All posts by Hannah Rafkin '17

Final Research Paper, Housing, Uncategorized

Hannah Rafkin
The Digital Image of the City
Professor Jen Jack Gieseking
12/17/14

BoostPortland: Grappling with Homelessness in the Smart City

Research Area

In the United States, national homelessness declined by over 9% from 2007 to 2013. In the state of Maine, homelessness increased by 17% from 2009 to 2013. In the same timespan, homelessness has increased by 70% in the city of Portland, growing at four times the rate of the state. [1] The city is well known for its extensive support infrastructure, particularly Preble Street Resource Center. Preble Street has been extensively hailed for its “housing first” model, in which people are given housing regardless of substance abuse or mental health problems. Despite the excellence of Portland’s resources for the homeless, these centers are overwhelmed. Shelters often have spillover, leaving many people curling up on chairs or on the floor, oftentimes in other facilities. One cold night in 2013, only 272 shelter sleeping spots were available for double the number of people who sought them out. [1]

The Task Force to Develop a Strategic Plan to Prevent & End Homelessness in Portland reported on the demographics of Portland homelessness as of 2012. The average age of a shelter-goer was 40. Nearly 60% faced mental illness, and nearly 38% grappled with drug addiction – 70% reported a combination of the two. At Florence House, Preble Street’s housing unit for chronically homeless women, 66% were victims of abuse, 54% victims of domestic abuse specifically. Seventy one percent of homeless people had been homeless for a month or less. [2] According to a Bangor Daily News article, a third of homeless people in Portland’s shelters are from the city, another third are from other Maine towns, and another third are from out of state. [3]

Policy Controversies

The City Council of Portland discussed extensive plans to address these issues in the same 2012 report. Their goals included “Retooling the Emergency Shelter System, Rapid Rehousing, Increased Case Management, and Report Monitoring.” Specifically this meant creating a centralized and streamlined intake and assessment process, developing additional housing units, increasing rental opportunities, working with landlords to make housing more accessible, adopting and enhancing an ACT (Assertive Community Treatment) case management system, and increasing work and educational opportunities for homeless youth, families, and veterans. [2]

The Portland Chamber of Commerce responded negatively to the task force and the presence of the homeless population more generally, wondering if the city of Portland was “too attractive to the homeless.” [3] The president of the Downtown District said the homeless were “intimidating,” and “hurt [Portland’s] ability to be a tourist destination and also our business.” [4] The Chamber expressed concern that the city was becoming “a disgusting filthy mess.” [3] Mark Swann, director of Preble Street Resource Center, was “deeply saddened and disappointed by…the misguided and mean-spirited comments…Dehumanizing our neighbors struggling with poverty, homelessness and hunger is deplorable.” He advised the Chamber to talk with Preble Street’s councilors to get a better sense of the “attractiveness” of homeless life in Portland. [4]

These contrasting attitudes represent a growing tension in Portland between wealthy gentrification and impoverished homelessness. As homelessness has skyrocketed in recent years, the city has become increasingly trendy – ‘hipster’ cafes, pricey shops, and condos-with-a-view have sprung up incessantly. Swann’s suggestion for conversation between the Chamber and the Resource Center is wise – these seemingly opposing forces could benefit from dialogue instead of distant and impassioned resentment.

I observed this conflict of interests in action during my transect walk through Portland, noticing the strained simultaneity of homelessness and gentrification. I was particularly struck by a juxtaposition I observed at the busy intersection of Franklin Street and Marginal Way. A homeless man stood leaning against a road sign, holding up a flimsy piece of cardboard. Yards away was a store called Planet Dog, catering exclusively to the bedding, food, toys, and accessories of Portland’s canines. An astronomically expensive antique shop and a home entertainment center sat down the road from Preble Street Resource Center.

Later on, another juxtaposition presented itself. I was walking through Congress Square Park taking photographs and surveying the scene. Some people sat on the steps, one man grilled burgers, another played guitar. My taking pictures clearly upset a woman sitting on a bench, who got up and followed me for several blocks, slurring and staggering, yelling “Fuck the white house, bitch” and other obscenities. Nonsensical as the specific expression of her outrage may have been, this encounter was representative of a larger urban tension. I am a white girl from New Jersey, doing coursework for a course at an elite college, wielding an imposing SLR camera in the attempt of ‘capturing the city,’ only visiting for a brief and comfortable afternoon of exploration. In that instance, I was encroaching on her space – she does not have the option to ‘explore’ the city lightheartedly.

congress sq
Layers of Congress Square Park

Boost Portland – Smart City Solution

A man I interviewed outside of Preble Street said that complications of daily life and a lack of affordable housing make it “impossible for people to get on their feet” in Portland. I propose a combined application, website, and texting service called BoostPortland, aimed to get Portland’s at-risk population on their feet – and to keep them on their feet – by meeting everyday, individualized needs beyond sleep and food. BoostPortland will draw on the city’s own residents, businesses, and organizations to to support the city’s neediest citizens, creating a pervasive network dedicated to bettering their community. BoostPortland will provide a platform for the struggling citizens of Portland to receive help in confronting the myriad challenges of daily life.

Users would create posts, either offering or seeking out assistance. An individual could post offering help with resumes at the public library, advertising an odd job like shoveling a driveway, or giving away clothing items. Somebody could post requesting a ride to a job interview, asking for a winter jacket, or seeking help with English. Businesses could post offering free food, wireless Internet, a space to organize, or perhaps just some time to warm up.

This format allows for direct and impactful volunteerism on the terms of both the giver and the receiver. Specific, attainable needs will be met at a convenient time and a convenient place for both parties, while creating connections between Portlanders of varied backgrounds. Additionally, involving a diverse group of businesses – from Salvation Army to Portland Architechtural Salvage – might help to ground them in the often-grim realities in the city. This might give them a better understanding of the challenges facing the homeless population, and allow for increased awareness of the role of commerce in making Portland an increasingly expensive place to live. Ideally, businesses will then reconsider the sentiments expressed by the Chamber of Commerce in response to the task force.

Approach to the Common Good for the City

Urban centers are hotbeds of diversity. Socioeconomic, racial, cultural, sexual, and lifestyle differences guarantee exposure to fresh perspectives. In a city with a focus on the common good, all perspectives are given a voice, and there exists a platform for productive and engaging “encounter and exchange.” [5] In a city with a focus on the common good, all citizens have access to basic human rights – water, food, and shelter are attainable for everyone. In a city with a focus on the common good, there is a network of organized care and action around issues of social justice impacting the city.

