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In 2021, New York City passed some of the most progressive nuclear disarmament legislation of any major city in the United States, supported by local activists from the New York Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (NYCAN). In this essay, two of the people behind this effort share some details of their success with local government as an example of what others can do to bring nuclear abolitionist activism home. They also give a sense of New York's long history as a nuclear city—and as a locus of action for disarmament. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the differences in mental health service use, barriers, and service preferences among 393 low-income housing (LIH) and market-rate housing (MRH) Harlem residents in New York City. One-third (34.6%) endorsed the need for professional support for psychological issues, 27.2% and 15.8% reported using counseling services and psychotropic medication, with no differences between housing types. LIH residents (21.6–38.8%) reported significantly higher use of all types of mental health resources (e.g., websites, anonymous hotlines, self-help tools) compared with MRH residents (16.1–26.4%). Eighty-six percent reported barriers to mental health access, with LIH residents reporting more than double the barriers. Particularly, LIH residents reported greater difficulty getting time off work (34.1% vs. 14%), lack of health insurance (18.7% vs. 9.8%), lack of trust in mental health providers (14.6% vs. 4.7%), and stigma (12.2% vs. 5.1%) compared with MRH residents. Residents most preferred places of services were health clinics and houses of worship; provided by healthcare and mental health providers; and services delivered in-person and phone-based counseling. In contrast, residents least preferred getting support at mental health clinics; from family/friends; and by the Internet. No differences were found between service preferences by housing type. LIH residents reported higher use of mental health services and resources, but they face significantly more barriers to mental health care, suggesting a need to address specific barriers. Preferences for mental health services suggest a need for expanding mental health services to different settings given the low preference for services to be delivered at mental health clinics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Public transportation use is influenced by perceptions of safety. Concerns related to crime on New York City (NYC) transit have risen following NYC's COVID-19 pandemic state of emergency declaration in 2020, leading to declines in subway ridership. In response, the most recent mayoral administration implemented a Subway Safety Plan in 2022. This study aimed to quantify the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Subway Safety Plan on rates of complaints to and arrests by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) Transit Bureau. Methods: Using publicly available data on complaints and arrests, we conducted interrupted time-series analyses using autoregressive integrated moving average models applied to monthly data for the period from September 2018 to August 2023. We estimated changes in the rates of complaints to and arrests by the NYPD Transit Bureau before and after: (1) the COVID-19 pandemic state of emergency declaration (i.e., March 2020), and (2) the announcement of the Subway Safety Plan (i.e., February 2022). We also examined trends by complaint and arrest type as well as changes in proportion of arrests by demographic and geographic groups. Results: After the COVID-19 pandemic declaration, there was an 84% increase (i.e., an absolute increase of 6.07 per 1,000,000 riders, CI 1.42, 10.71) in complaints to the NYPD Transit Bureau, including a 99% increase (0.91 per 1,000,000 riders, CI 0.42, 1.41) in complaints for assault and a 125% increase in complaints for harassment (0.94 per 1,000,000 riders, CI 0.29, 1.60). Following the Subway Safety Plan there was an increase in the rate of arrests for harassment (0.004 per 1,000,000 riders, CI 0.001, 0.007), as well as decreases in the proportion of arrests for individuals racialized as White (− 0.02, CI − 0.04, − 0.01) and proportion of arrests in the borough of Manhattan (− 0.13, CI − 0.17, − 0.09). Conclusions: The increased rates of complaints to the NYPD Transit Bureau following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic remained elevated following the enactment of the Subway Safety Plan. Further evaluation efforts can help identify effective means of promoting safety on public transportation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to identify characteristics surrounding COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and trust in home health workers (HHWs) in New York City. Methods Data were collected from HHWs through focus group sessions conducted via Zoom. We developed a facilitator guide using the 5C Scale, a validated psychometric tool for assessing vaccine hesitancy. We performed qualitative thematic analysis using a combined inductive and deductive approach. Results: Major themes that emerged included the following: conflicting information decreased vaccine confidence; individualized outreach is valued when information gathering; mandates and financial incentives may increase skepticism; low health literacy and conflict in personal relationships are barriers to acceptance; and experiencing a severe infection and fear of exposure at work increase acceptance. Conclusions: Based on our study, personalized yet consistent messaging may be key to reaching hesitant