Category Archives: Conflict Story
Protected: ROUGH DRAFT: CONFLICT STORY
Williamsburg: Graham Avenue – A Tale of Two Streets
For decades, Graham Avenue in the East Williamsburg section of Brooklyn has been divided in two. The south end of Graham Avenue which reads “Avenue of Puerto Rico” has been the center of a Puerto Rican-American neighborhood since the 1920s, while the north end of Graham Avenue reads “Via Vespucci” and was mostly an Italian-American influenced neighborhood since the 1800s.
Rumors have it that there is a push to remove the “Avenue of Puerto Rico” from the street signs along the southern end of the avenue while “Via Vespucci” will remain on the north side of the street. This has local residents with mixed emotions.
Local deli runner Mahamad (Poppy), whose father owns Farmer’s Deli, located on the corner of Graham Avenue and Grand street for over thirty years, says that he has always seen the signs that way and never noticed the need to label them.
“Everyone coming in here is white or Spanish but more white than years ago,” he said. “But how do I know who is Italian and who is Puerto Rican? To me it’s all the same.”
Grand Street is the “border” or “division” or the two streets. You cross Grand Street and you are on the side of Puerto Rico, cross back and you are on the side of Via Vespucci.
The Italian influence on Graham Avenue has been there since the 1880s when many Italians migrated to New York City. Puerto Ricans started immigrating to New York City in the 1920s when the 1924 Immigration Act allowed Puerto Ricans to enter the United States with ease and legal status. The new wave of latino and asian immigrants that came into New York City, brewed tension between Italians of Williamsburg and many latinos coming into the neighborhood.
But unlike the ethnic rivalries seen in the 1957 movie West Side Story Italians and Puerto Ricans for the most part managed to live together and share East Williamsburg.
For the last two decades, because of gentrification, both the north and south sides of Graham Avenue are losing their Puerto Rican and Italian community and culture.
The Puerto Rican side had many murals of Puerto Rican flags, Spanish owned shops and Salsa music huts, wall paintings on the sides of buildings depicting the Coqui, a frog native to the island of Puerto Rico and people hanging out on corners playing music, dominoes, and bringing the culture to the streets.
On the Italian side were mostly Italian owned businesses and diners, Italian flags flying proudly hanging from almost all the private houses down the blocks, and men in crisp suits smoking cigars
and having a good time.
Increasing rent prices have forced old residents and their families out of their houses and apartments to more affordable locations and even out of state.
“Us Ricans keep selling out and leaving and the neighborhood gets more expensive each year,” says Jose Carillo, 32 of Williamsburg, who is planning on moving back to Puerto Rico because he can no longer afford his apartment a few blocks from Graham Avenue. “It’s gonna be nothing but whites soon.”
As hipsters and artists move into Williamsburg, local families are also selling their businesses. Many restaurants and stores that used to be owned by Puerto Rican families have been long gone and replaced by new high-rent,taller buildings which would house higher income tenants at triple the price of two or three decades ago or a new bar for the hipsters to mingle in at 1 am on any given night.
This is why the news is spreading about removing the “Avenue of Puerto Rico” from all the street signs down this stretch of the historically Puerto Rican neighborhood. The area is no longer Puerto Rican. However, its history is.
“Well if they remove ‘Avenue of Puerto Rico’ they better remove ‘Via Vespucci’ too,” stated Tony, a veteran of the first Gulf War who lives in a rent stabilized apartment in the Italian section of Graham Avenue who currently got an eviction notice from the Marshals.
Community Board No. 1 in Brooklyn declined to comment. The Department of Transportation said they would get in contact with me via telephone but have not as of yet.
All Aboard The Midnight Train
The next stop is…
In the wee hours of 2:00 AM at the 149th Street-Grand Concourse station located in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx, a Wakefield – 241 St bound No. 2 train crept and screeched its way into the station. The tired feet of weary travelers bounced down the staircase, from the upper level Woodlawn bound No. 4 train, and stepped through the doors just as they were closing. By the high level of pedestrian foot traffic exiting and boarding the train throughout the station, you would think that it is 8:00 AM on a Monday morning.
Due to the lack of a No. 5 Lexington Ave Express train operating in Brooklyn, Manhattan and some parts of the Bronx after midnight for the past 58 years, crowded subway platforms and train cars are a common sight for straphangers throughout New York City. The late night service disruption affects more than hundreds of thousands of Bronxites traveling to Morris Park, Pelham Parkway, Gun Hill Road, Baychester Ave and Eastchester-Dyre Ave during late night hours.
“The No. 5 train running local after a certain hour for sure isn’t that bad of an idea,” said Cotter, a student at Bronx Community College. “It’s not just for those heading to the stops along the Dyre Avenue line, but for the heavily used stops in the South Bronx between Grand Concourse-149th St and East 180th St too.
