Category Archives: Neighborhoods

From a Teacher’s Desk to an Editor’s Office

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Robert Pozarycki’s corner office is not very big, but it is full of personality. Maps of Manhattan and of Bayside, Queens hang from the walls. An MLB poster of American League baseball teams speaks to his love of the sport, while a pen cup emblazoned with the Mets logo declares his devotion to the team. Two photos of his wife and son smile up from his desk.

Of all the personal touches Mr. Pozarycki has added to his office, there is one that could easily get overlooked. At first glance, it appears to be just a blue, glass paperweight set with the seal of Archbishop Molloy High School, which Mr. Pozarycki graduated from in 1998. However, a closer look at the back of it reveals the words, “Excellence in Journalism,” an award granted to students who showed outstanding achievement in Molloy’s journalism class.

Photo Oct 02, 3 44 51 PMIt seems natural, now, that the editor-in-chief of the Queens Courier, the Courier-Sun, and the Ridgewood Times—three of Queens’ top community newspapers—would’ve been recognized for journalistic talent at an early age. At the time, however, Mr. Pozarycki was flummoxed.

“I was like, ‘How did I get this?’” he recounted. Though he had been interested in journalism from a very young age, the outbreak of the first Persian Gulf War dissuaded him from pursuing it as a career for fear that he would be sent to cover a war zone. As he grew older, he began considering a career in education, with the goal of becoming a high school history teacher and even someday a professor.

“I had a lot of great teachers that I learned from at Molloy,” he said. “I thought that going into teaching would be a really fulfilling thing.”

After graduating in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in history from St. Joseph’s College in Brooklyn, Mr. Pozarycki began a full-time job as a seventh grade teacher at a private school in Queens. This, however, was a far cry from what he had originally wanted to do, and he had a terrible experience.

“I just don’t think I was prepared for it,” he said. “Kids were rather unruly and I had a hard time managing the class. I had a hard time also educating [them] in areas which I was weak in.”

Although dismayed that his contract with the school wasn’t renewed, Mr. Pozarycki continued searching for work in education. In September of 2004, he came across a job advertisement in the Ridgewood Times, which was looking for a part-time reporter. Still interested in writing and reporting, Mr. Pozarycki decided to apply for the position. The same day that he dropped off his resume at the Times’ office, he met with managing editor Bill Mitchell, who gave him a test run reporting on a community meeting.

“The experience itself was great. I had my notebook out, I was there talking to people, getting a feel of what was going on in the community, and I liked it,” Mr. Pozarycki recalled. Mitchell, impressed with the report he turned in, brought him on as a part-time reporter shortly after.

Mr. Pozarycki continued reporting part-time for the next several months, taking on another job in the meantime as a permanent substitute teacher at a Catholic school in Queens. The experience was the same as it had been the first time around, and when Mitchell called him with an assignment on an evening that he stayed at the school for parent-teacher conferences, Mr. Pozarycki says he came to a moment of truth.

“The Yogi Berra-ism, ‘When you come to the fork in the road, take it’? I thought, ‘Okay. I’m doing teaching, it’s not working, I don’t like what I’m doing. But here’s this other job that I really like doing, and it’s part time, but I’m sure I can get something out of this.’”

Mr. Pozarycki finished the school year, and then never looked back. Recalling the award he received in high school for journalism, he says, “I guess it was a sign. I should’ve seen that before.”

In October 2005, John Walthers, the publisher of the Ridgewood Times, offered him a full-time job. In the beginning, Mr. Pozarycki covered just about everything, and learned on the job.

“When I started full-time, I was doing articles in the office, phone interviews, covering meetings at night. If they had a photo event, I was there. If they had a press conference, I ran out. I’ve done block party photos, parades, gone to Memorial Day events and covered those,” he listed. “Then eventually I wound up doing layout—feature sections, sports sections, and eventually the main section. So I was doing practically everything except selling ads. It was a heck of a time.”

