Course Description

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The second Honors College seminar investigates the role of immigration and migration in shaping New York City.  Our class will focus on immigrant community formations in the borough of Queens where the racial and ethnic diversity is unparalleled.  If treated as a separate city, Brooklyn and Queens would rank fourth and fifth respectively in population size following New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.  New York City’s status as a global city is, in part, attributable to its diverse and dynamic population.  Driven by immigration, a full 36% of New Yorkers were born outside of the United States but the immigrant presence is even greater in Queens where nearly half of the borough’s residents are foreign-born.  Long established as a majority “minority” city, New York City’s Latino and Asian populations continue to increase in contrast to other racial groups and nowhere is this trend more evident than in Queens where the population share of Latinos is equal to non-Hispanic whites (28%) and followed closely by Asians (23%).  Moreover, Queens’ majority immigrant Latino-Asian population is distinguished by a hyperdiversity of ethnicities, languages, and cultures.

Our class work will inform and possibly contribute to a book project led by QC Professor Ron Hayduk (Political Science) and myself titled, Immigrant Crossroads: Globalization, Incorporation, and Place-Making in Queens, NY.  In addition to an introduction to the extensive literature on post-1965 immigration, our class will engage in a study of the neighborhood landscape of Queens to localize issues of demographic change and race and ethnic relations; post-industrial urbanization and transnational capital; immigrant engagement in social justice activism and political incorporation; and urban labor markets and informality.  We will focus our research on several Queens neighborhoods including Jackson Heights, Corona, and Richmond Hill.

MLS Stadium

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Below is a link describing the new MLS team that is to be created knows as the “New York City Football Club.” As the CEO said, “This is not about finding a stadium. This is about finding a home that will be successful from a commercial, and soccer perspective as well as a community perspective.”

“While MLS has been negotiating with New York to build a stadium in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, near the home of the New York Mets, NYC FC will start play at an interim home and will consider other sites for a stadium.”

http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1455830/man-city-yankees-co-own-mls-franchise-new-york?cc=5901

South Asians in Queens

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The growing Southeast Asian community of Queens has many a hurdle to jump through. In Queens alone, the community owns roughly 40% of all immigrant entrepreneurship/businesses, and are considerably higher on the socioeconomic scale than their Caribbean/Latino counterparts.

Despite these significant statistics, the community does face its own struggles. Since the 2008 market meltdown, according to a study by the Chhaya CDC organization, a disproportionate number of Southeast Asian-Americans (immigrant and native) possess college degrees, but are unable to find work. Because of this fait accompli, many are starting their own businesses as an attempt to become self-sufficient, or work in their own family’s businesses. The latter is often looked down upon by the family as well as the community at large, as elder generations do not wish for their children/grandchildren to start from the previous generation’s station (working low-skilled labor for long periods of time).

Queens Triple Play: Willets West, Major League Soccer, and the National Tennis Center

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Queens Triple Play: Willets West, Major League Soccer, and the National Tennis Center highlights the major changes that will impact Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Willets West, a 1.4 million square foot mall, is expected to be completed by 2018, which will be constructed in the parking lot of Citi Field’s parking lot. Also Major League Soccer hopes on building a 25000 seat brand new stadium for the new NYC team. The proposed place to build the stadium is the Fountain of the Planets. Lastly, in the West, the National Tennis Center is planning an expansion of 7000 new seats, suites, retail space, and 700 new parking spaces.

The article sums up the effects of these three major proposals – these three projects will change the northern half of Queen’s flagship park into a “car-dependent” and “largely commercialized destination”. The new plans will easily add more than 10,000 parking spaces and the residents are worried about the heavy traffic those cars are going to bring. With these new changes, it would be difficult to implement “green” plan (with new spaces for park being taken away).

Although these changes will bring some positive results, there seems to be major disadvantages too. The biggest concern has to be the massive amount of traffic the projects are going to bring (especially that 7 train line!!). It really is difficult to find the neutral and the fairest method to resolve these problems. Personally, I’m worried about the park. It seems like developments are closing in on the park and the park is losing its chances of expanding because of these proposals (as shown by the statistics in the article – Flushing Meadow Corona Park is labeled in public documents with 1,255 acres of land, including Citifield and its parking lots. However, when non-park spaces are counted out, only 347 acres of the park is open for use )

The Necessity/Usefulness of Community Boards

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Whenever issues arise in a community or neighborhood (rezoning, land disputes, infrastructure, etc) which could potentially affect a disproportionate part of the population, there is frequent disagreement as to how these issues should be handled. Often, such issues needn’t be present, as often there is an urge for a sense of organization or unity within a community.

Often, such needs take the form of community boards, which make decisions and influence public policy regarding the going-ons/issues within a neighborhood or a community. However, the actions of these groups are not always effective nor wide-reaching.

