[On 2:53 min. to 3:00 min, Eddy Polanco a member from Make the Road New York; speaks about how he moved from Bushwick to Staten Island, NY]
Mayor Bloomberg has championed public transportation. From Select Bus Service to bike share, New Yorkers have more options for getting around than they did in 2002, when he took office. At the same time, the mayor has presided over a real estate boom that has pushed residents of lesser means further from Manhattan and left many with longer commutes.
During Mayor Bloomberg’s three terms, it became especially expensive to rent or buy a home in Manhattan and neighborhoods close to it. Over the last 10 years, most of the growth in commuting to well-paying jobs in Manhattan has occurred in Manhattan itself – and in places like Williamsburg and Greenpoint, Downtown and Brownstone Brooklyn.
That development has pushed some New Yorkers of limited means to neighborhoods further from Manhattan, where most of the jobs are located. And increasing numbers of New Yorkers are traveling within or between the outer boroughs to get to work, often using a Manhattan-centric transportation system that is not well suited to getting them where they need to go.
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