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One of the most positive legacies of the COVID-19 pandemic stretches across 26 blocks in the Jackson Heights neighborhood of Queens. The 34th Avenue Open Street emerged out of a New York City-sanctioned program in the early days of the pandemic that allowed neighborhood groups to temporarily close streets to car traffic and use the space for outdoor recreation and other purposes. In Jackson Heights, one of the early epicenters of the pandemic, the open street that emerged from this program became a kind of lifeline for the neighborhood. Now, after running strong for more than five years, a plan is taking shape to make the project on 34th Avenue, now known as Paseo Park, permanent. Paseo Park Current Residential Block [Image: Alliance for Paseo Park] The concept for the park was commissioned by the Alliance for Paseo Park, a volunteer group that has overseen the open street since the beginning, when it was little more than metal barriers at the end of each block. The group hired the architecture and urban design firm WXY to envision a more formal park space along the 1.3-mile length that includes a mix of recreational areas, seating and meandering zones, multiuse playspace for the 10 schools on and near the street, dense landscaping, paths for cyclists and pedestrians, as well as required emergency vehicle access areas. And because New York Mayor Eric Adams’s administration allocated $89 million in funding in 2022 to permanently build out the 34th Avenue Open Street, there’s a good chance this design concept will take shape. It could be a model for other neighborhoods in New Yorkand other citiesfor how to thoughtfully turn streets into neighborhood amenities. “There’s so many streets that are doing one thing, serving cars and parking,” says Rob Daurio, a senior associate and director of urban sustainability at WXY who led the 34th Avenue design project. “This is a big opportunity to really think ambitiously about how to provide more significant public space.” Paseo Park Conceptual Residential Block [Image: Alliance for Paseo Park] The need is acute. A report from New York City’s Independent Budget Office found that Jackson Heights has as little as two square feet of park space per resident. “It’s one of the lowest amounts of park space in the city,” says Daurio. The creation of the open street during the pandemic “did start to serve this really important and meaningful role for the community,” he says. WXY worked directly with the Alliance for Paseo Park on deep community outreach to learn what neighbors and users of the space wanted from a permanent version of 34th Avenue’s open street. The main priority was to ensure that the linear park would be safe and pedestrian first, provide room for the schools in the area, and use its planting to combat the effects of climate change. WXY interpreted those priorities in a range of active, passive, and school-centric areas. “We tried to come up with not just one solution, but a range of different block typologies that really did respond to the needs of the individuals in those particular areas,” Daurio says. The design concept is based on two main typologies that can define each of the 26 blocks in the park. WXY calls them the Super-Median and the Super-Sidewalk, and they essentially stretch out either the existing median in the street’s center or the sidewalks on its edges to create more usable public space. “Neither the sidewalk nor the median are big enough to actually take on a more significant use,” Daurio says. “But if you just widen them to enough space that you’re still allowing for your emergency access lanes and drive lanes, either of those options are viable to really create a more significant open space.” These designs also balance the need for the street to remain a viable path for transportationjust not for most cars. In the years since 34th Avenue became an open street, it has become a highway for cyclists and, to the chagrin of some residents, delivery drivers on fast-moving electric bikes, mopeds, and other alternative forms of mobility. It’s particularly a problem for the youngest users of the space. According to a survey of children that was conducted by a local Girl Scout troop, 66% of children said that the thing they wanted most to change about the open street was for there to be fewer cars and mopeds on the street. WXY integrated these concerns into their design by looking beyond the edges of 34th Avenue, proposing streetscape changes on another nearby arterial street, Northern Boulevard, which could be redesigned to handle more of the cross-neighborhood non-car traffic that has dominated 34th Avenue. “It’s a little bit of a Swiss Army knife of a street right now, where it’s a park, and it’s also a place for school drop-offs and a route for delivery people,” Daurio says. “We’re thinking about other opportunities to help take the burden off of 34th Avenue for doing everything.” Luz Maria Mercado, board chair of the Alliance for Paseo Park, says people in the neighborhood are enthusiastic about the design concepts. “Our neighbors see their feedback reprsented in ideas like creating a front yard for the six public schools that line Paseo Park, the addition of green space, and the flexibility of different design types for different blocks with different needs,” she says. Right now the design is still just a concept, and one that, despite official support from the Alliance for Paseo Park, is subject to input from the broader community. Claire Weisz, founding principal of WXY, says permanently closing any street to traffic, even one that’s had such a long and successful pilot stage, is going to be a challenge. “It’s not without its controversies, because, well, people love cars,” she says. This design concept is a hopeful wager that people will realize they love public space even more. “Were trying to do something thats never been done before in New York City, but is being done around the world,” Mercado says. “It is hard, but it is not impossible.”
