Prospect, Crown Heights Has Fourth Worst Asthma Rates Citywide: Data

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — Two of Brooklyn's most popular neighborhoods are at the top of another city-wide list.

Unfortunately, the list is for asthma rates.

According to "Spatial Equity NYC," a new online tool released this week by the advocacy group Transportation Alternatives and the Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brooklyn Community Board 8, which includes Prospect Heights and northern Crown Heights, has the fourth worst asthma rates citywide.

The website helps users explore various measurements of spacial equity, like traffic deaths, noise pollution, tree cover, average surface temperature and air quality.

Users can explore by community board or Council district how their neighborhood stacks up.

Some of Community Board 8's other below-average rankings include protected bike lanes (at 0%, though it remains uncertain if Eastern Parkway is included), traffic injuries (ranked 12th out of 59 community boards), bus speeds (33rd out of 59) and number of dedicated bus lanes (20th out of 59).

CB8 also shined in other categories, like percent of residents who live walking distance to a park (94%), traffic, bike parking (ninth out of 59) and tree canopy (21.1% covered).

While much of the data is already available through the city's Open Data portal, the new site places many important measure together with visual representation for the first time.

"Spatial inequity impacts the way we move, breathe, and survive in our city," said City Comptroller Brad Lander in a statement accompanying the website's release.

"This data shows how critical it is to expand our protected bike lanes, grow our tree canopies, and extend our dedicated bus ways to ensure our city’s built environment is more just and equitable," he added.

Transportation Alternatives highlighted attention to its infrastructure plan, NYC 25x25, alongside the release of the new site.

The plan — embraced last year by then-Mayor-elect Eric Adams — calls on the city to focus on moving away from car-centric street designs.