Meeting a tight deadline was one of the many challenges Mr. Pozarycki faced in his new job. Building sources was another. It was particularly challenging to build relationships with officers in the New York City Police Department, as they needed to know he could be trusted with sensitive information. He also learned the hard way that city agencies found it easy to brush him off since, in their view, he was just a reporter from a small weekly newspaper.

However, with guidance from Bill Mitchell, John Walthers, and Walthers’ mother Maureen Walthers—who was publisher emeritus—Mr. Pozarycki refined his craft and really established himself as a journalist. As the years passed, he rose through the ranks to senior reporter, then associate editor, and finally, editor-in-chief.

In the decade that Mr. Pozarycki worked there, the Ridgewood Times fell into rough economic circumstances, having been hit hard by the 2008 recession. By 2014, downsizing had reduced the staff to just Mr. Pozarycki and two other reporters; together, they were responsible for writing, editing, and processing every article, caption, and press release. After John Walthers’ sudden death in June 2014, the management of the paper returned to his mother Maureen, who was in her 80s then and unable to keep up with all the changes the paper needed to stay afloat.

In late 2014, Victoria Schneps, President and CEO of Schneps Communications, which owns the Queens Courier, made connections with Ms. Walthers. In January 2015, the announcement was made that the Ridgewood Times would be sold.

“The Schneps have been very good to us. They kept everybody on board,” Mr. Pozarycki said.

After the sale, he remained editor-in-chief of the Ridgewood Times. In February, after the previous editor-in-chief of the Queens Courier left the paper, co-publisher Joshua Schneps approached Mr. Pozarycki with an offer to add the Courier to his editor’s duties.

“I’m not going to mince words; it was overwhelming at first,” Mr. Pozarycki said of his new responsibilities juggling three papers. “It’s a lot of responsibility, but you learn quickly. What made it easier was the fact that we’re a daily online and everything’s done every day. It doesn’t make everything seem so daunting.”

Bob Brennan, associate publisher at the Queens Courier, says that one of Mr. Pozarycki’s challenges has been adapting to having a larger staff among which to delegate responsibilities.

“Rob is used to writing the stories himself, doing a lot of the work himself. [At the Ridgewood Times] he was almost an editor and a reporter at the same time,” said Mr. Brennan. “Now what he has to work on is being a true editor, and pulling back a little bit, and doing less of the work himself, and learning how to delegate and getting his staff to do the work, which he has to oversee.”

“I think he’s working towards that,” Mr. Brennan added. “To be able to run the show and really understand his role as being the person that has to coordinate everything, as opposed to doing the work himself.”

Mr. Pozarycki says he is happy reporting on Queens at the community level, following the neighborhoods, getting to know the borough, and getting a chance to do really good journalism.

“People always tease me, ‘Oh, when are you gonna go to the Daily News? When are you gonna go to the Times?’” he says. “I look at the Daily News or the Post and I open the pages and I see fluff. And then in the margins on the side are all the really important stories. And I feel that in a community paper you’re not marginalized, literally and figuratively. Every story is important and every story gets its own space, everybody gets a chance to speak, and reporters get a chance to report. I like that mentality.”

When asked what quality he looks for in the potential hires he interviews, Mr. Pozarycki immediately answered, “Enthusiasm. That to me is one big trait I look for with people coming in. Obviously, talent comes with it—you can be talented but not have enthusiasm, and it shows. It shows in the work.”

Enthusiasm is something Mr. Pozarycki himself certainly has in abundance. In giving his first impression of his colleague, Mr. Brennan said, “He seemed to be a person who really wanted to grab this opportunity and make the most of it. So I like his enthusiasm for the business. Once you have that good attitude and enthusiasm, the rest is going to come. That’s the most important part. We’re very happy with him and the work he does.”

“I think reporters should not be discouraged by what they hear about print journalism,” Mr. Pozarycki added. “They should be willing to tackle every challenge that comes their way. It’ll make them better for it.”

