Author Archives: Jenny Marc

How does public transportation impact employment?

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After attending a public transit meeting back in September and listening to complaints regarding service irregularity and inconvenience, I left wondering – how much does that poor service impact employment? Many attendees mentioned that Jamaica’s unreliable public transportation hinders their ability to get from point A to B on time. So I created a survey, and took to Twitter and Facebook to try and find out…

…and in the end, I didn’t find out much. Despite posting my survey on Facebook, tweeting it several times – each time with a different hashtag in an attempt to reach different people – I got a total 12 responses.

My real quest was to find out just how far someone would go for the sake of a job. Given today’s dismal economy, I wanted to know if New Yorkers we’re traveling longer and further for the sake of a paycheck. Ultimately I discovered half of the respondents travel between 30-60 minutes to get to work, and that taking the subway was only slightly more popular than biking (six people rely on the MTA, whereas five count on their own two feet).

Despite the travel time and method, the one thing most respondents agreed on was the commute’s importance. It didn’t matter how far employees had to go, they would travel just about any distance if it meant work. On a scale of one to five, one being “It didn’t matter how far I had to travel – I would have taken it no matter how far the commute was” and five being the opposite, the average score was a two.

Occupy the Hood and its accidental leader

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With a simple observation and a single tweet, Malik Rhasaan inadvertently sparked a movement that took the nation by storm.

Rhasaan visited Occupy Wall Street two months ago, and noticed that the majority of participants were white. Wanting to increase diversity and bring the movement to his hometown, South Jamaica, he signed up for Twitter and made his very first hashtag: #occupythehood.

Now in its second month, Occupy the Hood boasts 30,000 followers and is active in more than 20 states.

Bow making in tough times

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Nick Caraccio examines the tip of a bow he's making. The production of a new bow from scratch takes about one week. Photo by Jenny Marc

Nick Caraccio has been making and repairing violin bows for over thirty years. Although he makes bows for string instruments, he rarely touches his cello, and prefers the saxophone instead.

He works in a one room studio on the Upper West Side that sees anywhere from zero to seven customers a day. Despite a flailing economy, Nick has been getting by, working six days a week to make ends meet.

[audio:http://cdn.journalism.cuny.edu/blogs.dir/383/files/2011/10/NICK-FINAL-11.mp3|titles=Listen to Nick Caraccio]

Jamaica soup kitchen battles recession with laughter

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[Show slideshow]

For twenty years, the First Presbyterian Church has been serving dinner at its soup kitchen in Jamaica, Queens. Every Wednesday night, locals line up for baked chicken or macaroni, and recently, their numbers have been steadily increasing.

Reverend Patrick O’Connor estimates that attendance numbers are up about 20 percent from just a few months ago. But as the number of diners grow, the soup kitchen’s funding isn’t.

“As the demand increases, all the funding sources have gone in the opposite direction,” explained Reverend O’Connor. “Demand is outstripping resources, and we have to wonder – is there a breaking point?”

While times are tough, after spending a Wednesday afternoon with the soup kitchen volunteers, you wouldn’t know it. Each week, a group of five to 10 men and women gather in the back of the church and start cooking. Their laughter echoes throughout the building as their small stereo blares gospel music down the halls.

Instead of hearing worries or complaints, jokes fly as volunteers chop tomatoes and scrub pans. Although one of their busiest events – Thanksgiving – is just around the corner, they show no signs of concern that decreasing funds will impact their ability to deliver.

“We’ve never closed on a soup kitchen yet,” Jeanne Bryant, the soup kitchen team leader, said. “Our minister wouldn’t let us. It’s just not allowed.”

The road to…nowhere: employment and public transit in Jamaica

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In Europe, if all roads lead to Rome, in Queens, they all lead to Jamaica. Home to the Long Island Railroad, more than 200,000 passengers pass through Jamaica Station daily, where they can transfer to one of three subway lines or hop on their choice of 18 buses. Up to 360 buses drive along Archer Ave during peak times, according to the NYC Department of Transportation’s Jamaica Bus Improvement Study. And there’s the JFK AirTran.

Commuters wait for the Q11 in Jamaica Queens (photo by Jenny Marc)

But if all roads lead to Jamaica, they don’t seem to lead out. Lack of public transit within both Jamaica itself and the neighboring communities is one of the most common complaints among locals. Inconvenient routes and unreliable schedules make it harder to do just about everything – especially work.

At last month’s Jamaica public transit town hall, a meeting hosted by the non-profit organization Transportation Alternatives, attendees rattled of a list of problems. Last year’s discontinuation of several bus lines is still making transit tough, and the buses that are still there can’t seem to stay on schedule.