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E-Commerce
One of medicines harder lessons about burnout and mental health might be the most urgently needed by every industry right now. As an emergency physician who also did four years of surgical residency training, I witnessed firsthand how the grueling training that medical residents face, coupled with a tough-it-out attitude, can cause silent sufferingand sometimes with deadly consequences. Often it is the institutional stigma that prevents doctors from seeking help. Physician burnout is a systemic, not individual, failure, and its prevalence has been growing. According to the American Medical Association (AMA), the pandemic increased physician burnout to an all-time high, due to the grief, isolation, and psychological pressures. Physician Suicide: The Tip of the Iceberg Studies show physician suicides are among the highest of any profession. For men, its 40% higher than the general population, and for women, its up to 130% higher. Seeking mental health support is still seen as a risknot to our well-being, but to our careers. Often there are fears of career consequences if we speak candidly about our mental health. Plus, issues related to licensing and credentialing processes often exacerbate this silence. Inside the industry, theres the subtle implication that physicians with any mental health issue might not be fit to practice. And its a tragic irony, as we spend our careers advocating for our patients mental health but often are too afraid to address our own. ER Violence: Another Burnout Contributor Burnout isnt only due to emotional exhaustion and stress. It can also be fueled by daily threats and obstacles that can strip away our dignity. Violence against healthcare staff, especially in emergency departments, is escalating. A 2024 poll from the American College of Emergency physicians (ACEP) found more than 90% of emergency physicians report being threatened or attacked in the past year. These incidents carry more than physical harm: 85% of physicians cite emotional trauma and anxiety, and 89% say their productivity has been impacted by it. Every assault is another blow to the emotional well-being of physicians, as well as affecting the quality of care for patients, too. And it shows up beyond medicine, too: in industries where plenty physical labor is involvedsay, service, hospitality, or event executiona lack of safety protocols can knock down emotional well-being for workers. Insurance Battles: An Administrative Avalanche Healthcare professionals spend up to two hours on clerical work for every clinical hour, driven largely by paperwork, billing, and prior authorizations, which has increased steadily over time. According to an AMA survey, this added burden of prior authorization is contributing to physician burnout. But additionally, we also worry about pre-authorization and its often-associated denials. About 94% of medical professionals surveyed reported it negatively impacts patient care. Excessive administrative work and burden is strongly correlated with burnout, but also stress-related health problems. And its not only in healthcare: its also seen in plenty of other industries, from finance to business to tech. Resilience Culture: Shifting Leadership from Stoic to Supportive In healthcare resilience is seen as a badge of honor, entailed by pushing through grueling shifts, making life-or-death decisions, and walking out with a composed face. But true resilience is built on having support, empowerment, and trust. Resilience does not mean invulnerability. But medicines history has taught us that psychological safety matters more than invulnerability. Creating a psychologically safe environmentwhere people feel safe to speak up, take risks, and be vulnerable without fear of negative consequencesis more important than maintaining a facade of control. In healthcare, psychological safety is crucial for open communication, error reporting, and team collaboration, ultimately benefiting patient care. And it applies to every industry. Credibility in leadership cannot be built on denial of stress; teams led by emotionally intelligent, vulnerable leaders perform better. Trauma-informed care is a model that originated in medicine and mental health but has profound implications for any workplace. It prioritizes trust, empathy, and empowerment, thereby improving outcomes for patients and providers alike. It influences how individuals interact, communicate, and respond to challenges at work. Adopting trauma-informed principles of safety, empowerment, and collaboration can benefit any workplace, replacing isolation with solidarity. Small Shifts with Big Impact Corporations, law firms, schools, and more could learn from emergency departments. Its important to acknowledge risks, measure physical and emotional safety, empower employees to help shape the system, and make sure your leaders are connected to their people. Burnout is not a character flaw. Its an organizational and occupational hazard. When violence, paperwork, and isolation compound high-stakes fields, emotional safety can be the difference between thriving or breaking. Medicine is slowly proving its possible to change through systemic redesign. We dont need more heroes who suffer in silence. We need systems that listen, leaders who care, and cultures that heal instead of harm. If medicine, one of the most tradition-bound professions, can begin to change, so can everyone else.