HHWs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to identify the prevalence of substance use before and during COVID-19; and examined its association with depression and social factors among 437 residents from the neighborhood of Harlem in Northern Manhattan, New York City. Over a third of respondents reported using any substance before COVID-19, and initiating/increasing substance use during COVID-19. The most common substances used before COVID-19 and initiated/increased during COVID-19 were smoking (20.8% vs. 18.3%), marijuana (18.8% vs. 15.3%), and vaping (14.2% and 11.4%). The percentages of any hard drug use were 7.3% and 3.4%, respectively. After adjustment, residents with mild (Prevalence Ratio [PR] = 2.86, 95% CI 1.65, 4.92) and moderate (PR = 3.21, 95% CI 1.86, 5.56) symptoms of depression, and housing insecurity (PR = 1.47, 95% CI 1.12, 1.91) had at least a 47% greater probability of initiating and/or increasing substance use. Conversely, respondents with employment insecurity (PR = 0.71, 95% CI 0.57, 0.88) were 29% less likely to report such patterns. No association was found between substance use initiation and/or increase and food insecurity. High prevalence of substance use during COVID-19 may lead residents to turn to substance use as a coping mechanism for psychosocial stressors. Thus, it is essential to provide accessible and culturally sensitive mental health and substance use services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to field tested the "Avoid the Needle" (AtN) intervention to reduce transitions from non-injecting to injecting drug use in two different epidemiological settings. Respondent driven sampling was used to recruit current non-injecting drug users (NIDUs) in Tallinn, Estonia in 2018-19 and in New York City (NYC) in 2019-20. Both persons who had never injected and persons who had previously injected but not in the last 6 months were eligible; a structured interview was administered, a blood sample collected, and the intervention administered by trained interventionists. We recruited 19 non-injectors from Tallinn and 140 from NYC. Participants in Tallinn were younger and had begun using drugs at earlier ages than participants in NYC. The primary drugs used in Tallinn were amphetamine, fentanyl, and opioid analgesics, while in NYC they were heroin, cocaine, speedball, and fentanyl. Six-month follow-up data were obtained from 95% of participants in Tallinn. The study was interrupted by COVID-19 lockdown in NYC, but follow-up data were obtained from 59% of participants. There were minimal transitions to injecting: 1/18 in Tallinn and 0/83 in NYC. There were significant declines in the frequencies of using readily injectable drugs (fentanyl, amphetamine, heroin, cocaine) from baseline to follow-up in both sites (Cochran-Armitage tests for trend, χ2 = 21.3, p < 0.001 for New York City; and χ2 = 3.9, p = 0.048 for Tallinn). Reducing transitions into injecting is a potentially very important method for reducing HIV transmission and other harms of drug use. Further investigation and implementation of AtN type interventions is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Intimate partner violence (IPV) can damage long-term physical and mental health, yet IPV prevalence in New York City (NYC) is unknown. We described prevalence and health correlates of psychological and physical IPV in NYC. Method: The 2018 NYC Community Health Survey, a representative telephone survey among adult residents, asked about lifetime psychological or physical IPV experiences. We estimated age-adjusted physical and psychological prevalence, stratified by demographic variables, and created log-linear multivariable models with 95% CIs to measure the association of each IPV type with health conditions and behaviors. Results: Overall, 10,076 surveys were completed. We excluded responses with missing IPV values. Of 9,945 adults, 16.7% reported ever having experienced psychological IPV; higher prevalence among females (18.6%; CI:17.0–20.2) than males (14.5%; CI:13.1–16.2). Prevalence of not getting needed mental health treatment (PR: 4.5; CI:3.3–6.1) and current depression (PR:2.6 CI:2.1–3.1) was higher among adults who had ever experienced psychological IPV, compared with those who had not. Of 9,964 adults, 9.8% reported ever having experienced physical IPV; higher prevalence among females (12.4%; CI:11.1–13.8) than males (6.8%; CI:5.8–8.0). Prevalence of not getting needed mental health treatment (PR:3.9, CI:2.8–5.4) and current depression (PR:2.6, CI:2.1–3.2) was higher among adults who had ever experienced physical IPV, compared with those who had not. Conclusions: One in six (16.7%) and one in 10 (9.8%) NYC adults reported ever experiencing psychological IPV and ever experiencing physical IPV, respectively. Key implications suggest that IPV potentially underlies public health priority health conditions and behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports findings from a qualitative study of New York City faith leaders' efforts to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their communities during the first two years of the pandemic. Faith leaders were recruited via reputational case sampling to participate in individual, key informant interviews. This study used a social-contextual approach to health promotion by exploring the influence of faith leaders and religious communities on health behaviors. Results suggest that engaged faith leaders worked individually and collaboratively to support the changing physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of their religious communities and those in the surrounding area. This study highlights