Wade McDonald listens to fellow commuters during a breakout session at the Jamaica Public Transit Town Hall. (photo by Jenny Marc)

“Public transportation is supposed to connect the business areas to the residential areas,” explained Michael Murphy, a Transportation Alternatives spokesman. “It’s pretty obvious that employment is more difficult when people can’t get to the jobs that are available.”

Given these tough economic times, people are likely to travel further and longer for the sake of a job. But does there ever come a point when the job is just too far? When getting there is simply too complicated? Take a few seconds to fill out this survey, and help figure out how public transportation is effecting not only unemployment, but employment as well.

 

Jenny Marc’s social media diary…so far

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Part I – Blog Post promotion

When tasked with promoting my question blog post – how public libraries are helping the job hunt – I immediately took to Twitter. Being a social media novice, this “promo” was my very first tweet. Prior to the post, I had two official followers (now I have a whopping five), so my expectations were low, to say the least.

After re-skimming Jessica Hische’s website on how Twitter actually works, I tagged the Queens Library in my tweet. Although the tweet wasn’t reposted or commented on, the library sent me a direct message regarding the post and became my third follower.

My second-ever Twitter interaction

So was the promotion successful? It didn’t solicit any new comments on the blog post itself, but all in all, I was pretty surprised that I got any Twitter responses, and at the end of the day I was pleased.

For the second promotion, I decided to skip Facebook (I was trying to save it for personal use, but that’s becoming increasingly difficult), and instead commented on another news article.

Earlier this week, the New York Daily News published an article about a new children’s area at the same library that my post covered earlier. Having explored the whole library while reporting, I gave my thoughts on the Discovery Children’s Zone (which is pretty impressive, even to a 25-year-old), and then slipped in a link to my blog at the end. As soon as I finalized my comment, I realized mistake number one: I definitely should have shortened the link with bit.ly. Oops. I tried to go back and edit, but apparently those comments are set in stone. Instead of re-posting a shortened link, I decided to cut my losses and promise to do better next time.

Again, how successful was this tactic? Not very. Although 37 people “liked” the Daily News Article so far, as of now, I’m the only person to have commented. And as far as I can tell, that comment didn’t solicit any new traffic to my blog.

Part II – Survey research

I found the second half of our social media homework far more challenging. For starters, I didn’t know where to – well – start.

Although I’m still getting to know Jamaica and the rest of CD 12, my experiences so far tell me that locals aren’t really taking to social media as quickly as other New Yorkers. I’ve found very few blogs, little Facebook activity, and Twitter use which seems to be limited to official organizations that tweet sporadically. For example, although the Jamaica, NY Facebook page has more than 15,000 “likes,” it has no wall to post on, and it hasn’t been tagged in anyone else’s posts since May.

Before turning to social media for preliminary ideas, I combed through notes from recent interviews that I conducted in the area. Of the many issues I’ve been talking about over the past few weeks, everything seems to lead back to public transportation. Given the high density of public transit in Jamaica, I was surprised to hear that many locals feel that the coverage is not extensive enough. Earlier this week, a career coach mentioned to me that the lack of public transportation is a huge impediment to employment. So that’s where I decided to start.

For preliminary research, I posted on both Twitter (twice) and Facebook (throwing my desire to save it for personal use out the window). Because we are supposed to be reporting on our CD, I addressed the questions to people living in the area. I don’t really have any friends or followers, however, in Jamaica on Twitter or Facebook. That’s definitely a problem that I need to work on from here on out. So, as I predicted, I didn’t get any responses on Twitter, and just one “like” on Facebook.

Not sure what “liking” this question even means…

In an attempt to get at least one response, I posed the question again, this time using a hashtag. I also tried to broaden the question a bit, this time addressing it to anyone in Queens. It’s only been up for a few hours, but again, so far nothing has come of it yet.

To be honest, I find it challenging to use social media to do research for this particular assignment. Although I definitely understand its validity and can see how it would be useful in other circumstances, I struggle to find how it is applicable here. And while there is so much more to social media than just Twitter and Facebook, after reviewing my notes, I had a hard time figuring out how any other platforms could help me out. To solicit more insight, I could open up the question to anyone in general, but again, I’m unsure if that would be really valuable in reporting on Jamaica.

 

Job hunting in Jamaica

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If unemployment is declining in Queens, you couldn’t tell from September’s Community District 12 meeting. Within moments of taking the podium, Economic Development Committee Chairperson Edith Thomas rattled off a list of stores that recently closed – two KFCs and a butcher shop on Baisly Blvd within a matter of weeks.

