May 15, 2003
Feeling Blue? Could Be Your Neighborhood
Poll Shows Dissatisfaction Runs
Deepest In Bronx
By ERIC WOLFF, Special to the Sun
If life is the proverbial bowl of cherries, the people of the Bronx
say they're in the pits, according to a quality of life survey by the New
School University and the Rauch Foundation.
The poll showed that 64% of Bronx residents believe their quality of life is fair to poor, and that more of them have considered moving in the last year — 49% — than considered staying. The Bronx is the only borough with that distinction.
About half of all residents are satisfied with life in New York City, but people in the Bronx say they are profoundly concerned with crime, poverty, drugs, and a lack of jobs in their borough.
“The Bronx lags on most indicators,” said pollster Craig Charney of Charney Research, the group that conducted the poll. “In a certain sense Freddy Ferrer [the former Bronx borough president] was right, in 2001, that there are two New Yorks, but it looks the Bronx and the rest of the city.”
Compounding those problems, Bronx residents don't believe they're getting good police protection, or that city government really listens to their concerns.
“You go outside, you do nothing wrong, the police come up to you,” said Santana Geraldo, 26. “Then you spend three days in the cooler, where you got nothing.”
Trash strewn-parks, glass-covered sidewalks, and overflowing garbage cans also worry Bronx locals.
Fifteen-year resident Jay Gonzalez echoed a commonly held sentiment: “The South Bronx has been put aside, isolated from the rest of the five.”
“It's not news that there are quality of life issues in the Bronx,” said Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion.
“Unfortunately, perception always lags behind reality. It's hard to shake the legacy of 30 years ago when the Bronx was burning, but the facts are different today and changing for the better.”
Despite the complaints, life in the Bronx is better now than it has been, according to some long-time residents.
“It's better now than 20 years ago. It used to be hell on wheels here,” said Victor Sotonay, who has lived in the Bronx for all of his 69 years.
Most satisfied with life in the city are Brooklynites, who were marginally more satisfied with life in their borough then residents of Queens and Manhattan, and only 27% of whom considered moving since the events of September 11. Brooklynites are particularly proud of their schools and their parks.
“This only confirms what everybody in Brooklyn already knows,” said the borough president, Marty Markowitz. “This is the promised land!”
Queens and Manhattan residents split 50-50 on the quality of life question.
“Both the Bronx and Queens reflect the presence of large immigrant communities — both in the existence of more tension, along racial and ethnic lines, and a somewhat lesser degree of identification with city,” Mr. Charney said.
Racial tension, in particular, mars life in both boroughs, as more than 60% of residents described race relations as “fair” or “poor.”
Despite living at the hub of most public transportation in the city, Manhattanites were the most likely to complain of traffic and noise pollution.
“The results of the survey are consistent with what we've heard from our constituents,” said the Manhattan borough president, C. Virginia Fields. “People are generally pleased with the quality of life in Manhattan.”
Although 600 New Yorkers participated in the survey, there were not enough
respondents in Staten Island for inclusion in the results.
KONRAD FIEDLER IN THE DUMPS — An illegal dumping site
under an overpass on St. Mary's Street and Concord Avenue in the South Bronx.
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