All you need is a Metrocard to ride.
The only solution for Bronxites commuting after hours is a shuttle train that operates between East 180th St and Eastchester-Dyre Ave. According to the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) the last train to pull out of the Bowling Green station in Manhattan is at 11:08 PM ending direct service for those traveling to the Bronx. It takes passengers a minimum of three subway transfers to travel through Manhattan to the Bronx. Shuttle train service begins at East 180th in the Bronx at 10:13 PM and lasts until 5:10 AM on weeknights. On the weekends, service begins almost a half hour earlier at 9:32 PM and ends at 5:46 AM on Saturdays and at 7:42 AM on Sundays.
“I really dislike the fact that the No. 5 train doesn’t run in Brooklyn late at night,” said Sebastian, a resident of Brooklyn. “This makes me have to take the No. 2 train and then transfer on the No. 4 train sometimes adding an extra half hour to my commute.”
During the day and into the early evening hours, the No. 5 train travels beneath the streets of New York City alongside the No. 4 on the Lexington Avenue Express line. The No. 6 train also travels on the Lexington Avenue line, but it makes local stops along the East Side of Manhattan. As these trains divert at the 125th St station located in the Harlem section of Manhattan, the No. 5 continues uptown and merges with the No. 2 train at the 149th St – Grand Concourse Station. The No. 2 and 5 train cover the same stops until arriving at the East 180th St station.
The biggest difference between the No. 2 and 5 train is that the 2 train covers a larger section of the Bronx compared to the 5 train. Once the No. 2 train pulls out from the East 180th St station, the train continues uptown for ten more stops before reaching its destination at the Wakefield-241 St station. The total travel time between the two stations is estimated at 16 minutes. On the other hand, the No. 5 train makes five stops after East 180th St at an estimated time of 11 minutes.
Earlier in 2014, and for the second time in three years, the Straphangers Campaign, an advocacy group founded in 1979 by the New York Public Interest Research Group, voted the No. 2 train to be one of the worst subway lines in the city in their annual State of the Subways Report. The No. 5 train finished as the fifth worse subway line in New York City. According to the Straphangers Campaign, they graded each line based on their cleanliness, seat availability for commuters, frequency of service and mechanical malfunctions.
According to the MTA, in 2013, an average of 84,409 Bronxites made up the stops between 149th St – Grand Concourse and East 180th St. Approximately 34, 808 commuters rode along the Dyre Avenue No. 5 line on a daily basis. Heavy delays and overcrowded trains are a just a few of the reasons why many would like to see a restoration in 24 hour service along the No. 5 line.
“Sometimes the No. 5 train skips certain stops and you have to either go on an alternate route through the Bronx or transfer,” said, Ali, a long time New Yorker who now resides in Boston. “There have been some nights that my commute was seriously messed up and it took me nearly two hours to get home!”
In order to successfully operate a 24 hour transit line such as the No. 5 Lexington Ave Express, the MTA would have to provide the necessary manpower such as conductors, motormen, transit electrical maintainers, and station booth agents, They would then have to compensate them accordingly. According to the Empire Center for New York State Policy, “One out of every seven, MTA employees were paid at least $100,000 back in 2013.” Hourly employees earned their six-figure salaries by cashing in on overtime earnings and various bonuses.
“When New Yorkers hear talk about a fare increase, they can check the MTA payroll database to see what they’re paying for,” said Empire Center President E.J. McMahon in a recent article in the New York Daily News.
In the age of a struggling economy, the MTA often responds by issuing a number of fare hikes in 2011 and 2013. The MTA plans to unload two more hikes – the first in the spring of 2015, followed by another increase two years later in 2017. According to two New York city tabloid’s, the New York Daily News and the New York Post, in the impending fare hike, the MTA may plan to increase the price of a monthly Metrocard from $112.00 to as much as $116.50 as well as the bare fare for a single ride Metrocard from $2.50 to $2.75
According to recent budget data provided by the MTA, “These increases are estimated to net annualized fare and toll revenues of approximately $268 million for the 2015 increase and an additional $283 million for the 2017 increase.”
Subway fares made up 40 percent of the MTA’s total revenue back in 2012. According to data obtained from the MTA’s Adopted Budget for the years 2014 through 2017, expenses obtained through fares and other sources of revenue were used to pay for employee expenses such as payroll, overtime, pensions, health and welfare which totaled well over $7 million dollars.
The MTA has the tough task of providing 24 hour service in the so called, “city that never sleeps.” On nearly every street corner in New York City you will find the entrance leading to the subway, either above or underground. The subway can take you wherever that you may want to go with one simple swipe of a Metrocard.