The homelessness task force is on the right track to meeting this definition (though its website’s most recent agenda item is dated October 11, 2012) but the Chamber of Commerce’s focus on business and tourism poses roadblocks in attaining the common good in Portland.

Approach to the Smart City

The ambitious and futuristic proposals to re-envision the technological functioning of the modern day city in “Leveraging Social Media and IoT to Bootstrap Smart Environments” are exciting. [6] But the idea of “everything [becoming] a sensor” is perhaps overzealous, and has major potential to verge into Big Brother territory. [6] The focus on using technology to better conserve energy is very appealing, however.

A truly smart city integrates technologies that are “situated in a specific locale and human context,” as described by Adam Greenfield. [7] South Korea’s city of Songdo exemplifies the pervasiveness of technology described in Crowley, Curry, and Breslin’s article, but lacks contextual concern for the interests, behaviors, and problems facing its citizens. Songdo was built before those interests, behaviors, and problems could even manifest, before city planners could consider how their innovations would function within the specific flow and feel of the city. In the smart city, citizens define the technology; the technology does not define the citizens.

As technologies tend to be expensive, they come with concerns of accessibility. The smart city does not limit its innovations to “those who can afford it and conform to middle-class rules of appearance and conduct.” [8] This notion is particularly pertinent to my research area.

Literature Review

“To Go Again to Hyde Park” by Don Mitchell emphasizes each citizen’s “right to the city,” though those rights are not always made equal in practice. [5] As “some members of society are not covered by any property right,” they must “find a way to inhabit the city…as with squatting, and with the collective movements of the landless, to undermine the power of property and its state sanction, or otherwise appropriate and inhabit the city.” [5] Mitchell advocates for the marginalized populations’ participation – forcefully, if need be – in the dialogue of urban life. In “Urban Landscape History: The Sense of Place and Politics of Space,” Dolores Hayden also stresses the importance of undervalued voices in urban conversation. She discusses the development of the urban landscape, describing the role of every inhabitant of a city, the marginalized included, in shaping its look, feel, and experience: “Indigenous residents as well as colonizers, ditchdiggers as well as architects, migrant workers as well as mayors, housewives as well as housing inspectors, are all active shaping the urban landscape.” [9]

Technology continues to reform the way citizens interact with each other and share ideas, even within disenfranchised populations. The homeless community’s usage of cell phones has skyrocketed in recent years. In 2009, advocates from Washington D.C. estimated that 30%-45% of the homeless population they worked with owned cell phones. [10] In a 2010 study of homeless cell phone use in Philadelphia, 44% of a 100-person sample size owned cell phones. [11] A 2013 study found that 70.7% of Connecticut homeless emergency room patients owned cell phones. [12] No such study exists for Portland, but similar patterns likely apply. As the homeless population becomes increasingly technologically active, a solution like BoostPortland gains potential to foster discussion and exchange between the haves and have-nots of the city, drawing on the broader community to improve the lives of Portland’s neediest citizens.

Integrating technology into such projects must be done thoughtfully, however. At a 2012 technology conference in Austin, Texas, a marketing agency proposed that homeless people be utilized as mobile wireless Internet transmitters. For $20 a day, homeless people walked around wearing shirts that said “I’m _____, A 4G Hotspot.” Instead of creating inclusive dialogue, this “charitable experiment” denied the personhood of the participants, defining individuals only by their potential for beneficial functionality. One blogger aptly described the project as “something out of a darkly satirical science-fiction dystopia.” [13]

The Hack to End Homelessness meet up in Seattle provides a better model for conscientious use of technology – developers, designers, and “do-gooders” got together to brainstorm solutions for homelessness. The event produced exciting data, maps, applications, and other programs with a focus on dialogue between groups with different staked interests – the event organizer foregrounded the importance of “[reducing] tension between the housing community and tech workers.” [14]

Methods

Representing the homeless through maps was a difficult undertaking – without an address, homeless citizens do not get represented in government census data. Data about issues surrounding homelessness exists (housing, income, neighborhoods). Social Explorer median income census data and the ‘PlanNeighborhoods’ Portland Shapefile were particularly helpful in establishing a backdrop for new data about homelessness directly.

I created new data sets on Portland’s homeless encampments, resource centers, and affordable housing. I began by geocoding the addresses of all of the homeless encampments mentioned in the Portland Press Herald in the past three years to get a sense of where the homeless are congregating. Then, I placed these data points on top of median income data to juxtapose the temporary homes of the homeless with the financial context of their temporary surroundings. This layer provides a means of accounting for transient homes of those that the census does not count – an attempt to bring the homeless onto the city map. I also geocoded all of Portland’s resource centers, shelters, and soup kitchens, and placed them on the same map as the encampments to see where help is concentrated in the city and where it is lacking. As the dearth of affordable housing has made living a stable life in Portland increasingly difficult, I was curious about the prevalence and whereabouts of existing affordable housing in the city, so I mapped housing units deemed affordable by the Maine State Housing Authority. [15]

Findings

HomelessEncampments

As the above map demonstrates, the homeless are inclined to camp near the water and in wooded areas. They camp mostly in low- to middle-income regions, though not exclusively. The city’s resource centers are mostly concentrated in a small pocket in Bayside, a low-income region of Portland. The encampments and resource centers do not show significant overlap in location.

PortlandAffordableHousing
The above map shows that housing deemed affordable by the Maine State Housing Authority is centralized in the Downtown, Bayside, and East End regions of Portland. It is interesting and concerning to consider the consequences of sectioning off low-income populations, reminiscent of tenement-style urban layouts that Hayden discusses in “Urban Landscape History: The Sense of Place and Politics of Space.” [9]

Reflections: Technological Concerns

BoostPortland will have three technological components to support the expected range of socioeconomic backgrounds: a smartphone application, a website, and an SMS texting service. The smartphone application will likely appeal to a more economically stable faction of users, as they are more likely to own them. It will have a simple and clean interface. There will be four tabs: Get Help, a list of the day’s offers, Give Help, a list of the days requests, Map, a map version of both lists, and Post, an interface for users to offer or request assistance. Users can click on an offer or a request for more details, linking to contact information of the poster. The website will be structured identically. The SMS service will allow those with basic cell phones to request or give assistance on the move. Users can text in requests or offers, to be added to the daily lists. Users can also subscribe to a daily text containing one or both lists, and can text in a reply to be put in contact with the giver or receiver of help.

