Soundview

In this Issue:

• A message from Advisory Board Chair Gary Hattem
• Coney Island for all
• COMMUTE speaks up for mass transit
• Nurturing new potential in old libraries
• Boosting Church Avenue
• Pratt-seeded workforce program continues expansion
• Political climate change
• Contribute to the Pratt Center

As The New York Times reports, the community-generated proposal to replace the underutilized Sheridan Expressway with parks, affordable housing, commercial space and amenities is gaining momentum. 

Here's a video tour of the community-generated plan, as developed by the Southern Bronx River Watershed Alliance with the support of the Pratt Center. Learn more about the project here. And see Times architecture critic Nicolai Ourossoff's appreciation of the Sheridan plan as one of the leading ideas for "Reinventing America's Cities." 

Click "Read more" to see the video.

The Pratt Center has just released the Transportation Equity Atlas, a collection of downloadable maps showing commuting patterns and the length of rides to work for residents of a dozen low- and moderate-income neighborhoods in New York City, from East Flatbush to East Elmhurst to Washington Heights. The Atlas also shows where workers at major employment centers in the boroughs live, and how they get to work.

The Transportation Equity Atlas arrives just as the MTA announces fare hikes that add to the burden borne by low-income riders, who have already suffered the brunt of recent cutbacks in service.

Based on 2000 U.S. Census data, the Transportation Equity Atlas shows that even when the transit system had more frequent and extensive service, riders in the Atlas neighborhoods endured extremely long commutes to work. For example, more than half of subway riders in Soundview, in the Bronx, had rides of one hour or more.