Backgrounder: Astoria, Queens

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Demographics

National Geographic states that Astoria, Queens is the most diverse neighborhood present in the world. According to the 2010 U.S. Bureau Census, the total population of Astoria is 191,105, and of that population more than half (54.7%) consists of people of diverse backgrounds. These diverse populations are made up of: 27.6% Hispanic; 14.1% Asian or Pacific Islander; 9.8% Black/African American; and a total of around 2% of mixed races. Of the population of 191,105 people residing in Astoria, 161,284 people are adults, making up the majority of the population.

 

Location

Astoria is located in Queens Community District 1, which is in the northwest corner of the borough of Queens. The neighborhoods included in this district are: Astoria Heights, Queensbridge, Dutch Kills, Ravenswood, Rikers Island, Steinway, and Long Island City (which is also included in District 2). Astoria is also bordered by the East River. It is a neighbor to District 2, which consists of Long Island City, Sunnyside, and Woodside.

 

Community Board

The chairperson of the community board for Astoria is Vinicio Donato and the District Manager is currently Lucille Hartmann. The community board office is located in Astoria at 45-02 Ditmars Blvd and the office can be contacted at 718-626-1021

 

Schools

In Astoria, there are three public high schools: the Young Women’s Leadership School, William Cullen Bryant High School, and Frank Sinatra High School. There are also two private schools: St. John’s Preparatory School and St Demetrios School. In addition to this, there is also one middle school and four elementary schools (the majority of which are private schools). In addition to these schools, there are also a handful of daycares located around the neighborhood.

 

Local Businesses

The majority of Astoria’s local businesses cluster around the heavily trafficked 30th Avenue, 31st Street, Steinway Street, Ditmars Blvd, and Broadway. These local businesses consist of restaurants, beauty supply stores, hair salons, drugstores, vegetable stalls and convenience stories.

 

Real Estate and Housing

According to the 2010 Census, Astoria possesses 39,030 total family households and 37,603 nonfamily households, creating a grand total of 76,633 households. AddressReport names Astoria as the best neighborhood for young professionals because of its proximity to the city and reasonable housing prices.

 

Commuting

Astoria is easily accessible by the N and Q subway lines as well as with the Q18, Q19, Q102 and Q103 bus lines. Astoria is also only about a half hour drive from Manhattan.

 

Hot Topics

The Kaufman Arts District located in Astoria will soon see an installation of new condos. The Kaufman Astoria Studio is an active studio that currently filming the Netflix series “Orange is the New Black.” The president of the studio claims that with the improvement of the Museum of the Moving Image (also located in this district), and the popularity of Frank Sinatra High School, improving the residential area “seemed like the next step” for attracting talent to the area.

 

 

Resources

National Geographic: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/big-idea/02/queens-genes

2010 Census for District 1: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/neigh_info/socio_demo/qn01_socio_demo.pdf

Queens Community Portal: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/neigh_info/qn01_info.shtml

Queens Community Board: http://www.nyc.gov/html/cau/html/cb/queens.shtml

AddressReport of Astoria: https://www.addressreport.com/blog/best-neighborhood-in-queens/

New Condos in the Kaufman Arts District: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/23/realestate/new-condos-in-astoriaskaufman-arts-district.html?_r=0

Lenox Hill Backgrounder

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Often grouped or confused with Carnegie Hill and Yorkville or just simply lost in the vast expanse that is the Upper East Side, Lenox Hill is a small but historical part of Manhattan, with roots dating back to some of the earliest inhabitants of the city.

Named for Robert Lenox, an immigrant Scottish merchant who purchased the land in 1818 from Archibald Gracie, of Gracie Mansion fame. Lenox used this expansive piece of land, ranging from East 60th Street to East 77th Street, all the way east to the East River and reaching as far west as Park Avenue, as a farm. A steep slope on what is now East 70th and Park Avenue lends itself to the “Hill” portion of the neighborhood’s name.