This technology-driven idea of a combined application, website, and texting service – aimed to assist Portland’s most disenfranchised population – comes with obvious challenges. Without such basic amenities as consistent shelter or food, the homeless and impoverished are much less likely than the average Portlander to have access to such technologies. However, homeless people nation-wide are becoming increasingly technologically connected, as shown by the aforementioned studies on homeless cell phone use in Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and Connecticut. With these changes, homeless people will have increasing accessibility to solutions in the form of apps and websites, and especially basic SMS texting. This is particularly true of homeless youth and the recently homeless, as noted by Mark Swann, director of Preble Street. Additionally, Preble Street and the Portland Public Library have free computers where users could access the website component of BoostPortland.

Policy Recommendation

Portland’s homelessness task force has laid out some very important goals. I suggest that the City Council involves the Chamber of Commerce in achieving them to augment the city’s response to homelessness. Getting businesses involved in the issue will give them a broader understanding of what is happening to the marginalized populations in the city. This approach will also give the Council more power and leverage in addressing their goals, while creating productive dialogue between seemingly antagonistic forces, as Hack to End Homelessness sought to do. In light of the Chamber of Commerce’s commentary on the task force and, most likely, reticence to help, the City Council might create an incentive program to draw the Chamber to the Portland’s social justice issues.

Conclusion

BoostPortland foregrounds the voices of those in need by creating a communal network of Portlanders determined to face the growing problem of homelessness. By including local businesses and addressing gentrification head on, it has the potential to bridge the gap between monetary interests and humanitarian interests. I believe that this solution can make Portland a smarter, more connected, and more engaged city.

 

 

Works Cited

[1] Billings, Randy. “Homelessness Hits Record High in Portland.” Portland Press Herald. October 27, 2013. http://www.pressherald.com/2013/10/27/homelessness_hits_record_high_in_portland_/.

[2] “Report of the Task Force to Develop a Strategic Plan to Prevent & End Homelessness in Portland.” Portland City Council. November 16, 2012. https://me-portland.civicplus.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/132?fileID=695.

[3] Koenig, Seth. “Is Portland ‘too attractive’ to homeless people?” Bangor Daily News. December 21, 2012. http://bangordailynews.com/2012/12/21/news/portland/are-cities-like-portland-too-attractive-to-homeless-people/.

[4] Murphy, Edward. “Preble Street Head Decries Chamber Remarks on Homelessness.” Portland Press Herald. November 16, 2012. http://www.pressherald.com/2012/11/16/preble-street-head-decries-chamber-remarks-on-homelessness/.

[5] Mitchell, Don. [2003]. “To Go Again to Hyde Park: Public Space, Rights and Social Justice.” In The People, Place and Space Reader, edited by Jen Jack Gieseking, et al. New York: Routledge, 2014)

[6] Crowley, David N., Edward Curry, and John G. Breslin. 2014. “Leveraging Social Media and IoT to Bootstrap Smart Environments.” In Big Data and Internet of Things: A Roadmap for Smart Environments, edited by Nik Bessis and Ciprian Dobre, 379–99. Springer.

[7] Greenfield, Adam. 2013. Against the Smart City. 1.3 edition.

[8] Low, Setha M. 2002. “Spaces of Reflection, Recovery, and Resistance: Reimagining the Postindustrial Plaza.” In After the World Trade Center: Rethinking New York City, edited by Micheal Sorkin and Sharon Zukin, 163-72. New York: Routledge, 2014

[9] Hayden, Dolores. 1997. “Urban Landscape History: The Sense of Place and Politics of Space.” In The Power of Place: Urban Landscapes as Public History, 14-43. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

[10] Dvorak, Petula. “D.C. Homeless People Use Cellphones, Blogs, and E-Mail to Stay on Top of Things.” The Washington Post. March 23, 2009. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/22/AR2009032201835.html.

[11] Eyrich-Garg, Karin. “Mobile Phone Technology: A New Paradigm for the Prevention, Treatment, and Research of the Non-sheltered “Street” Homeless?” US National Library of Medicine. April 16, 2010. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2871091/.

[12] Eysenbach, Gunther. “New Media Use by Patients Who Are Homeless: The Potential of MHealth to Build Connectivity.” US National Library of Medicine. September 30, 2013. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3786002/.

[13] Wortham, Jenna. “Use of Homeless as Internet Hot Spots Backfires on Marketer.” The New York Times. March 12, 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/technology/homeless-as-wi-fi-transmitters-creates-a-stir-in-austin.html?_r=0.

[14] Soper, Taylor. “Hack to End Homelessness: Maps, Social Networks and Other Ideas to Help Seattle’s Homeless – GeekWire.” GeekWire. May 5, 2014. http://www.geekwire.com/2014/hack-end-homelessness-recap-maps-social-networks-startup-ideas/.

[15] “Cumberland County Affordable Housing Options.” Maine State Housing Authority. December, 2014. http://www.mainehousing.org/docs/default-source/housing-facts—subsidized/cumberlandsubsidizedhousing.pdf?sfvrsn=5.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Housing, Uncategorized

Resource Map Application

According to the 2013 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, national homelessness has declined by over 9% since 2007. [1] This is not the case in Portland, Maine, where the homeless population grew by 70.3% from 2009 to 2013. [2] A man I interviewed outside Preble Street Resource Center commented that other cities are sending their homeless to Portland for its strong outreach programs. Despite the renown of these programs – the Preble Street ‘housing first’ model, in particular – these facilities are overwhelmed. In particularly busy months, only 272 sleeping spots were available for nearly double the people [2].

A Resource Map application would draw on Portland’s own residents, organizations, and businesses to augment the work of the resource centers in helping this population to its feet. The map would include all of the city’s shelters, pantries, resource centers, and libraries, but its primary focus would be interaction between Portlanders in need and those who are able and willing to help. Users would create their own posts on the map, both offering and seeking out assistance. An individual could create a listing at the public library offering help with crafting a resume, English tutoring, or teaching basic computer skills. An individual could post an odd job like shoveling a driveway. People could post on the map listing items they are giving away. Businesses could place themselves on the map, perhaps offering up free wifi, free food, or other resources.

