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06.29.11
By the Numbers
Walking Off the Big Apple |
Change in number of adult smokers in NYC between 2002 and 2007
-300,000
[Department of Health] (PDF)
Borough with the largest net population increase by percentage, 2000-2010:
Staten Island, 5.6%
[Center for Urban Research]
NYC Motor Vehicle Accidents in 2009
Male Drivers: 83,828
Female Drivers: 33,938
Unknown Gender: 13,508
[NY State Dept. of Motor Vehicles] (PDF)
Projected Employment Change in NYC 2006-2016
+40.8% Home Health Aides
+19.4% Personal Financial Advisors
-12.2% Telemarketers
[NY State Dept. of Labor] (PDF)
Children in Poverty
49% in NY Congressional District 16, Bronx
[National KIDS COUNT Program]
5 Leading Causes of Death in NYC 2009
Heart Disease 19,715
Cancer 12,279
Pneumonia 2,180
Diabetes 1,654
Chronic Lower Respiratory Disease 1,532
[Dept. of Health]
What New York State currently pays annually in debt service:
$5.5 billion
[Citizens Budget Commission]
Median time for Office of Chief Medical Examiner to complete DNA homicide cases, from evidence submission to report
112 days
[Mayor's Office of Operations]
Number of new retail NYC bakeries opened between 2000-2010
78
[NYC Economic Development Corp.] (PDF)
Year of dirtiest streets in NYC between 1975 and 2010:
1980
[Dept. of Sanitation] (PDF)
Federal stimulus funds allocated to NYC to date:
$7,625,991,224
[NYCStat Stimulus Tracker]
NYC Pension Funds shares of Wal-Mart: 5,696,055
Value as of 6/2/11: $305,023,745.25
[NYC Comptroller]
Call volume to 311, May 2011:
1,306,962
[NYC Stat]
  
Some of today's images
courtesy of Shutterstock
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Cultural and literary notes, plus self-guided walks, courtesy of Walking Off the Big Apple, a strolling guide to New York City.
 Flow On, East River: Brooklyn to Manhattan, Once Again Upon a Ferry
For two hundred years, crossing the East River by ferry was a commonplace activity although often unpredictable. Residents of Brooklyn routinely commuted to Manhattan by this variable way of water, subject to storms and tides, no doubt a stomach-churning experience during a fierce storm or frightening during the icy waters of winter. During the 18th century, in addition to weather hazards, commuters often complained about inebriated boatmen or ferries overloaded with cattle. With its inaugural service in 1814, the steam-powered Fulton Ferry made the voyage not only safer and faster but much more pleasurable. Poets like Walt Whitman could then focus on the metaphors of "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" as opposed to simply hoping to reach the other shore.
The decline of ferry service began with the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883, putting many East River ferry routes out of business. According to Manhattan's Lost Streetcars by Stephen L. Meyers (Arcadia Publishing, 2005), at the time of the bridge's opening, "there were at least 12 ferry routes in operation between Manhattan and Brooklyn, using 10 different ferry terminals in Brooklyn and 11 in Manhattan." Now, a hundred and twenty years later, give or take a few years, we're back on ferries on the East River. Like the first Fulton Ferry, they are wildly popular. As noted in The Wall Street Journal, the city counted more than 109,000 people riding the new East River Ferry from its inaugural voyage on June 13 through this past Sunday. [Continued]
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