Interview With The Ngo Family

The following is an interview with the Ngo family, current residents of Jackson Heights.

Q:    interviewer
D:    David Ngo, father
A:    Anna Thi, mother
R:    Roger Ngo, son

Q:    Do you like Jackson Heights?
All: Yes, I love Jackson Heights.
Q:    Why?
R:    There are many supermarkets.  It’s also more accessible to highways for an easy commute.  It’s closer to Shea Stadium and the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.  It’s culturally diverse.
A:    It’s cheaper than Manhattan.  There are many ethnic groups and I especially like that they all get along.

Q:    How long have you lived in Jackson Heights?
A:    25 years.

Q:    Why did you choose to live in Jackson Heights?
D:    My parents went from Vietnam to Hong Kong, and arrived in America before we did.  When they applied to come to the U.S., they were assigned to live in Jackson Heights.  When we came, we felt it would be a good idea to live near them, so we moved into the apartment building next to theirs, and we have been living here ever since.

Q:    Where did you live before?  Why did you decide to leave your previous home to come to Jackson Heights?  How does it compare?
A:    I lived mostly in Vietnam.  When we left, the country was war-torn, and the Communist rule was very brutal.  We wanted to escape the harsh government, and so we escaped to Indonesia, where we filed papers to come to America.  Like my husband said, his parents were in Jackson Heights already, so we decided to come live here too.

Q:    How’s the transportation?
R:    It’s good.  Jackson Heights is accessible to many things like the train, and you’re pretty close to the airport.
A:    You can go anywhere, because there’s easy access to the trains and buses.

Q:    What changes have you noticed from the time you lived here?
A:    In the past, people were more polite.  People always greeted each other.  Now, they’re still courteous but not as openly friendly as they used to be.  The buildings haven’t changed much, however.
R:    Jackson Heights has become a lot more culturally diverse.  There are a lot more immigrants.  It’s become a historical district.

Q:    Has ethnicity changed during the time that you’ve lived here?
A:    In the beginning, the majority of the residents were white (eastern European).  Later on, a lot of darker-skinned people began to move in, including Asians and Indians.  There were a lot of people from Latin and South America as well as from the Caribbean islands.

Q:    What are some of the highlights of the neighborhood?
R:    Transportation is very convenient.
D:    There’s little crime.  It’s a very diverse neighborhood, and yet everyone’s pretty friendly.  The area’s quite clean, and there are a lot of schools around.
A:    Everything seems convenient, from the supermarkets to different ethnic restaurants.

Q:    What are some of the downfalls of the neighborhood?
R:    There aren’t enough parking spaces around here.
A:    I can’t think of anything bad about Jackson Heights, except maybe the houses around here aren’t very large, and there are a lot of apartment buildings, which may lead to slightly overpopulation, but it’s not a big deal.