Accessibility is a key concern with any tech-related urban project – as noted by Setha Low, this app cannot function if it “limits participation to those who can afford it.” [3] A large percentage of the targeted population will not have dependable access to smartphones or the Internet, so it is essential to ensure their ability to use the app. Portland’s homeless do have computer access at Preble Street and the Portland Public Library, and are likely to have basic cell phones. Thus, the app would include an SMS texting function. A user would text in a request – asking for a ride to a job interview, for example – and other users could respond to that person with a time and a place to meet up. Users of the app could also subscribe to a daily text containing an updated list of available services, as well as a list of that day’s requests for assistance.

This project relies heavily on the generosity of the people of Portland, thus creating a sense of communal care and organization around the problem of homelessness. This rising issue in the city has coincided with an influx of tourism and gentrification. Involving a varied group of Portland businesses and citizens in this issue – ranging from stores like Salvation Army to stores like Portland Architectural Salvage – might help to ground them in the often grim realities of the city. Additionally, the app would give the city’s skyrocketing new establishments – condos-with-a-view, trendy coffee shops, and pricey antique stores – the opportunity to make a positive change for the at-risk population of the city. In any urban center, as Don Mitchell wisely points out, “different people with different projects must necessarily struggle with one another.” [4] Ideally, the Resource Map application would allow for more engaging, productive, and enlightening “encounter and exchange” between the haves and have-nots of Portland. [4]

 

 

[1] “The 2013 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress.” HUD Exchange. 2013.

[2] Billings, Randy. “Homelessness Hits Record High in Portland.” Portland Press Herald. http://www.pressherald.com/2013/10/27/homelessness_hits_record_high_in_portland_/

[3] Low, Setha M. 2002. “Spaces of Reflection, Recovery, and Resistance: Reimagining the Postindustrial Plaza.” In After the World Trade Center: Rethinking New York City, edited by Micheal Sorkin and Sharon Zukin, 163-72. New York: Routledge, 2014

[4] Mitchell, Don. 2014 [2003]. “To Go Again to Hyde Park: Public Space, Rights and Social Justice.” In The People, Place and Space Reader, edited by Jen Jack Gieseking, et al. New York: Routledge, 2014)

 

 

 

Housing, Post #7: Individual Analysis of Transect Walk, Uncategorized

Portland’s Lifestyle Juxtapositions

4 Comments

In my walk through Portland, I was most struck by stark juxtapositions within the city in regards to standards of living. I noticed the construction of condos and apartments near blocks and blocks of identical low-income housing. I noticed the existence of a Planet Dog – a store exclusively for the accessories, beds, toys, and food receptacles of Portland’s canines – next to homeless people begging with signs on the street. I noticed the irony of an upscale antique store and a home entertainment store just down the road from the Preble Street Resource Center and Salvation Army.

These observations highlighted what I believe to be Portland’s (and many other cities’) central tension between the rise of the city as a popular, ‘hip’ tourist destination and the prevailing difficulty of life for the city’s lower class, ‘at-risk’ population. This tension manifested itself toward the end of my transect walk in Congress Square Park. With an interest sparked by our guided tour and conversation with Caitlin Cameron, I took a brief walk around the park and took a couple pictures. I walked up the steps to leave and was followed by a woman for several blocks, slurring and screaming obscenities at me such as “Fuck the White House, bitch.” Upon reflection, this exchange was representative of this central tension – an ostensibly well-to-do white girl wielding a large SLR camera, entering a space of day-to-day struggle for local citizens, which for me is just a space of temporary and lighthearted exploration. Going forward, I will continue to reflect upon and consider these juxtapositions and tensions.

Transect Walk

      Congress Street

-Development of 118 on Munjoy Hill, “new boutique condo” deemed controversial by the Bangor Daily News. The developers are recording the construction process and advertising time-lapse videos on the web:  http://118onmunjoyhill.com/time-lapse/
(43.66594, -70.247428)

Screen Shot 2014-10-28 at 9.53.58 PM

Kellogg Street

-Homogeneous housing…potentially public housing? Public ordinance sign: “No drinking of alcoholic beverages”

Screen Shot 2014-10-28 at 9.53.05 PM

Washington Avenue

-More racial and linguistic diversity than I’ve seen yet, compared to Congress Street in particular
-Prominent police presence

Montgomery Street

-Two adult black males, staggering and slurring their words, bounce a basketball with a boy approximately 10 years old, while firemen break into a home a few houses down

Anderson Street

-Cars on the street significantly nicer than the houses
-Racial diversity
-Same homogenous housing from Kellogg Street

Franklin Street

-Homeless people hold up signs at a busy intersection, adjacent to Planet Dog
Intersection: (43.665364, -70.260148) Planet Dog: (43.664990, -70.260019)

Screen Shot 2014-10-28 at 10.00.54 PM

Back Cove Park

-Environmental concerns with rising sea level
-Development of apartments: (43.6630577, -70.2639535)

Screen Shot 2014-10-28 at 10.02.01 PM

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Google Images

Preble Street

-Skillful Home Recreation: (43.660955, -70.263761) & Portland Architectural Salvage (antique store): (43.660684, -70.263517) on the same street as Preble Street Resource Center: (43.6587404, -70.2618871) and Salvation Army: (43.659377, -70.2625879) – ironic juxtaposition

Congress Square Park

Screen Shot 2014-10-28 at 10.07.19 PM
-Interaction with the lady who followed me: (43.6542343, -70.2632788)

Housing, Post #6: Individual Analysis of Ethnography & Mental Maps

New Perspectives on Preble St. and Housing Sustainability

4 Comments

After spending time in Portland, observing at the café, collecting maps, and doing the transect walk, I have a much more comprehensive view of the people and the issues of the city.

Personally, I find people-watching fascinating, so I really enjoyed doing so with a more critical eye at the café. Cafés are fascinating places to do this type of work because of how amorphous they are – they can be spaces for solitary work, spaces for socialization, spaces for reflection and spaces for relaxation. The patrons I observed utilized the space for all of those purposes and more, supported by the café’s supply of toys, books and a piano. As Arabica is located in an urban center separated from Portland residential life, and many residents I have spoken to tend to keep their distance from the Old Port, it is plausible that many customers were tourists or visitors. Demographically, the crowd was quite racially homogenous. Throughout the couple of hours I was there, it became a younger and hipper scene, aligning with the “hipster” vibe described on Yelp.

