Warning: This article is not suitable for single adults
Freakonomics comes to Long Island City this week, as a reader of LICtalk emailed us a story about a study which analyzes the ratio of kids aged 5-9 years old to those aged 0-4, in a given neighborhood. The gist of the article tries to explain why:
“…in some city neighborhoods – even those where the sidewalks are full of strollers – backpack-toting kids are scarce. That’s because many urban parents move to the suburbs once their kids are ready to enroll in school.”
We already tackled this topic, albeit from an anecdotal and observational perspective as opposed to a quantitative one, in our Pulitzer Prize winning article “The Culling of the Herd.” So I will just cut to the chase and tell you that LIC came in with the lowest ratio in New York, i.e. the fewest # of 5-9er’s to 0-4’s. So let’s hoist a locally-made nano-brew this long weekend, in celebration of the fact that once again LIC is at the top of the heap. Even if this honor doesn’t really convey much esteem on our neighborhood, we here at LICtalk are always looking for a good excuse to drink another cold one. Enjoy the weekend.
Hey readers, keep those articles, story suggestions, and tips coming. You can reach me at editor@lictalk.com and I promise to get back to everyone in a timely manner. – The Editor
Backpack Vs. Stroller Neighborhoods – “if you’re looking for housing where the neighborhood where housing is hot, follow the strollers, not the backpacks.” And LIC is an “Extreme Stroller Neighborhood”
Two Shot in Queens Strip Club – now this is more up my alley and I wanted to write about it, but publisher trumps editor!
HPS Park South Opens in LIC – yawn, we told you about this on Monday, but Mayor Mike was in da ‘hood today, along w/ the usual cast of local p.r. photo-hogs.
HPS Park heralds New Era for Queens Waterfront – an architectural analysis of the new park
Might LIC Be the Home of the Next Pringles? – read about these two young entrepreneurs and their experience at the previously chronicled Queens Entrepreuner Space
LIC’s 27 on 27th Rentals Fully Leased – proving one again that if you price-em right, they’ll move
Mikey from Queens says
August 29, 2013 at 11:10 amYes, you definitely need to cool it on the kids angle and get back to the racier stuff.
Brooding or Breeding says
August 29, 2013 at 1:22 pmFrom an owner’s perspective, it’s genius. Charge high rents for small spaces in a safe neighborhood where everyone looks like you. Deliberately avoid leaving enough space in local schools or creating enough 3 or 4-bedroom apartments to let people transition to a slightly less profitable-per-sf lifestyle (w/kids getting their own rooms), and–bam!–you’ve become a dreamfactory for suburban transition or a “We’ve turned the office into a junior studio for Timmy!” upper-middle-class-income-but-living-like-a-19th-century-migrant-worker ghetto. Eek that last bit of life out of people before sending them up the river to Westchester! In the meantime, the Dutch Kills portion of Lost In Change (LIC) has become TouristLand or Hotel City where $90-to-$250-a-nighters rule the roost. Next up: An LIC Park and Rideatorium (20,000 parking spots and a rocket shuttle to Times Square!). As the city’s birthrate continues to fall, we can eventually expect to erect a dome or transparent walls around LIC and the tourists from Germany, France, etc. can come to gawk at BreederTown. “Look at those strollers, Dolph! You know their government won’t pay for anything. All these people with the shabby 7′ ‘high’ ceilings and shared media rooms are actually millionaires! Can you believe it?!”
Anonymous says
August 30, 2013 at 8:03 amSounds about right to me.
LIC mom says
September 1, 2013 at 10:40 amShady Park has re-opened, just in time for fall, a period during which we do not need shade!
Z says
September 2, 2013 at 10:03 amThe only timetable that mattered was to have it completed before the one year anniversary of Sandy. No pol wanted to take the heat of having the incompletion as a reminder.