NEW YORK—More than 9 million people share the city, making health and cleanliness important factors for a living and working environment. With the city now implementing smoking bans, bike lanes, and encouraging healthier eating, The Epoch Times asked New Yorker’s if they feel the city is doing enough to make NYC a healthy place to live and work.
Winslow Corbett, 28, Actress, Brooklyn
I would say that I feel like that they are doing a pretty good job. I lived in New York City for about 10 years and my mother lived in New York during the ‘60s and ’70s. … I live in a neighborhood now where she would never conceive of living. And not only has crime gone down in my neighborhood in the past 10 years but certainly since the ‘70s. But more than just crime, well actually I just moved back to the city from being in Los Angeles for four years and I moved back impart because I feel the sense of community in here is so strong. So if that has to do with cleanliness, yeah I think that is a part of it. I think our parks are so inviting and I love walking everywhere in the city and I feel safe doing it.
Brian Sanders, Sells Mutual Funds, Manhattan
The Hudson (River) has certainly improved. I think Robert F. Kennedy Jr. invested a lot to clean that up. Certainly crime is down a lot so as far as mental health that is very good. However, affordability of living remains a huge problem, which is a burden on people, so that is not healthy. As for pollution, I don'' think New York ranks in the worst of air pollution yet it is not at the top either. The economy overall is stressful so there are a lot of unhealthy factors at play. The truth is even if you arm yourself with information and you read and ask questions it is still difficult to truly figure it out. Because our public leaders are not truly that accessible, they are out raising money, attending fundraisers, [and] in meetings, they are not really in front of the people so it is very, very difficult to know what is happening.
Jenny En, 23, NYU Masters in Public Health, Manhattan
That is a good question. I am actually getting my master’s in public health. In terms of cleanliness I guess, trash is kind of controlled; there is recycling in most places. I think in terms of cleanliness out and about and on the train it is not really taken care of. I think a lot of people get sick from each other just being in New York. I think there can be a lot more done about smoking as well. I know we came out with those laws like not having smoking in the park, but that doesn’t mean anything. I mean there are still people smoking all around. I know it is a hard thing to tackle but I don’t think we should have all these laws and not ever have them implemented.
Ernie Hershey, 32, Online Learning Company, Brooklyn
I would say so. Stuff like the smoking ban, even though I quit smoking about a year ago … I do think it is a good thing even though I personally don’t like it. I think the bike share program will be good. There was something last year about the city lowering or labeling restaurants that use less salt, but I am not sure if that happened and I think it is a bit laughable, but stuff like that shows that they are trying. In general, I do think the city takes care of resources like parks and other things that require or contribute to cleanliness.
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