I was intrigued by the prominence of Apple logos, as well as the phenomenon of people sitting across from each other scrolling on their individual phones, even children. In my Interactive Resource Map App idea from Post #2, I suggested that businesses might post about particular services like free wi-fi or food. It would be fascinating to gauge Arabica’s (and other cafés’) interest in participating in this app. I would imagine that different neighborhoods would have different staked interests – business owners in Old Port, as a tourist center, might be less interested as the presence of homeless and at-risk citizens might drive visitors away.

Talking with the man who drew my fourth mental map was particularly interesting. I approached him outside of Preble Street, and he was very quick to comment that he was a full-time chef and was not homeless, though he had been previously. Describing Portland as a “cesspool,” he lamented the lack of affordable housing, which “makes it impossible for people to get on their feet.” He noted that he does not think he is “better than anybody else,” but he finds Preble Street’s housing first model unfair for people that are more committed and more likely to make positive change in their lives. Before chatting with him, I had only heard Preble Street’s housing first model discussed reverently. I never thought I would hear the accessibility of the organization criticized by somebody that uses its services. Hearing this perspective changed my understanding of the dynamics of homelessness and outreach programs – I had not fully considered the issue of stratified groups within shelters. Going forward, I definitely would like to hear more from viewpoints of people who use Preble Street’s services to get a fuller understanding of its workings and effectiveness.

My conversation with the woman who drew my third map confirmed my earlier concerns in Post #4 about climate change impacting a coastal port city. When asked if she had suggestions to better Portland, she commented that the city should work on developing infrastructure and housing in Back Cove in light of frequent flooding and rising sea level. These are incredibly important concerns that often get put on the back burner, so I was grateful to be reminded to acknowledge the role of climate change in Portland’s future.

Cafe Ethnography

Saturday October 4
Arabica Café (Formerly Café Crema…ambiance described as “hipster” on Yelp)
9 Commercial St., Portland

2:40 pm
-The café is on Commercial St, so we’re right on the water and there’s a lot of salt in the air. There is an enormous cruise ship looming over the docks, much larger than the buildings in my line of sight. Trolleys keep passing by, one of them sponsored by Whole Foods and another sponsored by Shipyard.
-The café is pretty crowded. There is an interesting age range – primarily babies and elderly people. There are a few people on laptops and on dates, some people at the bar on cell phones, some couples reading or chatting. There are a lot of paintings up on the walls – a bunch of trees and flowers, a butterfly, a fish. Pretty standard coffee shop stuff.
-The line is daunting. I’m waiting for it to die down before I get some much needed coffee but it seems to keep growing.
-People scatter around the spacious interior of the café after getting their beverage but almost everybody stops at the table stocked with sugar, milk, napkins, and stirrers.
-The apple logo is everywhere you look. My friend’s Dell stands out in the crowd.
-Children congregate around the gelato case.
2:50
-A girl with a stuffed animal monkey hangs on her mother’s arm and begs for gelato. A boy walks by with a couple of bike tires draped around his torso like a sash and opens the door for a stream of customers.
3:00
-The girl with the monkey got gelato after all – success.
-A mother with a large camera takes a photo of her son biting into a brownie. The boy’s sister plays with one of the toys provided by the café. Her brother joins her. Now they’re both clutching the same toy. A fight is brewing… “Daddy, he’s not sharing. I hate boys.”
-The workers here seem pretty scattered. They run around and deliver people’s orders.
-A woman walks in with a young girl on her shoulders. A boy in line with his mother swings her hand back and forth and laughs somewhat maniacally.
3:10
-A woman walks by and asks us what discipline we’re studying. She tells us that she teaches medicine.
-My friend Elisabeth is taking photos for her photography class. She takes a picture of the gelato. “That was fun,” she says. Word.
-There’s a small bookcase behind us next to an antique piano. The Hunger Games, Chuck Palahniuk, Agatha Christie. A kid screams about a puppy.
-My friend Sabrina got an enormous cappuccino and it’s making me rethink my apprehension about the line.
3:20
-I didn’t see it but apparently a man biked by the window wearing the hat of a “roman soldier.”
-A grey haired man with a rattail runs into a family he knows and everybody hugs.
3:30
-Time to brave the line. The crowd has thinned out a bit. Can’t tell if I should wait at my table or wait by up by the bar. Table.
3:40
-A woman wearing all red and many tattoos wipes off the central milk/sugar/spices table and retrieves stray mugs from around the room.
3:50
-Older friends meet up and exclaim, “They changed the name!”
-People walk by outside under umbrellas and wearing raincoats.
-The cruise ship is still hanging out (named Arcadia, like the Preble St. bar), the American flag is still waving on top. Is this a vacation cruise? Pretty dreary weather…I learned a bit about the social dynamics of Maine tourism this summer and I’m curious about the transition from summer to fall.
-Engaging in people-watching commentary and staring at this massive cruise ship is making me want to reread “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again.”
4:00
-We’re collectively unhappy about the outlet situation. (There are very few, and none of them close to us.) Sabrina is keeping tabs on the movements of the “two old men in back” sitting at the table with outlet access.
4:10
-The two old men have exited and I’ve snagged a prized outlet spot. Brightness is up, phone is charging. What luxury.
4:20
-My new vantage point now includes the rattail guy & family from earlier. The young girl in pink taps furiously on a phone screen, brow furrowed in concentration, as the adults around her chat. A woman in a flannel sits and reads at the bar.
-The ones who didn’t know the café changed its name stand up and exit.
-I think everybody who was in here when we arrived has left by now. Our crew has spread itself out around the café as if by osmosis.
4:30
-A guy just walked in in a bright yellow disposable plastic poncho. He’s owning it.
-The man behind him in line has the word ‘SUPERVISOR’ printed on his back. He’s glancing shiftily around the café, looking very alert. He’s doing a great job.
-An older couple to the left of me sits across from each other and scrolls through their individual phones, occasionally showing each other a photo and giggling.
-There is a minor kerfuffle at the register because they are out of caramel.
4:40
-Oh no, I smell a banana in the vicinity. I’m terrified of bananas.
-The young girl in pink has put the phone down and her chin is on the table in a display of boredom.
-Sabrina comes over to ask if I can hear the music, which she describes as weird and “whisper-y.” She suggests that I move over to join her at her table, from which I’d have a perfect line of vision to the rattail man, access to the sounds of the weird music, and – most importantly – distance from the banana. She is very convincing and I agree.
4:50
-The demographics have changed significantly since we first walked in. The scene is much younger and trendier, with almost no families or kids.
-A bald man behind me asks for the wifi password. It’s espresso.
-Sabrina asks me if I noted the floating door. I hadn’t. There’s a door about a story up the wall toward the back of the café, very much floating as described. She is very helpful. She shows me a video of thirteen dogs jump roping. It’s really worth a look. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtwPzyppOyY
-The man and the family are leaving. He is welcome to visit them any time. Lots of smiles and good feeling and jokes about the weather. Haha, it snows a lot here.
5:00
-The music is decidedly weird – “It’s gotta chill,” says Sabrina. Lots of alternating growling and whispering.
-The cruise ship is moving now, trudging along parallel to the street as comparatively speedy cars zip by.
5:10
Heading out.