As pointed out in Tarry Hum’s essay, despite the good intentions of these boards and their attempted measures to ensure organization and unity within a region on public issues, politics and conflicting interests prevent community boards from reaching solid agreements on key issues within a community. Ultimately, smaller groups, such as church parishes, cultural groups/organizations, businesses and other individually-driven organizations/entities have proven more beneficial to their respective communities. Rather than getting entangled by politics, the members of the communities themselves are the best instigators of change/development, thus they succeed where bureaucratic community boards fail.

From Dump to Glory: The Remaking/Development of Queens

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The Northwestern corner of Queens along the shores of Flushing Bay, which comprises of the neighborhoods of Flushing, College Point, Willets Point, Corona and East Elmhurst, has undergone significant development and alteration over the past century. Formerly the site of the mountainous Corona Ash Dump brownfield, the region was cleared and landscaped in the late 1930s to establish the current Flushing Meadows-Corona Park (the second largest public park in New York City) in a campaign led by urban-planning megalomaniac Robert Moses. The purpose of the park’s establishment was, in his own words, to create a more scenic view and atmosphere in the previously deteriorating corner of Queens.

The park is infamous as being the site of the colossal failure that was the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair, as well as its scenic beauty being in close proximity to the polluted, unkempt, neglected brownfield on the Willets Point peninsula.

Various development schemes are planned for the region to further economic gain/attention for the surrounding neighborhoods of Flushing and Corona, and eventually spill-over into neighboring communities such as College Point and Jackson Heights. These plans include a 1.4 million square foot shopping complex in the CitiField parking lot on the Willets Point peninsula, along with a 25,000-seat soccer stadium on the Northeastern-most corner of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, and an expansion of the National Tennis Center on the other side of the Park. These plans have been met with increasing opposition from business-owners, cultural groups and community leaders in the surrounding neighborhoods, especially Corona, on the grounds that the parklands are public and ought not to be exploited for seasonal use, denying neighboring regions of of their own various uses of the space.

The Enclave, the Citadel, and the Ghetto

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Personally speaking, I have some experience living in/traveling through an enclave, a citadel, and a ghetto.

I work/have family in College Point, on the Northwestern-most point of Queens. Anyone who travels to College Point (especially someone from Bayside like me) often travels through Whitestone to get there, via 14th Ave, a long street which stretches a long portion of land facing the Long Island Sound. Driving down 14th Avenue, it is evident where upper-class, suburban Whitestone/Malba citadel ends and industrial, middle-class College Point begins (the intersection of 132nd St and 14th Ave, just behind the College Point Shopping Center). It is there where the stretches of mansions come to an immediate halt, and are replaced by  immigrant-owned stores, tighter streets, and duplexes. Even within the neighborhood of College Point, 14th Ave serves as a divide between a citadel and a (arguable) ghetto. Everything on and north of 14th Ave features large mansions and expensive homes similar to those of neighboring Whitestone/Malba. Everything south of 14th Ave (roughly 80-85% of College Point) is rugged in terms of infrastructure, relatively unkempt and congested with traffic.

Peter Marcuse’s claims regarding the nature of the citadel, enclave and ghetto are, in my opinion, spot-on. While these types of neighborhoods, where stark signals are given regarding disparity/inequality of wealth, social structure and infrastructure, are present in every major metropolitan city, they are not as damaging to a society as they may seem. People who populate citadels, enclaves or ghettos arrive there by circumstance, and rarely by chance. People of similar economic/cultural/social association tend to stick together in their own little areas; it is not an issue of intolerance nor unwillingness to assimilate into another culture/social structure. No individuals were coerced into living in areas where they are surrounded by people just like them; upper-class families tend to stick with upper-class families the same way Eastern-European immigrant families prefer to remain near other Eastern-European immigrants, as with Caribbean immigrants, or middle-class South Asians, etc.

Immigrant Entrepreneurship

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Anyone who goes for a stroll anywhere between Union and Main Streets in Flushing will see and know the impact of immigrant entrepreneurship. Flooding the main sea ports of the United States for economic advantage, disproportionate numbers of immigrants take to the labor market, most demanding low-skilled, low-pay jobs, whilst others take serious risks and start their own businesses. In recent years, as the Eastern seaboard sees a considerable influx of Southeast Asian and Latin American immigrants, the numbers of businesses run by these immigrant individuals has skyrocketed, especially in the neighborhoods of Flushing and Corona in Queens.

Jonathan Bowles discusses the statistical impact of immigrant entrepreneurship, noting their extensive integration in “native” society, with immigrant-owned businesses outdoing their native competitors. Their economic flexibility is noted as well, as they don not solely serve members of the immigrant community, but expand to include (and perhaps to integrate with) the native society/culture as well.

