Information AboutManhattan |
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Manhattan is a . Accessed September 4 , 2006 . The borough consists of Manhattan Island, several much smaller islands, and a small section on the mainland adjacent to The Bronx . A commercial, financial, and cultural center of the city, Manhattan has many famous landmarks, tourist attractions, museums, and universities. It is also home to the headquarters of the United Nations and the seat of city government. Manhattan has the largest central business district in the United States, is the site of both the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ , and is the home to the largest number of corporate headquarters in the nation. The name ''Manhattan'' derives from the word Manna-hata, as written in the 1609 logbook of Robert Juet, an officer on '', May 16 , 2004 , accessed April 30 , 2007 . "He could envision what Henry Hudson saw in 1609 as he sailed along Mannahatta, which in the Lenape dialect most likely meant ''island of many hills.''' HISTORY Colonial . The large structure toward the tip of the island is Fort Amsterdam .]] See Also: History of New York City The area that is now Manhattan was long inhabited by the '', September 25 , 1909 , accessed May 1 , 2007 . "This was a vain hope, however, and the conviction must finally have come to the heart of the intrepid adventurer that once again he was foiled in his repeated quest for the northwest passage … On the following day the “Half Moon” let go her anchor inside of Sandy Hook. The week was spent in exploring the bay with a shallop, or small boat, and “they found a good entrance between two headlands” (the Narrows) “and thus entered on the 11th of September into as fine a river as can be found.”" A permanent European presence in New Netherland began in 1624 with the founding of a . It is virtually impossible to make a reasonable comparison of societies, values and price structures dated back to 1626, and 2006. The source warns that data of 1913 and earlier are highly approximative. Besides, the data, which had been tabulated, based on John J. McCusker's article ''How much is that in real money'' (Processing American Antiquarian Society 2001 ISBN 1-929545-01-0) started from 1665—40 years after the time, when the trade was settled. However, these numbers give the feeling of the price paid for Manhattan. In 1647, , 2007 . American Revolution and the early United States 's statue of George Washington in front of Federal Hall , on the site where Washington was inaugurated as the first U.S. President .]] Manhattan was at the heart of the , November 23 , 2005 . Accessed May 18 , 2007 . From Historical Office. Accessed June 9 , 2005 . Based on Fortenbaugh, Robert, ''The Nine Capitals of the United States'', York, PA: Maple Press, 1948. 19th century growth New York grew as an economic center, first as a result of Alexander Hamilton 's policies and practices as the first Secretary Of The Treasury and, later, with the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, which connected the Atlantic port to the vast agricultural markets of the Midwestern United States and Canada . By 1835, New York City had surpassed Philadelphia as the largest city in the United States. '', July 2003. Accessed May 29 , 2007 . "By 1876, landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted and architect Calvert Vaux had transformed the swampy, treeless 50 blocks between Harlem and midtown Manhattan into the first landscaped park in the United States." denounces Tammany as a ferocious tiger killing democracy; the tiger image caught on.]] During the '' by Kevin Baker , '' The New York Times '', October 6 , 2002 . Accessed May 29 , 2007 . "The New York draft riots remain the worst civil disturbance in American history: according to the historian Adrian Cook, 119 people are known to have been killed, mostly rioters or onlookers who got too close when federal troops, brought back from the battlefield to restore order, started shooting." After the Civil War, the rate of immigration from Europe grew steeply, and New York became the first stop for millions seeking a new and better life in the United States, a role acknowledged by the dedication of the '', October 6 , 1987 . Accessed May 19 , 2007 . "The Supreme Court today refused to strip the Statue of Liberty of its status as a New Yorker. The Court, without comment, turned away a move by a two New Jerseyans to claim jurisdiction over the landmark for their state." The new European immigration brought further social upheaval. In a city of tenements packed with poorly paid laborers from dozens of nations, the city was a hotbed of Revolution , Syndicalism , Racketeering , and Unionization . In 1874, the western portion of the present , accessed April 26 , 2007 . The 20th Century towering above the city, 1909 .]] The construction of the Institute for Research on World-Systems. Accessed May 17 , 2007 . "New York, which became the largest city in the world by 1925, beating out London..." On . Accessed May 17 , 2007 . , Chrysler Building behind. 