Please click on the following link to read the edited portion of my PRE-VISIT REFLECTION on the Learning Places Site Report in PDF format: CopyofLearningPlacesSiteReportPreSiteVisitReflection
PRE-VISIT REFLECTION
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War On Taxes, Reflection # 2
After reading this article, another article just pooped up in my head, which i was reading almost two weeks ago. Here is the link Today situation on Taxes, it feels like nothing changed. All that rich people who were not paying taxes in 1870 they are still not paying in 2016. Rich person is getting richer and richer and poor are getting poorer. I think this problem will never end until corruption ends, because as long as there’s a demand for the end product, there will always be a person, group or loose alliance looking to profit legally or illegally off of the wanted items.
Whiskey Wars
As I was reading the article “Whiskey Wars”, I could just imagine “Vinegar Hill” resembling that of the Wild West; minus the cobblestone, cacti and thimbleweeds . I think the Wild West is a rather perfect example considering that in the Wild West there are nothing but saloons’ and barrels of beer all over the place. I thought this article was rather interesting because some of what was mention can easily relate to the things that go on in our economy, such as corruption and taxation. The politicians are corrupted while the government continues to not only raise taxes on alcohol but on all our necessities.
Homework #2 The Whiskey Wars
The unwillingness for New Yorkers not to pay their taxes doesn’t surprise me. Tax evasion seems to be a never ending problem in this country in the past and even now in the present. And with tax rate being as high as it is, there’s no doubt this problem will continue to rise. I believe the Government should give people and small businesses more tax breaks. This might end all the corruption and illegal activities people use to hide and swindle their income. After reading this article now I know why some parts in Brooklyn looks so run down and ruined. I had no idea the IRS had the power to enforce such a war on tax evaders.
https://nycopendata.socrata.com
Cool link. Interesting visualizations
Reflection #2: The Whiskey Wars That Left Brooklyn in Ruins
This article helped clarify the relationship between taxation and criminalization. Reminscent of the Boston Tea Party, the idea of tax for businesses such as distilleries induced a criminal like lifestyle. Despite it’s legality, the sudden tax increase of alcohol was quite absurd,  from $2 – $30. That amount (equivalent in today’s terms) was enough to send Irishtown, or what was Vinegar Hill “over the hills”, whereby the creation of an underground ring for importing and exporting liquor feasible. Irishtown was conveniently located next to a port, which was perfect for smuggling. Street gangs, sailors and smugglers were born, as corruption rings in the police force were also apparent.
The presence of corruption did not limit itself to Vinegar Hill, but instead showed itself to be a prime example here. Allegations were found as far the White House, which makes the reader understand the breadth and urgency of taxation. I found this article not only to be entertaining and informative, but as a great piece to commemorate Vinegar Hill’s rich history. However, I’m a little disappointed in how the author summarized the deterioration of the Irishtown ring, as I wish Dalzell was more descriptive about it. Also, I wish Dalzell included more forms of documentation within the article (i.e Whiskey labels, distillery images, maps of the raids etc.)
Reflection #2: The Whiskey Wars That Left Brooklyn in Ruins
I was fascinated by the assigned reading on the Whiskey Wars of Brooklyn. One of my initial thoughts while reading about the Whiskey Wars was that in some ways it reminded me of the Boston Tea Party from 1773. Both were acts of rebellion in protest of high taxes on specific items. I learned that Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn was heavily involved with creating illegal distilleries. The article mentioned that “legitimate” distilleries would close down and be replaced by “vinegar” factories. This leads me to wonder if these “vinegar” factories somehow influenced the naming of the neighborhood Vinegar Hill. I like that at the end of the article the author concludes with a small paragraph on modern day Vinegar Hill. The arrival of the Kings County Distillery is like a tip of the hat to the rebellious, rich history of late-19th century Vinegar Hill.
Second 100 Word Reflection: Visual Notes
While and after reading chapters one and three of Visual Notes book, I was able to kind of understand why my mind works the way it does. I am a person that usually needs to write things down for it to make sense to me but sometimes I have to take it a step further and draw out what is really going on in my mind, and how (the thought process) those things are going on in my mind and usually everything because so much more clearer. So reading these two chapters just felt familiar and relatable, and definitely enjoyable.
Reflection of Brooklyn
since i am from queens i didn’t know much about brooklyn. after reading this article i got to know there are so many historical place in brooklyn. one of the most unknown place was to me vinegar hills. Even though i went to this neighborhood few times while i was visiting Dumbo, i still had no idea about the name of the place. i also found out in these article Dumbo was an acronym for “Down under the Manhattan bridge overpass”.its  amazing how a neighborhood in this city can have such history behind it.
Reflection
I was never too familiar with the history of Brooklyn, much less the greater of New York, but the Wikipedia postings revealed a goldmine of information about such a small chunk of land. One of the things I found interesting was after the Canarsee Indians sold the land to the Dutch, it was renamed Breukelen and so far that name has stuck. Also the major rezoning of Brooklyn after World War II allowing it to continually evolve in it’s own right was interesting to read about, and in many ways Brooklyn still operates and maintains an identity apart from New York.
