One City with a Million Stories: Sixth Avenue’s Public Characters and their Effect on Greenwich Village
“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” - Jane Jacobs
New York City is a cosmopolitan city bustling with life and people who give it the rich identity of something unique and unparalleled. Throughout the metropolis lies 12,750 miles of sidewalks, 2,872 blocks of streets, five boroughs with at least 250 neighborhoods, and the population of about 8.4 million people –– each with a story. A story of heartbreak, tragedy, excitement, adventure, or all of the above. These walkways and communities are melting pots of the dynamic and quintessential aspects that feed into New York’s mysterious and diverse ways. New York has a tendency to sneak “up on you and promises that there is always more to see, to hear, to know” (Cadogan 95), and within all four corners of the great city there is one larger story that represents the eccentric and vibrant ways it can pull one in and make them at home. This major story is a culmination of smaller narratives that leads one to realize New York is not one city, but many cities that are diversified and allow “the ubiquitous presence of nonnative bodies” (Cadogan 98). The three million foreign people and immigrants who make up the population of this metropolis bring their culture, lifestyle, and characteristics that help make each block of each sidewalk of each neighborhood something bigger than one’s self. This idea of overlapping identities is just the case on the streets of Greenwich Village, where 160,404 people live. While the stories of these people can range from being a Princeton college professor to an itinerant street vendor selling books, each contribute to the village’s civic strength. Like all other sub-cities in New York there is a compelling history in the core of Sixth Avenue, Greenwich Village –– a history of how police corrupt the vendors by raiding their belongings –– a history of how a single theory can lead to crime and prison –– a history of how one vendor can show one man a different view of the world –– a history of how a dead historian can stir up the past to become equivalent with the present. A history of how we coexist.
The phenomena of the unknown is filled with fear, anxiety, and the suspense of the unrevealed mysteries that could be lying around any corner. These feelings of angst are what street vendors living on Sixth Avenue feel every day. They never know if they will wake up the next morning with thousands of dollars of books missing as well as their life’s work. This scenario is referred to as a “big game” in which police use their power against hopeless vendors to get them off the streets. There are laws that vendors follow regarding boundary limits, property lines, and items they can and cannot sell –– but this is not where the problem lies. Yes, these laws are reasonable and are put into action for the vendors’ and others’ safety, but when no laws are broken, why do police raid the vendors’ books anyway? These people selling books may not have the best clothing or have the most money, but they do a have a permit. This permit is like gold in the vending world because it gives people the power to sell various items to make money. The reason police raid these innocent salesmen is because some people see the vendors as a nuisance or waste of space. They see suspicious men and women at tables with a bunch of old books, but others see the vendors as role models who embrace the beauties of the past. People who live in Greenwich Village are most usually associated with a literary background. With this being said these scholars see the vendors as people who hold on to the hard copies of life, not afraid to spike up a sophisticated conversation at any time. In an article reviewing the topic of police raids in Greenwich Village, Sharon Coello, a regular customer to the vendors says, “I can't say I'd be too happy if I walked down the street and didn't see them. It would hurt my soul, I think.” These vendors have changed the social aroma of the streets and have created a place where paperback books are the new kindle. The police ruffle the feathers of the culture that the vendors have established, and in turn, an uneasy relationship between the people and the force is caused. Whenever one sees a police or security guard, they automatically tense up, become drowned in nerves, and feel as if they have done something wrong. If raids continue, the atmosphere of the village will lead people to become skeptical and unfriendly. These raids will not only have an adverse effect on the neighborhood but also the individual vendors. Messing with the police is never a good thing but when the police mess with one’s passion –– it becomes a literary battle.