the importance of faith leaders as supporters, communicators, and advocates, and provides directions for future research on the impact of faith leaders on individuals' experiences and health behaviors during a pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hate crimes generally have severe victim outcomes compared to other crimes, and therefore warrant further investigation. These types of crimes can often happen in neighborhoods where people from various cultures, socioeconomic backgrounds, religions, etc. meet. Understanding how neighborhood tensions impact the level of hate crimes is important in reducing hate crimes and building community. The current study investigates neighborhood level predictors of hate crimes in a borough of New York City (NYC). Using symbolic threat and defended neighborhoods frameworks, we consider how 311 noise complaints and land use rezoning data can be predictors of hate crimes. We use data from the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and NYC Land Use Tax Output. We find that hate crimes are more likely in the neighborhoods where the noise complaints and land use rezoning are higher than the median. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed below. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online videos of subway rats in New York and their media reception are examined in order to observe how they reflect sociocultural attitudes towards these non-human animals. It is argued that regardless of whether a particular video was purposefully staged as a hoax or whether its creators were convinced they were filming "true life," virtually all these materials produce a deeply stereotypical vision of these animals and provide interpretations of their behaviors that conform to deep-seated cultural scripts and prejudices. Contemporary videos contribute to a long-enduring myth about rats that is deeply embedded in Western culture. They complement this myth with a new one that establishes rats as the ultimate urbanites who are granted individuality and extensively anthropomorphized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To identify consequences of unmet housing needs in the period following cancer diagnosis. Qualitative descriptive design. New York City-based cancer patients and survivors (n = 21) who reported experience of unmet housing needs while receiving cancer treatment. Key informants (n = 9) with relevant expertise (e.g. oncology social workers). One-time semi-structured telephone or in-person interviews were conducted with all participants. Inductive thematic coding was conducted using a pragmatic paradigm. Four categories of consequences emerged: 1) cancer management and health (rest and recovery, illness/injury risk, medical care); 2) psychological (stress and anxiety, lack of control and independence, self-esteem/pride, sadness/depression, cancer coping); 3) social (relationships, consequences for others, isolation); and 4) standard of functional living. The simultaneous experience of cancer and unmet housing needs is broadly burdensome. Screening and resources for addressing unmet housing needs must be prioritized to holistically care for patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micromobility vehicles (MMVs) have become increasingly popular, particularly in urban areas where infrastructure has improved in recent years to facilitate their use. The purpose of this study was to observe protected bike lanes in 10 zones of Manhattan, NYC to: (1) describe the MMVs in bike lanes by type, phone and helmet use; and (2) document MMV users' responses to obstructions. Approximately 1 in 4 of all riders (260/998) were wearing a helmet. Fewer than 2% were observed using a phone while moving. Fewer than 9% of Citi Bike users were wearing a helmet. In contrast, over one-third of non-Citi Bike users were wearing a helmet (228 of 670, 34.03%). This difference was determined to be significant by a chi-squared test (a = 0.05) with a p-value less than 0.0001. Of the 988 MMVs observed in this study, 398 (40.28%) were motorized and 590 (59.72%) were non-motorized. A similar proportion of users of motorized riders versus non-motorized vehicles were wearing a helmet (28.14%, 112/398 versus 24.41%, 144/590). A total of 232 riders (23.50%) encountered an obstruction in their bike lane. Of these obstructions in a bike lane, 82.33% (191/232) were a car/vehicle and 17.67% (41/232) was garbage. A large majority of riders (87.93%) reacted by riding into the traffic lane. These findings suggest that further research and local education, enforcement, and legislative efforts are needed to examine and implement best practices in the safe operation of MMVs, decreasing bike lane obstructions, promoting helmet use, and raising awareness of MMV legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New York City faces accelerating inundation risk from sea level rise, subsidence, and increasing storm intensity from natural and anthropogenic causes. Here we calculate a previously unquantified contribution to subsidence from the cumulative mass and downward pressure exerted by the built environment of the city. We enforce that load distribution in a multiphysics finite element model to calculate expected subsidence. Complex surface geology requires multiple rheological soil models to be applied; clay rich soils and artificial fill are calculated to have the highest post‐construction subsidence as compared with more elastic soils. Minimum and maximum calculated building subsidence ranges from 0 to 600 mm depending on soil/rock physical parameters and foundation modes. We compare modeled subsidence and surface geology to