Scavenger Hunt #4, #7, and #8 - Maya Jourieh

4. Reverse commuting is when someone from the city commutes our into a suburban area on a daily basis; hence the term “reverse” given in the term used to describe such a commute, rather than traveling from a suburban area to an urban area (what would be thought of as a normal commute).

A man, who goes by the name of Paul and did not share his last name, from Brooklyn, New York, makes this commute everyday by going to Grand Central Station and using the train to commute to Westchester. He is a professor at Pace University at the Westchester Campus. I asked him a few questions and he seemingly did not mind to travel like this every morning. He, in fact, claimed to enjoy the get away from the city, it allowed him to have a every now and then. He did, however, explain that it is difficult to be working far away from his wife and four daughters.
Another thing I had found interesting but not so surprised about was that he stated to have an apartment right off campus just in case he needed to stay there over night. Such a place to stay does seem necessary, however, when working so far from home.

7. Staten Island seems to be one of the places with a high number of foreclosures, especially the homes of the North and South Shore areas.

A number of the houses in these areas have been foreclosed due to several reasons.
The area had a very depressed vibe to it. There were about six houses in the area that had been foreclosed. I walked into the morbid silence to look around, it wasn’t very pleasant.
Don’t get me wrong, the area is pleasant looking, however, the silence and the closed off houses gave it an eerie vibe.
As eerie as it may have been, I saw a family checking out a house. So it seems, that the area was bringing in business. Business or not, I was, however, curious as to how much these houses were now being sold for after the foreclosures. All the houses were one family houses, pretty big in size, and were detached. Although my curiosity was getting to me, I did not ask the real estate agent.

8. The Department of City Planning creates the zoning laws in New York City. Williamsburg has been one of the many places that have been affected by the zoning changes. The area of the Williamsburg where the water front is located has waste that the city wants to replace with a power plant, however, the community wants to replace it with a park instead.