1930 .]] The period between the World Wars saw the election of reformist mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and the fall of Tammany Hall after eighty years of political dominance.2 As the city's demographics stabilized, labor unionization brought new protections and affluence to the working class, the city's government and infrastructure underwent a dramatic overhaul under LaGuardia. Despite the effects of the Great Depression , the 1930s saw the building of some of the world's tallest skyscrapers, including numerous Art Deco masterpieces that are still part of the city's skyline today. Returning ''. Accessed May 29 , 2007 . "In the spring of 1951, the UN moved to its current home along Manhattan's East River." Like many major U.S. cities, New York suffered race riots and population and industrial decline in the 1960s. By the 1970s, the city had gained a reputation as a graffiti-covered, crime-ridden relic of history.'', May 18 , 1995 . Accessed May 29 , 2007 . Skyline, with newly completed Battery Park City , August, 2001 .]] The 1980s saw a rebirth of Wall Street , and the city reclaimed its role at the center of the world-wide financial industry. The 1980s also saw Manhattan at the heart of the AIDS crisis, with Greenwich Village at its epicenter. Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) and AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power (ACT UP) were founded to advocate on behalf of those stricken with the disease. Starting in the 1990s, crime rates dropped drastically and the outflow of population turned around, as the city once again became the destination not only of immigrants from around the world, but of many U.S. citizens seeking to live a cosmopolitan lifestyle that New York City can offer. Modern New York City is familiar to many people around the globe thanks to its popularity as a setting for films and television series. Notable television examples include such award-winning shows as '' Friends '', '' Seinfeld '', '' NYPD Blue '', '' Law & Order '', '' Will & Grace '' and '' Sex And The City ''. GEOGRAPHY See Also: Geography and environment of New York City is visible in the center of this satellite image. Manhattan is bounded by the Hudson River to the west and East River to the east.]] Manhattan Island is bound by the , accessed April 27 , 2007 . "The island is 22.7 square miles (58.8 km&2), 13.4 miles (21.6 kilometers) long and 2.3 miles (3.7 kilometers) wide (at its widest point)." New York County as a whole covers a total area of 33.77 square miles (87.46 km&2), of which 22.96 square miles (59.47 km&2) are land and 10.81 square miles (28.00 km&2) are water. One Manhattan neighborhood is actually contiguous with The Bronx. '', January 26 , 2003 . Accessed May 16 , 2007 . "The building of the Harlem River Ship Canal turned the hill into an island in 1895, but when Spuyten Duyvel Creek on the west was filled in before World War I, the 51 acres became firmly attached to the mainland and the Bronx." Marble Hill is one example of how Manhattan's land has been considerably altered by human intervention. The borough has seen substantial Land Reclamation along its waterfronts since Dutch colonial times, and much of the natural variation in topography has been evened out. Early in the nineteenth century, . Accessed May 17 , 2007 . Manhattan is loosely divided into Downtown , Midtown , and Uptown , with Fifth Avenue dividing Manhattan's east and west sides. Manhattan is connected by the George Washington Bridge and Holland Tunnel and Lincoln Tunnel to New Jersey to the west, and to three New York City boroughs— The Bronx to the northeast and Brooklyn and Queens on Long Island to the east and south. Its only direct connection with the fifth New York City borough is the Staten Island Ferry across New York Harbor, which is free of charge. The ferry terminal is located at Battery Park at its southern tip. It is possible to travel to Staten Island via Brooklyn, using the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge . The is the most notable of many exceptions to the grid, starting at Bowling Green in Lower Manhattan and continuing north into the Bronx at Manhattan's northern tip. In much of Midtown Manhattan, Broadway runs at a diagonal to the grid, creating major named intersections at Herald Square ( Sixth Avenue and 34th Street), Times Square ( Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street) and Columbus Circle ( Eighth Avenue / Central Park West and 59th Street) A consequence of the strict grid plan of most of Manhattan, and the grid's skew of approximately 28.9 degrees, is a phenomenon sometimes referred to as '' Special Feature—City of Stars, accessed September 4 , 2006 . A similar phenomenon occurs with the sunrise in January and December ( January 11 and December 2 in 2006). The , January 1 , 2006 , accessed September 3 , 2006 . ;Adjacent counties
