The Park Bench

Share your own stories about New York's forgotten quarters and discover more viewpoints here.

Every Friday, we discuss, debate and dissect the week’s theme and stories here, on The Park Bench. It’s a place where we take you behind the scenes with our journalists and subjects; where we curate the comments that you post on the site, as well as your longer reflections that you send to us via email. If a story hits home, or you have a fresh perspective you’d like to add, drop us a line here, or get in touch via Twitter and Facebook using the hashtag #ParkBench. (And we’re on Tumblr too!)

Back to the Birds

In this Monday’s piece “On Tract” demographer Moses Gates writes about some of the city’s least inhabited areas, such as North Brother Island. This City Concealed video takes a look at North Brother Island (once home to a tuberculosis treatment center and a rehabilitation facility) today. Dr. Susan Elbin and Liz Craig of the Audubon Society, who serve to observe and protect the decreasing population of Colonial Birds that now inhabit the island, give us a tour.