observed subsidence rates from satellite data (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar and Global Positioning System). The comparison is complicated because the urban load has accumulated across a much longer period than measured subsidence rates, and there are multiple causes of subsidence. Geodetic measurements show a mean subsidence rate of 1–2 mm/year across the city that is consistent with regional post‐glacial deformation, though we find some areas of significantly greater subsidence rates. Some of this deformation is consistent with internal consolidation of artificial fill and other soft sediment that may be exacerbated by recent building loads, though there are many possible causes. New York is emblematic of growing coastal cities all over the world that are observed to be subsiding (Wu et al., 2022, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL098477), meaning there is a shared global challenge of mitigation against a growing inundation hazard. Plain Language Summary: As coastal cities grow globally, the combination of construction densification and sea level rise imply increasing inundation hazard. The point of the paper is to raise awareness that every additional high‐rise building constructed at coastal, river, or lakefront settings could contribute to future flood risk, and that mitigation strategies may need to be included. The subsidence mapping concept helps to quantify the hazard and adds specificity to soil types and conditions. We present satellite data that show that the city is sinking 1–2 mm/tr with some areas subsiding much faster. Key Points: More than 8 million people live in New York City, which is observed to be sinking 1–2 mm/year, while sea level risesWe calculate the mass of all buildings in New York City and model the subsidence caused by the pressure they exert on the EarthWe show detailed images of observed subsidence in New York City from satellite data [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While health care-associated financial burdens among uninsured individuals are well described, few studies have systematically characterized the array of financial and logistical complications faced by insured individuals with low household incomes. In this mixed methods paper, we conducted 6 focus groups with a total of 55 residents and analyzed programmatic administrative records to characterize the specific financial and logistic barriers faced by residents living in public housing in East and Central Harlem, New York City (NYC). Participants included individuals who enrolled in a municipal community health worker (CHW) program designed to close equity gaps in health and social outcomes. Dedicated health advocates (HAs) were explicitly paired with CHWs to provide health insurance and health care navigational assistance. We describe the needs of 150 residents with reported financial barriers to care, as well as the navigational and advocacy strategies taken by HAs to address them. Finally, we outline state-level policy recommendations to help ameliorate the problems experienced by participants. The model of paired CHW–HAs may be helpful in addressing financial barriers for insured populations with low household income and reducing health disparities in other communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the late 1960's New York State's Urban Development Corporation (UDC), now operating as the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), has been leveraged by New York City government to pursue large-scale projects. This paper examines two cases from New York City in which the city borrowed a state-controlled public authority's power to accomplish projects initiated at the local level: the case of Queens West, a development in western Queens, proposed in the early 1980s, and the case of Columbia - Manhattanville, an expansion of the Columbia University campus into Harlem, announced in 2003. These cases highlight how cities might, at times, embrace state involvement rather than lament its restrictions or rue its indifference. The study concludes by suggesting a theoretical path for incorporating such a city-state dynamic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade, vehicles have been used as weapons to target, kill, and injure pedestrians in cities such as London, New York, and Berlin. In response to these attacks, governments are implementing new policies and physical interventions to securitize pedestrian spaces. A previous wave of urban securitization hardened buildings against explosives delivered by vehicles, but ramming attacks, by using the vehicles themselves as weapons, challenge established ideas about relationships between pedestrians and automobility. In this paper, we explore the conceptual shifts that need to accompany planning and designing for security from vehicle-ramming attacks, as compared to traditional anti-terrorism efforts. Using New York City as a case study, we review the design strategies cities are using to prevent vehicle-ramming attacks, and consider the potential trade-offs between these securitization efforts, contemporary models of street design, and the everyday use of urban public spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is limited evidence regarding the challenges of providing hospice care to those dying at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Objective: To describe the challenges of home hospice care and the specific types of disruptions in care processes experienced by patients and families. Design: Qualitative study of the electronic medical record notes of a large New York City (NYC) home-based primary care