The Surprising Science of Fighting Crime With…Trees

A growing body of research suggests greenery may make cities safer.

From Mother Jones:

In 2001 environmental researchers…published a landmark study on crime rates in a Chicago project comparing aerial photos and police crime reports, the researchers

• buildings still surrounded by lots of foliage saw 48% fewer property crimes, on average,
• 56% fewer violent crimes than buildings with low levels of vegetation…

in the nearly two decades since, a small but growing body of research has supported the idea that trees may have a calming effect on crime.

The US Forest Service:

• urban trees help save energy,
• lead to better air and water quality,
• reduce stormwater runoff,
• store carbon,
• increase property values.

In California urban trees—173 million—provide an estimated $8.3 billion in environmental services every year, according to a 2017 study 

In Denmark: “major 2019 study of nearly 1 million Danish people showed that kids who grew up near green spaces had a lower risk of psychiatric disorders later in life.”

“..some cities are beginning to explore urban greening as a way to increase residents’ safety, especially in low-income, blighted areas. “

In Philadelphia, researchers 2018 randomized trial included more than 500 vacant lots.

• 1/3 were “cleaned and greened” with trees and grass.

• 1/3 were only cleaned, with no greenery added,

• 1/3 were left alone.

The lots that received either treatment there were significant reductions in overall crime and burglaries over a 38-month period,

“a 29% drop in gun violence in neighborhoods below the poverty line. ..it could translate to more than 350 fewer shootings each year. The city only spent about $5 per square meter to green each lot and got a 29% reduction in gun violence…return on investment.”

From the Daily News: “Thousands of NYC kids live in ‘playground deserts’: report”

“Thousands of New York City kids live so-called “playground deserts” lacking swings, slides and monkey bars within walking distance, according to a new report from Controller Scott Stringer.

The city has about 2,067 public playgrounds …[but] falls behind 47 of America’s largest cities, including Detroit, Chicago and Boston, in the number of playgrounds per capita.

And…the equipment can be shoddy and dangerous, according to the report, set to be released on Saturday.

More than half of the 1,028 playgrounds run by the Parks Department had at least one “hazardous” feature requiring “immediate attention” in their most recent inspection last year.”

From the NYC Municipal Archives:

The Lung Block: A New York City Slum & Its Forgotten Italian Immigrant Community
April 26 – August, 2019
31 Chambers Street, First Floor Gallery, NYC 10007

In 1933, a lively Italian immigrant enclave on the Lower East Side was wiped from the map. Although indistinguishable from the rest of the Lower East Side in many ways, this particular block existed under the shadow of a sinister narrative: death was embedded in the very walls of each building. According to the wealthy white Progressive reformers, this Lung Block – a generic term for a place where tuberculosis proliferated – represented a threat not just to its poor immigrant residents, but to the city at large.

Explore the history of immigrant housing and reform efforts in NYC at the start of the 20th century through one community.

Exhibit Opening and Reception: The Lung Block
Thursday, April 25th – 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.
31 Chambers Street (Suite 111), New York, NY 10007

RSVP HERE

Join the NYC Department of Records and exhibit curators Stefano Morello & Kerri Culhane for the opening of the Lung Block exhibit – which tells the story of a lively Italian immigrant enclave on the Lower East Side wiped from the map in 1933.

Tour: Revisiting the Lower East Side’s Most Notorious Block
Sunday, May 5th  –  11 a.m.
St. Joseph’s Church, 53 Catherine Street, New York, NY 10038

RSVP HERE

Join us for a walking tour led by Kerri Culhane and Stefano Morello to revisit a long-lost Lower East Side with the curators of the current exhibition “The Lung Block: A New York City Slum and Its Forgotten Italian Immigrant Community,” on view at the Department of Records. We will visit cultural, religious, and residential landmarks within the Two Bridges neighborhood, as we explore public and private housing responses to poverty and disease, and discuss immigration and gentrification in early 20th century New York.