Mental Maps

MentalMap1

-25 year old male
-Works in freelance
-Has lived in Portland for five years
-Lives in Munjoy Hill
-Wants the results of our study to be communicated back to Portland residents as opposed to “sitting in a warehouse,” but doesn’t want to be contacted about the study

MentalMap2

-64 year old woman
-Gardens, cleans houses, helps with her husband’s carpentry business but is “semiretired”
-Has lived in Portland on and off since she was a kid, now commutes there for work. Lived in four different places in Munjoy Hill, one place in the West End, and one on Peak’s Island (now “Yuppie-ville)
-Her and her husband were “hippies” in conflict with the “greasers,” who threw beer cans at them. “When the greasers started doing drugs, everybody got along.”
-She lived in NYC out of high school, was “too stoned” to remember what part of the city though.
-On Portland gentrification, she commented that the city is “becoming an extension of Boston” and that Old Port, formerly dangerous, is now “money, money, money.”
-Emphasized walking, trees, and cemeteries (“Every cemetery is worth walking through.”)
-Expressed concern about the rising sea level, particularly in Back Cove, and suggested infrastructure to support flooding in that area
-Wants to be contacted about the study at [email protected]

MentalMap3

-Alex, 25-year-old man
-Drives the Portland water taxi
-Went to high school and worked in Portland, has been living there again for a month on Anderson St.
-Suggested an app for public transportation schedules

MentalMap4

-31 year old male
-Works as a chef
-Lives in the “western part down by Denny’s”
-Called Portland a “cesspool,” has lived in Burlington and believes it is an infinitely better city. Commenting on Portland’s skyrocketing homeless population, he noted that other cities are sending their homeless to Portland because of the city’s outreach programs
-I interviewed him outside of the Preble Street Resource Center. He said very quickly that he is not currently homeless, but was homeless in Burlington eight years ago.
-“I’m a chef, I work full time, and I can’t even afford to get an apartment.”
-The lack of affordable housing “makes it impossible for people to get on their feet.”
-Commenting on Portland’s skyrocketing homeless population: “All these other cities are sending these people here because Portland has outreach programs and stuff like that”
-He criticized Preble Street Resource Center’s housing first model. In a homeless shelter he stayed at in Burlington, “you had to show them some type of effort.” He commented that the Preble Street model “takes away” from “people who are capable of working,” from people who will be receptive to help and assistance. He also complained about the lack of follow up review.

Post #5: Infrastructure Reflections

Walkable Infrastructure in Portland

A defining quality of any city is movement. With an abundance of people, cars, bikes, trains, subways, developments, and construction projects comes an abundance of motion. What makes a city unique is its particular style or “flow,” as described by Michael Sorkin. [1] This manifests in its “movement hierarchy” – the delineation of deference for particular means of transportation. [1]

In New York City, Robert Moses designed infrastructure to prioritize the movement of vehicles. [2] Based on my experiences in Portland, particularly in discussing the busy roads around Congress Square Park with urban designer Caitlin Cameron, cars appear to be prioritized above pedestrians in some places. That being said, I have found Portland to be very walkable and have had little trouble crossing streets.

Commercial Street supports a lot of flow, both pedestrian and vehicular. Its proximity to the water gives it much potential, but the busyness and design of the road make it less appealing for pedestrians. The piers on the waterfront are a visual reminder of the city’s roots in lobster, fishing and trading. As the city gentrifies and develops, it is important to emphasize this history through smart adjustments in infrastructure.

A grassy, well-landscaped walkway along the waterfront could serve these purposes. New York City’s Highline first comes to mind as an example of an engaging and exciting walkway, with benches, food carts, public art, beautiful views and a constant stream of pedestrian motion. Though this hypothetical Portland walkway would be much shorter in length and would not be elevated, the Highline might serve as inspiration.

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NYC Highline

In class, we discussed the idea of incorporating public history into Portland’s public space. Signs, plaques and sculptures throughout the walkway could include stories, facts and legends of Portland’s waterfront. Including public art in the walkway would harness the artistic community to increase its visual appeal, and as William Whyte taught us, inviting seating would be essential. [3] Food trucks/carts or small farmers markets would also work well in this space. Elevated lookout points would accentuate the beauty of the Maine coastline while giving a new perspective to the layout of the city itself.

[1] Sorkin, Michael. 2014 [1999]. “Traffic in Democracy.” In The People, Place and Space Reader, edited by Jen Jack Gieseking, et al, 411-415. New York: Routledge, 2014.

[2] Berman, Marshall. 1988. “In the Forest of Symbols: Some Notes on Modernism in New York.” In All That Is Solid Melts into Air: The Experience of Modernity, 287–348. New York: Penguin.

[3] Whyte, William. The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces. New York: Project for Public Spaces Inc, 2001.