program. Setting/Subjects: Subjects were 58 patients referred to hospice who died during the initial NYC COVID-19 surge from March to June 2020. Results: We identified six domains of disruptions in home hospice care: delayed hospice enrollment, inability to conduct home visits, lack of needed supplies, communication failures, strained caregivers, and limitations of telehealth. Conclusions: This study provides a critical first analysis of disruptions in home hospice care that can feasibly be addressed and must be prioritized by hospices throughout the ongoing pandemic and in advance of future emergencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background On 30 January 2020, COVID-19 was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) by the World Health Organization. Almost a month later, on 29 February 2020, the first case in New York City (NYC) was diagnosed. Methods Three hundred sixty persons with COVID-19–like illness were reported to the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) before 29 February, but 37 of these tested negative and 237 were never tested for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Records of 86 persons with confirmed COVID-19 and reported symptom onset prior to 29 February 2020 were reviewed by 4 physician-epidemiologists. Case-patients were classified as possible delayed recognition (PDR) of COVID-19 when upon medical review the reported onset date was believed to reflect the initial symptoms of COVID-19, or insufficient evidence to classify, when the onset could not be determined with confidence. Clinical and epidemiological factors collected by DOHMH and supplemented with emergency department records were analyzed. Results Thirty-nine PDR COVID-19 cases were identified. The majority had severe disease with 69% presenting to an emergency department within 2 weeks of symptom onset. The first PDR COVID-19 case had symptom onset on 28 January 2020. Only 7 of the 39 cases (18%) had traveled internationally within 14 days of onset (none to China). Conclusions COVID-19 was in NYC before being classified as a PHEIC, and eluded surveillance for another month. The delay in recognition limited mitigation efforts; by the time city- and statewide mandates were enacted, 16 and 22 days later, there was already widespread community transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antiretroviral treatment has greatly improved the survival of people living with diagnosed HIV (PLWDH), but little information is available on the time since diagnosis among them. Using New York City HIV surveillance data, we described the trend in the number of years since diagnosis among PLWDH during 2010-2019 and reported the mean, median, and interquartile range (IQR) of years since diagnosis among PLWDH in New York City in 2019, overall and by gender, race and ethnicity, and transmission risk. The median number of years since diagnosis among PLWDH in New York City increased from 10.5 years (IQR, 6.3-15.6) in 2010 to 16.3 years (IQR, 8.9-22.1) in 2019. By gender, transgender people had the shortest time since diagnosis, with a median of 11.4 years (IQR, 5.6-17.9), compared with men (median = 15.2 years; IQR, 8.1-21.6) and women (median, 18.5 years; IQR, 12.0-23.0). By race and ethnicity, non-Hispanic White people had been living with the diagnosis for the longest time (median = 17.4 years; IQR, 9.5-23.5), and Asian/Pacific Islander people had been living with the diagnosis for the shortest time (median = 10.1 years; IQR, 4.7-17.0). With an expected and continuing increase in the number of years since HIV diagnosis among PLWDH, programs that provide treatment and support services will need to be expanded, updated, and improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay introduces the Gotham Book Mart Film File , a bibliographic catalog of film literature published in 1938. The Film File is placed in dialogue with contemporaneous efforts at cultural institutions like the Museum of Modern Art to develop film studies as a field of research. The Gotham Book Mart's catalog functions in numerous ways: generally, it reflects the state of film studies as a developing discipline in 1938; it broadens our understanding of how cultural institutions shape fields of knowledge; and it illustrates how these institutions, large and small, converged in New York's film culture. The essay suggests that bookshops and publishing were as important in the history of the city's cultural life—and in the development of new disciplines like film studies—as libraries, museums, and archives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mandates for prescriber use of prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs), databases tracking controlled substance prescriptions, are associated with reduced opioid analgesic (OA) prescribing but may contribute to care discontinuity and chronic opioid therapy (COT) cycling, or multiple initiations and terminations.Objective: To estimate risks of COT cycling in New York City (NYC) due to the New York State (NYS) PDMP mandate, compared to risks in neighboring New Jersey (NJ) counties.Design: We estimated cycling risk using Prentice, Williams, and Peterson gap-time models adjusted for age, sex, OA dose, payment type, and county population density, using a life-table difference-in-differences design. Failure time was duration between cycles. In a subgroup analysis, we estimated risk among patients receiving high-dose prescriptions. Sensitivity analyses tested robustness to cycle volume considering only first cycles using Cox proportional hazard models.Participants: The cohort included 7604 patients dispensed 12,695 