Disorder causes chaos. Chaos creates confusion. Confusion destroys the mind. To see something out of place is to see broken glass. It is sharp; it hurts, it was once something sleek turned bleak. This is the “broken windows theory” –– a theory based on a rhetorical description of how disorder can lead to crime within neighborhoods. A quote by Adam Mckee, an associate professor of criminal justice, explains the theory and says, “The theory further posits that the prevalence of disorder creates fear in the minds of citizens who are convinced that the area is unsafe. This withdrawal from the community weakens social controls that previously kept criminals in check. Once this process begins, it feeds itself. Disorder causes crime, and crime causes further disorder and crime.” This article explains that places that are not perfect and do not contain an aesthetically pleasing appearance can cause people to categorize it as dubious. Criminals or others who are involved with violence will see this site and automatically think –– disorder –– creating a rebellious spark. Scholars believe that this theory is separated into a social and physical category that both relate to the theory’s effects on disorder. The social aspect is the neighborhood itself having noisy neighbors, gangs, prostitution, or drug dealing. Mentally, the disorder can be related to fear, weakness, and violence. Seeing things that are out of place or broken trigger an uneasiness inside, causing negative emotions. The physical side refers to seeing things that look bartered with such as broken windows. The stores and places in the neighborhood can also have an effect on the people living there. If the stores in an area are mainly fast food, gas stations, and sketchy stores on the corner of a street, it forces people who live there to associate with them because it is the only resources they have. Poor people are victims to places not being in the best shape, and this turmoil instigates people to turn to crime in hope they can gain money and move out. Mckee argues that “community cohesion is the breakdown of social controls and in turn causes crime.” If there is no social order in a neighborhood, it leads people to become confused in their standings and makes them question the power they have. “Promoting higher levels of informal social control will help residents themselves take control of their neighborhood and prevent serious crime from infiltrating.” Duneier says, “During the time in which I was writing Sidewalk and living in New York, one of the biggest problems of the time was public space. The main question going around was, how are we going to conform this space? It started out with a problem of mass incarceration using the broken windows theory. Duneier noticed that during the time he was writing his book an uprising was going on about space and what to do with it. “Some say the problem is broken windows policing, an approach to law enforcement based on the theory that cracking down on minor crimes helps to prevent major ones. Critics argue that the effect is discriminatory, as police statistically tend to target non-whites”. In Greenwich Village, most of the vendors are African American which makes them targets when a crime has been committed. This theory has changed the way police do their jobs, and from this, it puts innocent people in the jeopardy of being convicted.
Broken windows do not have to remain broken. Mitchell Duneier, a Princeton sociology professor, spent seven years with the vendors on the streets of Greenwich Village to better understand their living and what qualities they brought to the neighborhood. Along the way, he met these intelligent vendors, like Hakim Hasan, and from them, he gained a new perspective of life in the Village. Duneier says, “My experience working as a vendor on the street was very much influenced by Hakim’s understanding of the world. He acted as my intermediary, guide, and person that took me under his wing. Hakim told me so much about the life of the streets and introduced me to all the other people I wrote my book about. Hakim’s opinion taught me about the street in a way that made me understand it better as an intellectual”(Duneier). In his book, Sidewalk, Duneier critiques the streets of Greenwich Village as both a professor and part-time vendor working the scenes. While he ran the tables selling magazines and books, he observed the vendors on the sidewalks and how they influenced the social standings and aroma of the neighborhood. He includes many conversations with the vendors in his book which make him realize that these men and women are scholars who risk their careers to do what they love –– and that is selling literary works of art. Sometimes he would have two-six hour interviews with the vendors at coffee shops or vending tables, and he would even leave recorders with the men or women so he could get their daily lives even when he was not around. “Hakim Hasan is a book vendor and street intellectual” (Duneier) who is an African-American man of forty-two years. He “discusses topics of all kinds, from burning issues of the day to age-old questions” (Duneier). In the metropolitan refugee, the hotspot of Sixth Avenue, Hasan became the main source to Mitchell Duneier’s book, Sidewalk. “Hidden in public space,” the vendors who worked on the avenue engrossed in literature made the village a unique society. Hasan, being part of this community, also became a co-professor with Duneier and taught a ten-week course at the University of Santa Barbara. There he taught twenty kids of different ethnicities the way races and cultures mixed through intense reading. Originally, Hakim Hasan introduced Duneier to Jane Jacob’s term “public characters” to help the professor better understand what it means to be a person selling books on a crowded street in New York City.