Housing, Post #4: Housing Reflections

Homelessness and Tourism in the Smart City of Portland

The technical innovations suggested in “Leveraging Social Media and IoT to Bootstrap Smart Environments” by David Crowley, Edward Curry and John Breslin are undoubtedly exciting, albeit concerning. The proposal for reduction in energy usage is appealing, but the notion of “Everything [becoming] a sensor” has the potential to verge into Big Brother territory (Crowley, 380). [1] It is essential that these burgeoning urban technological advances be “situated in a specific locale and human context” (Greenfield, Kindle Location 291). [2] In the specific locale and human context of Portland, Maine, there is a more pressing, rudimental, and fundamentally ‘smart’ need than the implementation of “sensors, actuators, displays and computational elements” in homes: ensuring the citizens’ access to shelter (Crowley, 380). [1]

This poses challenges in a city increasingly attractive to tourist populations and summer vacationers. A 2012 Bangor Daily News article poses a controversial and concerning question: “Is Portland too attractive to the homeless?” [3] A Portland Community Chamber of Commerce document discussed in the article quotes a homeless person describing Portland as a place where “‘nobody hassles you’ when in search of public assistance.” [3] The Chamber expressed concern that “the number of shoppers and visitors in Portland is bound to decline” as the city becomes “a disgusting filthy mess,” and seeks to make the city less appealing to the homeless, despite other efforts to increase shelter space. [3] This mentality of the Chamber of Commerce is reminiscent of the police evictions of homeless people and protestors from New York City’s Tompkins Square Park in 1988. Protestors were enraged at the impacts of gentrification on their community – the Mayor accused the homeless of “[stealing]” the park from the community, yet “the city shelter system had beds for only a quarter of the city’s homeless people,” (Smith, 313-314). [4]  Portland’s housing first model, by contrast, is a uniquely progressive system in which “chronically homeless individuals battling the most severe substance abuse and mental health problems are provided small apartments in buildings staffed with specialists at little or no cost, and with no initial demand that they change their lifestyles.” [3] This is a great start to getting Portland’s homeless on their feet, and could be augmented with technological and developmental advances to the city’s housing.

As we learned during our tours of the city, Portland has changed frequently and drastically over the years. It continues to do so today with the rise of tourism and the development of pricey condos, which hugely impact the experience of the city community. A comprehensive and interactive housing map, delineating changes in cost, development, and ownership over Portland’s history, would help to trace that change and understand forthcoming trends. Visualizing and studying this data would allow for greater understanding the dynamics and patterns of gentrification, homelessness and real estate in Portland. It would also – hopefully – generate motivation to eradicate the city’s homelessness and eliminate the attitudes expressed in the Chamber of Commerce document.

Portland’s location on the water, in conjunction with chronic climate change and Maine’s brutal winters, makes its buildings especially susceptible to physical damage. Looking to the future, developing low- and mixed-income coop housing ensures that individuals who obtain housing are able to keep it. In the case of a natural disaster or structural damage, the costs would be distributed across all residents instead of one unlucky inhabitant bearing the brunt.

Lastly, Preble Street login accounts (private, of course) would help individualize support and streamline communication. Users could sign up online for particular events, delineate specific needs, exchange online resources, and discuss sensitive issues with a little more remove.

[1] Crowley, David N., Edward Curry, and John G. Breslin. 2014. “Leveraging Social Media and IoT to Bootstrap Smart Environments.” In Big Data and Internet of Things: A Roadmap for Smart Environments, edited by Nik Bessis and Ciprian Dobre, 379–99. Springer.

[2] Greenfield, Adam. 2013. Against the Smart City. 1.3 edition.

[3] Koenig, Seth. “Is Portland ‘too attractive’ to homeless people?.” Bangor Daily News. N.p., 21 Dec. 2012. Web. 6 Oct. 2014. http://bangordailynews.com/2012/12/21/news/portland/are-cities-like-portland-too-attractive-to-homeless-people

[4] Smith, Neil. 2014 [1996]. “‘Class Struggle on Avenue B’: The Lower East Side as the Wild Wild West.” In The People, Place and Space Reader, edited by Jen Jack Gieseking, et al, 314-319. New York: Routledge, 2014.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Uncategorized

Creating Engaging and Inclusive Space in Portland

“It’s our fucking park,” yelled 1988 protestors of gentrification and the evacuation of the homeless in Tompkins Square Park. [1] These protesters felt ownership and claim over a public space that was being taken from them. Their reasons for occupying the park were rooted in issues of homelessness, eviction and gentrification – “the city shelter system had beds for only a quarter of the city’s homeless people.” [1] Thus the notion of restricting access to this communal sanctuary caused unspeakable anger. C. Carr, a New York City cultural historian writing on the riot, points to the roots of the tension: “As the neighborhood slowly, inexorably gentrifies, the park is a holdout, the place for one last metaphorical stand.” [1] In light of homelessness, eviction, and gentrification – problems plaguing Portland today – public space becomes especially important as essential locales of (ideally) “community, openness, and optimism,” (Low). [2]

As of 2013, there were beds for about half of Portland’s homeless people. [3] As evidenced by our visit to Congress Square Park and the decidedly dreary Lincoln Park, its public spaces could use improvement as well. One fairly simple improvement, endorsed by urban sociologist William Whyte, is seating.  Height, width, style and placement of benches, as shown in Whyte’s video The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, hugely impacts how citizens interact in and with public space. [4] Attractive and comfortable seating options draw people in and encourage them to immerse themselves in the space.

For people to do so, qualities of interactivity, attractiveness and comfort are essential. New York City’s Union Square is so inviting and engaging because of its abundance of charismatic features – chess games, a farmers market, playgrounds, performances – and its diversity of occupants. Portland’s public space, Congress Square Park and Lincoln Park in particular, needs more to look at and engage with in order for it to become a place of “encounter and exchange,” [5]. Congress Square Park would hugely benefit from artwork on the blank wall behind it, better lighting and additional features, perhaps a fountain or sculpture. A swingset, improved benches and some hedges have the potential to revitalize Lincoln Park. Free public wifi would make these productive and egalitarian spaces, more conducive to the exchange of ideas and work among citizens of all backgrounds.

Additionally, sponsored events in these locations, such as festivals, concerts, fairs, farmers markets and other gatherings – perhaps through a public-private partnership – would bring the community together and establish those spaces as centers of engagement. However, in bettering these public spaces and inviting Portland citizens to gather in them, it is essential to be wary of “[limiting] participation to those who can afford it and conform to middle class rules of appearance and conduct.” [2]. Don Mitchell notes that “in the city, different people with different projects must necessarily struggle with one another over the shape of the city, the terms of access to the public realm, and even the rights of citizenship.” [5]The public realm must be an arena in which this urban dialogue can unfold.

[1] Smith, Neil. The new urban frontier: gentrification and the revanchist city. London: Routledge, 1996.

