So, what do you do when you have too many people and too little space?

New York City, like many of the world’s large cities, has that problem. More than eight million people live in New York. Manhattan, one of five boroughs (an area or region of the city) in New York, is one of the densest (many people living close together) city areas in the world. There are more than 69,000 people per square mile (about 26,500 per square kilometer) in Manhattan.

The biggest problem, according to New York’s mayor, is that “there are about 1.8 million one- and two-person households (people who live together in one house)” in New York. “But there are only about 1 million studio (small one-room apartment) and one-bedroom apartments.”

Early in 2012, the mayor introduced a novel (unusual or interesting) solution to the problem. He called on (asked) building designers to submit designs (give a plan) for an apartment building made up of “micro” (very small) apartments. They could have no more than 300 square feet (about 34 square meters) of floor space. Previously (before this), the building codes (rules) for New York required apartments to be at least 450 square feet (about 42 square meters). The average studio apartment in New York is about 550 square feet (52 square meters) and the average one-bedroom apartment is about 750 square feet (70 square meters).

In January, the city announced the winning design, called “My Micro NY.” The New York Times reports that the apartments have “all the amenities (things that make a place comfortable or easy to live in)” of modern life – a bathroom large enough for wheelchair users, a “full kitchen, space for entertaining, access (ability to use) to a gym, lounge (room for relaxing), front and back porches (outside area with a roof), and a rooftop garden.”

The apartment building uses a modular design – each apartment, or module (parts that can be put together to make a larger object), is a complete unit that is combined (put together) with other modules to create the apartment building. Some say the design reminds them of Legos, the popular children’s construction toy. Each apartment is built in a factory and brought to the building site (location) by truck.

Each apartment consists of two parts – a “toolbox” which includes a bathroom, kitchen, a table that folds down when it isn’t being used, and a storage space near the ceiling. The second part, the “canvas,” is an area that can be used in different ways – as a bedroom, living room, or study (home office) – during different times of the day. To make the living space easier to change, the apartments use Murphy beds, which fold up into the wall when not being used. And to make the apartments seem larger, the ceilings are higher than usual.

The first apartment building will include 55 modules that are stacked (put one on top of another) to create a ten-story apartment building. Forty percent of the apartments will rent for less than $1,000 per month (the average studio apartment in New York rents for about $2,000 per month) so people with lower incomes can afford (be able to pay for) them. The rest will rent for less than $2,000 per month. The city hopes to complete the first apartment building by the end of 2013.

Anyone interested in a new apartment? You can see photos and plans of the apartments here (use the arrows to move from photo to photo).

~ Warren Ediger – English coach/tutor and creator of Successful English, where you can find clear explanations and practical suggestions for better English.

Photo © City of New York

Getting official permission to move to the United States ranges from fairly easy for some countries to nearly impossible for others. But if you have $1,000,000 to spare (extra; to spend), you may have a shortcut (an easier way) to getting a green card (the permanent resident status that allows you live and work in the U.S.).

In 1990, the United States government created an immigration program called the Immigrant Investment Program to try to stimulate (encourage more activity in) the economy through foreign investment (for people in other countries to spend money here with the expectation of earning even more money).

Starting in 1992, foreigners (people from another country) can get an EB-5 visa conditional (can be continued if certain things are completed or certain goals met) green card if they start a business with a minimum (at least) investment of $1,000,000, or $500,00 in high unemployment (with many people without jobs) or rural (in the countryside; not the cities) areas. You can also get a EB-5 visa if you take over (buy and operate) a troubled company, one that is failing and where people have been fired (told to leave their jobs) or are likely to be fired soon.

The EB-5 visa is conditional because the new business (or the troubled one) must “[c]reate or preserve (keep) at least 10 full-time jobs for qualifying U.S. workers within two years (or under certain circumstances, within a reasonable time after the two-year period) of the immigrant investor’s admission (entrance) to the United States as a Conditional Permanent Resident.” If this condition is met, then you can become a permanent resident, which allows you to eventually apply for U.S. citizenship (official status as a member of a country).

I had never heard of this “new” visa until I recently read an article in the Los Angeles Times about the growing demand (increased popularity of) these visas, mainly from Chinese investors. Unfortunately, this demand has also resulted in cases of fraud (doing something deceptive or wrong to make money), where investors entrust (giving something valuable to someone to keep for you or to do something with it) large investments to people who steal that money.

