To reach Gravesend, one can take at least three train lines here. The southern D on Stillwell, the N along West 7th, and the northern F on McDonald Avenue. The B6 serves Avenue U, offering the neighborhood service to Sheepshead Bay and beyond.
Because Gravesend more closely resembles Bensonhurst in demographic data geography, I will be using data from PUMA 04017, which includes the part of the neighborhood I will cover, with some slight variations. The American Community Survey estimates that 181,023 people lived in the area in 2006. Slightly more than half of the population is female, while 48.5% is male. White people make up about 60 percent of the population, though it is not clear how much of them are of Italian, Russian, or even of Caucasian descent. It is safe to assume most of the white residents are of Italian descent. 32.6% of the area has people of Asian or Pacific Islander descent, with most of them Chinese (28.1%). People of Hispanic descent are at 11.4 percent. The 4.5% or so of the area includes other ethnicities, including those of African descent. Data only for the zip code is not fully compiled yet for the year 2010. According to the USPS statistics, about 78,749 people are served by the postal service in 11223.
Provided that housing has not really changed in the past 10 years, there are at least 29, 665 housing units in the zip code of 11223 in 2000. About 60.6% of homes in the area or private homes, with the highest percentage at two family units (24.8%) or may have three or four units (16.8%). Most houses stand at about two stories tall, and are built in the same style as of those in Bensonhurst. The median of the cost of a house is about $250,000, and most houses in 2000 were around that value. Not many houses are actually for sale in the neighborhood, though today it may cost well over $358,000. The past twenty years has seen a steady influx of people into the neighborhood, as in 1990 to 1994, 1995 to 1999, 2000 to 2004, have seen numbers of at least 15,000 people moving into the neighborhood according to tract data. At least 32 percent of homes in the area are confined to apartment buildings, and are mostly in the public housing project, Marlboro Houses. The New York City Housing Authority manages 28 buildings, mostly seven floors tall with a few 16 storied ones.
The 2000 Census for the zip code had an employment rate of 48.8% for the labor force, and in the ACS showed a slightly better percentage of 56.1%. Even with these percentages, it remains clear that about half of the working population in the neighborhood is unemployed. Tract data reveals that of the 62,639 households, 58.5 % or about 36,644 households earn less than $50,000 a year. About 17.6 percent of the total, earn less than $15,000.
Basing Avenue U as the main shopping district in 11223, and my beat as well, there are mostly small businesses. Bakeries, pizzerias, and restaurants are a given in a mostly Italian neighborhood. There are also more specialty business, including a few photo studios, a sporting goods store, a karate martial arts instruction school, and some doctor’s offices. There are a few chain stores, but the biggest one is a Rite Aid. Smaller chain stores include Meats Supreme, one of four, a Met Supermarket, and a Telco clothing store. Stores are not particularly big in size in the area, and the biggest may be the Telco.
High schools that serve the area are the John Dewey and the Lafayette, both huge institutions. They are in close proximity to one another and lie on Stillwell Avenue. Lafayette has a field well-suited for its academics program. The elementary PS 95 stands on the same block as the old Gravesend cemetery on Van Sicklen St., and the middle school IS 228 David Boody stands at Avenue S. There are other schools in neighboring areas such as Bath Beach and Bensonhurst that also serve the area, including J.H.S. 281 on 24th Avenue, and PS 101 on Benson Avenue. For after-school activities, there is a community center at the edge of the Marlboro houses, and quite a few branches of the Brooklyn Public Library. The Ulmer Park branch is found across the street from Lafayette on Bath Avenue, the Highlawn Branch on Kings Highway, and the Gravesend Branch on Avenue X.
The 60th and the 61st Precinct of the Police Department serves the neighborhood. Crime rates are higher than average, but not by much. 60 had 1,252 crimes and 61 had 1,302 for the year ending 2009. Crime has decreased by about 31% and 49% respectively since 2001. Statistics show that most of these crimes involve cases of theft, such as burglary and larceny.
Sources:
Data for 11223: http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/SAFFFacts?_event=Search&geo_id=&_geoContext=&_street=&_county=11223&_cityTown=11223&_state=&_zip=11223&_lang=en&_sse=on&pctxt=fph&pgsl=010&show_2003_tab=&redirect=Y
Data for PUMA 04017:
http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ADPTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=79500US3604017&-context=adp&-ds_name=ACS_2008_3YR_G00_&-tree_id=3308&-_lang=en&-_caller=geoselect&-format=
Precinct 60: http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_statistics/cs060pct.pdf
Precinct 61: http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_statistics/cs061pct.pdf