After Robert’s death in 1839, his son James Lenox took over the farm, but ended up selling most of the land by the 1870s. James kept and built on some of the land, most notably building the Lenox Library on East 70th and 5th Avenue, now known as the Frick Collection, an art museum holding works from all over the world. Today, the vast majority of the population of Lenox Hill lives extremely comfortably, with an average household income of $106,772, according to the US Census, more than double the national average of $51,939. However, it doesn’t go very far, as residents must contend with ever rising rents, a 600 square foot one bedroom on 63rd Street and 3rd Avenue rents for $2,600 a month, according to PropertyShark.

With rent prices at at all time high, people can simply not afford a space big enough to hold a family in Lenox Hill. According to the city’s data, out of 59,689 total households in Lenox Hill, only 7,681 have children. This may be due to the fact that over 50% of the population is over the age of 45, an age group unlikely to have school-aged children.

Despite what seems to be a lack of families with children, Lenox Hill has many features one might desire for raising a family. It holds some of the city’s top ranked public schools, like PS 35, and private schools, like the Allen-Stevenson School, The Buckley School, Birch-Wathen Lenox, and the Ramaz School. It’s close proximity to Central Park gives a place for kids to play, and the availabilty of the 6 train at 68th Street and 77th Street allow for easy transportation. Residents working in Lenox Hill utilize this transportation heavily, with an average commute time of 26.7 minutes, according to PropertyShark. Residents also can call Lenox Hill Hospital, one of New York City’s top ranked hospitals, a neighbor.

To fulfill one’s cultural needs, Lenox Hill is within walking distance of a plethora of museums, including the MoMa, the Met, the Guggenheim, and many art galleries. Movie theaters are in abundance, and Lincoln Center is just a short hop across town.

Historically, Lenox Hill has been a predominantly white neighborhood. According to city data, 92% of the population is white, 4% is Asian, and only 1% is African-American. Efforts to diversify the neighborhood have been ongoing since 1894, with the founding of the Lenox Hill Neighborhood House. Originally founded as a kindergarten for children of the many immigrants flooding into Ellis Island, the Lenox Hill Neighborhood House now helps relocate people of all races to live and work on Manhattan’s entire East Side, focusing primarily on Lenox Hill.

Lenox Hill is just a tiny sliver of the expansive Upper East Side, but the neighborhood has carved out a name for itself in its history, infrastructure, culture, and being an overall very pleasant place to live.

Neighborhood Faces Query Pitch

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My Profile is going to be on a neighborhood Grocery store owner. For now, I am not sure if he wants to be named so we’ll call him Steve. Steve was born in Palestine and came to the United States at 10 months old. He was raised in what used to be considered Guwanas and is know known as South Slope. He lived on 24th street between 3rd and 4th avenue with his parents and five brothers. His father was a storeowner and starting investing in Park Slope property before it was a nice neighborhood. Steve told me with his eyes watered that his dad raised him and his brothers to be kind to neighbors. He then told me about the time his dad was diagnosed with cancer and decided to retire and close his deli that was located on 12th street and 8th avenue. “When my dad retired, the neighborhood threw him a black party and gave him a plaque that said nicest deli guy.”

Steve’s dad told his son’s that a person has two feet and can decide to walk to any grocery store they want. Kindness is what makes people walk to their deli’s instead. As I interviewed Steve, he began to tell me about neighbors, businesses and why they shut down and the principle he went to high school with in the neighborhood charter school. Everyone in the neighborhood from construction worker, to high school student knows Steve and his family. While visiting his shop, a pregnant woman ordered two bacon egg and cheese sandwiches and a Snapple. She didn’t have enough money, so he said she could pay him back next time. That is the kind of guy Steve is.

This profile on Steve is going to describe the neighborhoods transformation from his perspective. He has been living in South Slope for such a long time, he know details about the neighborhood most people don’t.