If you have a $1,000,000 or even $500,000 to spare and want to get a conditional green card to the United States, you can read up on the program here. But to avoid scams (efforts to cheat people), you may also want to take a look at this L.A. Times article.

How does someone become a legal resident where you live? Are there programs such the Immigrant Investment Program in other countries?

~ Lucy

Photo Credit: United States Citizenship and Immigrant Services website

L.A. is number one! L.A. is number one!

People living in Los Angeles often boast (brag; tell others how great they are) about the good things in this city: the beaches, the weather, and the interesting sites.

Well, there are benefits to living in Los Angeles, but there are many drawbacks (negative things). One of them is traffic.

In a recent annual (yearly) report on the most congested (blocked; difficult to move around in) cities in the United States, Los Angeles is number 1 — again.  While Los Angeles has topped (been at the top of) the list before, Honolulu, Hawaii, topped the list last year. But L.A. has that dubious honor (having being selected for something that one doesn’t want) again.

According to the report, L.A. drivers spent an average of 59 hours sitting in traffic in 2012. On Friday afternoons when the traffic is at its worst, drivers take an average of one hour to get home.

It’s true that L.A. shares these “honors” with other California cities. San Francisco is third on the list and San Diego, a city about a two-hour drive south of L.A., is seventh on the list.

Unfortunately, traffic is expected to get worse as we go through 2013. This is, of course, bad news, but there is a silver lining (something good resulting from something bad). A major reason for the worsening (getting worse) traffic is that employment (how many people have jobs) is going up. As jobs get added, more people travel on L.A. roads to get to and from work.

You may be saying to yourself, “Why don’t Angelinos (people living in Los Angeles) use more public transportation (such as buses, trains, subways)?” The city IS trying to make strides in (improve) public transportation options. However, part of the problem is inherent in (part of the basic nature of) the geography of the city of Los Angeles.

The city of Los Angeles is about 500 square miles (1,300 square kilometers), but the larger area where people live and commute from (travel to and from work from) — the county of Los Angeles — is approximately 4,000 square miles (10,000 square kilometers). In contrast (showing the difference), for example, the city of Paris, France, is about 40 square miles (100 square kilometers) and the larger Paris urban area is about 1,000 square miles (2,800 square kilometers).

How do you create a public transportation system that encompasses (includes in area) the entire Los Angeles area?

Okay, enough about L.A. Are there transit (transportation) problems in the city where you live? What are some proposed solutions? How do people cope with (live with) these problems?

~ Lucy

* The title of this post is a play on (a version of) some lyrics (words in a song) of a 1988 song called “Walking in L.A.” by the Missing Persons that goes:

Walking in L.A.
Walking in L.A.
Nobody walks in L.A.

Graphic Credit: Socalfreewaysystemwiki from Wikipedia 

Seedfolks, a book by Paul Fleischman, was always a hit (very popular) with my adult ESL students. Here’s how the publisher describes it:

A vacant lot (empty property), rat-infested (full of rats) and filled with garbage, looked like no place for a garden. Especially to a neighborhood of strangers where no one seems to care. Until one day, a young girl clears a small space and digs into the hard-packed soil to plant her precious bean seeds. Suddenly, the soil holds promise (feeling that something good will happen): To Curtis, who believes he can win back Lateesha’s heart with a harvest of tomatoes; to Virgil’s dad, who sees a fortune (a lot of money) to be made from growing lettuce; and even to Maricela, sixteen and pregnant, wishing she were dead.

Thirteen very different voices — old, young, Haitian, Hispanic, tough, haunted (worried and frightened), and hopeful — tell one amazing story about a garden that transforms (dramatically changes) a neighborhood.

Community gardens, like the one described in Seedfolks, are growing in popularity. A community garden, according to the American Community Gardening Association is simply “any piece of land gardened by a group of people…. It can be urban (in the city), suburban (away from the city center), or rural (outside of the city). It can grow flowers, vegetables, or community (feeling of good relationships among people).”

Most community gardens have been created to make it possible for gardeners to grow food. Others have helped restore (return) beauty to blighted (ugly, rundown, ignored) neighborhoods or add beauty to existing neighborhood parks. But the recreation (pleasure), exercise, therapy, and education gardeners receive from the experience may be the greatest benefit of all. A city in California is counting on (depending on, especially in a difficult situation) these benefits to help members of its community.

