The Urban Environment

Field Experiment 1 Industrial

2006-05-04T12:52:00.000-07:00

In the area that I have done there are businesses. These businesses are medical buildings housing family care physicians and at least one specialist in the office mean while the rest of the offices in the buildings are just regular office. Across the way, there is a dentist that does everybody from kids to adults. Then in that same area is a child day care where you can drop your kids off and go to work. In fact just about a block away there is another place that you can drop your kids off and go to work. I think that having this in the area is good. Basic health care is something that everybody needs and the fact that it is so close for many people is great this way they don’t have to go as far to get the help that they need. This also allows for more jobs in this area especially for the people who live here. Then it could even allow for community togetherness because it is a small community. People have the chance of running into other people, and you don’t have to worry about never seeing anybody. More then likely you may even run into people a little to much.

These businesses bring people to this area, and in return I’m sure it helps out the community. But does it really do anything for the people? Do they see an benefit to having all of these businesses just about in their backyards? What are the feelings about the community from the community? Is there anything that they feel makes this a worse place rather then a better place to live? Or is having these businesses here all good? Does this mean that people can get good paying jobs. Or does having all the buildings here just mean that people from other areas are all coming here and taking away the chance for the community to become a better skilled work force. These are the things that need to be concerned with when taking a look at these places. Another concern is that there is a place that is farther down on 420 that has an empty building there. It seems that many things like a water ice place, yarn place, and a clothing place have all moved in there and in a matter of months have all moved out again. I would guess that is because that they didn’t do any business there. But in thinking I cannot come up with a place that would fit in, in this area that could fill that would fill in that empty space. So what is a person or a community to do? It is an open space with a clear chance for an opportunity but for what is the problem. Is it because it’s in a bad location and it’s not very big so what would fit in there that is just as small if not smaller to fit into that space and in doing this it would help out the community? Because one good thing about it is that it is in a close location so that the people shouldn’t have a hard time getting there. In fact this place could even be a perfect place to have something like a counseling center there to help the people out. It is something that I think that they could use. There is an open space for it. And anything that has to do with the medical field usually has a good chance at making it. Since there are so many people that are in need of some type of medical care now a days, that it would be a perfect idea. The only real question is has this been thought of before and has it been turned down for some reason or another and that is why nobody has already acted on this? Or is it realistically the size is just to small for anything really to do any good and take of in that place? After all advertising that you are there is something that would definitely be a hard thing to do for anybody or thing that is put in there. So what is there to do with this place?
all photos seen herer were taken by J.Woodrow and map taken from google earth.com

Field Experiment 2 Juxtaposition

2006-04-19T12:53:00.001-07:00

Just for a minute take a look at these pictures. They are nice, right? Here you see that this is a nice place for little kids to come and play their little kid games with no worries or concerns in the world. Maybe you would stop there some time, take a look around, and sit down and just take a minute for yourself. After all, you deserve it, right? Well, what if I told you that this nice wonderland that you are looking at is right off the side of the road. In fact it is right off the side of a busy road, and to both sides of this place there are businesses. There are constantly a large number of cars that are zooming by every second. So I guess now you are rethinking going there or letting anyone else go there either. That is my point when I was out walking along I thought that is was an odd thing to have here. So this is my 1st point of interest for my Juxtaposition. The name of the road is Woodland Ave or it's called route 420. I decided to use 420 in Morton as my main area of focus for my field experiments. This is close to, if not part of where I live. I feel this way because I share the area code with this community, so I do feel part of it. This spot number one is interesting to me because I feel that it serves no purpose. It is in a bad spot so I never see anybody over there. So I wondered what was the point of putting it there to begin with? Was this park here before the buildings and businesses moved in, or did it come afterward? And if it did come afterward, what was the point? Right now it looks like it's just pieces of land that nobody wanted, and in an effort to try and do something with it, the township people made it into a park.

