RBG & Brooklyn

Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Lorie Shaull from the Noun Project


I am mourning the loss of RBG this month, and so grateful for all she did for humanity and women in the US. RBG hailed from Brooklyn and so this post will review some of what I consider makes her hometown great. 

Brooklyn has a diversity of cultures, close knit communities, thriving arts scene, parks, great public schools, a botanical garden, family friendly, Coney Island beach in the middle of NYC, wide range of types of neighborhoods, great pizza, fantastic food of all kinds, all on one island. Not so surprising: 

• NYC Metro area, including Brooklyn, has more museums than any other area in the US at 192 and countless galleries that don’t make that list. 

• It has all the stores in our list, plus maker spaces, independent book stores and independent radio stations.  

• The number of people there who work in the creative class, have gone to live performing arts and visual arts recently is above US averages. 

• It is still a melting pot of cultures and 28% of residents are foreign born, versus 8% US Average  

 
My grandparents lived in the NYC area, so I am biased to know living and aging in the city can be wonderful.  I knew food was a lot less expensive than where I've lived, yet I am surprised to see it’s not just food that is less expensive. 

• While housing and taxes are higher than much of the US; food, medical and transportation costs are less and the total average the average expenditures is 73% of pretax income, the lowest in the US, versus 81% on average in the US for Consumer Expenditures.   

• The number of doctors per 100k of population and life expectancy are higher than US average. 

• Violent and property crime are both lower than US average.

Whether Brooklyn is your pick or not, there is a beautiful summary of RBG’s life in the Atlantic, more details in the NY Times, detailed legal case history on the ACLU and photos of the beautiful tributes to her to admire in the Gaurdian.