Student Work

I had moved to this country for the past 5 years now and though East Flatbush wasn’t my first neighborhood that I moved into, I consider it a place that I called home. I have been living in East Flatbush for the past 3 to 4 years and it has been noted as the largest West Indian neighborhood in New York City. East Flatbush is located in the Brooklyn borough and it is bounded by Crown heights, Flatlands, Canarsie, Empire Boulevard, Brownsville, the Long Island rail road’s Bay Ridge south-side and Flatbush. Below, you can see there’s been both an increase and decrease in  population from the year 2000 to 2019, and also, a chart that shows the percentage of different racial and ethnic composition of East Flatbush from the year 2000 to 2019.

The topic that I chose to focus on in my neighborhood is the increasing crime of gun violence and how it has affected the people within the neighborhood. Gun violence has been one of the most common crimes that has been consistently increasing in the U.S., especially in various neighborhoods. There has been a rise in gun violence in East Flatbush for the past years and more, where certain places such as the park; doesn’t feel safe to walk in or to take your toddlers or kids to have fun, even sitting in a parked car or just walking to the nearest deli or bodega. The increase in gun violence has caused people to relocate to different and calmer neighborhoods or even out of state because they are terrified of their lives and the safety of their families. The involvement of gangs and the competitive illegal drug market has contributed to gun violence in so many ways, which leaves a negative impact in the neighborhood and the constant exposure to gun violence affects the people in the neighborhood causing them to feel helpless, having anxiety, phobias and long lasting emotional scars that leads to post traumatic depressions.

https://stubmcccuny-my.sharepoint.com/:p:/g/personal/shanique_stephenson_stu_bmcc_cuny_edu/EZCiUK6-BUdIlNryjuTpq8sB8K4uThmxqQlb2w2oW0Geng?e=EQzvR0

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Na7PiX_BNPbW0TyADbTruZoRsuN5oKD0Bqg0kce0t5U/edit

Step 3: Jasmine

In the uppermost part of the new york city borough of manhattan, Washington heights is located. Extending from 155th street to 200th street you can find numerous stores, delis, restaurants, convenience stores, bars, etc. this is the place where I was born and grew up making me call it home. as a young kid Washington heights was the best neighborhood you could live in, the school was only two blocks from my home, I had friends everywhere in my street to play with in the summer with balloon fights and water guns, and there were multiple stores around me to buy chips and sweet whenever I wanted to with the few dollars that my parents used to give me. summers in this neighborhood were like a dream for a kid, no robberies, no weird people that would “kidnap” you as your parents told you just to scare you from not doing bad things. there was indeed always a presence of crime and drugs in the neighborhood but for some reason, this ironically never impacted the lives of our neighbors.

In the early 1900s Washington heights was the home of middle-class citizens that were European, Irish, German Jews, greeks, Russians, and immigrants who fled their country to earn and achieve the “American dream”.they occupied this neighborhood until the 1960s and 1970s where there was a “white flight” due to blacks and Latinos moving into this neighborhood. After the white flight Washington heights became a dominant Dominican population.

As you can see from this chart there is a low amount of people that are under 18 which explains why the streets consist of many people ranging from the 30s to the elderly age. people that are under 18 usually go to pursue their education, but after 18 many adults tend to leave the city searching for a better life, new opportunities, a fresh start, and a safer place to live in.

After the end of the “crack cocaine crisis” in the 1990s Washington heights became a neighborhood considered to be safe, which explains why maybe I had such a good childhood. After the 2000s gentrification started to appear in the community, new fast-food restaurants, big store chains, and more businesses took over abandoned spaces that were once planned to be used for new affordable housing apartments or mom-and-pop shops. this gentrification made the rent increase in an aggressive manner leading to many people having to leave their apartments and move somewhere else where it was more affordable.

After 2013 there was a noticeable change in the community. there were more drugs being sold on the streets leading to more drug users being around the community. The streets were not safe anymore, kids couldn’t play anymore because either there were angry drug users in the streets, or they could accidentally step over the numerous used needles laying around on the sidewalks. Fast food places like Mcdonald’s where a kid could eat a happy meal and enjoy the toy that came with it are now only used as a pickup order because drug users harass people there for hours until you give them the dollar that they asked for after denying multiple times the chance for you to buy them some food.

There is still hope that New York City finds a solution to this drug war that is occurring and find solutions to help and treat the drug users that are roaming around the community and streets.

                                                   Rising crime in Astoria

      Astoria has been my neighborhood since I first moved to this country eight years ago. It is located in the Queens borough, bordering Long Island City, Sunnyside, and Woodside. It is close to Manhattan with a 10 minutes train ride. It has an estimated population of 95, 446.

        It is a place where I felt most welcomed from the very beginning and it felt almost like a home for someone who left everything behind searching for better life and opportunities. It was nothing like home, but it felt like a new one that I chose for myself. One thing I liked about Astoria back then and now is the warm, cozy, and welcoming feeling of belonging in a place where so many cultures and races reside. On one side, there are many ethical Greek stores, Mexican taco trucks, and Arab delis, making It one of the most diverse places in New York City.  It is a color spectrum of people and small businesses. Residents of Astoria support our small, local businesses and would rather purchase there than at Amazon, which I think it’s amazing and shows the true spirit of my neighborhood. My favorite place is Astoria park, located at East River, with a view of Manhattan’s skyscrapers. Residents can enjoy the pool during the summer, a running track, six tennis courts, and two big playgrounds. Warm summer nights in the park are a picture that I always connect Astoria with and my fondest memories here. Families, couples, and kids enjoy their time after a busy day.

  Astoria is yet another New York neighborhood, whose gentrification started in the mid-’90s due to the convenient location it has and lower prices. Being ten minutes train ride away from Manhattan it is reasonable that it’s a perfect spot for urbanization. In the last couple of years, rental prices skyrocketed compared to when I first moved here. Rents are affordable for people who previously lived in Manhattan so, as no surprise, they are moving to Astoria rapidly. Beautiful streets, parks, and convenient grocery stores attract newcomers and help them cut down on their budgets.

        However, I believe Astoria has a new, emerging problem that recently started and it affects our community. Increased crime rates in the last couple of years are concerning and discouraging.

 What was once a safe neighborhood is now on news more often showing more and more assaults, robberies, and rapes, which is contradictory to the process of gentrification that Astoria has been adopting.  Business owners are the main targets of robberies who deal with the recent situation Astoria is dealing with. By the words of Robert Battipaglia, whose family has been owning a liquor store for over 85 years on 31^st Street, Astoria has become a new statistic. Shoplifting has been occurring here and there, however, this goes beyond some minor offense. He believes that there is a different vibe out on the street and that Astoria is dealing with more and more homeless and mentally ill people around and we have been seeing a drastic increase in offenses. Many bodegas and bakeries report attacks at gunpoint where oftentimes, someone gets hurt. Robberies have gone up 26 % and felony assaults are up 20%.

One of the recent attacks that stuck with me was the death of an EMS lieutenant on her duty. Alison Russo-Elling ( 61), who served 25 years was stabbed to death while on duty.  She was getting food in the local store, when a thirty -four years old man, attacked her and stabbed her numerous times. This incident is very discouraging for my neighborhood where daylight attacks have become so common that we do not feel safe anymore. I do see this as a clash of gentrification vs crime rise which in its own way it’s interesting and not really explainable.