My second point of interest is a bit further down from this park on 420.
There are these businesses again all around you and then if you look over
you will see this slab of stores that is almost its own little island. But on
this island you see the row of stores going down the road, and then you come up on these houses, houses that are in the middle of a string of businesses. And again the question of who came first, the housees or the businesses. For as far as I can remember there have both been there. In fact by looking at the pictures, you can tell that the house isn’t new, and could use some fixing up. This makes me wonder why these people are still living here. I know that in this area the income is lower then normal. So why are these people staying here, is it because that is all that they can afford? Or do they enjoy where they are? Is there maybe family and/or friends nearby, so they don’t want to have to move away from them?

My third point of interest is the differences between the homes in Springfield look like compared to what the homes in Morton look like. Since these two communities are right next to each other it is easier to see what the differences are and you don’t have to go far at all. In fact just my staying on 420 there are examples of the two differences. As you can see there is a noticeable difference between the two. I just can’t understand why, if some parts of the this community are less then well off financially then why don’t the two areas combine and make one. The waste management people that do the trash are the same for the both of us. Also you can combine the money and help out both the areas.
all photos seen here were taken by J.Woodrow and map is from google earth.com

Field Experiment 3 Healthscape

2006-04-19T12:53:00.000-07:00

My idea of what a healthscape is, on the individual level, is habits, exercise, and diet. Then on a group level, I am looking for community services, good environmental conditions, and food or diet. The individual healthscape starts with exercise. I feel that exercise is important for one's health in order to maintain a good physical balance. There is a gym that is on 420 that I can be easily walk to. The only thing that to worry about with this is the cost of it. The initial cost is over two hundred dollars to start and then the monthly fees are between $30-40 a month. For many people may feel that this is too much to pay for gym services, especially if they don’t have a lot of money in the first place. So how is someone supposed to get a good work out? Most people who can’t or will not put shell that kind of money for a gym contract and will not likely send money on other fitness things. There is a YMCA that is about a mile away from here, but again, you have to sign up and pay a fee, not to mention the transportation issue. If you didn’t have a car, you may have to walk there and back: because I doubt the bus would take you that short of a distance.

The second part is diet or just taking care of your body. Making an effort to eat and drink the right things is another important part of a person's well being. In this community, the only real options fast food/take out places, and there is one restaurant place that is only open for breakfast and lunch. So you options for dinner are limited. There is a Wawa that is open 24 hours, they have a small selection offers you some healthy choices. For example, they have salads ,fruits, and sandwichs, made to order. So Wawa offers some benefits. However a person can’t spend all his time in there. After awhile because that can’t be very healthy, either. So what is a person to do? Since time is limited for everybody, it seems like the best thing to do is grab the fastest thing to eat and move on with whatever it is that you are doing.

The third concern that I will touch on is habits. How can I have more fun? There are some parks in area, but we've established that they aren’t always the greatest. Espeically when all option include transportation-nothing fun is within walking distance. Then if you say that you are in need of services for rehab of any kind. There is nothing here and the question is why? Why is it that there is nothing here to help out others that may be having some type of addiction problem? Is it to small of an area or does the community not want that kind of stigma on it that we have these centers because we need them and not just there for just in case of situations? Or are there places that a person can go but they are just not part of the public awareness? Would this mean that someone would have to amit that facilities around are needed just like everywhere else?

For my group I want to start off with food services. As I mentioned before there are some fast food places and a sit in place, but no real market. This can prove to be a problem because the nearest market is Genuardi’s which is over a mile from here. So how will people get
there? They could walk, but in the summer when it gets really hot out their meat may go bad by the time they can get it home. So are they to depend on other people? More then likely these other people have things they need to do as well and can’t be driving everybody around all day long. Another option is the bus, but I don’t even know if the bus stops there since it is a short distance. The fact that Genuardis is somewhat on the higher end of prices also needs to be thought about. So people on a buget would then have to shop at Pathmark or Acme, which they are further down the road in the opposite direction. So, how are people supposed to get their shopping done?

My second group element is community services. What I mean by this is safe places for kids to go and play and work off their boundless energy,instead of hanging out on the street corner. Because, when kids are bored with nothing to do and are hanging out in large groups, it usually leads to trouble, especially now that summer time is coming up. Which means that you are going to have an even larger numbers of kids hanging. If there was some type of recreation place setup, kids could hang out there or some kids could get help on their home work, which would lead to a better more productive life.