[2] Low, Setha. After the World Trade Center. New York : Routledge, 2002.

[3] Billings, Randy. “Homelessness Hits Record High in Portland.” Portland Press Herald. http://www.pressherald.com/2013/10/27/homelessness_hits_record_high_in_portland_/

[4]  Whyte, William. The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces. New York: Project for Public Spaces Inc, 2001.

[5] Mitchell, Don. 2014 [2003]. “To Go Again to Hyde Park: Public Space, Rights and Social Justice.” In The People, Place and Space Reader, edited by Jen Jack Gieseking, et al. New York: Routledge, 2014

 

Housing, Post #2: From Policy to Recommendation

Combating Homelessness in the Smart City

5 Comments

Smart City Suggestions

1) Interactive Resource Map app

2) ‘Hack to End Homelessness’ meetup

3) Year-by-year interactive map of real estate prices & building/housing developments, visually demonstrating change over time

4) Preble Street website login accounts

5) Data about heat usage/availability, mapped throughout the city

 

The Portland City Council has an ambitious goal: to “Prevent and end homelessness in the City of Portland by continuing to implement the recommendations of the homelessness task force,” according to Housing Budget Memo B from the March 17, 2013 meeting minutes. [1] The last meeting minutes from this specific task force were posted two years ago, but obviously this problem has not gone away. Portland Homeless shelters often cannot provide for everyone in need of help. According to a 2013 Portland Press Herald article, there were only 272 sleeping spots available for almost double the number that needed them. [2] Allocating funding to these centers is essential, but politically, this might be difficult to achieve. To help remedy this issue, Portland should also look to its own community members and businesses to assist in providing the resources in such dire shortage.

One way to engage the city population in dealing with this issue is a Portland Resource Map application. This map would include the obvious – Portland’s shelters, pantries, resource centers, and libraries – but its primary function would be its interactivity. Individuals, groups and businesses would be able to post particular goods, services or job listings that they are able to offer on the map. Somebody could volunteer to meet at the library and provide help with a resume, assist with basic computer skills or lead a tutoring session. Somebody could post if they are in need of a hand for an odd job – although an irregular source of income, perhaps this would be enough for a meal. Somebody generous could post offering a place to stay for the night.  Businesses could put themselves on the map, perhaps providing free wifi or free food. In light of the Portland’s immigrant population, new to the city and perhaps not proficient in English, this map would provide a greater sense of clarity. This would be a project heavily reliant on the generosity of the citizens of Portland, thus creating a sense of communal care and organization.

Another idea drawing on the city’s community is a ‘Hack to End Homelessness’ meetup, inspired by the event of the same name in Seattle. [3] This group “brings together Seattle’s housing advocacy community and service providers with the best minds in technology and innovation…to design and build solutions to all forms of homelessness.” It would be important to include the perspective and ideas of homeless individuals, adding to the emotional resonance of the event and in the process building a supportive, productive, dedicated community. Portland is becoming increasingly tech-savvy and creative. Harnessing the talents and ideas of this community in pursuit of the City Council’s goal to end homelessness would be a fitting way to give “technical systems…meaning by [situating them] in a specific locale and human context,” (Greenfield). [4]

[1] Portland, ME | Official Website. “Portland Maine City Council Meeting Minutes.” n.d. http://portlandmaine.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/03172014-207.

[2] Billings, Randy. “Homelessness Hits Record High in Portland.” Portland Press Herald. http://www.pressherald.com/2013/10/27/homelessness_hits_record_high_in_portland_/ 

[3] Hack to End Homelessness. “Hack to End Homelessness.” http://www.hacktoendhomelessness.com.

[4]  Greenfield, Adam. Against the Smart City. 2013.

Post #1: Research Topic & Group

Experience and Politics of the City Home

The experience of a city often entails the blurring of private and public spheres. Anybody who has spent considerable time walking city streets has likely witnessed something that belonged in the former. Much of the appeal of the city is its density and diversity of life as experienced in its public spaces, in the bustle of the streets, the rush of the subway, the vendors on the sidewalks and the crowding of cultural landmarks. I am interested in exploring a different element of the city through housing research – the home, the private realm of the city, as impacted by the dynamics of the pervasive public realm.

Homes are often conceptualized as havens, places of escape separate from their surroundings. This takes on particular significance in cities – intense, often anxiety-provoking places with statistically high rates of crime. City housing is not a haven for everyone, as Dolores Hayden points out in her description of tenement life in New York City. [1] Homes can be “arenas of conflict…political territories.” The experiential quality of these homes depends on a multitude of factors, often sharply and explicitly delineated by distinctive neighborhoods. Socioeconomic status, ethnicity, race, gender, sexuality and age all play into an area’s “essential character,” and its “cultural landscape.” Cities are often sliced into bounded, politicized regions, resulting in a multiplicity of experiences of the same place.

Hayden references urban planner Kevin Lynch’s mental maps as “striking images of inequality of access.” The notion of maps as tools for “[raising] political consciousness” is an exciting model for our housing research within Portland. I am fascinated by the diverse network of pathways and trajectories within cities, and maps have much to tell us about social, political and economic dynamics.

I grew up half an hour from New York City in Maplewood, NJ. I take the train to the lovely Pennsylvania Station at least once a week, and I have developed my own mental map. Despite the general consensus on surrounding suburbs, my hometown has connections to New York City deeper than those of proximity. A 2014 TimeOut article suggests trading Jackson Heights, Queens for Maplewood: “NYC’s cultural and ethnic diversity isn’t always easy to find elsewhere, but it’s well entrenched in this burb, with a 40 percent nonwhite population and active gay and artistic communities.” [2] While my upbringing has made me feel connected to and comfortable in New York, my experiences do not typically extend past the public realm. The visceral experience of having a home in a city, of being entrenched in the politics of housing, has remained a curiosity. I am excited to explore these dynamics in Portland.

[1] Hayden, Dolores. 1997. “Urban Landscape History: The Sense of Place and Politics of Space.” In The Power of Place: Urban Landscapes as Public History, 14-43. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

[2] Winograd, Jeremy. “The Coolest Places in New Jersey for New Yorkers.” Time Out New York. June 4, 2014. http://www.timeout.com/newyork/things-to-do/the-coolest-places-in-new-jersey-for-new-yorkers.