While asthma is a well-documented problem in the South Bronx, a new online data tool shows that Bronx Community Board 1 ranks highest by far in the city for childhood asthma-related visits to emergency departments. The tool also suggests possible ways to mitigate the problem.
Photo courtesy Transportation Alternatives
When it comes to health and safety in the city, factors big and small — from the number of public benches to noise levels to tree canopy — can strongly affect residents’ lives.
A new online tool just released by the nonprofit Transportation Alternatives (TA) in cooperation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) allows New Yorkers to see detailed data about how space is used in their neighborhood — and how some communities struggle constantly with problems that barely register in others.
The searchable web tool, Spatial Equity NYC, has loads of data points showing how the city’s neighborhoods rank in terms of design and use of public space.
The site published some notable findings for the Bronx. For instance, Bronx Community Board 1, which includes Mott Haven, Melrose and Port Morris, ranked highest in the city — by far — for childhood asthma-related visits to the ER.
CB1 averaged 519.2 visits per 10,000 residents, whereas the city average was 173. CB1 far outpaced the next-highest, Manhattan CB11 (East Harlem), which averaged 471.3.
By comparison, childhood asthma visits to the ER were rare in Staten Island CB3, which had the lowest average — only 24.5.
Disparities like these are what the tool is meant to highlight, said Jada Yeboah, the Bronx/Uptown organizer for Transportation Alternatives.
“This isn’t random. There’s a clear lack of investment in Black and brown communities,” Yeboah told the Bronx Times.
‘Everything is connected’
While findings like these may not be surprising, the ability to overlay different data points allows users to see how “everything is connected,”…
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