Author Archives: Genaro Cobar

Blog # 3 Tenants

Living in NYC in the late 1800s and/or early 1900s it was difficult situation, due to the overcrowding  conditions. tenements where docents of people would live in, in confine spaces. many of these places were unsafe, dirty, unhealthy, and mostly overcrowded.  the working conditions were basically none existent.  This over population of NYC was created because of the rapid industrialization, the creation of jobs in the city went up to levels never seen before. the agricultural system used in America was rapidly being shifted away to a manufacture economy.

An old-law tenement was typically 25 feet wide by 100 feet deep and six stories tall. The lots that were used for a single family units would later on be turn into a 6 story building, or use the single family units to fit at least 20 families. many of these families were Immigrant families that couldn’t afford living in more decent places, but had to share with many other families to survive. they didn’t even have the basic amenities, or a clean bathroom, sanitation was out of the equation, and many started to demand these necessities.  There were no housing regulations, no fire hazard regulations, and working regulations were irrelevant, children would work on machinery that only adult should be working on; many kids would die in this places.

Blog #2

during the Antebellum Era the U.S. is an agricultural nation and Cleveland was a city on growth. Cleveland was near a river and it had a bid steam boat industry, which was going well and steady.  most of the money on Cleveland was invested in boats and the water industry, when the big boom happened with the expansion of the railroads.  When Cleveland was asked to be involved and become part of that railroad expansion, they declined because they didn’t think that transportation system was going to be relevant, and they kept investing the money on steam boats.  Chicago took part and got involved in the railroads and, hence, Chicago became a more important city than Cleveland. During industrialization Chicago became more popular and a more centric city, and that made the city to grow in  building density and population.

MY NYC

My New York is composed of different moment and places. My immediate New York I would say is Fort Green, Downtown Brooklyn, and Dumbo. I mainly go to school because it takes most of my time and energy. In fact is not all I do, nor these are the only places I go to, I like my New York because I get to interact with people from different places. Once I take the train on Brownsville you can see that the majority of people are black, but going a little further like 5 stops from mine everything changes. I remember five years ago when taking the A or C train you would only see African Americans in the train car with a few Hispanic exceptions, which in this case I was one of the exceptions. The demographics changed drastically in the past couple of years and I have witness the evolution of the neighborhoods. Following the evolution of neighborhoods I grow up in let’s say three areas, Brownsville Brooklyn, Cypress Hills, and East New York. I recall the places to be a bit more segregated and people, not in the sense that it would be racially segregated but segregated by race. Looking at my new version of New York you see there is bigger manifestation of interaction. I can see people from many races and ethnic group socializing and the thin veil of prejudice vanished. Another factor of my New York is there is more people I see, more people I want to meet, the more I would like to learn and you indeed learn from every person something new every day. The most important part of MY New York is that I see people as different as they are to me, and I know for sure I am different from them as well. I love going to the park and sitting there drinking a coffee and thinking how we take for granted this city. When I see tourist and they get amazed for things we have in our everyday life but we don’t care because they don’t directly interfere with our life. This would be MY New York where I sit wherever I go to I can enjoy a coffee and read a book and know there are people different from me how enjoy the city in many different other ways.