Washington Heights

The changes which Washington Heights is experiencing are irreversible, they have been a long time coming and it’s a feat that an area with so many cultural establishments and accessible public transportation hadn’t gentrified sooner. The hard part now is maintaining the current culture while making space for the new one in order to allow for the transition into a more integrate, racially diverse neighborhood that can embrace new culture without destroying the old one. Currently the Columbia University teaching hospital is the main factor increasing the speed of gentrification due to their rapid development which displaces people and businesses. Due to this they should slow down their rapid development until they can find a way of doing it that does not destroy the current culture.

“If the University truly values Harlem for its “cultural richness,” it must expand in such a way that ensures that the mostly black and Latino residents of Harlem and Washington Heights will not see their communities destroyed by displacement and their neighborhoods changed beyond recognition.” (Columbia SCEG)

 

At the forefront of this movement to maintain the culture is Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez who was a big advocate for the recently opened Plaza de las Americas, an outdoor market in 175^th street between Broadway and Wadsworth. This area has for a long time served as a market for farmers and other vendors to sells their products, the new plaza is equipped with water and electricity which will make it easier for the vendors to sell. It also has sitting areas and public restrooms which will make this area more of a cultural and social institution since it will allow customers to use it as more of a shopping and recreation space, Councilman Rodriguez said it will give the neighborhood “a new focal point.”

It’s not all Bachata and dominoes for the residents of this neighborhood as many internal and external forces threaten the culture of the area.

“One of the so-called crude forms of music was bachata. The definition of “bachata” meaning something like “a racous party.” The name itself implies so-called “low class” people with “loose” morals. Bachata was played by campesinos – or peasants – whenever a village would get together for a party. The party always included drink, food, dancing and music. These rich roots led the members of privileged classes to ostracize this musical culture from the mainstream. Until the 1980s, the music had the reputation of being “base,” and no self-respecting club would book such a band. Luckily, beginning in the 90’s, the music began to be tolerated, if not loved.” (Rutgers)

The main threat the that the neighborhood facing is one that many in New York are familiar with – Gentrification. This gentrification coupled with a decreasing Dominican population is promising to profoundly change the area. Whether this change will be for better or worse is yet to be seen.  The driving force behind gentrification is soaring rent prices. As prices in other parts of the city increase the Heights remains one of the most affordable places to live in. This has led to an influx of outside residents moving into the neighborhood and displacing the current residents. Many of these new residents are recent college graduates, a large majority from the nearby Columbia Medical School, who after investing in higher education have higher incomes than those who currently reside in the area, many of whom are older and did not have higher education. This is creating a positive-loop, since the more people that move into the area, the higher the rent prices become.  This has caused a decrease in the Dominican population as large number of them have moved to the Bronx where rent prices are lower, a change which can be seen by the fact that 40% of Dominicans in the city now live in the Bronx. One of the main things that has kept most of the Dominican population still in Washington Heights is rent-stabilized apartments but this too is being threatened as many landlords don’t want these types of apartments in their buildings but rather want to rent to whoever is willing to pay more.

Another cause for the decreasing Dominican population is increased criminalization of quality of life crimes. While this could be seen as positive because it has led a decrease in crime in what was once a very violent and dangerous area; it is a stark fact the Latino youths are one of the most affected groups of these crackdowns as they often lead to a large number of arrests of these groups. So the lower crime rates that make the area more appealing to middle class suburbanites are also making it lose the population that created this sought-after area.

Even as a large number of the Dominican population remains the area is still visibly changing, new businesses are constantly popping-up replacing old ones that had been in the neighborhood for many years. This becomes negative when the small “mom and pop,” independently owned businesses are replaced by chain businesses owned by large corporations as these do nothing for the neighborhood except for displace small business owners. However, this isn’t completely negative as sometimes the new businesses are also small, individually owned businesses just like the ones that they replaced but at the same time they are of higher quality than the ones they replaced. It’s these businesses that are allowing all residents of the area to now have access to organic foods, artisan clothing, and fusion cuisines which rather than destroying the culture of the area is enriching it.
   

The moment you walk into Washington Heights you are greeted by a variety of sounds and sights unique to just two areas, this neighborhood and the Dominican Republic. Being here is like being transported to the island. Stores blast music across a variety of genres ranging from the old, Merengue Tipico, to the new, Dem-Bow. Small sidewalks are crowded with vendors and their tables and people walking in both directions. In less commercial areas people sit in front of buildings talking to their neighbors or playing dominoes. During the day the streets are often full; during weekdays with retirees, young children, and vendors in the sidewalk. During weekends it seems like everyone is outside shopping, visiting friends and family, or just walking and enjoying the view.

Everywhere you go people seem to know each other and even when they don’t there seems to be an air of familiarity between those who live there. Often you will see complete strangers strike up a conversation and by the time they finish they will be acting as if they are the oldest of friends, also because the neighborhood is small it is not rare that they will find that they have mutual friends either here in the U.S. or in the island. Due to this it is easy to feel like an outsider if you are new. This feeling does not last long as soon you too will feel like you have known these people around you, your whole life. With such large similarities to the island is not hard to see why many people don’t ever leave; to those born in the island it is a connection to a home they had to leave behind and the family that stayed there, to those born in America it is a place where they can explore their heritage. It ‘s a piece of the island that’s only a short train or bus ride away, a piece of home for those
far away from it.

Washington Heights is named after the first President of the United States, mainly it is named after him because during the revolutionary war General Washington and his army built a fort there in order to fight off the British forces. The reason the fort was built there is because between what is now 183^rd and 185^th Fort Washington Avenue there is the highest natural elevation in Manhattan. Washington and his forces also used the Morris-Jumel Mansion, also in Washington Heights, in order to plan their strategy. The Continental Army lost the Battle of Fort Washington but after they left New York Washington Heights became the place where richer New Yorkers moved to as the rest of the city was grew more and more crowded. In the early 1900s the subway started going uptown and Tenement houses began to be built in the Heights.

The first communities to live there were Eastern European Jews and upper-class African Americans. During the 1930s Greeks began to move into the area then from the 1940s and 1950s Puerto Ricans. In the 1960s Cubans fleeing communism moved in, then from the 1960s till today Dominicans became the largest population of inhabitants.

“Washington Heights has welcomed immigrants for a century. The Irish arrived in the early 1900s. European Jews, among them the family of Henry Kissinger, flocked there to escape the Nazis in the 1930s and 1940s, around the time that affluent African-Americans like the jazz musician Count Basie migrated up from Harlem. By the 1950s and 1960s, so many Greeks lived in Washington Heights that the neighborhood was known as the Astoria of Manhattan.”(New York Times)

Today Washington Heights is home to many historical and Cultural institutions; the oldest standing bridge in NYC “High Bridge;” the oldest House on Manhattan “The Morris-Jumel Mansion” and Bennet Park where Fort Washington used to stand. As well as being home to The Cloisters Museum a structure made from 5 Medieval Cloisters which houses part of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s medieval Europe exhibit.

Besides this high art, Washington Heights was also home to many of the early graffiti artists and a haven/source of information for artists from other boroughs. Today the influence of these artists still remains and can be seen in the works of the previous generation as well as those of the new.

“In Washington Heights, it was on 188th Street and Audubon Avenue. We would hang out, see our work, and everyone could get autographs. C.A.T. 87 was from Washington Heights. TRACY 168 was in the first generation.” (NY Magazine)