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community
geography
locating community boundaries
Once
you get below the borough (county) level the different geographic
boundaries can be absolutely dizzying. Depending on the type of information
you are looking for the relevant geographical unit could be anything
from a census tract to a health area. Amazingly, the geographical
unit which seems to be the most important, the neighborhood, is a
complete non-entity as far as geographers are concerned. Neither the
New York City Department of City Planning, nor the Census Bureau officially
recognizes boundaries for NYC's over 200 neighborhoods. The lack of
geographical coherence at the neighborhood/community level can be
a serious obstacle in acquiring data for your specific service area.
In order to find the information you want you will have to rely on
the different types of geographical boundaries that have already been
determined. There are probably over a dozen such distinctions. Here
are the most important:
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census
Below
the county level, the Census Bureau has the following geographical
hierarchy (from largest to smallest):
census
tract (bna) -->
census
block group -->
census block -->
(update on census 2000 block strategy)
For a
more in depth review of census geography, check out the geographic areas reference manual.
Due to
privacy and sampling size concerns, the level at which data is most
readily available is at the census tract level. In New York City census
tracts are typically several square city blocks and can have populations
ranging from 1,500 to 10,000.
Census
tracts are perhaps the most precise geographical units we have access
to. Because they are so small, tracts afford the user a great deal
of specificity in defining custom geographical areas: they can be
used to aggregate anything from borough regions (e.g., the South Bronx)
to neighborhoods (Bedford Park). Census tract definitions can sometiems
be correlated to other geographic boundaries, such as police precincts,
community boards or school districts in order to produce data for
districts that do not exist in the census' own geographical hierarchy.
Unfortunately,
it can be somewhat difficult to figure out which census tracts constitute
your neighborhood. Here are some
ways you can do just that.
Once
you have comprised a list of the census tracts that constitute your
service area, the census website allows you to download
data for just those census tracts. For instructions on how to
do that, click here.
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zip
codes
After
census tracts, the next largest and perhaps most useful geographical
distinction is zip codes. Since the 1980, the census bureau has done
statistical analysis by zip codes. Due to the increased demand for
data analysis at the zip code level, the census bureau is introducing
zip
code tabulation areas (zcta's) for the 2000 census.
These will be approximations of U.S Postal Service zip codes, slightly
adjusted so as to keep all census tracts in tact.
Due to
their mid-level size (bigger than census tracts but often smaller
than neighborhoods) many organizations have found zip codes to be
an indispensable geographic unit. Take a look at the zip code maps
for the five boroughs to find which zip codes make up your area of
interest.
- Brooklyn
The Bronx
Manhattan
Queens
Staten Island
Like
census tracts, the census bureau allows users to download data tabulated
by zip code. Here's how to do it.
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administrative
districts
Different
city agencies have carved the city into districts in order to better
provide their respective services. Most of the agencies also generate
a good deal of useful data that can often be viewed on-line. Here
are some of the most important:
community
districts
Community
Districts delineate the jurisdiction of the local Community Board.
Of all the official administrative districts in the city, community
districts usually correspond most closely to neighborhood boundaries.
To find out which community board represents you, visit the Department of City Planning's New York: A City of Neighborhoods section.
Once you've located the community district(s) you need, it might be
nice to have access to data tabulated by community districts. The same DCP website includes district profiles in PDF format, based mostly on 2000 Census data. The profiles also include various maps and lists of open space, schools and other neighborhood attributes.
More data is available by sub-borough areas, which closely align to community districts, with a few exceptions where two districts are merged into into one sub borough area to increase the population sample size. Data by Sub Borough Areas, which come out every three years in the Housing and Vacancy Survey, can be accessed at NYCHANIS.
police
precincts
Knowing
which police precincts constitute your area is vital, so the NYPD
provides a n index
of precincts. Each precinct's website should have its own precinct
profile, and you can use this feature to help determine which precinct
you belong to.
Knowing your police precincts is merely the first step in an uphill
battle to get information from the NYPD. Here are some tips on acquiring
crime statistics.
school
districts
The New
York City Department of Education divides the city into 34 school
districts (plus seven high school divisions).To find the districts
in your area go to the clickable
school-district map.
The Department
of Education site provides an impressively comprehensive range of
data. For instructions on how to access it, click
here.
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political
districts
city council
There
are at least four different political boundaries in the city, but
for community based organization the most important is probably the
city council.
state assembly
state senate
congressional districts
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