prescriptions.Interventions: The exposure was the August 2013 enactment of the NYS PDMP prescriber use mandate.Main Measures: We used monthly, patient-level data on OA prescriptions dispensed in NYC and NJ between August 2011 and July 2015. We defined COT as three sequential months of prescriptions, permitting 1-month gaps. We defined recurrence as re-initiation of COT after at least 2 months without prescriptions. The exposure was enactment of the PDMP mandate in NYC; NJ was unexposed.Key Results: Enactment of the NYS PDMP mandate was associated with an adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for cycling of 1.01 (95% CI, 0.94-1.08) in NYC. For high-dose prescriptions, the risk was 1.16 (95% CI, 1.01-1.34). Sensitivity analyses estimated an overall risk of 1.01 (95% CI, 0.94-1.11) and high-dose risk of 1.09 (95% CI, 0.91-1.31).Conclusions: The PDMP mandate had no overall effect on COT cycling in NYC but increased cycling risk among patients receiving high-dose opioid prescriptions by 16%, highlighting care discontinuity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aimed to determine whether long-term ambient concentrations of fine particulate matter (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 2.5 μm (PM2.5)) were associated with increased risk of testing positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) among pregnant individuals who were universally screened at delivery and whether socioeconomic status (SES) modified this relationship. We used obstetrical data collected from New-York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York, New York, between March and December 2020, including data on Medicaid use (a proxy for low SES) and COVID-19 test results. We linked estimated 2018–2019 PM2.5 concentrations (300-m resolution) with census-tract–level population density, household size, income, and mobility (as measured by mobile-device use) on the basis of residential address. Analyses included 3,318 individuals; 5% tested positive for COVID-19 at delivery, 8% tested positive during pregnancy, and 48% used Medicaid. Average long-term PM2.5 concentrations were 7.4 (standard deviation, 0.8) μg/m3. In adjusted multilevel logistic regression models, we saw no association between PM2.5 and ever testing positive for COVID-19; however, odds were elevated among those using Medicaid (per 1-μg/m3 increase, odds ratio = 1.6, 95% confidence interval: 1.0, 2.5). Further, while only 22% of those testing positive showed symptoms, 69% of symptomatic individuals used Medicaid. SES, including unmeasured occupational exposures or increased susceptibility to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) due to concurrent social and environmental exposures, may explain the increased odds of testing positive for COVID-19 being confined to vulnerable pregnant individuals using Medicaid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vaccine mandates played a critical role in the success of New York City's COVID-19 response. By relying on evidence as a substantive basis for the mandates and adhering to procedural requirements and precedent, New York City leveraged its position and expertise as a local governmental authority to devise mandatory vaccine policies that withstood numerous legal challenges. New York City's experience highlights the role of municipal government in mounting a meaningful public health response, and the strategies adopted by NYC may provide a blueprint for municipalities around the world facing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the threat of future public health emergencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines how U.S.-American movies stage and convey intercultural encounters. Drawing from the case study of cinematic New York City, it tackles intercultural encounters and spaces emerging from interactions of protagonists that are staged as being 'culturally different'. Theoretical ideas on urban encounters, interculturality, and boundaries are intertwined. A comparative analysis 17 movies reveals three key dimensions of intercultural spaces: boundary drawing, boundary crossing, and boundary commuting. As polysemous staging strategies these provide insight into how movies display everyday intercultural encounters in an urban context. The paper concludes that New York City is imagined as a place in which intercultural encounters are consciously reflected as cultural coexistence—the cinematic city serves as canvas for a culturally separated society. This finding disenchants the medially widespread urban myth of New York City being a harmonious intercultural metropolis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay contributes to work in media geography by bringing the geography of nostalgia into conversation with media nostalgia. Through an analysis of Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel's text, intertextual discourses, location production, and tourism, I demonstrate how TV works to produce nostalgic attachments to places past, intervening materially into the present/future. Specifically, I argue Maisel harnesses affects of nostalgia to produce a discourse of a past New York as "authentic" and filled with creative potentiality in ways that respond to present-day anxieties around a lost, vanishing, and gentrifying New York. Whereas the larger body of scholarship in media studies neglects orientations of place in conceptualizing nostalgia in favor of its more popular associations with a longing for a past time, material objects, or home, Maisel points to how place is an important component of televisual nostalgia. Maisel's production of an "authentic" New York of the past