Financial District, Battery Park City
have fewest COVID-19 cases in NYC
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
Manhattan’s Financial District, the heart of
America’s economic capital, had just one reported
COVID-19 positive case, the lowest in
all of New York City over a recent 7-day period.
Just 3,011 people live in the district’s ZIP code of 10006,
and the median household income in the upper middle class
neighborhood is $119,274, according to the most recent
Census data. The most recent fi gures from the city’s Health
Department noted that only one COVID-19 case was diagnosed
in the area between March 31 and April 6.
The second-fewest COVID-19 cases reported in the
city during that same period was just to the west of the
Financial District, in the northern segment of Battery Park
City (ZIP code 10282). The community of 4,783 people,
with a median household income of $230,952, had only
two confi rmed virus cases.
In fact, fi ve of the 10 ZIP codes in New York City with
the fewest COVID-19 cases reported between March 31
and April 6 are in Lower Manhattan. The other communities
include another area of the Financial District (ZIP
code 10004, six cases); Tribeca (10007, 11 cases); and the
southern segment of Battery Park City (ZIP code 10280,
11 cases).
Two other Manhattan neighborhoods are in the bottom
PHOTO BY TODD MAISEL
Battery Park City, in the shadow of the Statue of
Liberty, has some of the lowest COVID-19 cases in
New York City.
10 of COVID-19 cases citywide: Roosevelt Island (ZIP
code 10044, six cases) and Lincoln Square (ZIP code
10069, eight cases). Only three areas outside of Manhattan
were in the bottom 10: the Hunters Point section of
Long Island City, Queens (ZIP code 11109, fi ve cases);
Douglaston-Little Neck, Queens (ZIP code 11363, 10
cases) and City Island, Bronx (ZIP code 10464, 12 cases).
The common denominators in all 10 areas? The median
household income in each community is far higher than
the citywide median of $57,782. Just two of the areas in the
top 10 had a median household income below $100,000
(Roosevelt Island, $83,066; City Island, $70,078).
Their populations are also on the smaller scale; of the
10 ZIP codes in the bottom 10, only Roosevelt Island has
more than 10,000 residents.
By contrast, Sunset Park, Brooklyn (ZIP code 11220)
— which had the most new COVID-19 diagnoses in the
city between March 31-April 6, with 336 — has a median
household income of $37,580, about $20,000 less than
the citywide average. The area also is far more populated
by volume, with 99,598 residents — about 33 times the
population of the Financial District ZIP code of 10006.
The other neighborhoods in the top 10 in new COVID
19 cases between March 31-April 6 also have much
higher populations than their Lower Manhattan counterparts
— none of the 10 communities have less than 85,000
residents.
Yet over the last week, 285 New York City residents died
from COVID-19 — a stark reminder that the danger is far
from over, regardless of where you live.
Williams weighs in on Daunte Wright police shooting
while revealing plan to combat summer gun violence
BY DEAN MOSES
The police shooting of Daunte Wright in suburban
Minneapolis on Sunday weighed heavily on Public
Advocate Jumaane Williams’ mind Tuesday as he
announced a summertime effort to combat gun violence
in New York.
Wright, 20, was shot and killed during a traffi c stop
in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. The police offi cer who
pulled the trigger and her chief have since resigned, but
the incident reignited calls across the country for police
reform and an end to racial injustice in law enforcement.
Williams acknowledged the incident Tuesday while
leading a gaggle of fellow elected offi cials and community
activists during a press conference at City Hall Park to
announce a new initiative hoping to combat the wave of
gun violence that the fi ve boroughs experienced last summer
— in which more than 400 shootings occurred in July
and August 2020 alone.
The public advocate stressed that gun violence is not
only an issue at the hands of law enforcement, but also a
problem facing those who live in neighborhoods rife with
gang violence.
“From Brooklyn, to Brooklyn Center in Minneapolis —
we lift up our brother Dante Wright — communities all
across this country that look like the communities that the
people behind me work in, they are sandwiched. They are
sandwiched by gun violence on the street and over policing
and police violence, they are stuck in the middle of that
Attendees held signs and promised it would be the
biggest Summer initiative ever.
screaming and yelling for help and resources,” Williams
said.
In order to combat the storm of bullets that left so many
dead and injured across the city, Williams has partnered
with Community Capacity Development and a host of other
anti-gun violence activists to take a hands-on approach
to gun violence in order to prevent further deaths from
occurring as the weather grows warmer.
According to the Executive Director of Community
Capacity Development K. Bane, various organizations
will be targeting hotspot areas for gun violence, along
with individuals who may engage in fi rearm altercations,
promising to be on hand during public events.
Bane also promised what he calls “cross-coordination,”
an effort that will have preventive groups travel to another
borough when an incident takes place, allowing for more
hands at a single scene.
While Bane said that the organizations he works alongside
are professionally trained in violence interruption and
reduction techniques, he is also calling all New Yorkers to
get involved, from the young to the elderly who can help
aid them throughout the process by keeping them informed
regarding matters in their neighborhoods.
“Public safety can’t happen without the community,”
Bane said.
Williams stressed that police reform alone isn’t the
answer — but that ending gun violence requires a more
holistic approach on various fronts.
“All we are asking is for all of our partners to work
together, come to the table because it is summertime and
you see the pain on people’s faces, the trauma that is going
on as they personally deal with violence in their own lives
and their neighbors’ lives,” Williams said, concluding, “If
it was solely a police problem, it would have been solved
already.”
Schneps Media April 15, 2021 3