Monthly Archives: September 2015

Backgrounder: Throgs Neck

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Throgs Neck is on the southeastern end of the Bronx and connected to the north of the Throgs Neck bridge which connects the Bronx and Queens. The landscape is about 50 to 60 feet above water, aside from other boroughs Throgs Neck is unique for it’s place right on the river creating that beautiful view from the Manhattan skyline to the horizon on the west end. It is a residential area that occupies the middle class, living in houses and condominiums. The transportation in Throgs Neck includes the Bx5 bus to Pelham Bay Park,  Bx8 to 225th street station, Bx40/42 to Morris Heights, Q44 to Jamaica Queens or West Farms, Q50 to Flushing Queens or Co-op City or the BxM9 to Midtown. If driving there is connection to the Throgs Neck Bridge and the Whitestone Bridge both providing convenient access to the New York area.

The neighborhood has a notable diversity of residents, however unfortunately their commute happens to be the most difficult due to the neighborhood being on such a far end. A little less than half of the residents commute to work by taking public transportation, that is about more than 96% of all American neighborhoods. Being a middle class neighborhood the median household income is $65,856 that is more than the median income for New York as a whole. The working population in the Throgs Neck neighborhood has a 28.5% who are employed as executives and other professional occupations. There is a variety of ethnicities and cultures most being Puerto Rican, Dominican, Irish, Asian, and Italian, 23.8% of the residents were born in another country.

 

http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ny/bronx/throgs-neck/#demographics

http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/Throgs-Neck-Bronx-NY.html

Backgrounder: Bayside

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Area

Bayside is located in Queens District 11, which also includes parts of Auburndale, Douglaston, Hollis Hills, Little Neck, and Oakland Gardens. Altogether, District 11 is an area of about 9.4 square miles. Bayside is bordered by 26th Avenue, Francis Lewis Boulevard, and 48th Avenue. It is also bordered by the Little Neck Bay.

Demographics

At the time of the 2010 U.S. Census, the total population of Bayside was 43,808. Of that number, white non-Hispanics made up 46.9%, followed closely by Asian non-Hispanics at 37.3%. Residents of Hispanic origin made up 11.6% of the population, and black/African American residents made up just 2.6%.

Bayside’s racial make up changed radically between the 2000 and 2010 censuses. Although there have been fewer than 1,000 non-Hispanic residents of two or more races since 2000, this group showed the most drastic population decrease, shrinking nearly 37% between 2000 and 2010. The white and African American populations also dropped significantly, decreasing by 21.9% and 15.3% respectively. In contrast, the Asian population nearly doubled during that time frame, experiencing a 48.6% population increase.

At 52%, Bayside’s female population is slightly larger than the male population, which is 48%.

Income

According to the 2009-2013 ACS profile of Bayside, the median income of Bayside households is $76,289. Of the 16,048 househould surveyed, an 18.8% plurality were earning between $100,000 and $149,999 a year; a combined approximate of 30% earned between $50,000 and $99,999.

In comparison, the median income for all of New York City was $52,259, with a 15.7% plurality earning between $50,000 and $74,999.

Housing

According to the ACS, there are 16,860 housing units in Bayside. Of that number, 95.2% are occupied, with only 812 being vacant. Nearly 76% of those units were 1-unit attached or detached homes, or 2-unit homes.

65.4% of Bayside homes are occupied by the people who own them, while 34.6% are occupied by renters. The median rent in Bayside is $1,615, higher than the median rent for New York City, which is $1,200.

Education

Bayside is served by two high schools—Bayside High School and Benjamin N. Cardozo High School—and 11 elementary or middle schools.

The ACS shows that between 2009 and 2013, the vast majority of Bayside residents were enrolled in elementary school (37.2%), high school (21.3%), or college/graduate school (30.8%). The remaining 10.6% were in preschool or kindergarten. A comparison with all of New York City shows similar numbers.

88% of Bayside residents have completed at least high school, and 42.1% have at least a bachelors’ degree. Both numbers are higher than all of New York City; 79.8% of New York City residents completed high school or higher, while 34.5% completed a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Crime

Queens District 11 is patrolled by the 111th Police Precinct.

According to a police crime statistics report, there were a total of 881 major crimes committed in District 11 in 2014. 454 of those crimes fell under the category of grand larceny, while 219 were burglaries.

The crime rate has dropped by 42.3% since 2001, during which there were 1,528 crimes committed in District 11.

Transportation

Bayside is traversable through several bus lines, including the Q12, Q13, Q27, Q28, and the Q31. Although it lacks any subway stops, the Long Island Railroad has a station on Bell Boulevard, connecting it to Penn Station in Manhattan, parts of Queens, and Long Island.

The Cross Island Parkway and the Clearview Expressway also run through Bayside.

