-
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
- Margarita Lappost on Heading Elsewhere for a Better School: Education in Washington Heights
- wdiaz on Less Art and More People: SoHo
- wdiaz on Searching for a Skateboard Haven in Hempstead
- wdiaz on Restaurant Row in Spanish Harlem
- Abel Ramirez on Heading Elsewhere for a Better School: Education in Washington Heights
Archives
Categories
- A.J. Liebling
- Amanda Burden
- Announcements
- Audio
- Backgrounder
- Commentary and Critiques
- Community Services
- Conflict Story
- Deadly Choices at Memorial (Fink)
- E.B. White
- Gish Jen
- Here Is New York
- Joseph Mitchell
- Multimedia
- Neighborhood News
- Neighborhoods
- Profiles
- ProfilesDRAFTS
- Reporting Notes
- Small Business
- Story Queries
- Uncategorized
Meta
Author Archives: Kamelia Kilawan
Posts: 16 (archived below)
Comments: 10
Protected: Roti Shops in South Richmond Hill – Small Business
Posted in Story Queries
Tagged Kamelia Kilawan, small business, South Richmond Hill
Enter your password to view comments.
Protected: Florist Leaves a Legacy from Italian to Indo-Caribbean Community
Posted in Uncategorized
Comments Off on Protected: Florist Leaves a Legacy from Italian to Indo-Caribbean Community
South Richmond Hill – Backgrounder
South Richmond Hill, known for its vibrant Indo-Caribbean community and business has become a crossroads for many.
- Murtis or Hindu deities outside a storefront on Liberty Avenue in south Queens.
Once an area that was dominated by Italian-Americans, it has now become a mix of residential homes and apartments with limited backyard and lawn space. One notable portion of housing consists of remodeled homes, while other Indo-Caribbean immigrants have been noted to rent their attics and basements for a little extra income.
The number of illegal immigrants remains indefinite; however using the zip codes to identify census tracts in recent American Community Survey data leaves the number of Asian Indians at approximately 19,000 (this number includes those of south Asian and Caribbean Indian descent.)
The New York Times profiled the emerging immigrant enclave and its colorful businesses in their top five rising immigrant neighborhoods this past April. A slew of businesses in the area are members of the Richmond Hill Economic Development Council, a recent creation of partnerships between long time and new businesses in targeting primarily those of South Asian and Indo-Caribbean heritage.
Small businesses along the area’s prime intersection and hub of community life Lefferts Boulevard and Liberty Avenue, include a variety of outdoor grocery stores, a fish market, sari and Hindu puja shops, roti shops, eateries, real estate and travel agencies, immigration and legal offices, as well as a few franchises such as Dunkin Donuts.
The neighborhood is attached to northern Richmond Hill, comprised of Victorian style homes, located nearby Kew Gardens, along with Ozone Park and South Ozone Park—an area comprised of mainly one or two family residential homes nearby John F. Kennedy Airport. Lefferts Boulevard runs along the entire Richmond Hill area, acting as a prominent intersection for many residents and the A train to Lefferts Boulevard remains the area’s main way of getting to Mahattan.
Jamaica Hospital is the closest hospital to South Richmond Hill and the area houses one major public high school—Richmond Hill High School with a distinctively low graduation rate. In 2012 the high school was given a 7.5 out of possible 20 for student performance from the Department of Education. Separate Community Boards 9 and 10 regulate the district known for its Indo-Caribbean residents and the community is split up into different city council districts as a result of redistricting.
AREA COVERAGE: Mortgage fraud, vibrant culture, real estate and travel agencies, crooked community politicians, and the annual Holi parade have all been reported on by major news publications.
By: Kamelia Kilawan
Profile of Amanda Burden Leaves Me With Questions
By: Kamelia Kilawan
Satow left me with the feeling that Burden has been a influential trendsetter for most of her life. “Ms. Burden, who spends her leisure time walking the city, boating or birding, argues that ‘good design is good economic development, and I know this is true.’”
As a former socialite turned urban planner—Burden seems to have her own vision of the city in mind, complete with powerful connections to push them forth.