through its realist association with local specificity can be read, on the one hand, as an evacuation of the city's histories of struggle through reclamation of an unproblematized past. On the other hand, however, Maisel also produces elements of nostalgic longing through a "yearning for authenticity" (Zukin, 2010) that can be used to mark the experience of change and the larger social forces at work in that change and open to other possibilities for the future city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abel Ferrara's 1990 film King of New York, and specifically the film's transgressive use of The Plaza Hotel, presents a unique way to see the restructuring of the social and economic order via Pierre Bourdieu's field theory. Contextualizing the New York City landscape as a personification of a capitalist social and economic order from which its characters have literally and metaphorically profited turns King of New York in a cinematic space where differing fields 'battle' for the ultimate prize of control over these fields. With this in mind, we can see through Pierre Bourdieu's field theory how Ferrara reinscribes the relationship between space, social organization, and capitalist economics within the cinematic spaces of the film. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent history of urban public libraries reveals significant changes in the way librarians, city officials, and patrons understood the value of public institutions. Branch libraries in the South Bronx during New York City's financial crisis of the 1970s reveal both the dramatic and seemingly minute developments through which the city shifted toward neoliberalism. This article draws on archives of the New York Public Library and the papers of Local 1930 (The New York Public Library Guild, AFSCME District Council 37). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate socioeconomic factors related to COVID-19 mortality rates in New York City (NYC) to understand the connections between socioeconomic variables, including race and income and the disease. Design/methodology/approach: Using multivariable negative binomial regression, the association between health and mortality disparities related to COVID-19 and socioeconomic conditions is evaluated. The authors obtained ZIP code-level data from the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the US Census Bureau. Findings: This study concludes that the mortality rate rises in areas with a higher proportion of Hispanic and Black residents, whereas areas with higher income rates had lower mortality associated with COVID-19, among over 18,000 confirmed deaths in NYC. Originality/value: The paper highlights the impacts of social, racial and wealth disparities in mortality rates. It brings to focus the importance of targeted policies regarding these disparities to alleviate health inequality among marginalized communities and to reduce disease mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New York City has experienced a boom in elite "luxury" housing development. With large apartments and expansive amenity spaces, luxury buildings offer uncrowded living in an otherwise densely populated landscape. However, making space for these luxuries requires novel engineering, especially high-rise development. This article maps the expanding footprint of luxury real estate in three dimensions, analyzing 943 housing projects built between 2000 and 2020. It assesses how construction of taller buildings with larger footprints increased height and volume of the built environment, and how these landscape changes interact with social changes related to gentrification. On average, new build luxury development increased height by 6.8 stories and more than doubled building volumes. Building heights and volumes are also significantly larger than neighboring structures. The resulting intensification of land investment leads to new kinds of displacements, especially middle class displacement. Vertical development is closely associated with super-gentrification, the further intensification of gentrification processes in already gentrified or otherwise middle class neighborhoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I analyze the emergence of New York City's infrastructure of homeless shelters dialectically, relationally, and historically. The members of Boogie Down Productions met in an incipient New York City homeless shelter in the mid-1980s. Their relationship and music is a window into a critical political consciousness of men living in homeless shelters because the artists gave expression to an emergent structure of feeling of resistance taking hold during intense changes to New York's political economy and its institutions. The paper first analyzes homeless policy and infrastructural change through a reading of archival sources and government reports and documents. The second section understands oral histories conducted with men living in a New York City homeless shelter as blues geographies—insurgent, critical explanations of these institutional spaces. Shelter residents actively challenge the material conditions, relations, and values that produce homeless shelters as essential instruments of the carceral state. I argue that they activate this resistance to the naturalization of shelters, and themselves as homeless, by narrating carceral spaces as abolitionist spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little Island, also known as Pier 55, is a futuristic-looking 2.4-acre public park with performance venues out to the Hudson River in New York City. The project is primarily funded by the media mogul Barry Diller through the