Fresno is the largest city in California’s Central Valley, which is filled with farms, dairies (a farm that produces milk), and orchards (a place where fruit trees are grown). More than half of Fresno’s population is made up of minority groups of people. Most of these are immigrants. Many are refugees, people who have left their countries to escape dangerous or difficult situations.

The city of Fresno, with help from the state government, has created seven community gardens for these people. A recent New York Times article reports that community leaders believe the gardens can encourage and help these people, especially older ones, recover from their experiences. Older immigrants are often isolated (feeling alone and not able to meet or speak to other people) by language and poverty and experience depression and stress. Are these gardens helping? The gardeners interviewed by the Times say “yes.”

Mee Yang, a 65-year-old Hmong refugee from Vietnam, told the Times that she suffered from diabetes and depression and worried that she wouldn’t have enough money to live on. The garden “is my happiness,” she says. “You feel the world in this place, and it brings you back home.” Arminder Sing, a young Indian gardner who used to be a gang member, says his grandfather and the other older men encourage him and make him feel stronger as they work side by side. And Lee Lee, another Hmong refugee, says that working in the garden “lightens the load” and “brings peace, so I do not forget who I am.”

Are there community gardens where you live? Have you ever helped with one?

If you want a first-hand (personal) community gardening experience, read Seedfolks. Share the experience with Curtis, Lateesha, Virgil, Maricela, and the others. You’ll be glad you did. It’s especially good for intermediate-level readers.

~ Warren Ediger – English tutor/coach and creator of the Successful English web site.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

In the late ’90s, there was a popular comedy show host who would ask his celebrity (famous) guests (people invited to appear on the show) five questions at the end of his show. The questions were usually funny or related somehow to the guests’ lives.

In that same spirit (with that similar idea), I am going to ask you five questions about American life. Of course, I’m not a comedy host and none of us are celebrities, but we can still see how we do and perhaps learn a little in the process (as we are doing it).

1. Which U.S. city has the highest (biggest) population?
A. Chicago, Illinois
B. Denver, Colorado
C. New York, New York
D. Los Angeles, California

2. What percentage of Americans engage in (participate in; do) community service (helping others in your area without being paid)?
A. 10%
B. 20%
C. 50%
D. 70%

3. What percentage of American baseball players were born in another country?
A. 5%
B. 12%
C. 28%
D. 39%

4. In what year was the first Thanksgiving?
A. 1492
B. 1621
C. 1776
D. 1865

5. At the end of the twentieth century, how old were most Americans when they married?
A. 18-23
B. 24-29
C. 30-35
D. 35-40

Answers:
1. C – New York City, with more than 8 million people. Los Angeles is second with 3.8 million, followed by Chicago at 2.7 million, Houston at 2.1 million, and Philadelphia at 1.5 million. Denver, Colorado has only 619,000 people, but it is the “highest” of the choices in terms of altitude (distance above sea level), at more than 5,130 feet (1,731 m).

Some people might say that Berkeley, California, has the highest population, but that is a different definition of “high” (the result of taking drugs such as marijuana).

2. C – 50%. In some families and communities, helping others who live in the local (nearby) area is considered one of your duties (obligations; requirements) as a good citizen. Community service can include anything from teaching children how to play sports to helping feed people who are without food. There is a strong tradition of private and religious community service in the U.S., in addition to opportunities to work in government-organized groups.

3. C – 28%. Over the past 30 years, more and more professional (paid) baseball players have come to play in the United States, mostly from Latin America (especially the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Venezuela) and from Asia (Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea). In 2013, there were 241 players from 15 different countries and territories playing in Major League Baseball (the professional organization for baseball in the U.S.).

4. B – 1621. The first Thanksgiving was in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The other possible answers for this question are also years important to American history: 1492 was the year Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas; 1776 was the beginning of the American Revolution; and 1865 was the end of the U.S. Civil War.

5. B – 24-29. Americans, like people in other countries, now get married at a later and later age. Men marry at a slightly older age (average: 28.7) than women (average: 26.5). Since I am slow in everything I do in life, I didn’t marry until I was 33.

So how did you do on today’s Five Questions?

~Jeff

Image Credit: Flag of the United States, Wikipedia