The neighborhood that I chose to research and write about is Elmont, Long Island. I moved to Elmont from Laurelton, Queens when I was 12 years old in the 7th grade. Prior to moving to Elmont, I had no idea that the town even existed. The reason I chose Elmont is because although I have been living here for eight years, I still don’t know much about the facts and background of this town. My home is in Elmont but since most of my childhood friends still live in Queens, I spend most of my time there. Elmont was made famous for being the home of Belmont Park, a major thoroughbred horse-racing facility that first opened on May 4, 1905 and hosts the Belmont Stakes. Elmont is located on the border of Queens County of New York City and Nassau County, allowing the town to earn the name “The Gateway to Long Island.” According to the 2010 census, the population of Elmont is 33,198.
There are two main roads that run through Elmont, Elmont Road and Hempstead Turnpike. These main roads are lined with businesses both big and small. There are countless mom and pop shops along these two main roads that bring to life the culture of this town. Through my research I hope to find out bout the history of the town of Elmont and meet some of the most influential people that have businesses here or live there. Hopefully by learning more about the town I live in, I will be moved to hand out here more often and be able to introduce my friends to a place outside of Queens.
I have never been to Elmont, but a lot of the places I have visited in Long Island have been beautiful. I think making your neighborhood in Long Island is a great idea because you are going to have great images for your stories.
Good luck!
Try to unearth the sticky issues in the community. What are the conflicts? What works and what does not work? How good are the schools? How fiscally sound is the town? How corrupt? The goal here is to write stories not yet covered before. For example, what new can be written/said about Belmont Park? It has received lots of news coverage but is there a story that has been missed?
I’m from Long Island and I just recently moved to Queens actually. I don’t really know anything about Elmont so it will be interesting to hear about one of the quieter, lesser-known towns.