A “public character” is one who is engrossed in the ways of living. Jane Jacobs was an urban writer and activist who wrote the book The Life and Death of Great American Cities, which was published in 1961 and “became one of the most influential American texts about the inner workings and failings of cities, inspiring generations of urban planners and activists.” After writing her exquisite book, she became renamed as an “expert” in a new field of places and what makes them fun to live in. This drew attention to her because while people were obsessed with their computers and newfound technology, she was out exploring real life and asking questions no computer could answer. “Jacobs had no professional training in the field of city planning, nor did she hold the title of planner. Instead, she relied on her observations and common sense to show why certain places work, and what can be done to improve those that do not” (Jane Jacobs). She analyzed these places, focusing on the sidewalks, safety, and how these places involved children. Jacobs brought to life these people she called “public figures” and after Hakim Hasan read Jacob's book he referred himself as this term. He led Duneier to read Jacob’s book and understand that the term “public figure” means, “The social structure of sidewalk life hangs partly on what can be called self-appointed public characters. A public character is anyone who is in a frequent contact with a wide circle of people who is sufficiently interested to make himself a public character. A public character need have no special talents or wisdom to fulfill his function--although he often does. He just needs to be present, and there need to be enough of his counterparts. His main qualification is that he is public, that he talks to lots of different people” (Duneier).
In conclusion, sidewalks like art all have a hidden meaning. A meaning that can vary to corruption, crime, people, or new experiences. Mystery sums up the work of Garnette Cadogan, a journalist who contributed to the essays in the book A Non-Stop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas. In his essay “Round and Round: Nonstop Metropolis” (2016), Garnette Cadogan walks the streets of New York through the eyes of an immigrant exploring the hidden treasures that lie around each corner. Within each neighborhood, restaurant, house, person, and sidewalk, Cadogan discovers the diversity and mystery of the “Big Apple.” In order to capture the power of living in New York City, Cadogan cites E.B. White's suggestion that New York City offers “the sense of belonging to something unique, cosmopolitan, mighty and unparalleled” (Cadogan 99). Cadogan expresses in his writing that walking is the gateway to finding hidden historical mysteries because it allows one the first-hand experience to see the ways people have segregated, created, and established themselves in place that fits their personal identity. Cadogan found that, being a man of color, he felt threatened in some places and unsure with his surroundings. At the end of the day, Cadogan saw that “to walk in New York is to discover the city’s joys and annoyances and complications” (99). A city as large and powerful as New York is a swimming pool full of unique cultures, ethnicities, religions, environments, and people who want to make a change in the world. This iconic city shows the art of how entirely different people can coexist in a space where everything is controversial and nobody is alike.
The phenomena of the unknown is filled with fear, anxiety, and the suspense of the unrevealed mysteries that could be lying around any corner. These feelings of angst are what street vendors living on Sixth Avenue feel every day. They never know if they will wake up the next morning with thousands of dollars of books missing as well as their life’s work. This scenario is referred to as a “big game” in which police use their power against hopeless vendors to get them off the streets. There are laws that vendors follow regarding boundary limits, property lines, and items they can and cannot sell –– but this is not where the problem lies. Yes, these laws are reasonable and are put into action for the vendors’ and others’ safety, but when no laws are broken, why do police raid the vendors’ books anyway? These people selling books may not have the best clothing or have the most money, but they do a have a permit. This permit is like gold in the vending world because it gives people the power to sell various items to make money. The reason police raid these innocent salesmen is because some people see the vendors as a nuisance or waste of space. They see suspicious men and women at tables with a bunch of old books, but others see the vendors as role models who embrace the beauties of the past. People who live in Greenwich Village are most usually associated with a literary background. With this being said these scholars see the vendors as people who hold on to the hard copies of life, not afraid to spike up a sophisticated conversation at any time. In an article reviewing the topic of police raids in Greenwich Village, Sharon Coello, a regular customer to the vendors says, “I can't say I'd be too happy if I walked down the street and didn't see them. It would hurt my soul, I think.” These vendors have changed the social aroma of the streets and have created a place where paperback books are the new kindle. The police ruffle the feathers of the culture that the vendors have established, and in turn, an uneasy relationship between the people and the force is caused. Whenever one sees a police or security guard, they automatically tense up, become drowned in nerves, and feel as if they have done something wrong. If raids continue, the atmosphere of the village will lead people to become skeptical and unfriendly. These raids will not only have an adverse effect on the neighborhood but also the individual vendors. Messing with the police is never a good thing but when the police mess with one’s passion –– it becomes a literary battle.