“2 Jobs at Sugar Factory, and a Lump in the Throat” Response

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There is a subtle implication of the slave labor in “2 Jobs at Sugar Factory, and a Lump in the Throat,” by Vivian Lee, which indirectly underlines the historical connotation of sugar. Even though there is a subtle reference to the slave labor, the narrative’s perspective is through Robert Shelton and his relationship with Domino Sugar Factory. The article’s principal theme is the gentrification of Williamsburg. Despite Lee ,wittingly, refraining from using the word “gentrification,” this theme is clearly evident through juxtaposition between Williamsburg now and Williamsburg Domino’s shutdown. The condition of Domino Sugar Factory is a metaphor of the Williamsburg Shelton use to know but he no longer recognizes that era, which is clearly stated in the lead paragraph. However, the reference of Shelton and Domino refinery presented in the lead is not rounded at the end of the article, instead the concluding paragraphs references the fourth paragraph that introduces the reference of the slave labor. In the fourth paragraph it introduces another subject artist Kara Walker, who sculpted a massive “sugar-coated homage to African-American Slave women and to the slave laborers who built the 19th-century sugar trade.” In my opinion, the last five paragraphs are unrelated to the principal theme:

“A few other former Domino employees have come by, including his Yonkers supervisor and another man who called “Shelton!” and burst into tears upon seeing him. Mr. Shelton cried, too.

He said he had borrowed his step-granddaughter’s history textbook to learn about the origins of the sugar trade. When a European tourist told him that the Domino plant and all it stood for were built on the backs of slaves, he acknowledged the historical reference, but replied proudly: ‘I don’t see that we were slave labor here. We got paid well.’”

Since Lee does not go into detail about how the slave labor produced sugar this statement is entirely incongruent to the strike that lead to Domino Sugar Factory’s closure and the poverty that Shelton endured in Brooklyn. The only thing that ties those elements together is the historical connotation of the sculpture.

Neighborhood Pitch

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Reporting on Corona Queens, I will look further into the Italian community that reside around Spaghetti Park. Statistics from city-data exemplify the notion that with Corona growing as a pre-dominantly hispanic neighborhood, the Italian community is becoming smaller. More small markets and shops that are now opening in the neighborhood are run by hispanic owners while places like Corona Pizzeria, and more famously, the Lemon Iced King, remain with Italian owners. I want to interview someone from the Benfaremo family, owners of the famous Italian ice spot about the community and the regular customers that they draw. I would also like to talk about the change they have experienced in the community since the business has been around for over 60 years. In that span, Corona has experienced an evolution as an Italian neighborhood to Latin American community. To gain perspective, I would like to interview some of the employees about working the corner stand with the family and the people that they serve and speak to the regular customers that go there and spaghetti park. While over-development seems to be the bigger issue at hand looking at Corona and the Queens-county, the change in Italian residences is an interesting smaller-scale issue I would like to report on. From what I currently know, it may have an affect on other aspects of the neighborhood other than what smaller businesses are in the community.

Neighborhood Pitch: SOHO

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The neighborhood of Soho reminds me of a commercial sector in the city in which I was born. I visited the neighborhood’s stores and commercial sectors and the aesthetics and overall atmosphere of its surroundings and the structure of its streets, along with the large and small shops, brought to me memories of the commercial sector in the city in which I was born and spent my childhood in: Medellin, Colombia. This is the main reason why I liked Soho and chose to write my stories on the neighborhood. A second reason is my desire to learn more about the neighborhood’s history and the roll it plays in fighting to fix issues of major importance to Manhattan and its residents.

I want to focus on issues that are relevant to New York City as a whole, and then I plan to compare Soho to other neighborhoods in Manhattan in terms of degree of involvement in such issues. One example of an issue that I am interested in is the homeless problem and the recent rise in homelessness in New York City. What I am most interested in seeing is what is being done in the neighborhood of Soho about this problem, which affects all neighborhoods in the borough of Manhattan. It is interesting to compare the Soho filled with tourists spending thousands of dollars on expensive clothes by day, with the Soho doing its part to fix the homeless problem in Manhattan by night.

South Slope

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Many can argue about the margins between Park Slope and South Slope. I decided to focus on South Slope because the lack of attention it receives. Only people who live here, like myself, know South Slope and can testify about it’s transformation.