Protected: Conflict story: beginning part of draft
Striking a Balance in Bay Ridge
A massive black binder stuffed with paper labeled “93 Lounge” sits on a row of file cabinets in the Community Board 10 office in Bay Ridge. This collection of paperwork, forms, and handwritten letters marks the beginning of the Board’s involvement in the neighborhood’s decade-spanning noise issue.
“The joke was that there was a bar on every single corner in Bay Ridge,” long-time resident Denise Diacoumakos said of the neighborhood’s past. “The noise used to be part of the summer here. You knew that on Friday and Saturday nights especially that it was going to be really noisy.”
Music blared. While night owls shouted and laughed, Bay Ridge residents lay in bed and covered their ears. It was the price paid for living in an area whose reputation for lively nightlife stretched back to the 1970’s.
But frustrated and sleep-deprived families no longer have to suffer in silence. Since 2012, members of Community Board 10 have worked with Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights residents and neighborhood businesses to combat the noise issue.
“93 Lounge was the turning point,” Community Board District Manager Josephine Beckmann said.
After over three years of complaints from residents about the disturbances that the lounge brought with its opening, Beckmann and Chairman Dennis Rosen of the New York State Liquor Authority worked together to create a list of stipulations to ensure residents quiet nights. Most of these stipulations—such as the requirement to keep windows and doors closed when music is playing—have to do with minimizing noise.
On a wet and windy December night, board members gathered around a small conference table and listened as prospective business owners discussed discussed the futures of their establishments. Architectural drawings, occupancy documents, and a list of liquor-licensed businesses in the area made their way around the table. An eager restaurant and karaoke bar owner hoped to gain the board’s approval to operate at one of the most problematic locations CB10 has ever dealt with. Drug use, underage drinking, excessive noise, and stabbings constitute the spot’s past.
“We understand the community’s concern,” the restaurant’s representative said. “We are more than happy to make accommodations to satisfy the board.”
Since June 2014, the storefront remained vacant. When residents caught wind of a new and potentially noisy business moving into the troubled space, they sent their noise concerns to the board’s email inbox. Some even started a written petition which collected about 100 signatures.
“This is a serious situation,” said Lori Willis, chair of Police and Public Safety at CB10. “We’re dealing with a location with quite an adverse history. We have to make sure that residents are heard.”
After almost an hour of clarifications about the planned security, promises to keep to their proposed plan of operation, delegations about the size of the in-house speakers, and the steps being taken to soundproof the space, board members delivered their verdict. All in favor.
Number of noise complaints filed by Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, and Fort Hamilton residents
Although much is being done to resolve the problem, 2014 saw the most noise complaints out of the past five years according to NYC Open Data. Beckmann believed that this may be due to the instructions posted on the board’s website which explain how to file a nightlife complaint to 311, the New York Police Department, the SLA, and directly to CB10, but the growing economy also may have something to do with it. According to a 2014 Market Watch survey, October marked the sixth straight month of boosted spending at bars and restaurants.
An increase in consumer spending ignites a spark in the hearts of business owners, but the only thing that some locals can do is groan. At a recent CB10 meeting, Tommy Casatelli—owner of the Lock Yard, Bay Ridge’s first and only craft beer garden—was the subject of complaints.
“The doors are always open so that noise is spilling out into the street, and he has music playing in the rear yard,” Marisa Falero, a resident who lives by the bar said. “Our fears are being realized that we’re going to have a backyard nightclub going on.”
Another resident who lives near the Lock Yard voiced minor noise complaints about the bar’s trivia night on Wednesdays which he said he could hear through his closed windows. “In the summer, forget it,” he said. “But I’m here because I just want things to stay calm. I’ve spoken to Tommy about it and we’re working it out.”
Even before its opening last summer, neighbors expressed concern over the possible noise issues the business might bring. Elizabeth Pebian told The Brooklyn Paper that she feared that the bar would cause noise problems and property damage if it opened, and created a petition in order to keep the bar from opening. 29 other residents also signed the petition.
“I have $20,000 worth of soundproofing with probably another $3,000 worth to be put up in my storage room,” Casatelli said. Although he loses seven plus hours of work a week because of the stipulations, he promised that he will continue to make any needed changes in order to comply with residents’ complaints.
“I understand,” he continued. “I’ve dialogued with two or three other residents, one of which has a two-year-old baby. If we need to make further adjustments, we will.”
Despite the petitions, 311 calls, and concerned emails, however, some Bay Ridge residents said they have seen an improvement. “The noise level is down considerably,” Diacoumakos said
And while some might assume that Bay Ridge seniors who account for about 20% of the area’s population are the ones doing all the complaining, Beckmann disproved the old myth about angry retirees.
“Complaints are from young and old,” she said. “Everyone wants to sleep!”