Digital Commons Network^™

Navigating Food Affordability In The Two Bridges Neighborhood, Aina S. Izham

Capstones

This report examines a small neighborhood in Lower Manhattan of New York City called Two Bridges and how they're facing gentrification with a focus on food affordability. Ever since an affordable supermarket closed down in 2012, long-time residents have since struggled to get affordable groceries and are forced to face expensive supermarkets that have been on the rise in the area. Incorporating my journey to understand and listen to the community to find ways to support and work with the community, this report demonstrates that the neighborhood is rapidly gentrifying like most black and brown neighborhoods in New York City. …

The Battle For Bushwick, And Beyond: Inside The Radical Grassroots Movement To Reshape Urban Planning In New York City, Chase Brush

Capstones

Mi Casa No Es Su Casa, Take Back The Bronx, Northern Manhattan Is Not For Sale -- in neighborhoods all across New York City, a movement is afoot to take back community control of the urban planning process. These groups and others, faced with increasing gentrification in their own neighborhoods, are fighting back against city-led rezonings that they say would further exacerbate the displacement of longtime residents. Among those leading the charge is Mi Casa No Es Su Casa, a team of social justice activists using the tools of radical grassroots organizing to oppose a slate rezoning of Bushwick, a …

A Little-Known Law Moves Money Into America’S Low-Income Neighborhoods — But For Whose Benefit?, Emily S. Lever

Capstones

The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (CRA) is a federal financial regulation that was passed as a response to redlining, meaning the systematic denial of investment to poor and working-class communities and communities of color. The legislation rewards banks for making loans in low-income census tracts. But while CRA commitments drive investment to community development projects, it may also reward predatory or speculative investments whose recipients happen to be located in low-income communities.

In Brownsville, A Struggle For Revitalization Without Displacement, Katherine Warren

Capstones

As many parts of Brooklyn buzz with a startling rate of economic resurgence, Brownsville seems like a neighborhood left behind.

Struggling with poverty, poor health statistics, unemployment and high crime rates, and with the highest concentration of public housing in the city, it has not seen the same commercial and real estate revival as Williamsburg, Bushwick, Crown Heights and other areas of Brooklyn.

“In Brownsville, which has had challenges battling negative perceptions of this community, most of the residents are lower income and investors in the past have deemed this community as not being as good as an investment as …

Without A Caveat: How An Ethiopian Immigrant Deconstructs Race In America, Priscilla Alabi

Capstones

The story is about how an Ethiopian immigrant, Mariya Abdulkaf is dealing with the effects of the racism she experienced while growing up in Texas. However, she is one of many women of color who continue to educate and awaken the communities to which they belong. In a social climate where, according to a study done by the Pew Research Center, 60 percent of Americans believe race relations have worsened a year into the Trump Administration; and groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and others assert that women of color are “bearing the brunt of a mass of …

Homeowners In East New York: Hanging On To Community And Property After Rezoning, Angely Mercado

Capstones

East New York was the first neighborhood to be approved for rezoning as part of Mayor Bill de Blasio's controversial affordable housing plan. There has been a lot of reporting on how it's going to affect tenants in the low income area. This capstone highlights how it is also affecting small property owners in the area and how the city needs to work on protecting them from being displaced as well.

No Place Like Home: Tenant Harassment And The Frailty Of Housing Court, Adam M. Shrier

Capstones

Residents across New York City—particularly those living in rent-stabilized or rent-controlled apartments—are subject to concerted, persistent harassment at the hands of landlords determined to replace them with higher-rent paying tenants or tenants who will remain compliant in response to the landlords’ negligence or illegal actions. Although tenant harassment is illegal in New York City, the laws and penalties of New York City Housing Court have proven to be an ineffective system for tenants and insufficient deterrent against landlords who stand to make significant financial gains from deregulating apartments and who often get slapped with little to no fines for their …

Sound Affects, Catherine Roberts, Cole Rosengren, Jessica Bal, Samuel Lieberman, Dave Gershgorn, Gabriela Sierra Alonso

Capstones

IN A CITY OVERFLOWING WITH SOUND, NOISE AND RUCKUS, WHAT CAN WE LEARN?

In this multimedia, multi-story project, we explore sound in New York City. We learn what New York City can tell us about sound, and what sound can tell us about New York City.

Hipsterevolution, Alessandra Malito

Capstones

The hipster is part of an ever-present subculture rapidly taking over metropolitan areas, regardless bias or perception. It is an old word with a deep history, and those who follow it – consciously or subconsciously – are bringing the subculture to the forefront of urban life, and impacting every aspect from social to economic through the increase of housing prices, the introduction of big-name brands in otherwise small neighborhoods and the pushing out of residents who had been there long before the new kids on the block, but won’t be there after. So who are they -- and where are …