Diller–von Furstenberg Family Foundation. The project is part of the Hudson River Park but operates as a tax-exempt non-profit private entity on which the Foundation holds a 20-year lease. During its development process, the project was criticised by many for its controversies; this led to a lawsuit City Club of New York v. Hudson River Park Trust (2015) in the hope of prohibiting the construction of the island. The petition states that the Trust violated the public trust doctrine, State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) and City Environmental Quality Review (CEQR), and the park violates the Hudson River Park Act and its accompanying regulations. The Supreme Court of New York State denied the petition and dismissed the proceeding. In 2017, the project faced another lawsuit, City Club of New York v. United States Army Corps of Engineers (2017), concerning the unlawful construction permit issuance. The New York Southern District Court ruled that the Corps violated the Clean Water Act and the Administrative Procedure Act as it failed to consider the environmental impact of the construction in the estuarine sanctuary, but the issues were resolved subsequently. Despite the victory, the project was terminated but revived again with a pledging deal made by the then New York state governor Andrew Cuomo in 2018. The project is now completed and opened to the public in 2021. Little Island epitomises a compelling private-made-public development in New York City during modern times; its challenges and drawbacks from the legal, community and environmental perspective, including the environmental concerns, regulation violations and the fear of capitalisation on public property, are widely applicable to other developments in New York City and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A systematic assessment of the effect of COVID-19 on the food retail environment—an important determinant of health—has not been conducted. Our objective was to assess the impact of COVID-19 on closures of restaurants, food retail stores, and fresh produce vendors in New York City (NYC). We conducted a cross-sectional study following the peak of COVID-19 in six neighborhoods in NYC. Two Chinese ethnic neighborhoods and four higher/lower resourced comparison neighborhoods were selected a priori based on 14 sociodemographic indicators. The primary outcome was indefinite/temporary closures or absence of food businesses. Of 2720 food businesses identified, produce vendors and restaurants were more likely to close than food retail stores. A higher proportion of food businesses closed in Chinese ethnic neighborhoods vs. comparison neighborhoods. COVID-19 impacted food businesses in six NYC neighborhoods examined in this period, with the greatest effect observed for Chinese ethnic neighborhoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Woody Allen is one of the directors who have worked the most the city on his filmography. New York City is an icon that defines his work. In order to know what the image he has projected of New York is, his urban work has been analyzed in a transversal way. The process consisted of breaking down the feature films into sequences and selecting those fragments of New York urban content. These sequences were analyzed from various perspectives: visual, oral, and narrative. The interpretation of the results leads to the conception of a coherent New York urban identity tale that goes through different stages in the director's filmography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes a troop newspaper entitled The Great Wall created by Chinese American Boy Scouts in New York's Chinatown in the late 1930s. I argue that Chinatown Scouts constructed a counterhegemonic boyhood masculinity through expressions of physical strength, ethnic heritage, and binational allegiances. Although Chinatown Scouts resisted stereotypes of Chinese Americans as feeble and Chinatowns as insular, they stopped short of articulating an alternative to the BSA's masculinist vision. The Boy Scout movement in New York's Chinatown before World War II urges scholars to give greater attention to the intersection of race, gender, and age in Asian American history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to assess the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) school-related information New York City residents sought through the 311 Call Center. July to November inquiries were downloaded from the NYC Open Data website for 2018–2020. Calls were categorized as related to "Schools", "Access", "Food", "Hospitals", "Transportation", and "Unemployment". Overall call types, and among school-related calls, detailed call types, were compared over the years, using chi-squared tests. School-related inquiries increased by 71% from 2018 to 2020. During 2020, the most common (49%, n = 22,471) call description was "Coronavirus and Schools", encompassing calls about learning options, safety, and resources. Spikes in these calls corresponded to official announcements, including those about Fall reopening plans (August 31: n = 678; September 1: n = 624) and schedules and staffing (September 16th: n = 1043; September 17th: n = 713), and after the start of in-person learning (September 21: n = 680). This study demonstrates that as government officials updated NYC schooling plans for Fall 2020, there were increased concerns among NYC residents. Future COVID-19 schooling changes need to be conveyed clearly and disseminated effectively in order to avoid confusion about NYC's pandemic learning strategy and to address health and safety concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]