The third and final part is having a generally good air and water quality. What I mean by this isbeing able to go outside so they can take a breath of air and it doesn’t kill you. You can look up at the sky have it be a clear day without smog. I feel that we can do this here so that everything is okay. Also the water is drinkable. But some questions arise with this, like how often does the water get tested to make sure that it is safe for people to drink? Is it done daily or every few hours? Water sometimes sits in the pipes, so how do we and the water company know that water in the pipe, is good? If so how often is that done?
the map seen here is from google earth.com and all other pictures taken by J.Woodrow

Environmental Dilemma

2006-03-05T09:02:00.000-08:00

Much of the world faces environmental dilemma because Americans produce so much excess goods and produce so much waste and throw more things away. This, in combination with harsher environmental regulations placed on landfill productions, has led to a massive fill up of our landfills and a major depletion of our natural resources. For this information click here. As a result, recycling is seen as teh most cost effective solution. Many good things could come from recycling, although there are a few reasons that can make recycling less feasible as well.

Here are some of the reasons that someone would want to recycle. The cost of producing goods out of virgin materials would be cut down. The landfill would not only filled up at a lesser rate but also reduce amount of toxic chemicals given off from the decomposing materials and reduce chemical polutants in in the waterways because of run-off. So you would not have to worry about it getting to the ground or waterways. Less filled landfills would reduce trash burning , recuce toxic fumes in the ari, and cut down on air pollution. The most important reason of all would be the conservatio of the natural resources. This information was found here. Also each time that we recycle we are conserving energy. Recycling can also allow for more biodiversity. Lastly, in some cases you are given incentives by recycling companies. This information and so much more is just one look here. Springfield Pa. has been given an award for it's recycling efforts. They report that about 90% of their residents recycle. This serves as an example to other communities to work together and recycle successfully.

On the other hand some of the reasons that we do not recycle are, include cost of collecting the materials. People are needed to man the truck to pick up the recyclables. Which means companies must pay for them. Also, expense of the trucks maintance and the cost of gas needs to be considered. Once the recyclables are dropped off, somebody must now go through all of the recyclables and sort them into the right categories. The next step uses the machines to process these materials into different recycled categories. All of these steps can add up to a costly process. Or, instead of all of this you could just stick it into the landfill that would only cost a small amount of money compared to actually recycling. However, this solution cost us the environment. Look at this site for the information given above and more here. Not all everyone recycles. The biggest reason for this is they just don’t have the time to worry about which plastic items can go into the recycle bin and which ones can be placed in the trash.

Both positions have valid points. On one hand, we use way too much consumer goods and for the most part do not even realize it. Also the cost to recycle can be out of hand, especially for little counties. For them recycling can just not be feasible. But on the other hand, if this excess just keeps increasing, what will we do and how will we live? Even more important how will our children and their children live? I think that if we can afford it and our township offers it, then we should find time to make ourselves aware of what can and cannot be recycled and commit ourselves to going it more often. The biggest problem that I think needs improvment is paper recycling. I see how much that I use or wasted and I just feel really bad about it. But a lot of the time a recycle waste bin is nowhere to be found so I have to make due with just throwing it in the regular trash.
all photos seen here were takenby J. Woodrow

Community Description

2006-03-05T09:01:00.000-08:00

My area of choice is where I live, which is in Springfield/Morton Pa, in Delaware county. Just about a block away from where I live is a little park called Little Crum Creek. Which is actually located in Swarthmore, Pa. In this park there is a creek, which is a tributary of the a bigger river called Crum Creek which leads into the Delaware River. It crosses two counties, Chester and Delaware County. It ends up in a body of water called the Springton Reservoir. This is where we get our drinking water from. As of the past few years the quality of the water has gone down as has happened in many of it’s smaller creeks such as the Little Crum Creek. But let me just say that there are only part of this Creek that are in trouble and Little Crum Creek happens to me one of them. Little crum runs throughout Swarthmore. It has 4 branches which all lead into the little Crum Creek park area. The 1st one is the main branch that comes from Route 320 on the northern end of Swarthmore. Flowing south it goes under the railroad tracks, and enters into the Park. The 2nd and 3rd branchs start on some side streets of this residential area and then meet up at different parts of the river. The 4th branch starts in Springfield on the south end of Baltimore Pike and flows right into the Park. For more information click here.

