Category Archives: Neighborhoods

Neighborhood Backgrounder, Allerton-Pelham Gardens

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I have chosen Morris Park as my neighborhood, however that is the informal name, according to the New York City government, my neighborhood is community district 11, Allerton-Pelham Gardens. My neighborhood is made up of Allerton, Bronx Park East, Eastchester gardens, Morris Park, Pelham Parkway, and Pelham Gardens. The community has its own board members, 50 individuals that are appointed by the Bronx county president Ruben Diaz Jr. The responsibility of the board members is to bring forth the issues of the community in board meetings, and have needs met by adding things into its budget.

The district has an overall population of 113,232 people. According the census for Allerton-Pelham Gardens from 2000-2010 the population of White non-Hispanic has decreased 29.2%, whereas the Asian non-Hispanic demographic takes up a significant 58.4%. To be honest, I haven’t physically noticed the rise of the Asian American culture in the community, but I have noticed the shift of the overall demographic. When my family and I first moved to this neighborhood we were the only black family on our street. It might be a stretch of an assumption but I believe we were the beginning of a migration. I am beginning to see more Hispanic, Black, and Caribbean families move into the neighborhood. Some white families have chosen to adjust to the demographic shift while others have chosen to leave, or move further to the outskirts of the neighborhood.

My neighborhood is considerably clean, most of the area is residential homes with a few apartment buildings sparsely scattered throughout the community. The condition of playgrounds around the area has fluctuated over the years but has stayed within an 85%-95% cleanliness rating. Something I did notice is that the average household size increased from 2.74 in 2000 to 2.85 in 2010, so most houses are still around the same size in the area, but a few have increased. Furthermore, housing in my area seems pretty stable. Over the course of 10 years the number of occupied housing units has only decreased by 1.5%, I guess it would be safe to say people move to this area and don’t want to leave right away. In addition to the decrease of occupied homes, inevitably there was an increase in vacancies of about 1.2%, yet again not a significant change, but a change none the less.

Now, I will turn my attention to the educational aspect of my neighborhood which is important for this family orientated area. Of the 113,232 people that inhabit this community about 26,014 of them are children in the New York City school system. Allerton-Pelham Gardens has 23 public and 10 private schools. The overall ratings for the schools vary but ratings for daily attendance have steadily increased over the past 5 years.  The rate of students exceeding standards from third to eighth grade leave much to be desired, reading scores are at 43.9% while math scores are 57.3%. These percentages are the lowest scores district 11 has seen within the same 5 year time span.

I beginning to believe that education may be the root of my conflict story. How is that schools have increased attendance but substantially fallen behind in performance?

Backgrounder: Williamsburg

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Williamsburg, Brooklyn is home to 49.61% males and 50.39% females.  There are more white collar employees than blue collar employees (20584 to 5664).  Out of 30217 housholds, 18137 are family households, 12080 are non-family households, 10469 are households with children and 19748 are households without children.  In terms of marital status, 26867 have never been married, 27036 are married, 5781 are separated, 3800 are widowed and 4596 are divorced.  The average household income is $40,491.
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Backgrounder: Marlboro

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What use to be $ 200,000 worth of farm land has now turned into properties for million dollar homes. The place that use to have 1 elementary school, 1 middle school and a  high school has now become 5 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, and a high school with added wings and floors, plus private schools scattered throughout the town.  Marlboro, New Jersey has taken a complete turn around since it was established on February 17, 1848.

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Neighborhood Backgrounder by Mayara Guimaraes

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Mayara Guimaraes

Backgrounder on Bay Ridge:

Bay Ridge was known as Yellow Hook because of the Yellow soil that was natural of the land when discovered in (or sometime before) 1524. Named was then changed because of bad memories of a bad yellow fever plague that took place by 1853.  The name Bay Ridge was given its and because the ridge that ran around Second Ave.

The Battle of Brooklyn, 1776, which involved the war for independence and which Americans lost, took place in many areas of bay ridge and a military reservation called Fort Hamilton was build there in 182. Today there is a Harbor Defense Museum located there.

The construction of the Verrazano Bridge is the most important event that happened in modern history: the R and N trains link Bay Ridge to Manhattan; the Verrazano Bridge links Bay Ridge to New Jersey and Staten Island.

The transition from a Village to a 20th Century Community began as the population growth exploded in 1894. After Brooklyn was annexed to New York in 1898 another growth explosion began.

Now part of the largest city of the United States, Bay Ridge met many of the challenges of the country, which are immigration and urbanization. Bay Ridge has remained one of the few places in which the preservation of its own identity has been an important topic for the residents and the government.

Changing the zoning of Bay Ridge is under way, however the planners want to make sure that the charm and affordable housing, which are key characteristics of the place are preserved. They do not want to allow any over the top constructions to happen because Bay ridge still functions as a village in many aspects. Its residents have difficult access to Manhattan; therefore they can find most of what they need in town. Also, the 2 or 3 family house, annex or semi-annex to each other are a key characterization of the area and should be preserved. Too high up building or types of construction will not happen in the area.

After more than 3 centuries of much physical change, Bay Ridge still retains the spirit of its early Dutch days and it remains a community of people that maintain the past, pride and insures its preservation.