Disorder causes chaos. Chaos creates confusion. Confusion destroys the mind. To see something out of place is to see broken glass. It is sharp; it hurts, it was once something sleek turned bleak. This is the “broken windows theory” –– a theory based on a rhetorical description of how disorder can lead to crime within neighborhoods. A quote by Adam Mckee, an associate professor of criminal justice, explains the theory and says, “The theory further posits that the prevalence of disorder creates fear in the minds of citizens who are convinced that the area is unsafe. This withdrawal from the community weakens social controls that previously kept criminals in check. Once this process begins, it feeds itself. Disorder causes crime, and crime causes further disorder and crime.” This article explains that places that are not perfect and do not contain an aesthetically pleasing appearance can cause people to categorize it as dubious. Criminals or others who are involved with violence will see this site and automatically think –– disorder –– creating a rebellious spark. Scholars believe that this theory is separated into a social and physical category that both relate to the theory’s effects on disorder. The social aspect is the neighborhood itself having noisy neighbors, gangs, prostitution, or drug dealing. Mentally, the disorder can be related to fear, weakness, and violence. Seeing things that are out of place or broken trigger an uneasiness inside, causing negative emotions. The physical side refers to seeing things that look bartered with such as broken windows. The stores and places in the neighborhood can also have an effect on the people living there. If the stores in an area are mainly fast food, gas stations, and sketchy stores on the corner of a street, it forces people who live there to associate with them because it is the only resources they have. Poor people are victims to places not being in the best shape, and this turmoil instigates people to turn to crime in hope they can gain money and move out. Mckee argues that “community cohesion is the breakdown of social controls and in turn causes crime.” If there is no social order in a neighborhood, it leads people to become confused in their standings and makes them question the power they have. “Promoting higher levels of informal social control will help residents themselves take control of their neighborhood and prevent serious crime from infiltrating.” Duneier says, “During the time in which I was writing Sidewalk and living in New York, one of the biggest problems of the time was public space. The main question going around was, how are we going to conform this space? It started out with a problem of mass incarceration using the broken windows theory. Duneier noticed that during the time he was writing his book an uprising was going on about space and what to do with it. “Some say the problem is broken windows policing, an approach to law enforcement based on the theory that cracking down on minor crimes helps to prevent major ones. Critics argue that the effect is discriminatory, as police statistically tend to target non-whites”. In Greenwich Village, most of the vendors are African American which makes them targets when a crime has been committed. This theory has changed the way police do their jobs, and from this, it puts innocent people in the jeopardy of being convicted.