These waters are protected so different types of cold water fish can grow and reproduce. However, when parts of these waters where tested, there were some shocking results. In one place on the western branch of Crum creek, the water quality was great; it was above the 92% mark which is the standard percent that you need to have. But when other places were tested, they scored an 83%, which does not meet the standards. So something has to be done, but what?

The first findings were published in The Philadelphia Inquirer and Pennsylvania Bulletin in April 2000. Also, the proper committees were informed about their findings. Click here for more information.

Just last year on May 18, 2005, Aqua the Pennsylvania water company said that they are spending over $80 million for improvements of infrastructures for the year. This equals $230 per customer in Delaware as well as other counties. Of this $80 million, Crum Creeks water facility will cost $7.1 million. Click here

Some of the problems and concerns at here at Little Crum creek are being addressed by the Swarthmore Environmental Advisory Council. Here they say that the problem is that the banks are being eroded and stream beds are being silted. Due to the expansion of more buildings and hard surfaces which do not leave much grass land for rain to soak into. So, excess water and/or rainfall all runs into storm wells, then into the creeks, over flowing them and washing away the banks. This then makes the waters unhealthy for the aquatic life, so there has been a decline in the diversity of water species. If the water quality is bad then other things, like insects or bugs don't thrive there either. So, the area around the creek and a few other areas has been allowed to grow without being mowed known as no mow zones in hopes that when it rains, these overgrown areas will help keep the soil from eroding and going into the water.

Professor Art McGarity of Swarthmore College says that using lawn fertilizer, washing cars with phosphate detergents, and other chemicals are contaminating the storm water and can contribute to the polluted creeks. Professor McGarity suggests planting some shrubs around the yard in order to stop the rain from flowing down the storm drains so fast. This way it can permeate into the ground and not into the drains. Also be careful not to put anything down the storm drain like the motor oil that comes from your cars. If it isn't water it doesn't belong down the drain, however only natural water that has not been treated with any chemicals shouldn't go down the drains at all. Water from a pool has chemicals like chlorine that would kill the aquatic life. Also if lawn chemicals must be used, then do so wisely. For example, if it is going to rain, you shouldn’t use the chemicals because they will wash into the storm drains and into the creeks. These are just a few of the simple things we can do to help the situation. For this and any other information visit here.
all photos seen here were taken by J. Woodrow

Context Words

2006-03-05T08:58:00.000-08:00

Community description
Tributary-one body of water that leads into another body of water. Which means that if the water is contaminated then it is going to flow down and effect other parts of the creek. Leading to problems in many areas of the creek.
Protected waters - waters that can not be fish or bath in. This is not only for your own personal safety but also for the safety of the things living in the water. In this case for the fish to reproduce again.
Silting- sand and clay that flows into the water therefore making it contaminated. Once this enters the water it is hard for the living species to live in the water and therefore will die if not cleaned up.
Grass land- area of land that is not built up or on. It is allowed for wild life to grow. Also used to hold the water so that it would pentrate into the ground and wouldn't wash way the sides of the banks.
Aquatic life/water species- the fish, insects, and other life that live in and around the water. They are a part of the life cycle that may not always seem to have an effect on us at least not now but in some way it would trickle down. So that is why it is important to protect it now.