Neighborhoods .]] See Also: Neighborhoods of New York City List of Manhattan neighborhoods Manhattan's many neighborhoods are not named according to any particular convention. Some are geographical (the . Accessed April 26 , 2007 . "Harlem, or Nieuw Haarlem, as it was originally named, was established by the Dutch in 1658 after they took control from Native Americans. They named it after Haarlem, a city in the Netherlands." , on Broadway Avenue between 112th and 113th streets.]] Some neighborhoods, such as , March 1996, accessed April 30 , 2007 . "Although not everyone who lives in the Upper East Side is wealthy, a great many are. According to 1990 census data, over 53 percent of all households boasts income in excess of $50,000 per year, compared to the city total of 27 percent. Over one-third of those households in New York City, who reported incomes of more than $200,000 in 1990 live in the Upper East Side. The area contains only four percent of all households in New York City." Skyline from Brooklyn Promenade]] In Manhattan, ''uptown'' means north (more precisely north-northeast, which is the direction in which the island and its street grid system is oriented) and ''downtown'' means south (south-southwest). Petzold, Charles. " How Far from True North are the Avenues of Manhattan?" , accessed , accessed April 27 , 2007 . "Downtown (below 14th Street) contains Greenwich Village, SoHo, TriBeCa, and the Wall Street financial district."), with ''Midtown'' covering the area in between, though definitions can be rather fluid depending on the situation. , accessed May 1 , 2007 . "Fifth Avenue divides Manhattan into East Side and West Side; street addresses increase with their distance west and east from Fifth Avenue, usually by 100 per block." South of Waverly Place in Manhattan, Fifth Avenue terminates and Broadway becomes the east/west demarcation line. Though the grid does start with 1st Street, just north of Houston Street (pronounced HOW-stin), the grid does not fully take hold until north of 14th Street , where nearly all east-west streets use numeric designations, which increase from south to north to 220th Street, the highest numbered street on the island. Climate in Midtown Manhattan .]] Although located at about the same latitude as the much warmer European cities of Naples and Madrid , Manhattan has a Humid Continental Climate ( Köppen Classification Dfa) resulting from prevailing wind patterns that bring cool air from the interior of the North American continent.6 The city's coastal position keeps temperatures relatively warmer than inland regions during winter, helping to moderate the amount of snow which averages 25 to 35 inches (63.5 to 88.9 cm) each year. New York City has a frost-free period lasting an average of 220 days between seasonal freezes. Spring and Fall in New York City are mild, while summer is very warm and humid, with temperatures of 90 °F (32 °C) or higher recorded from 18 to 25 days on average during the season. The city's longterm climate patterns are affected by the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation , a 70-year-long warming and cooling cycle in the Atlantic that influences the frequency and severity of hurricanes and coastal storms in the region.7 Temperature records have been set as high as 106 °F (41 °C) on July 9 , 1936 and as low as -15 °F (-26 °C) on February 9 , 1934 . These temperatures are not common and have not been matched or surpassed in more than seven decades. Most recently, temperatures have hit 100 degrees as recently as July 2005 and 103 degrees in August 2006, and dropped to just 1 above zero as recently as January 2004. New York can have excessive days of rain or long stretches of dry weather. Summer evening temperatures are exacerbated by the '', February 9 , 2006 . Accessed May 16 , 2007 . "The urban heat island occurrence is particularly pronounced during summer heat waves and at night when wind speeds are low and sea breezes are light. During these times, New York City's air temperatures can rise 7.2 °F higher than in surrounding areas." GOVERNMENT See Also: Government of New York City .]] Since New York City's consolidation in 1898, Manhattan has been governed by the New York City Charter, which has provided for a "strong" . Accessed May 11 , 2007 . "Unlike most cities that employ nonpartisan election systems, New York City has a very strong mayor system and, following the 1989 Charter Amendments, an increasingly powerful City Council." The centralized New York City government is responsible for public education, correctional institutions, libraries, public safety, recreational facilities, sanitation, water supply, and welfare services in Manhattan. .]] The office of . Accessed June 12 , 2006 . .]] Since 1990, the largely-powerless Borough President has acted as an advocate for the borough at the mayoral agencies, the City Council, the New York state government, and corporations. Manhattan's , 2007 . "Scott M. Stringer was sworn in as Manhattan’s 26th Borough President in January of 2006…" , 2007 . "He returned to private life until 