Protecting and improving the community for the people who live and work here

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.”