Environmental dilemma
Enviromental dilemna- something that has to do with the earth that is a problem that in some way or form effects everybody negatively. Shows that there is something wrong and that everybody should be concerned about what they are going to do to fix it. Most of the time it was man made problem anyway.
Natural resources - materials that are taken from the ground that are made from mother earth. But that at some point in time will run out and are becoming very costly. So there is a greater need to find other alteratives to fuel that things that we do.
Recycling- reusing the materials over again. To help cut down on wasted materials and because that the supply of materials could run out someday if we are not care today. Which if done right should have a great impact on the earth becasue we will have less pollute air and water.
Virgin materials- raw materials that haven’t been process yet. When precessing these becaue they are raw it is expensive to do so by doing something as simple as recycling the old products cuts down on us having to make new products from these raws matericals and in the end will cut costs.
Consumer- someone who buys the finished products usually for their own person needs. So bring awarness to the people of what they can do to help and by making them smarter about the decisions they make about the products they use and what they are going to do with it when they are done.
Juxtaposition
Juxtaposition-something that you see in the environment that just does not look right. Once more attention is brought to the people then may be as a group we can make it better for the rest. Like in the case of having high voltage lines right outside your side window.
Health/Mental problems- some kind of an illness that causes someone not to be able to perform "normal" behavior or actives. This could make it hard for someone to get around, especially if the person it a child and bring awarness to this situation will hopefully allow for different standards to take place and make life a little bit easier for someone.
Handicap- someone who has an impairment. A person could have a bad leg and can't walk far therefore imparing them from getting around on their own. This leads to dependants on others which causes much stress on the person and any family members that he/she may have.
Handicap parking- spots at a store made for easy assess to the store. And to see how this isn't the case here. And in fact that it is just the opposite. That it actually makes it harder to get into the store. Ideally, it would be in a place that was level and easliy gotten too.
Disable people- group who has a mental or physical impairment. It's important to reckize this group of people to bring attention to them in order to help them get things that will help them to their advantage.

Horse and Carriage
Treatment- the way that the horses are cared for or the lack of good care. Is a big issue with PETA. They believe that the horse are not getting the care that they should be. And that is why horse and carriage shouldn't be used anymore.
Restrictions- limitations to what can be done at any particular time. If these were in place then people would have less to worry about with the animals and both sides could come to a compromise. Because there would be check ups to make sure that everything was being done correctly.
Economy boost-an increase in the areas wealth. If there was any place that could use some help increasing their income then it would be New York. With this boost then more measures could be taken in to make sure that the horse got the correct treatment.
Economic disasters- something that hurts the wealth of an area. It's important that you keep some kind of economy in New York this way people will still want to come there. This way all and any kind of finding wouldn't have to be cut to meet the budget.
New laws- amendments made so that everybody can win the horses will stay and the people with still be safe. Once new laws are made people feel better they usually go out more and with time feel more secure as long as they know that any new law is up held by all sides.

Community map
Drawn to scale- this means that I can not draw so that nothing is the size that it should be. By looking at my map many of the houses are very big and have lot of land. But in fact that is not the case. People here have backyards just not as big as they seem on my map.
Community- the area that I know and the people in this area are the ones that I speak to all the time. This way you know that when I speak of community I am really talking about a small part of where I live that I feel really comfortable in.
Green space- an area were nothing has been built on yet so therefore it is green because of the grass. Here you can see that there is some green spaces and how much we did have until the developments behind my house. But overall we still have a good amount in this area.
Juxtaposition-figures or houses that just don’t fit into the area. I think it's important to see how odd some of these things are. Like the one with the power towers being next to the park and having a house right next to it.
Danger- something that could serious hurt someone. Which in this case is the power towers. They could cause serious damage to the houses and the people around them and that needs to be exposed so everybody knows about it. Afterall some kid could be out in the park one day and something bad could happen to him.

For official definitions click here to go to http://www.dictonary.com/

My Commuinity

2006-02-04T13:14:00.000-08:00

This is my community map. What I would like to say first is that everything that you see here is not drawn to scale. This is just bad drawing on my part. I chose to do a very small part of where I live because to me, my neighborhood is the same as my community. On this map you will find an X where I live. I am on a corner property with houses on each side of me. Each square represents a house. If that square has a letter in it, I know who that person is, which means that I am more likely to have a conversation with them on a day to day basis. Unlike the other people that I don’t know, I may just say "hi" if I see them.