1974, when he made the first of eight successful bids for election as District Attorney of New York County." Manhattan has ten City Council members, the third largest contingent among the five boroughs. It also has 12 administrative districts, each served by a local Community Board. Community Boards are representative bodies that field complaints and serve as advocates for local residents. As the host of the . Accessed April 25 , 2007 . "But did you know that the Municipal Building is one of the largest government buildings in the world? Or that more than 28,000 New Yorkers are married here each year?" Politics See Also: Community Boards of Manhattan The Democratic Party holds the majority of public offices. Registered voters of the , accessed April 25 , 2007 . "According to the board's statistics for the total number of registered voters as of the Oct. 22 deadline, there were 1.1 million registered voters in Manhattan, of which 727,071 were Democrats and 132,294 were Republicans, which is a 26.7 percent increase from the 2000 election, when there were 876,120 registered voters." Republicans constitute more than 20% of the electorate only on the Upper East Side and the Financial District . Local party platforms center on affordable housing, education and economic development. Controversial political issues in Manhattan include development, noise, and the cost of housing. No , 2004 . Accessed July 18 , 2006 . Crime See Also: Crime in New York City Starting in the mid-19th century, the United States became a magnet for immigrants seeking to escape poverty in their home countries. After arriving in New York, many new arrivals ended up living in squalor in the slums of the , 2007 . "The Five Points slum was so notorious that it attracted the attention of candidate Abraham Lincoln who visited the area before his Cooper Union Address." The predominantly Irish Five Points Gang was one of the country's first major Organized Crime entities. .]] As Italian immigration grew in the early 1900s, many joined the Irish gangs. '', April 2007. Accessed May 16 , 2007 . from 1920–1933, Prohibition helped create a thriving Black Market in liquor, which the Mafia was quick to capitalize on. New York City experienced a sharp increase in crime during the 1960s and 1970s, with a near fivefold jump in the violent crime rate, from 21.09 per thousand in 1960 to a peak of 102.66 in 1981. Homicides continued to increase in the city as a whole for another decade, with murders recorded by the , October 21 , 2004 . Accessed May 16 , 2007 . Police Car ]] Based on 2005 data, New York City has the lowest crime rate among the ten largest cities in the United States.Zeranski, Todd. NYC Is Safest City as Crime Rises in U.S., FBI Say" . '''', Summer 2006. Accessed May 16 , 2007 . "But to his immense credit (and that of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has backed him), Kelly has maintained the heart of New York’s policing revolution—the now-famous accountability mechanism known as Compstat, a weekly crime-control meeting where top brass grill precinct bosses about every last detail of their command—even as he has refined the department’s ability to analyze and respond to crime trends." Since 1990, crime in Manhattan has plummeted in all categories tracked by the CompStat profile. A borough that saw 503 murders in 1990 has seen a drop of nearly 78% to 111 in 2006. Robbery and burglary are down by more than 80% during the period, and auto theft has been reduced by more than 90%. Overall crime has declined by more than 75% since 1990 in the seven major crime categories tracked by the system, and year-to-date statistics through May 2007 show continuing declines. Patrol Borough Manhattan South — Report Covering the Week of 04/30/2007 Through 05/06/2007 (PDF), CompStat , May 6 , 2007 . Accessed May 16 , 2007 . DEMOGRAPHICS See Also: Demographics of Manhattan See Also: Demographics of New York City According to 2006 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, there are 1,611,581 people, 738,644 households, and 302,105 families residing in Manhattan. As of the 2000 Census, the population density of New York County was 66,940.1/mi&2 (25,849.9/km&2), the highest population density of any county in the United States. "Population Density" , Geographic Information Systems - GIS of Interest. Accessed , accessed April 18 , 2007 . The New York City Department of City Planning projects that Manhattan's population will grow by 289,000 people between 2000 and 2030, an increase of 18.8% over the period, second only to Staten Island., while the rest of the city is projected to grow by 12.7% over the same period. The school-age population is expected to grow 4.4% by 2030, in contrast to a small decline in the city as a whole. The elderly population is forecast to grow by 57.9%, with the borough adding 108,000 persons ages 65 and over, compared to 44.2% growth citywide. New York City Population Projections by Age/Sex & Borough 2000–2030 , New York City Department of City Planning, December 2006. Accessed May 18 , 2007 . In 2000, 56.4% of people living in Manhattan were , accessed April 25 , 2007 .