Bay Ridge Census Bureau and the District 10 website (ww.nycgov.com)  shows the following:

  • 8 Elementary Schools, 2 High Schools (all of it public)
  • 11 elementary schools, 3 High Schools (all private)
  • 4 Public libraries
  • 37 parklands
  • 3 police stations, 3 fire houses
  • 12 Health Care Institutions
  • 1 Hospice
  • 6 Mental Health clinics
  • Over 30 location to provide for those with disabilities
  • 24 types of Day care Centers
  • 4 Senior Center (which is weird because a big population of Bay Ridge is old, maybe they still live home)
  • 4 Food programs that help the community.
  • 60% of the 18 and over population is at work
  • Unemployed rate is of 5% for Bay Ridge
  • 56% of the work force commutes to work
  • 25% drives
  • 54% depend on Public Transportation
  • 94% of the housing units are occupied
  • 45% of bay ridge is Married with family
  • 39% of the housing is of non-family households
  • 48%male, 51% female
  • 5.7 are under 5 years old

Useful links:

http://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/26/realestate/if-you-re-thinking-of-living-in-bay-ridge.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

http://www.bayridge.com/

http://nymag.com/realestate/articles/neighborhoods/bay-ridge.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_Ridge,_Brooklyn

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/bay_ridge/index.shtml

PS: I have printed all of my NYC Census Data when I did the research, if you would to see it, please let me know.

Background on the East Shore of Staten Island

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By: Teresa Roca

Staten Island is New York City’s most suburban and slow-paced borough. The most historic and tourist-friendly location on the island is the East Shore. The East Shore is home to the towns of Arrochar, Clifton, Concord, Dongan Hills, Egbertville, Fort Wadsworth, Grant City, Grasmere, Emerson Hill, Midland Beach, New Dorp, New Dorp Beach, Oakwood, Oakwood Beach, Ocean Breeze, Richmondtown, Rosebank, Shore Acres, South Beach and Todt Hill. Although the East Shore preserves its history through Historic Richmondtown, a majority of the neighborhood has modernized through school openings, local businesses and new construction.

Throughout the years, Staten Island’s population has increased. According to the Census Bureau, the estimated amount of people living on the island increased by .37 percent from 468,730 in 2010 to 470,467 in 2011. In regards to race, data from the 2011 census confirmed that 77.9 percent of Staten Island’s population was white, 11.7 percent was black, 7.9 percent was Asian, and 0.6 percent was American Indian and Alaskan. During 2006-2010, 20.8 percent of the population was foreign born and 29.6 percent spoke another language other than English.

After years of overcrowding in Staten Island schools, the city is finally addressing this problem. Public schools in Staten Island are managed by the New York City Department of Education, which is the largest public school system in the United States. According to greatschools.org, there are 154 preschools, 95 elementary schools, 57 middle schools and 35 high schools. In an effort to relieve overcrowding at PS 48, a new kindergarten through eighth grade school is under construction in the Concord area. This school will accommodate up to 844 students, and is one of three new schools that will open on Staten Island. The Census Bureau reported that from 2006-2010, 87.5 percent of Staten Islanders graduated high school and 28.5 percent of residents received a Bachelor’s degree or higher.

It is impossible to walk down a Staten Island street without seeing a pizzeria or bakery. Despite many pizzeria and bakery openings throughout the years, Denino’s Pizzeria and Holtermann’s Bakery have managed to stay in business. Denino’s Pizzeria and Tavern is not only a Staten Island favorite, but is also the oldest pizzeria on the island. The business has been passed down from generation to generation since 1937. Holtermann’s Bakery, established in 1930, is Staten Island’s oldest bakery. According to the Census Bureau, there were 37,844 firms in 2007. In regard to sales, merchant wholesalers sold $1,320,074, retail businesses sold $3,850,133, and accommodation and food services sold $401,558.

The real estate market in Staten Island has been doing well. According to the real estate website Trulia.com, the average listing for a Staten Island home is currently $482,793. This is a 0.6 percent increase from the week of September 5th, 2012. The average price per square foot is now $251, a 7.3 percent increase from last year. There are currently 3,162 homes on the market in Staten Island.

Like all boroughs, Staten Island has its share of problems, especially on the East Shore. Staten Island has only one railroad line, forcing commuters who live far from the train to commute to and from the city on overcrowded buses. Mayor Bloomberg addressed this problem by providing islanders with select-bus service on September 2nd, 2012. This 22-stop line replaced the old S79 line that made 75 stops. Although this is a blessing for many commuters because travel time will reduce by 20 percent, this new line may be causing more harm than good. The bus lane, which runs through most of the East Shore, has been causing traffic among drivers, especially during rush hour. This lane is also causing problems for parents at St. Dorothy’s School in Grasmere. With the bus lane directly in front of the school entrance, parents and yellow school buses are unable to pick-up and drop-off students. The Department of Transportation stated that parents and school buses could use the bus lane before 3 p.m. and after 7 p.m., when the select-buses are not in service. The entire lane, however, was recently roped off to allow only select-buses to enter the lane, forcing parents and school buses to pick up children from farther locations. Unfortunately, this isn’t the only issue. A recent accident in New Dorp at the intersection of Edison Street and Bache Avenue are causing residents and commuters to fight harder for stop signs or traffic lights on this dangerous road.

Although the East Shore of Staten Island can be peaceful and historically intriguing, it does have its problems like every other neighborhood.