Community Leaders

Bayside is one of several neighborhoods served by Community 11. The board is located at 46-21 Little Neck Parkway, Little Neck, NY 11362. The community board chair is Christine L. Haider, and the district manager is Susan Seinfeld. Meetings are held the first Monday of every month at 7:30 pm.

 

Update, 12/14/2015:

While reporting on my stories, I learned two prominent facts about Bayside:

  • Its commercial hub, Bell Boulevard, is fairly diverse in terms of the types of businesses that can be found. The two most prominent types of businesses are retail-type shops–for example, clothing boutiques, a used bookstore, and two chain pharmacies–and establishments selling food in some form, whether as grocery products or as meals served at a restaurant. There are also a few professional services like accountants and medical services like chiropractors. While there’s plenty to do if one is looking to shop or dine, there’s not a lot to do by way of having fun as part of a night out. There’s a need on Bell Boulevard for entertainment options, which are so far being met only by Challenge Escape Rooms and the nearby movie theater.
  • Bayside schools, and District 26 schools at large, perform very well and are overcrowded as a result. The community recently shot down a proposal to build a new high school, so any efforts to address the overcrowding in the district will have to take a different form that doesn’t involve putting a school in Bayside. What those efforts will be remains to be seen, as nothing has been publicly proposed as of yet.

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.

Backgrounder on Your Neighborhood—South Slope District 7

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Population

District 7 had a total population of 148,990 in 2012, according to the ACS Demographic and housing estimates. Out of the total population 61,387 are Hispanic or Latino and 57,945 are White.

 Rezoning

According to the New York City Department of City Planning official website, South Park Slope was approved for rezoning in August of 2005 and is considered to be in District 7. South Park Slope’s area boundary is between 15th Street and 24th Street and between Fourth Avenue and Prospect Park West. District 7 also includes Windsor Terrace, Greenwood cemetery and Sunset Park.

Real Estate

In District 7 there are 18 public schools and 11,653 residential real estate properties. Including 1-2 family, multi-family, and mixed/ commercial residential space.

South Slope’s transformation started after 911. Manhattan residents quickly turned into Brooklyn residents. Park Slope became a desirable place with a higher price tag when the Barclay Center was built in 2012. The median household income in District 7 is $41,912. In Park Slope a two bedroom one-bathroom apartment costs $4,490 (289 13th Street) versus $2,500 (717 5th avenue) in South Slope. Real estate agents do not recognize South Slope as a neighborhood; instead they recognize the area as Greenwood.

Demographics

What was once a neighborhood filled with Italian senior citizens in the 80’s, is now becoming hip to South Slope residents. In district 7 there are 17,895 people over 60 years old and 44,028 people between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-four.

South Slope continues to have a large population of senior citizens, however, young single professionals and students are making their way in and they are here to stay. Local businesses are making the necessary changes to accommodate the younger crowd. Now there are macaroon shops, wineries, sports bars, thrift stores, bike shops and plenty of restaurants.

Transformation

South Slope is definitely making a name for itself. Within the past year, for the first time, South Slope has received Christmas avenue lights up until 18th street. Park Slope Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District, a organization dedicated to promoting business development and improving the area’s quality of life, is looking to extend the annual 5th avenue fair into South Slope. Locals hope that the fair that was originally between Sterling and 12th street will be extended into 21st Street.

Crime

The closest precinct to South Slope is the 72nd precinct. According to the NYPD precinct crime data sheet the highest crime in 2015 were 547 petit larceny, 349 misdemeanor assaults and 257 grand larceny crimes. The lowest were two shooting incidents, two shooting victims, and 16 rape crimes.

Transit

 Local Transit includes the D, N, R train and the 63 bus.

REFERENCES:

Demographics 

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

http://nyc.pediacities.com/Resource/Neighborhood/South_Slope

Crime 

http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_statistics/cs-en-us-072pct.pdf

Real Estate 

http://realestate.nytimes.com/rentals/detail/44-3496306/289-13th-Street-BROOKLYN-NY-11215

http://streeteasy.com/rental/1636426

Transportation

http://web.mta.info/nyct/maps/busbkln.pdf

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.

Sugar Factory

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Does the writer give us more than Robert Shelton’s personal history?

The writer delves into the history of the sugar factory, which I thought was a wise decision because it gave the reader perspective on why the sugar factory’s history is relevant to Shelton’s personal history and adds a visual for the reader when the writer talks about Shelton’s work in the factory. I personally enjoyed reading this piece because it was focused but still provided outside information that adds perspective in other ways than interviewing other people.

Describe the narrative of this profile, the arc of the story.

Robert Shelton returned to the sugar house factory that he once worked at and one can assume he was shocked by the drastic changes. The installation closed down (at the time of the article there was a week left), and it would be the last time Shelton will see the Domino refinery that blue collars once dominated.