Immanuel Ness’ article paints a somewhat more pessimistic view, arguing for the necessity of unions for immigrant businesses (Bowles mentions the necessity for government assistance for immigrant businesses as well). Starting a business, especially as an immigrant to a new country, is a considerable risk. However, as is the case with business/entrepreneurship, success is a rarity and failure is the norm. There is no guarantee that all immigrant-owned businesses will succeed as much as their native-owned counterparts, but the impact of immigrant businesses/labor is still significant, especially here in Queens.

Immigrant Neighborhoods in Global Cities

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In the article, “The Enclave, the Citadel, and the Ghetto: What has Changed in the Post-Fordist US City”, Peter Marcuse defines an “enclave”, a “citadel” and “the ghetto”. He introduces implications of the enclave, citadel and ghetto.. Not only but he also discusses differences, specifically ghetto and an outcast ghetto. According to Marcus, a ghetto is a concentrated area used to seperate and to limit a particular population group treated as inferior by society. This article illustrates that the word ghetto has a more significant meaning that certain groups of people who find this term to be “derogatory” or misleading.

Marcuse stated that people do not voluntarily live in ghettos, whereas people voluntarily living in enclaves. However, Black people have a right and the option to live wherever they want, even though they pick the “ghetto” areas.  The reason is because other blacks are concentrated in the “ghetto” areas so they feel comfortable living in that area.

Marcuse did a good job of characterizing ghetto, enclave and citadel by economic condition and the economic relations they play with their surroundings.  Also, we can see the residential segregation that exists among “ghettos”, “enclaves”, and “citadels.” n example of a “citadel” would be the luxurious apartments on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.  Certain areas of Manhattan and Bronx would be the “ghetto”  because of their large Black population whereas Chinatown is considered to be the enclave because with thriving immigrant population.

As a result of Marcuse’s article, I’ve gained knowledge and learned that race as well as ethnicity is very important in creating the “areas” such as the ghetto, citadels, or enclaves, that make up the city for what it is now.

Why Immigrants Organize

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Immanuel Ness’s book, Immigrants, Unions, and the New U.S Labor Market discusses why and how immigrants organize. In short, according to Ness, immigrants, regardless of their immigration status are able to organize because they have strong community solidarity. In reverse, non-foreign born Americans do not organize because they lack community solidarity. I wrote a paper on Ness’s (and Hum’s) papers but there is one issue I did not address there that I would like to cover more in depth. This the issue of why native born Americans lack strong community solidarity? There are several answers to this question.

One reason is that immigrants, because they are so dependent on the help they receive from friends, families, and connections in the U.S. are automatically inclined, or even forced to maintain close ties with their network. It is necessary for their acclimation to life in America. Native born Americans, on the other hand, do not require such assistance and are therefore less inclined to maintain and grow their community networks and thus have lower levels of community solidarity.

Another source of communal solidarity for immigrants is with their coworkers. Immigrants often work very long hours with the same people in small businesses. This is an optimal environment for employees to bond. Immigrant employees not only share the common immigrant experience but also share the common experience of long, hard work and the feeling of being exploited. Native born American workers, on the other hand, often work in larger retail outlets, such as Walmart and Target. These businesses which are huge both on the local and national level offer little to no opportunity for employees to bond, especially considering that such workplaces have a tendency to rely on a fluid and often changing labor force, meaning that the same people are often not working together for long.

In addition to facing a constantly changing labor force, native employees in large chains are also less inclined towards community solidarity for another reason: they feel they have more options. So, for example, if the job as a cashier at Walmart doesn’t work out they have no problem with leaving and getting a job as a waitress at Applebees. In other words, they don’t stay at one job long enough to form strong and meaningful bonds with their co-workers. Immigrant workers, on the other hand, weather due to their insecurity about murky immigration statuses or because they feel their skill set limits them to one job for one business, are more likely to stay at one job for as long as possible. When conditions at one job are poor they are much more likely to strive to improve those conditions as opposed to changing jobs. As a result, they are more likely to stay with the same group of workers longer, allowing them to form strong bonds with co-workers and thus the community solidarity that stimulates and allows immigrants t succesfully organize.

South Asians in Queens

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Chhaya CDC (community development corporation) is an organization whose goal is the maintenance of stable communities among New Yorkers of South Asian descent. In pursuit of this objective they conducted a needs assessment study of this community.

The current economic downturn has significantly impacted this community. For example, despite the fact that forty seven percent of surveyed individuals possessed college educations, only eight percent worked in professional or technical jobs. The language barrier has played a major part in this particular disparity. Other economic difficulties result from housing. Most of the community lives in rented spaces and many have been exploited. Renting without lease and therefore with risk of displacement and illegal price gouging are just two problems in a much bigger issue. Homeowners haven’t fared much better due to the recent housing crisis and bureaucratic issues.

 

Chhaya also suggested many initiatives to help combat these problems including increasing the number of English language classes, allowing prior certification to apply here and allowing immigrants more access to public programs.