its latest populations estimates yesterday, and New York City lawmakers freaked out. Apparently, NYC saw a decrease, from 8,109,626 to a current (as of July 2004) 8,104,079; though there were population increases in the Bronx and Manhattan, decreases in Brooklyn and Queens led to the net decrease. Any total decrease affects the amount of money the government distributes for housing subsidies and other aid. And the city has had a history of successfully challenging the Census' numbers before. The head of the City Planning office's population division told the NY Times, "Everyone who studies New York's demographics knows you don't get big increases in Staten Island and substantial increases in Bronx and Manhattan, and no increase in Brooklyn and Queens, which lead the city in immigration and new housing," but a Queens College demographer wonders if the Census numbers are "finally reflecting September 11." So, that might mean the population increase many New Yorkers feel today (as evinced by the crazy housing market) will only be reflected in, like, 2009. That sounds about right for a government agency.

Gothamist hopes that this will mean a return of college basketball in the city. Until then, we'll always have Manhattan.

NYC's population is growing - at least that's what the U.S. Census says. The news seems to reflect that NYC is still attractive to live in (Manhattan had over 9,000 new residents between 2002 and 2003), although various authorities on counting people debate whether this not-like-the-usual-census check by the Census data holds up. Professor Andrew Beveridge of Queens College, the Times' census/demographic consultant, mentions interesting things:

- Brooklyn's and Queens' populations declined
- Taking all trends (international immigration, domestic migration), "What this is saying is that New York's really rapid growth of the 1990's seems to have ended or abated."
- Babies contributed to the population growth

Judging by all the baby strollers, baby papooses, and baby stores creeping everywhere, Gothamist would have to agree. For any new residents, this is what you need to know about New York: You can't smoke in bars, our mayor is a billionaire, taxi fares will increase next month, finding the next new restaurant is a big deal (whether they are good or not), the Post is owned by Rupert Murdoch, and all the cool kids live below 14th Street or in Brooklyn.