I feel that I have a good community, that nothing bad ever happens around here and I feel safe. But as I look around I now see things that I knew were there but never really-made a connection with them before. For example, on the left hand side of the map, just about in the middle where Yale Ave intersects with Swarthmore Ave, there are these new homes. At first glance they are nice homes but when you take a step back and look at the homes that also surround them these homes do not fit in. They are, to me a Juxtaposition. I feel this way because these homes, when being sold, were worth far more costly then the homes around here cost. They also do not look like any of the other houses in this area. These houses are bigger, newer, and hold no resemblance to the white cement or brink houses that are already here. After all these houses have a yellowish beige color siding to them that makes them stick out much more. But it is not just the color that makes them stick out. They do not fit the design of the area. Most of the homes here are facing the same way and are all in a row. But when looking at these houses you can see that they are not facing directly the way that the others are. One of the houses is farther back then the others, with a longe driveway. In addition these houses have no real backyard. The rest of us who may not have a lot of a yard, but still have some space to move around in.

This is also what has happened to the area in back of me. This area just about 5 years ago was all just greenspace. Then it was bought by builders and now it is a development. Again looking at the houses they are not made or shaped the same. And do not have any real lawn. For some people this is not a problem, but in this case, a majority of the people in this area have kids who really do not have any place to go and play. If they go too far when they are playing, they may wonder onto Swarthmore Ave which is usually busy with cars going up and down it all the time.

Another example of a Juxtaposition is an area also not shown here on my map, but is located right off it in the upper right hand corner. There is a park where at times when I was a kid I used to go play at. It was a small park, nothing really great about it. It has some swings a basketball net and a place to play baseball or whatever else you want to play. But across the street there are power line station towers. They have a fence up with signs saying danger do not enter high voltage, but kids do not really realize what that really means. In fact we used to play baseball and somebody would hit the ball over the fence and that is the only ball that you have, sometimes you would have someone stupid enough to go over, under, and sometimes between were the two doors would come together, to go get the ball back so we could keep playing. So not only is there danger here, but the tower are in a very odd place. There are homes all around this thing. In fact, there is a home right next to it.
Who knows what kind of waves there are beaming off of that thing!
all photos seen here were taken by J.Woodrow

Juxtapositon

2006-01-26T20:12:00.000-08:00

The juxtaposition that I have found is at the place where I work. I work at CVS Pharmacy that is in Springfield Pa. In the parking lot there are handicap parking spots for the disabled people, but these are placed are all the way at the other end of the building. This may not seem to be too far for a person who can walk on there own and who has no health or medical problems. In fact, many people probably do not even notice the fact that the handicap spots are all down there. I know it took me a while to realize it. But the problem is that for someone in a wheel chair, going all this way may be too much for them. Then to make matters worse, there is a bit of an incline that they would have to roll up in order to get into the store. They would have to fight the forces of gravity to get back down to their cars, and there is nothing there to help them by allowing them to hold onto like a railing. So say that you have managed to get up the incline and into the store, well now you have to leave and you are rolling down, you lose control of the wheel chair you would then increase in speed. At the end of the incline there is nothing there that is going to stop you from running off the curb into the parking lot, and down to where you would hit another curb. Or say in the worst case there is a car coming up at the same time you come off the curb and you go right into the car. You could get seriously hurt. Or the car could hit you right on and even throw you some distance. This could happen because few do the speed limit in the parking lot, especially when turning sharp corners. And if you think I've taken this a bit too far, then just consider that a large majority of the people in the wheel chairs are older people who are now handicap. Which means that 9 times out of 10 aren’t in the best physical condition. This is the problem that a few of the handicap people who have come into the store have brought to the stores and my attention. One man is very angry about this because he feels that he is not able to have his independence because he can not get into the store to shop for himself so he must rely on his family to do the shopping for him. This really makes him mad and feel bad because of the unneeded burden that he puts on his family that already has to do so much for him as it is. This is the one thing that he feels that he should be able to do on his own. Can you imagine what it would be look to me completly dependent on someone else?

I find this amazing because in a big corporation like this I expect that there would have been more common sense about where the handicap spots should have gone, especially when there is space in front and closer to the store that would be less of a walk and also be on more even ground. Even if they place these spaces across the way where there are more parking spaces, then people would have to cross the parking lot, but it is not far or as hard of a thing to do. See what they could easily do is in the front there are shrubs and plants planted there. They could easily take these plants and shrubs out and make it into a walk way for people and their wheel chairs. Or if that idea isn’t good, then they could even be on the other side of the building where there are also parking spaces. This area is also a level place as well. Right now there are plants and trees there. I am sure that few, if any, would notice that they are gone. If anything people would just notice that they can’t park in those spots anymore. The point that I am trying to make here is that out of all the parking places in the whole parking lot, their choice was to make the one place that would be the hardest spot to get up and down the place for handicap parking. This is partially bothersome when you look up the rules about having handicap parking and it says that these spaces should be "located the shortest accessible route from adjacent parking to accessible entrance of the building or facility" and this is coming from the government website just by clicking here.