These losses not only contribute to local unemployment, but they also lead to outsourcing. As Thomas explained, new businesses slowly come in to the area, but instead of hiring locals,  they bring employees from other neighborhoods with them.


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But while locals can rely less on local businesses for employment opportunities, there’s one Jamaica establishment that will always have their back: the Queens Library on Merrick Blvd. Several years ago the library opened its Job Information Center, offering services and advice on job hunting.

“Our most popular program is learning how to write resumes,” explained Tara Lannen-Staton, outreach librarian for the New York City Connected Community Project.

In July, Jamaica’s job information center had almost 950 visits, a number that Lannen-Staton said has been steadily increasing. As people come in for job hunting advice, she said that the biggest mistake she sees is the size and scope of a person’s search.

“People often just look for jobs on the big websites, like Monster.com or Careerbuilder.com. They tend to presume that all jobs are listed there,” she explained. “I encourage a more targeted and systematic way to job search. Looking at specific industries and finding out what jobs are in those industries.”

Job searching is an art in and of itself. While many pitfalls can be made in the process, what do you think is the most common mistake job hunters are making today? And, more importantly, what can they do to fix it?

Small Business Solutions in NYC’s Five Boroughs

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One of the pillars of the President’s American Jobs Act is providing relief to small businesses. By boosting them, Obama believes that the economy will follow, and according to the U.S. Small Business Administration there might be some truth to this – small firms created 65 percent of net new jobs in the last 17 years.

This graph, categorized by firm size, depicts private-sector net job creation from 1993 - 2009. Courtesy of the Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy.

Other experts argue, however, that helping small businesses isn’t a quick fix. As the Fiscal Times explains, most of them close just as quickly as they open.

Regardless of which side wins the small business debate, New Yorkers aren’t wasting time to see if Obama’s plan works, or even passes. Instead, small business owners in each of New York City’s five boroughs are creatively taking matters into their own hands:

  • Bronx: Plagued with the highest unemployment rate of NYC’s five boroughs, locals are reverting to good old-fashioned brainstorming for answers. On September 13, New York State Senator Jeffrey Klein launched ThoughtRaisers, a forum for small business owners and elected officials to discuss problems and generate solutions.
  • Brooklyn: To improve their workforce, four small businesses agreed to match funds doled out by Mayor Bloomberg. Believing that small businesses are critical to economic recovery, the Mayor is providing funds to train and educate the small business employees.
  •  Manhattan: When Starbucks threatened to close out an independent coffee house, one small business resorted to the cheapest survival tactic possible: word of mouth. When The Bean was forced from their storefront to make way for the mega-chain, outraged customers spread the word. Now, the business plans to relocate just down the street and is confident that its loyal clientele will follow.
  • Queens: Frustrated with the economic situation, the traditionally democratic ninth district in Brooklyn and Queens voted in Republic Bob Turner, a move that some see as an indicator of America’s frustration with Obama’s economic policies.
  • Staten Island: Choosing not to rely on anyone else, small businesses in this borough decided to ban together in an attempt to help one another. On the same night as Obama’s jobs speech, locals launched the 3/50 campaign, an initiative encouraging shoppers to patronize the three business that they would miss most if they were forced to close.

Each of the five locations mapped out below:

View Businesses in a larger map

NYC tourism returns to pre-9/11 numbers

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As the nation prepares to remember the tenth anniversary of September 11th, New York City will be at the center of ceremonial activities. With careful consideration, New Yorkers have been anticipating this day for months. And as an article from May’s Washington Times demonstrates, Mayor Bloomberg has been too.

Since last spring, the Mayor has been focused on telling the story of the Big Apple’s rebirth after the terrorist attacks, in an effort to rejuvenate tourism and bring people to Lower Manhattan.

Now, with the anniversary only days away, it appears that this work may have paid off.

The UK’s Daily Mail reports that tourism in New York City has finally returned to its pre-9/11 numbers. While it’s hard to say if Mayor Bloomberg is the person to be thanking for this, one thing is certain. Despite America’s economic downturn, New York City’s tourism industry has steadily been increasing for the past decade.

According to the New York Department of Labor, 42,000 employees specialized in traveler accommodations in 2010, the highest amount in twenty years. Furthermore, the city’s official marketing and tourism organization reveals that visitors have never spent as much as they did last year.

Although the most people react positively to these statistics, not everyone is excited about this tourism boom. As the Wall Street Journal explains, a number of tours and ticket sales resulted from the attacks. While it’s clear that the industry has rebounded since its derailment ten years ago, some New Yorkers believe that profits derived from visitors have been taken too far.