Note: To  request language interpretation services, please contact the Language Access Coordinator at least three (3) business days before an event.

Note: If you require an auxiliary aid or service in order to attend a DORIS event, please contact our Disability Service Facilitator.

City & State: “The city and state are planning for sea level rise, but it may be even worse than they’ve anticipated.”

By JOHN LIGHT APRIL 19, 2019

“The Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency Project is ambitious, expensive and, as the magazine pointed out in a subsequent article, “pretty vague.” It prompted a slew of questions and prominent among them was how the estimated $10 billion price tag would be covered. Others wondered about the fairness of fortifying lower Manhattan while leaving other, less wealthy neighborhoods to fend for themselves. “If we’re going to implore Washington for billions of dollars, we should come up with a comprehensive plan that protects the entire city,” New York City Councilman Costa Constantinides and Nilda Mesa, the former director of the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, wrote in an op-ed.”

University of Cambridge Enterprise: Researchers from the UK and Spain have identified an eco-friendly solid that could replace the inefficient and polluting fluids used in most refrigerators and air conditioners.

When put under pressure, plastic crystals of neopentylglycol (NPG) yield huge cooling effects—sufficient to make them competitive with conventional liquid coolants. In addition, the material is inexpensive, widely available and functions at close to room temperature. Details are published in the journal Nature Communications.

From the EcoHub Website: ” A one-bin collection, separation, manufacturing system that enables city governments, corporations and citizens to repurpose 100% of their local waste.”

EcoHub represents the end of garbage, and the beginning of a day when refuse is turned into resources and opportunity. These resources will create new jobs, improve communities, and provide economic development for millions around the globe.

Garbage Is A Resource

“At EcoHub, we view 100% of the waste stream as a valuable resource – and we treat it as such. To us this means that every single piece of food, metal, paper, plastic, green waste, etc. has real economic value. Even items like diapers, rocks, sneakers, and other kinds of waste can be remade into new, sustainable products.

This philosophy is core to everything we do at EcoHub. If our garbage is so valuable, why would we bury it beneath instead of harvesting its potential? Better yet – if there is a way to repurpose 100% of our waste, why separate all our garbage into “recyclables” and “non-recyclables” at all? “

From: The People’s Budget Coalition

Hello Allies and Partners in Public Health

Recently the New York State budget disinvested itself to protect funding that has been aiding New York City to provide vital public health services from 36% to 20% (affecting only New York City and no other county across the state).  Otherwise known as the Article 6 cuts, this essentially reduces the State matching dollars, beginning in July 2019, to a number of public health programs.  $59 million is just an estimate of this year’s cut and that reduction of funds will be passed down to organizations in significantly reduced contracts or cut programs unless we act now.

The Article 6 cuts impact both City Council and Administrative funding for many programs including HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B and C, Tuberculosis, Access Health NYC, children’s health, maternal and child health, Health +Hospitals Child Health Clinics, School -Based Health Centers, City Sexual Health Clinics, correctional services operated by H+H, and other vital health programs that our communities rely on. 

Attached is a City DOHMH document that provides some general context and information on overall population health impact.  Additionally, here’s a Crain’s article that may be helpful. 

As part of initial advocacy efforts around these cuts, an organizational sign on letter has been drafted by Housing Works, FPWA, Citizen’s Committee for Children, Brooklyn Perinatal Network, and CPHS to be sent to the Mayor this Friday, April 26^th.

The sign on letter is available here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeSZOel6m29vTKISy4Ws5pu92JOarSWxzd-bbTk1v5arsAzpw/viewform

We encourage every organization who is interested to please sign on by the end of the day Thursday, April 25^th. You can also sign up for updates on more advocacy efforts coming up. Please share widely as well!

Thanks so much – please let me know if you have any questions or concerns and I’d be happy to assist..

Take care,

— 

Anthony Feliciano

Commission on the Public’s Health System

Director

C/o WeWork