There were 738,644 households. 25.2% were married couples living together, 12.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 59.1% were non-families. 17.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them. 48% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2 and the average family size was 2.99. Manhattan's population was spread out with 16.8% under the age of 18, 10.2% from 18 to 24, 38.3% from 25 to 44, 22.6% from 45 to 64, and 12.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.9 males. Manhattan is one of the , 2007 . "Per capita personal income in New York County (Manhattan), NY, at $84,591, or 274 percent of the national average, was the highest." The Manhattan ZIP Code 10021, on the , accessed April 27 , 2007 . Lower Manhattan (Manhattan south of '', April 15 , 2005 . Accessed May 11 , 2007 . Manhattan is religiously diverse. The largest religious affiliation is the . Accessed September 10 , 2006 . The borough is also experiencing a baby boom. Since 2000, the number of children under age 5 living in Manhattan grew by more than 32%.Roberts, Sam. "In Surge in Manhattan Toddlers, Rich White Families Lead Way" , '' The New York Times '', March 27 , 2007 . Accessed March 27 , 2007 . LANDMARKS AND ARCHITECTURE See Also: Architecture in New York City housed many of the city's once tallest buildings in the World during the 1800s . The domed topped New York World Building and clocktower topped New York Tribune Building, both later demolshed in the 1950s.]] The '', November 2 , 2000 . Accessed May 15 , 2007 . . Tallest building in the city from 1930 - 1931 4th Tallest 1973 - 2001 today now 2nd.]] The '', June 14 , 1992 . Accessed May 15 , 2007 . . The City's tallest building from 1931 to 1973 . After 9/11 the building then regained its status as the tallest building in the city.]] The former Twin Towers of the . Accessed May 27 , 2007 . See "Project Information" tab for construction schedule. In 1961, , October 13 , 2002 . Accessed May 17 , 2007 . . Once the City's tallest and most famous buildings from 1973 to their destruction in 2001 during 9/11 .]] The theatre district around Broadway at Times Square , New York University , Columbia University , Flatiron Building , the Financial District around Wall Street , Lincoln Center For The Performing Arts , Little Italy , Harlem , the American Museum Of Natural History , Chinatown , and Central Park are all located on this densely populated island. . One of the city's new energy-efficient towers, completed in 2006 .]] The city is a leader in energy-efficient "green" office buildings, such as , April 16 , 2006 . Accessed July 19 , 2006 . Central Park is bordered on the north by West 110th Street , on the west by Eighth Avenue , on the south by West 59th Street , and on the east by Fifth Avenue . Along the park's borders, these streets are usually referred to as , 2006 . While much of the park looks natural, it is almost entirely landscaped and contains several artificial lakes. The construction of Central Park in the 1850s was one of the era's most massive public works projects. Some 20,000 workers crafted the topography to create the English-style pastoral landscape Olmsted and Vaux sought to create. Workers moved nearly 3 million cubic yards of soil and planted more than 270,000 trees and shrubs. Central Park History , Central Park Conservancy. Accessed September 21 , 2006 . 17.8% of the borough, a total of 2,686 acres (10.9 km&2), are devoted to parkland. Almost 70% of Manhattan's space devoted to parks is located outside of Central Park, including 204 playgrounds, 251 Greenstreets, 371 basketball courts and many other amenities. .]] ECONOMY Manhattan is home to some of the nation's most valuable real estate. 450 Park Avenue was sold on '', July 5 , 2007 . Accessed July 5 , 2007 . "On Monday, a 26-year-old, 33-story office building at 450 Park Ave. sold for a stunning $1,589 per square foot, or about $510 million. The price is believed to be the most ever paid for a U.S. office building on a per-square-foot basis. That broke the previous record -- set four weeks earlier -- when 660 Madison Ave. sold for $1,476 a square foot." Manhattan is the economic engine of New York City, with its 2.3 million workers drawn from the entire . Accessed June 25 , 2007 . Its most important economic sector is the finance industry, whose 280,000 workers earned more than half of all the wages paid in the borough. '', March 23 , 2006 . Accessed May 1 , 2007 . New York City is home to the most corporate headquarters of any city in the nation, the overwhelming majority based in Manhattan. Fortune Magazine: New York State and City Home to Most Fortune 500 Companies , , accessed April 26 , 2007 . "Lower Manhattan is the third largest business district in the nation. Prior to September 11th more than 385,000 people were employed there and 85% of those employees used public transportation