For the profile feature I would write about the owner of Luigis Pizza, famously known for their feature in the movie Big Daddy with Adam Sandler. The pizzeria is interesting to me because it one of the only mom and pop shops still around since 1973, with it’s old school Italian pizzeria charm.

The business feature idea would be on a new bakeshop called Woops. Woops is located on 5th Avenue between 17th and 18th Street, which is the block receiving the most transformation in the entire neighborhood. I would like to interview the owner on why they decided to choose the street with the most renovations. Just recently on the same street a polish grocery store shut down since it’s opening in 1939.

The neighborhoods Prospect Avenue R train stop and its surrounding blocks is a crime hot spot. The train stop is also extremely small and becomes overpopulated when exiting from the Northbound side. My story can either be on the subway station and opinions from MTA customers or on the crimes taking place in the surrounding area. The street on the Prospect Avenue station (17th Street between 4th and 5th avenue) is extremely dark at night, most of the cameras on houses and stores are only for show and there is a sketchy Brooklyn Expressway entrance midway into the block. The block is completely residential, besides the deli’s and a bagel shop on three of its corners. The street is either filled with people walking home from the station or completely empty, which in my opinion makes it a target for crime.

 

 

Another possible feature

250 words on Glendale

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I have lived in Glendale, NY for 10 years. Glendale is a quite and small community. Most of the houses are for two families and are designed similar to one another. Glendale is surrounded by cemeteries and my neighborhood it is specifically surrounded by a Jewish cemetery. Glendale is not really commercialized and I have also seen many small businesses open only to close down not soon after. Glendale always had a history of Italian, Irish, and German people influencing the culture in Glendale. The Italians still today have a great influence on culture in Glendale. Glendale is a residential neighborhood, so most residences would consider themselves middle class. Many of them own their own apartment buildings, own their own house, or rent a two family apartment. Many of the small businesses in this neighborhood are pizzerias, diners, delis, and pubs which owned by either an Italian, Irish, or a German man. There is a great influence of religion in this neighborhood because there are churches and religious schools. I would like to observe the role of religion in this neighborhood because it is a very old fashioned and conservative place and I’d like to know how this affects the youths in Glendale. I know religion plays a big role in Glendale’s values and characteristics.  It is unclear what the future of Glendale will be but if the community has been able to keep its middle class value and be safe for at least a decade then it will continue to be a safe community.

 

Pelham Parkway

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The neighborhood I chose to focus on is Pelham Parkway, the center of the Bronx. Within Pelham Parkway are Waring Avenue, Dyre Avenue, White Plains Road, and Bronx Park East. Pelham Parkway actually connects two parks Bronx Park and Pelham Bay Park. I chose to focus on Pelham Parkway because I have recently moved into this area and I am interested to find out things I don’t yet know. It appears very interesting to me how I have only seen one school in the area and the neighborhood is surrounded by just houses and condos. Also what did stick out are the different ethnicities that surround this neighborhood and I embraced that. As I study the neighborhood I realize the I-95 highway separates Co-op city and Pelham parkway, however it is still walking distance. Co-op city also near Bay Plaza, is where a mall was recently constructed with stores you usually would have to travel long distance to get to.

There is a variety of local businesses that are within this neighborhood, there is a bakery on one block and a pizza shop on another. The small local business I chose is Sal and Dons bakery it is an Italian bakery shop; they have been around since the late 1950’s. Everything they make is literally made from scratch and that’s something most of their competitors lack. They have the most loyal customers that have been purchasing baked goods for years. They are a well-rounded business and I was surprised to find out that they only have one single location.

A conflict brought up in the neighborhood is of the change the neighborhood has done overtime and it causing residents to move to a different location. There has been an addition of shelters and retirement homes. Residents who have lived in the area for a longtime have packed their things up and left because they didn’t agree with the changes. It’s interesting that a neighborhood that is still a very good one has pushed some residents away.