And yet there still is nothing being done. And everybody knows that the people who are in a position to change things around and make it right are aware of the situation and yet they haven't done anything about it. That I think is the worst of it all. The fact that you speak your voice in this day and age and nobody hears you.
all photos seen here were taken by J.Woodrow

Horse and Carriage

2006-01-26T20:07:00.000-08:00

Imagine being in a cab on the busy streets of Manhattan then you look up and to your horror you see a horse drawn carriage coming fast at you with no hopes of stopping. That is the picture that many people want to paint for you when they start talking about the unfortunate accidents that happened in New York City. What these people want to do is make you feel that having horse drawn carriages in New York city has out lasted its use. Especially now with the heavy congestion that the city has, it is too much of a risk, not only for the horses and all the labors, but also for the people who are innocent victims of any mishap that could happen and be even worst then what jsut had happened. Although they may have some very valid points, they seem not to want to compromise for a solution where everyone can win.

The organization of PETA are one of the groups who feel that the horse drawn carriages should be taken off the roads. They feel that the treatment of the horses are unfair. PETA feels that the horses are overloaded and work longer hours then what they should and this is just the start to the unfair treatment of these horses. PETA feels this way because they say that the horses work in any type of weather with out any of the proper protection that they need. The care for the health of the horses are less then adequate. Meaning that the stables that they stay in are not suited very well for them. The people in charge of the care or routine care of the horses while in the stalls isn’t good either. So PETA feels that the best that they can do is to stop using the horses at all. Also to add to their fury is the fact that other places like Las Vegas, Florida, New Mexico, Camden and New Jersey have all stopped using them anymore. And if some of these places with heavy congestion just like New York have stopped then why not New York as well? Click here for information on the subject matter and more

Where as on the other hand there are people who believe that the horse and carriages should stay in the city. After all they were here before the cars were. So they should stay here long after the cars have left. After all the amount of accidents that have happened including a horse and carriage with cars or other things have been only a few isolated events. So some feel that if they put in more restrictions about where they are allowed to go, then there will be no need for the horse and carriages to stop completely. And by more restrictions I mean making an even smaller occurrence or area that they are allowed to go. Some of this can be seen because of the recent events that have happen. They now have put up these gate like structures that would block or enclose the park more. As a result of this so far, there has been a boost in the economy to the point that on a Thursday which is normally slow for the restaurant business in this section was pretty crowded just like it would be if it were a weekend. These gates are like frame doors hung with saffron-colored fabric. This benefits everybody in the area. Because with out these gates the horses may have been stopped and then you would have to think about the economic disasters that this would have created. Like, what would these people do for jobs. Everybody needs a job and this is more then likely the only one that they know. Not to mention what about the people who have to take care of the carriage and maintain it. Also the people that take care of the stables that the horses live in and the people who take care of the horses themselves. Then if you start taking away the horses then what else will there be. Then you start thinking about what else they can start taking away. And then there will be no end to what people will think is dangerous and should be gotten rid of.

I think that the best situation for everybody is to keep the horses there. Just make new laws and regulations that will allow for good care of the horses and less work during the day, and adding more of these gates to help the horses avoid the cars and to strive to keep them inside the park. now if people feel safer then they will want to enjoy themselves more and try and get out a lot more. This usually means that they are going to end up spending money whether they intended to or not it’s just how things end up sometimes. But this means that it would help out the economy and everybody wants to do that.

1st picture of horse was found athttp://www.ciromonacojr.com/blog/2006/01/tragedy-strikes-nyc-horse.html
2nd picture of horse and carriage taken fromhttp://www.beetreetrail.com/sponsoring.html