to commute to work." Seven of the world's top eight global '' Agency Report 2007 Index, published April 25 , 2007 . Accessed June 8 , 2007 . "Madison Avenue" is often used Metonymously to refer to the entire advertising field, after Madison Avenue became identified with the advertising industry after the explosive growth in the area in the 1920s. 2006 statistics showed that the average weekly wages paid to Manhattan workers is $1,453 (excluding bonuses), the highest in the country's 325 largest counties, and the salary growth of 7.8% was the highest among the ten largest counties. Pay in the borough was 85% higher than the $784 pay earned weekly nationwide and nearly double the amount earned by workers in the outer boroughs. Manhattan's workforce is overwhelmingly focused on white collar professions, with manufacturing (39,800 workers) and construction (31,600) accounting for a small fraction of the borough's employment. Average Weekly Wage in Manhattan at $1,453 in Second Quarter 2006 (PDF), '', February 21 , 2007 . Accessed May 18 , 2007 . Historically, this corporate presence has been complemented by many independent retailers, though a recent influx of national chain stores has caused many to lament the creeping homogenization of Manhattan.Stasi, Linda. NY, OH: It's Cleaner, Whiter, Brighter , '' The Village Voice '', September 24 , 1997 . Accessed June 20 , 2007 . CULTURE See Also: Culture of New York City is the center of the city's theater district.]] Manhattan has been the scene of many important American cultural movements. In 1912, about 20,000 workers, a quarter of them women, marched on , accessed April 25 , 2007 . The Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s established the African-American literary canon in the United States. Manhattan's vibrant visual art scene in the 1950s and 1960s was a center of the American Pop Art movement, which gave birth to such giants as Jasper Johns and Roy Lichtenstein . Perhaps no other artist is as associated with the downtown pop art movement of the late 1970s as Andy Warhol , who socialized at clubs like Serendipity 3 and Studio 54 . .]] A popular haven for art, the downtown neighborhood of Department of City Planning press release dated December 20 , 2004 . Accessed May 29 , 2007 . "Some 200 galleries have opened their doors in recent years, making West Chelsea a destination for art lovers from around the City and the world." . Accessed June 19 , 2007 . "James Levine made his Metropolitan Opera debut at the age of 27, conducting Tosca.... Since the mid eighties he has held the role of Artistic Director, and it is under his tenure that the Met has become the most prestigious opera house in the world." Manhattan is also home to some of the most extensive art collections, both contemporary and historical, in the world including the Metropolitan Museum Of Art , the Museum Of Modern Art (MoMA), the Whitney Museum Of American Art , and the Frank Lloyd Wright -designed Guggenheim Museum . .]] Manhattan is the borough most closely associated with New York City by non-residents; even some natives of New York City's outer boroughs will describe a trip to Manhattan as "going to the city".Purdum, Todd S. " POLITICAL MEMO; An Embattled City Hall Moves to Brooklyn" , '' The New York Times '', February 22 , 1992 . Accessed May 9 , 2007 . ""Leaders in all of them fear that recent changes in the City Charter that shifted power from the borough presidents to the City Council have diminished government's recognition of the sense of identity that leads people to say they live in the Bronx, and to describe visiting Manhattan as 'going to the city.'" The borough has a place in several American press release dated February 12 , 1997 . Sports is home to the Knicks, Rangers and Liberty.]] Today, Manhattan is home of the NBA 's New York Knicks and NHL 's New York Rangers , who play their home games at Madison Square Garden , the only major professional sports arena in the borough. The New York Jets proposed a West Side Stadium for their home field, but the proposal was eventually defeated in June 2005, leaving them at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey . was home to the baseball Giants, Yankees and Mets, and both the football Giants and Jets.]] Today, Manhattan is the only borough in New York City that does not have a pro baseball franchise. '', January 5 , 1964 . p. S3.Arnold, Martin. "Ah, Polo Grounds, The Game is Over; Wreckers Begin Demolition for Housing Project", '' The New York Times '', April 11 , 1964 . p. 27. , former home of the New York Yankees]] The first national college-level basketball championship, the , 2007 . Though both of New York City's football teams play today across the , 2007 . The , 2007 . Media Manhattan is served by the major New York City dailies, including '', 2007 . The television industry developed in New York and is a significant employer in the city's economy. The four major American broadcast networks, , accessed May 1 , 2007 . "Heard by over 1.2 million