Leia, 16, New York
If I ran my city for a day…
If I ran New York for a day…the possibilities are endless, aren’t they? New York is a massive city with a lot of boroughs, there is almost too much that you could do that it may be hard to even begin to pick.
There is not much about New York that I dislike, hence why I am still living here! I live in Brooklyn now and I think part of what attracted me to Brooklyn in the first place was the more “neighborhood” feel it had to it than any neighborhood within Manhattan. Manhattan can be pretty overwhelming sometimes, and it is nice to have it so close and then be able to come back to a quiet apartment in a very cultured neighborhood with people you see every day. I love the idea of community in that sense – seeing the same people every day, having people on your block you can wave at. It really makes you feel like a part of something greater, it helps you feel like you “belong.” I do not know how I would achieve the goal of having everywhere in New York have this sense of community but I know I would like it to somehow happen.
One part of the city I really dislike is 34th street - 23rd street on Broadway (or around that general vicinity). It always really creeps me out, I hate walking around there late at night. It is just completely empty and eerie and there are always really strange groups of people that just stare at you for blocks. To change that I might put something that would attract more activity to that area so it was not so desolate…and not in a good quiet way (like in Tribeca, where it’s pretty quiet in most parts but you do not feel unsafe). Maybe put up a twenty-four hour bodega, even a club…anything to get rid of the unsettling atmosphere that plagues the area. I would probably get rid of all the advertising in Times Square too because it is really ugly, but I never really find myself up there anyway.
I would make it mandatory that you walk fast or refrain from positioning yourself in the most inconvenient spot in the middle of the sidewalk to stop and talk or look around. It is the worst when you are in a rush and you have to dodge five people in a row who are just making themselves huge obstacles. I would also ban pan flute players in the subway. They are the worst and honestly make me cringe every time I hear them. I am all for performing in the subway but the pan flute is NOT OKAY…ever (in my personal opinion).
To improve transportation, I really like how the L train tells you when the next train will be arriving; it saves you from stressing out wondering when the next train will finally come. It is one of the worst feelings (for me, anyway) to just sit there waiting into the dark abyss that is the subway tunnel, impatiently waiting. That notice just helps to put me to ease most of the time. Also I would put more money into fixing up the subway stations, making them cleaner…newer subway cars that have those screens that tell you what subway stops are coming up. Also hopefully I would eventually get rid of the need to make really annoying weekend service changes that make it almost impossible to navigate from point A to point B! I would also add an extra car the G train, just so it wasn’t so short and awkward looking and so you wouldn’t have to run to the middle of the platform to catch it (because if you didn’t catch it in time, you would have to wait another solid 25 minutes).
I feel like the crime situation is handled pretty well…definitely better than many years ago. There’s not all that much you can do at a certain point. I believe that the city is doing a pretty good job at reducing pollution, as far as I’m concerned anyway. Maybe again, improving the subway system even more so that it is unnecessary to use a car or something that creates pollution.
I believe that New York is doing pretty well as of right now and there isn’t much I would change if I ran it for a day. Maybe require every building to have ivy or vines crawling up the walls? Not for any real reason other than the fact it’s pretty 
…But that would be silly!
