Highline New York

The New York Highline is a cool concept... a pavement/sidewalk like balcony combined rooftop garden style hangout above the roads...

Pictures:

One of the many views as I walked down...

Homeless in New York

New York City is an amazing city to live in... However, one of the things that did strike me as not only tragic but shocking were the amount of homeless/displaced persons living and begging on the streets (and subways) of NY....

...these unfortunate individuals are far more visible when your not a tourist in this bustling city... 

From my observations so far, the great majority of street dwellers/ displaced persons (how ever you may wish to address them), appear to be generally:

1. Male

2. Aged between their 20s to late 50s.

Stand in Grand Central for a few minutes and you may be approached by a person begging for money.... Its not that London doesn't have such individuals, but those individuals are more often than not drunk or drug addicts wanting their next fix. These individuals more often than not are just hungry.

I live in Manhattan, in the upper East bordering Harlem. The amount of displaced persons found sleeping underneath the Metro North Railway on 125th is shocking. The predominating smell of urine is the next thing to hit you...

Some interesting stats:

Street Homelessness in Manhattan

• An estimated 1,482 individuals are living on the streets or in other public spaces in Manhattan according to the annual Homeless Outreach Population Estimate (HOPE 2004).

• HOPE identified locations with higher concentrations of street homeless individuals. These include

transportation hubs such as Penn Station and Grand Central Station, and neighborhoods such as

North Riverside Park, Morningside Heights, the Lower East Side, and Union Square/Greenwich Village.

• The majority of street homeless individuals surveyed in Manhattan through HOPE were male,

ranging in age from 21 to 55.

• Manhattan outreach teams have an average of 4,388 contacts (engagement conversations)

with street homeless people every month.

http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/endinghomelessness/downloads/pdf/manhattan.pdf

Its a shame that such a powerful Global Financial hub has so many destitute people sleeping on the streets....

NYC vs London

To me, (my personally observation), living within the Big Apple is very similar to living in London... 


The Similarities:


1. Time Sq is a bigger version of Piccadilly Circus/Leicester sq
2. NY's financial district is a bigger version of Canary Wharf / Sq Mile
3. Lond & NY have a SoHo with a similar alternative party scene (perhaps NY's Soho isn't as seedy though)
4. Greenwich Village reminds me of Camden and Brick Lane combined  

5. Brooklyn reminds me of Islington / Angel
6. 5th Avenue shopping - Bond St equivalent
7. Central Park is a bigger version of Hide Park
8. Grand Central Station = Kings Cross St Pancras (Only Grand C is beautiful and famous despite the Harry Potter films).


...and there are many more to list... however, there are also loads of differences, specifically:


1. No Palaces, Castles, Abby in NY (basically less historical buildings)
2. a much better Classical music scene in London (most classical concerts are expensive here, however, in London St Martins in the Fields has tickets for GBP6.00!!!)
3. London Underground Transport system is significantly more cleaner, safer and efficient. 
4. In NY there are very few CCTV cameras in comparison to London
5. Less homeless/ displaced persons on the streets in London. And not as many people begging.


...and many more!