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Rumor has it that gossip can be a positive force in workplace cultures, under the right circumstances. While talking smack behind a colleagues back likely wont produce any personal or organizational benefits, research suggests sharing neutral or positive information outside of official workplace communication channels will. According to a study published in the journal Group and Organizational Management, those who feel like theyre in the know tend to stick around for longer. The study of 338 nurses found the ones that shared work related intel felt a sense of social power and ultimately had lower rates of voluntary turnover. When you positively gossip about your workplace, that tends to make people associate you with expert power perceptionsthat you have some expertiseand that makes you less likely to quit, says Allison Gabriel, a professor of management at Purdue University, the director of the Purdue Center for Working Well, and one of the studys co-authors. Why would I leave this organization if people think Im in-the-know, and think I have good things to say? Those benefits, however, did not extend to those who complained behind or spoke negatively of others behind their backs. Interestingly, we didnt find any of those effects for negative workplace gossip, which is probably the kind that people engage in more of, Gabriel says. There are some personal benefits to gossip for the person engaging in it, as long as they’re positive. Whether positive or negative, Gabriel says gossip is inevitable whenever a group of people work closely together, and the nature of that gossip can play an outsized role in dictating culture. If everybody’s sharing positive stories that can really boost morale, she says. If everybodys complaining, talking about how anxious they are, thats going to create problems, and people are more likely to believe bad things are happening. This is how rumors get started That rumor mill, says Gabriel, tends to spin up when there is an informational void in the workplace. When workers feel like management isnt being sincere or withholding workers instinctively look to each other to fill the gap. Gossip really serves as a mechanism for people to make sense of the world around them, says Allison Howell, the vice president of market innovation for workplace personality insights provider Hogan Assessments. When there’s challenges with trust around the organizational leadership, gossip is a way for people to keep a finger on the pulse. Howell says gossip has been used throughout history to push beyond the official narratives shared by those in power in search of some greater truth. She explains that it was a vital survival instinct in some of the darker periods in human history, when information really was a matter of life or death. Theres been a whole lot of [efforts to] control how people are allowed to communicate and share information, especially women, and punishments throughout history for sharing whispers and alerting others to potential dangers or risks, she says. Gossip continues to provide that unofficial communication channel in the workplace, which Howel says can be vital in a world where people are constantly bombarded with official messaging. There’s a natural tendency to be a little bit skeptical of any sort of messaging that’s coming from official channels, she explains, suggesting that instinct is adopted from our ancestors. One of the best mechanisms for bringing people around to a certain idea is to have unofficial communication. Can negative gossip have a positive impact? The line between helpful and hurtful gossip, however, can get blurry, and thats where things tend to get messy. While Howell says anything that would get you in trouble with HRsuch as outright harassment, abuse, or inappropriate conversationsare a clear violation, she suggests there could be some value in venting behind a colleague or managers back. Theres a bonding mechanism: teams tend to bond when they share frustrations, she says. Its a mechanism to have a little bit of catharsis, a little bit of bonding, and building a little bit of trust. Joseph Grenny, however, is trash-talking the idea that gossip helps build trust amongst colleagues. The social scientist for business performance, co-founder of Crucial Learning and author of Crucial Conversations says the hush-hush nature of gossip frees the smack-talker from taking responsibility for their disparaging comments, which doesnt exactly build credibility. It creates a feeling of connection without real trust, he says. The fact that I’m gossiping with you is evidence to you that I’ll also gossip about youif I’ll do it with you, I’ll do it to youso theres actually an erosion of trust. Managing gossip Grenny believes gossip serves as an indicator of organizational health, and suggests rumors tend to fly more frequently in less positive work cultures. The problem with gossip is that it reinforces the sickness that generates it, he says. The more I value gossip and receive informal communication access in an organization, the more it reinforces mistrust in the formal channels. Breaking that cycle, Grenny says, requires leaders to be more forthcoming and transparent with information. That, he suggests, shuts down rumors before they circulate and establishes more trust in official communications. The two options for leaders arent sharing or not sharing, but sharing or gossip, he says. They need to understand that by not being quick to disclose information theyre choosing for the gossip channel to prevail. Though leadership cant put a lid on gossip entirely Grenny says they can help promote some of the more positive side talk by filling information gaps proactively. Specifically, Grenny recommends giving some of the organizations opinion leaders an open forum for asking difficult questions from leadership, and receiving candid answers. When they feed the correct information to that opinion leader group, those opinion leaders start to have confidence that this is a trustworthy channel, and the need for gossip channels decreases, he says. You’ve got to create and nurture those alternative channels to push all the demand to the healthier ones.
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