Satow was clever in including the details about developers needing to have their projects approved to go along with Burden’s “contextual” city planning, ensuring no buildings are too high.
However as a reader and a young journalist, I was curious about her plan for the outer-boroughs. Towards the end of the piece it states that Burden believes “As the city grows and shifts, her vision is of single-family homes and more suburban spaces outside the center, while allowing for greater density to be clustered around transit hubs throughout the five boroughs — 87 percent of new housing, she notes, is within a 10-minute walk of the subway.”
This troubles me. I would have probed more to find out exactly what she thinks about housing for the outer-boroughs. Not simply creating more affordable housing which is clearly an important issue, but exactly how she would define the argument of gentrification.
What is her perspective and the design she would envision for the city’s outer-boroughs? Redesigning the stylish and hip Brooklyn for young people is one thing, but how much of each borough’s identity is kept the same and why?
Posted in Amanda Burden
Comments Off on Profile of Amanda Burden Leaves Me With Questions
Long-Time Florist- South Richmond Hill
Kamelia Kilawan
A long-time Italian-American owner of a florist shop, has seen many changes along Liberty Avenue in south Richmond Hill where his creations have become essential to neighborhood weddings, birthdays, and funerals.
His business was booming a few years ago and he opened up a second brand-new florist shop on the bustling intersection of Lefferts Boulevard and Liberty Avenue right beneath the A Train.
Though a few months ago he had to close his second business.
He is a peculiar example of how in one sense, he built his own niche that remained even in the midst of a new Indo-Caribbean immigrant enclave entering the neighborhood bringing along roti shops, sari and Hindu puja stories, bakeries and a slew of small businesses—leaving the long-time shopkeeper a small space to sell his craft of floral arrangements.
I would like to ask him questions about his background: how did he become a florist, what he likes or dislikes about the job, what his best-selling floral arrangements are, what occasion does he make most of his sales, and how he has managed to stay in a community that has been through many cultural changes. In addition I would interview customers both long-time members of Richmond Hill part of the Italian-American community as well as newer Indo-Caribbean customers.
I also believe the Richmond Hill Economic Development Council, a community of small businesses in the area would be a good source for a background on how businesses have evolved and neighboring business owners would provide some insight on the community florist and his business.
Posted in Story Queries
Tagged Kamelia Kilawan, Query, South Richmond Hill
Comments Off on Long-Time Florist- South Richmond Hill
South Richmond Hill, Queens
By: Kamelia Kilawan
On the intersection of Lefferts Boulevard and Liberty Avenue in south Queens, lies a cross-cultural mixing unlike any part of New York City.
South Richmond Hill is a crossroads to Guyanese, Trinidadian, Punjabi, and Hispanic flavors…you might chance upon any one of these ethnicities in a nearby roti shop, sari store, mandir, hair salon, or mom and pop restaurant.
The area, accessible by the A train to Lefferts Boulevard, has long been described by local residents as “Little Guyana” although it holds a variety of races who live together. According to recent Census data, nearly 20,000 residents in the area identify themselves as “Asian Indian.” Last June The New York Times profiled five emerging immigrant enclaves in the city, Guyanese in south Richmond Hill being one of them.
But the feature mused over one tiny fact.
Nearly 140,000 city residents identify themselves as Guyanese, though the difference in ancestral origin for many residents of south Richmond Hill is an important factor in the way the neighborhood has become shaped.
In New York City, those who have migrated to South Richmond Hill feel a sense of belonging to both their Indian and Caribbean heritage—casting them as double immigrants, their forefathers from India, across the sea as indentured servants to the Caribbean, and now an immigrant community in New York City.
What an intense change and adaptation for this neighborhood and its people. The neighborhood landscape is reflective of this blending of cultures, while its Indo-Caribbean community lives side by side with new ethnic groups including those of purely Indian origin and Hispanic counterparts.
I hope to reflect this wonderful kernel of truth, demonstrating that South Richmond Hill has become a crossroads for those with Indian and Caribbean roots and those who experience the impact of this rising community—through the creativity of new businesses, the culture of recreation, the foundation of temples as community centers, and the overall lifestyle of people within the area.
