Asthma hospitalization rates for children ages 0-14. Bushwick proper in red, EW Industrial (Morgan) Area just to the north.

Elena Gaudino, 23, moved to Bushwick early last summer for its modest cost of living and proximity to Manhattan. Though excited to be living in the city, Elena’s celebration was cut short as her health started slipping and she began developing symptoms of asthma –- the respiratory condition where airways occasionally constrict and become inflamed.

“Every time I get sick now it’s a lot more concentrated in my respiratory system,” she said. “I didn’t used to be this way, but there are times when I feel my throat start closing and I don’t even see it coming.”

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If you have a set of eyes, you see the trucks. On the stretch of Bogart Street, between Flushing Avenue and the “main street” of Bogart (Ad Hoc, Archive, Brooklyn’s Natural), there is a two-block facility, which includes a small parking lot. It’s the Boar’s Head Provision Company. 24 Rock Street is the address. And the street itself is rumored to be owned by Boar’s Head. How they got the city to sell them a street is, well, a statement to the money and power we’re talking about here.

They’ve owned the two square blocks since the late 1940’s, been around since 1905. They’re older than the FBI. A national institution. Provides jobs, caters (ha ha) to NYC’s huge food consumption, and stimulates the economy. So what’s my beef (ha ha ha)?

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Nestled between the high-rise brick buildings of the Bushwick Houses is a chlorine oasis: Bushwick’s own public pool, aptly named Bushwick Pool. I was unaware of a pool in the area until my roommate, who works for the Parks Department, informed me of one’s existence. So, on Tuesday, I headed over to the projects on Bushwick and Flushing to go check it out.

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One often sees odd things in Bushwick. Live chickens in someone’s driveway might top my list of all-time neighborhood quirks. But right below Bushwick free-range chicken has to be the playground on Jefferson St. between Knickerbocker and Irving. The playground, which sits on a lot between two apartment buildings, wouldn’t be so bizarre was it not for the space’s strange motif: the red and blue playground is strewn with the insignia of the storied NHL franchise, the New York Rangers.

I believe I can say with 99% certainty that not one child on this predominantly Hispanic block plays hockey (here’s the extensive Wikipedia list of Latino Ice Hockey Players). So why is there a New York Rangers playground on Jefferson Street?

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