listeners each week, WNYC radio is the largest public radio station in the country and is dedicated to producing broadcasting which extends New York City’s cultural riches to public radio stations nationwide." WBAI , with news and information programming, is one of the few socialist radio stations operating in the United States. The oldest press release dated August 6 , 2006 , accessed April 28 , 2007 . "Public access TV was created in the 1970s to allow ordinary members of the public to make and air their own TV shows—and thereby exercise their free speech. It was first launched in the U.S. in Manhattan July 1st 1971, on the Teleprompter and Sterling Cable systems, now Time Warner Cable." NY1 , Time Warner Cable 's local news channel, is known for its beat coverage of City Hall and state politics. HOUSING In the early days of Manhattan, wood construction and poor access to water supplies left the city vulnerable to fires. In 1776, shortly after the . Accessed April 30 , 2007 . "Some of Washington's advisors suggested burning New York City so that the British would gain little from its capture. This idea was abandoned and Washington withdrew his forces from the city on September 12, 1776. Three days later the British occupied the city and on September 21st, a fire broke out in the Fighting Cocks Tavern. Without the city's firemen present and on duty, the fire quickly spread. A third of the city burnt and 493 houses destroyed." The rise of immigration near the turn of the century left major portions of Manhattan, especially the '', January 3 , 1988 , accessed April 30 , 2007 . "Usually five stories tall and built on a 25-foot lot, their exteriors are hung with fire escapes and the interiors are laid out long and narrow—in fact, the apartments were dubbed railroad flats." By 1929, stricter fire codes and the increased use of elevators in residential buildings, were the impetus behind a new housing code that effectively ended the tenement as a form of new construction, though many tenement buildings survive today on the East Side of the borough. Peter Cooper Village—Stuyvesant Town is a sprawling private residential development on the East Side of Manhattan. One of the most successful of postwar private housing communities, Stuyvesant Town was planned in 1943."Hearing Advances Big Housing Plan; Further Action Due May 19 on Metropolitan Life Project", '' The New York Times '', May 6 , 1943 . p. 36 Its first tenants, two World War II veterans and their families, moved into the first completed building on August 1 , 1947 ."Stuyvesant Town to Get Its First Tenants Today", '' The New York Times '', August 1 , 1947 . p. 19 Stuyvesant Town is a collection of red Brick Apartment Building s with typical Housing Project -style architecture, stretching from First Avenue to Avenue C , between 14th and 20th Streets. It covers about 80 acres of land. Stuyvesant Town has 8,757 apartments and with its sister development Peter Cooper Village they have a combined 110 buildings, 11,250 apartments, and over 25,000 residents. Today, Manhattan offers a wide array of public and private housing options. There were 798,144 housing units in Manhattan as of the 2000 Census, at an average density of 34,756.7/mi&2 (13,421.8/km&2). Only 20.3% of Manhattan residents lived in owner-occupied housing, the second-lowest rate of all counties in the nation, behind The Bronx . INFRASTRUCTURE Transportation , a terminal rail station, and a major city landmark.]] See Also: Transportation in New York City Manhattan is unique in the United States for its intense use of Department of City Planning, April 2006, p. 4. Accessed May 17 , 2007 . "In the year 2000, 88% of workers over 16 years old in the U.S. used a car, truck or van to commute to work, while approximately 5% used public transportation and 3% walked to work.... In Manhattan, the borough with the highest population density (66,940 people/sq mi. in year 2000; 1,564,798 inhabitants) and concentration of business and tourist destinations, only 18% of the working population drove to work in 2000, while 72% used public transportation and 8% walked." According to the 2000 U.S. Census , more than 75% of Manhattan households do not own a car. In 2007, Mayor Bloomberg '', June 8 , 2007 . Accessed June 12 , 2007 . is the primary means of travel in Manhattan.]] The , accessed April 28 , 2007 . "PATH will phase out QuickCard once the SmartLink Fare Card is introduced." Commuter Rail services operating to and from Manhattan are the Long Island Rail Road (which connects Manhattan and other New York City boroughs to Long Island ), the Metro-North Railroad (which connects Manhattan to Westchester County and Southwestern Connecticut) and New Jersey Transit trains to various points in New Jersey. The , accessed May 11 , 2007 . New York's iconic yellow cabs, which number 13,087 city-wide and must have the requisite medallion authorizing the pick up of street hails, are ubiquitous in the borough. About the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission , accessed '', April 29 , 1997 , accessed April 28 , 2007 . "Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani said yesterday that he would eliminate the 50-cent fare on the Staten Island Ferry starting July 4, saying people who live outside Manhattan should not have to pay extra to travel." , a major commuter rail hub in New York City]] The metro region's commuter rail lines converge at , accessed May 17 , 2006 . Amtrak provides inter-city passenger rail service from Penn Station to Boston , Philadelphia , Baltimore and Washington, D.C. ; Upstate New York , New England ; cross-border service to Toronto and Montreal ; and destinations in the South and Midwest. The , 2007 . "The twin-tube tunnel was completed on November 15, 1940. When it opened, it was the largest non-Federal project of its time." President Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first person to drive through it."President the 'First' to Use Midtown Tube; Precedence at Opening Denied Hundreds of Motorists", '' The New York Times '', November 9 , 1940 . p. 19. The '', March 11 , 2007 , accessed April 30 , 2007 . "The list of his accomplishments is astonishing: seven bridges, 15 expressways, 16 parkways, the West Side Highway and the Harlem River Drive…" Manhattan has three public heliports. '', December 10 , 2006 . Accessed April 28 , 2007 . New York has the largest clean-air diesel- press release dated July 1 , 2005 . Accessed July 19 , 2006 . Utilities Gas and electric service is provided by . Accessed May 16 , 2007 . Manhattan, surrounded by two brackish rivers, had a limited supply of fresh water available on the island, which dwindled as the city grew rapidly after the . Accessed September 5 , 2006 . Today, the '', August 10 , 2006 . Accessed May 16 , 2007 . The '', January 28 , 2001 . Accessed May 16 , 2007 . A small amount of trash processed at transfer sites in New Jersey is sometimes incinerated at waste-to-energy facilities. Like New York City, New Jersey and much of Greater New York relies on exporting its trash to far-flung places. EDUCATION See Also: Education in New York City List of colleges and universities in New York City , architects (June 2003)]] Education in Manhattan is provided by a vast number of public and private institutions. Public schools in the borough are operated by the , September 5 , 2006 . Accessed May 11 , 2007 . Some of the best-known New York City public high schools, such as Stuyvesant High School , Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School , High School Of Fashion Industries , Murry Bergtraum High School , Manhattan Center For Science And Mathematics and Hunter College High School , are located in Manhattan. The city also hosts a new hybrid school, Bard High School Early College , which serves students from around the city. Manhattan is home to many of the most prestigious private prep schools in the nation, the most well-known are the elite Brearley School , Chapin School , Collegiate School , Dalton School , and Spence School . The borough is also home to two private schools that are known for being the most diverse in the nation, they are Manhattan Country School and United Nations International School . As of 2003, 52.3% of Manhattan residents over age 25 have a bachelor's degree, the fifth highest of all counties in the country. Percent of People 25 Years and Over Who Have Completed a Bachelor's Degree , '', August 16 , 2006 . Accessed June 6 , 2007 . "In Manhattan, nearly three out of five residents were college graduates and one out of four had advanced degrees, forming one of the highest concentrations of highly educated people in any American city." Manhattan has various colleges and universities including Columbia University , New York University (NYU) and Fordham University . Other schools include The Juilliard School , New York Institute Of Technology , Pace University , Yeshiva University , Cooper Union , The New School , and the Fashion Institute Of Technology , part of the State University Of New York . The , City College Of New York , Hunter College , John Jay College Of Criminal Justice , and the CUNY Graduate Center (graduate studies and doctoral granting institution). The only CUNY community college located in Manhattan is the Borough Of Manhattan Community College . Manhattan is a world center for training and education in medicine and the life sciences.9 The city as a whole receives the second-highest amount of annual funding from the National Institutes Of Health among all U.S. cities10, the bulk of which goes to Manhattan's research institutions, including Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center , Rockefeller University , Mount Sinai School Of Medicine and Weill Cornell Medical College . Manhattan is served by the . Accessed June 6 , 2006 . SEE ALSO REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS ;Manhattan local government and services
;Maps, streets, and neighborhoods
;Historical references |
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