What do you think of the lead?

The lead is smooth and somewhat of an anecdotal lead. The lead embarks on Shelton’s experience at back at the Domino refinery which makes readers want to know why he reacted the way he did and then transitions into why it was important on a bigger scale than that of Shelton’s work experience and delves back into the Shelton profile.

Where is the nut graf?

Following the lead, the next couple paragraphs tell the reader the background information behind the lead and what is important. I think the main topical paragraphs that give the nut graf are the second paragraph and the seventh paragraph that starts  with “Mr. Shelton, 66, has returned…”

What about the author’s point-of-view?

The sixth paragraph that starts with “In a borough convulsed by change…”. The reader can assume that the writer believes that the historical context of the area holds no value to the people who treat it as a museum to post their Instagram pictures. It is also one of the first paragraphs where the writer is not the reporting from a point of view of Mr. Shelton.

“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.

Backgrounder

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Demographics

Queens Community District 4

  • Corona, Corona Heights, Elmhurst, Lefrak City

2010 U.S. Census, the total population of Queens

  • 2,230,539 people
    • 28% identify as Latino/Hispanic
    • 26.2% identify as white alone

Corona, Queens

  • 172,598 people in Corona (approximately 8% of Queens population)
  • 78,644 people with assisted income support in Corona(45%)
  • 65% of jobs are white collar (8,564), the rest blue collar (4,789)

Income

  • Highest median income in Corona was 54,162 for for those 45-64.
  • Lowest is $39,741 for those under 25
  • The median income is $46,493, a 33% increase from 2000 but below the median of the state.

Education

A total of 15,420 have no high school education, 30.2% of the population in Corona.

14,117 have completed some sort of degree.

Crime

The total crime risk is above the national average.

Most likely (well above average) to be a murder, personal crime, or robbery risk. Least likely (well below average) to experience larceny or burglary risk.

Transportation

7 Train along 103rd St.

Q58, Q23, Q38, Q29

Community Leaders

Louis Walker is the Board Chairperson

Christian Cassagol is the District Manager

Jullissa Ferreras is city council member of District 21

Backgrounder: Kips Bay

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Geography

Kips Bay, New York is located on the East side of Manhattan, just below the East River Ferry. It stretches from Thirty-Forth Street on the North side, to Twenty-Third Street on the South side, from Park Avenue on the West side and FDR Drive on the East Side.

Demographic

Males take over 45.9% of the total population, which is 83,828, leaving the female population to be 54.1%. Of these 83,000 or so people, over 42,000 are in a white-collar line of work, covering a massive 72.4% of the work force pie. In similar numbers, non-family households control 73.8% of the households market (which is a total of 50,021), while the remaining percentage (26.2%) remains as family households.

The smallest percentage of the “education pie” are people that reside in Kips Bay with no High School degree. Only 1,391 people hold this title. The largest percentages lie in where people have either a bachelors or masters degree, with bachelors controlling 45% and masters controlling 36%. With this being said, the median salary of a household ranges from $100-125K, with average household net worth being over $1.2M.

Living

It is no surprise that the average rent is high. Compared to New York as a whole, whose median rent is $1,125, the median rent in Kips Bay is $1,932. This doesn’t sound like much, however, the average rent is $3,718 per month, while the average $4,342 per month ($778,000/house on average) mortgage is making it more affordable to rent an apartment than to buy one.

Crime

In comparison to the national average, the biggest differential in crime rate is robbery risks. If we say the number for the national average rate of robbery risk is 100, the Kips Bay average is 349, more than triple the amount than the national average. The New York average of robbery risk is 130. Interestingly enough, the biggest differential of crime, this time working in favor of Kips Bay, comes in larceny. Again, if the national average is 100, the Kips Bay average is 76. Still, it is still not as impressive as the robbery risks.

Consumer Spending

 

Once again, if the national average for spending is 100, than Kips Bay almost doubles spending in every category there is. This is including, but not limited to, insurance, health care, entertainment, food, tobacco, and etcetera. New York’s average is larger than the national average, but not as big as Kips Bay’s average spending.

Big Issues

One of the biggest issues that is around Kips Bay is an issue that New York in general may share: gentrification. People are being pushed and bought out of their spaces in order to accommodate for the more wealthy. However, now that the demographic of people who live in Kips Bay are upper or upper-middle class, the big issues rest on the problem of homelessness.

The homelessness population in New York is over 58,000 people. In Kips Bay, you could kind, on average, a homeless person roughly once every two streets,depending on the hour of day, on Third Avenue from Twenty-Ninth to Twenty-Third Street. This issue has gotten so bad that you can now see homeless people in firms. For example, Bank of America, located on Third Avenue between Twenty-Ninth and Twenty-Eighth Street houses at least one or two homeless people, on average, per day.