Broken windows do not have to remain broken. Mitchell Duneier, a Princeton sociology professor, spent seven years with the vendors on the streets of Greenwich Village to better understand their living and what qualities they brought to the neighborhood. Along the way, he met these intelligent vendors, like Hakim Hasan, and from them, he gained a new perspective of life in the Village. Duneier says, “My experience working as a vendor on the street was very much influenced by Hakim’s understanding of the world. He acted as my intermediary, guide, and person that took me under his wing. Hakim told me so much about the life of the streets and introduced me to all the other people I wrote my book about. Hakim’s opinion taught me about the street in a way that made me understand it better as an intellectual”(Duneier). In his book, Sidewalk, Duneier critiques the streets of Greenwich Village as both a professor and part-time vendor working the scenes. While he ran the tables selling magazines and books, he observed the vendors on the sidewalks and how they influenced the social standings and aroma of the neighborhood. He includes many conversations with the vendors in his book which make him realize that these men and women are scholars who risk their careers to do what they love –– and that is selling literary works of art. Sometimes he would have two-six hour interviews with the vendors at coffee shops or vending tables, and he would even leave recorders with the men or women so he could get their daily lives even when he was not around. “Hakim Hasan is a book vendor and street intellectual” (Duneier) who is an African-American man of forty-two years. He “discusses topics of all kinds, from burning issues of the day to age-old questions” (Duneier). In the metropolitan refugee, the hotspot of Sixth Avenue, Hasan became the main source to Mitchell Duneier’s book, Sidewalk. “Hidden in public space,” the vendors who worked on the avenue engrossed in literature made the village a unique society. Hasan, being part of this community, also became a co-professor with Duneier and taught a ten-week course at the University of Santa Barbara. There he taught twenty kids of different ethnicities the way races and cultures mixed through intense reading. Originally, Hakim Hasan introduced Duneier to Jane Jacob’s term “public characters” to help the professor better understand what it means to be a person selling books on a crowded street in New York City.
A “public character” is one who is engrossed in the ways of living. Jane Jacobs was an urban writer and activist who wrote the book The Life and Death of Great American Cities, which was published in 1961 and “became one of the most influential American texts about the inner workings and failings of cities, inspiring generations of urban planners and activists.” After writing her exquisite book, she became renamed as an “expert” in a new field of places and what makes them fun to live in. This drew attention to her because while people were obsessed with their computers and newfound technology, she was out exploring real life and asking questions no computer could answer. “Jacobs had no professional training in the field of city planning, nor did she hold the title of planner. Instead, she relied on her observations and common sense to show why certain places work, and what can be done to improve those that do not” (Jane Jacobs). She analyzed these places, focusing on the sidewalks, safety, and how these places involved children. Jacobs brought to life these people she called “public figures” and after Hakim Hasan read Jacob's book he referred himself as this term. He led Duneier to read Jacob’s book and understand that the term “public figure” means, “The social structure of sidewalk life hangs partly on what can be called self-appointed public characters. A public character is anyone who is in a frequent contact with a wide circle of people who is sufficiently interested to make himself a public character. A public character need have no special talents or wisdom to fulfill his function--although he often does. He just needs to be present, and there need to be enough of his counterparts. His main qualification is that he is public, that he talks to lots of different people” (Duneier).
In conclusion, sidewalks like art all have a hidden meaning. A meaning that can vary to corruption, crime, people, or new experiences. Mystery sums up the work of Garnette Cadogan, a journalist who contributed to the essays in the book A Non-Stop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas. In his essay “Round and Round: Nonstop Metropolis” (2016), Garnette Cadogan walks the streets of New York through the eyes of an immigrant exploring the hidden treasures that lie around each corner. Within each neighborhood, restaurant, house, person, and sidewalk, Cadogan discovers the diversity and mystery of the “Big Apple.” In order to capture the power of living in New York City, Cadogan cites E.B. White's suggestion that New York City offers “the sense of belonging to something unique, cosmopolitan, mighty and unparalleled” (Cadogan 99). Cadogan expresses in his writing that walking is the gateway to finding hidden historical mysteries because it allows one the first-hand experience to see the ways people have segregated, created, and established themselves in place that fits their personal identity. Cadogan found that, being a man of color, he felt threatened in some places and unsure with his surroundings. At the end of the day, Cadogan saw that “to walk in New York is to discover the city’s joys and annoyances and complications” (99). A city as large and powerful as New York is a swimming pool full of unique cultures, ethnicities, religions, environments, and people who want to make a change in the world. This iconic city shows the art of how entirely different people can coexist in a space where everything is controversial and nobody is alike.
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