The Census Bureau released a new batch of interesting information, this time about the population's commutes. And it turns out the city commutes are the second worst in the nation! New York City commutes are an average of 34.2 minutes, while the country's average is 25 minutes. And the Daily News had the "sorry statistics" for boroughs besides Manhattan (we guess that Manhattan didn't count or had a shorter commute?): "Queens, 41.7 minutes, Staten Island, 41.3, the Bronx, 40.8 and Brooklyn, 39.7." Eep, but what do you expect, when tons of cars and vans and trucks and constructions clog up the streets. While some might say that people should take more public transport, lots of areas aren't serviced by subways and some people need to commute. We just hope the carpooling becomes more popular. And we still wonder if congestion pricing will ever catch on for the city. more ›

The Census Bureau is releasing data that will show an increase in Asians and Hispanics and a decrease in whites and blacks. Almost 500,000 New York immigrants came after 2000, and NYU's Immigration Studies professor Marcelo Suarez-Orozco explains to the Daily News, "If you dig a little deeper into the numbers, it shows women of Mexican, Dominican and Chinese origin are having babies at a rate much higher than other ethnicities." Other fun fact: NYC is still the biggest city in the country (LA has about half as many people). The Daily News also reports that the city will challenge the Census Bureau's estimate that the city has 8.168 million - the city says our population is closer to 8.2 million and high numbers means more federal funding. more ›

The Census Bureau just released a study that shows over 200,000 residents left the NYC area between 2000 and 2004. [You can read the PDF here.] The NYC metro area is represented by NYC, Northern NJ and Long Island; Los Angeles lost about 110,000 people and Chicago had a drop of over 60,000. People are heading south (Florida) and west (Nevada, Arizona...Idaho?), though there are increases in Maine and NH as well. Hmm, will this lead to more US Census versus the city's City Planning office fights over the numbers, as big numbers for NYC may mean more federal dollars (not that our mayor wants all the federal money...). So, as we think about a smaller Big Apple, Gothamist likes to think about Legoland's Miniland NYC. waltermonkey on Flickr has an amazing set of Legoland photographs, with a focus on the MiniNYC, where there is a Freedom Tower, Bronx block party, and Bethesda Fountain recreated in teeny tiny blocks. more ›

For some reason, this reminds us about The Simpsons episode, The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson (4F22), where Bart yells from the Statue of Liberty to a boat full of immigrants that the country is full. New York City is obviously not full, and Gothamist welcomes the newcomers with open arms. Now give us some of that money. more ›

We found this NY1 story about Fulton Fish Market purveyors donating fish to the homeless really great. The fish are all fresh (one purveyor says, "The sea provides so much product sometimes you can’t sell it all"), and they are donated to 12 food pantries in the city. A few different agencies to donate your time or money: City Harvest, New York City Rescue Mission, and NY Cares. You can also find volunteer positions via Volunteer Match.
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The U.S. Census Bureau doesn't take an average Friday night at a New York bar as evidence enough: The government agency released a report showing that the NY metro area is fifth on the list of the 20 largest metropolitan areas that young college-educated singles (ages 25-39) move to. The report, "Migration of the Young, Single and College-Educated," (PDF) shows San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose area is the top city singles with BA's move to, followed by L.A., Atlanta, and D.C. Hmm. Maybe the Census Bureau isn't counting Williamsburg as a part of the NY metro area. more ›

The tabs took single women to task this weekend: The Post talks about how there are more single women now than ever in New York (especially in 35- to 44-year-old age bracket) and the Daily News suggests that the key for the Democrats in the next presidential election might be single women. more ›