User:Amichalik

From The Peopling of New York City

Walking Tour:

In the readings, Roosevelt Avenue was depicted as the increasingly Latino dominating strip. This proved to be true. The blocks of Roosevelt Avenue were lined up with various retail stores, bargain stores, places to eat, travel agencies and occasionally you could hear Reggaetón music playing.

82nd Street was the next commercial epicenter we encountered. Common stores and brands now occupy what was once a high-end shopping strip. It may be important to mention that a store called Bang Bang, which sold European clothes, went out of business. 82nd Street happens to link Roosevelt Avenue to the next commercial center, 37th Avenue.

This second commercial center attempts to portray an upscale image through its neatly kept streets and sidewalks and various awnings. It is desperately trying to separate itself from the image Roosevelt Avenue presents, although only one block lies between them. The desire of separation and distinction can be observed through the intra-ethnic rivalry of residents. Latinos on 37th Avenue complain about the Latinos on Roosevelt Avenue. This intra-ethnic rivalry further proves that the residents of Jackson Heights do not attempt to come together but instead chose to lead separate lives.

As we left the commercial zones and entered the residential zones, it became quieter. It is ironic that the names of these complexes take on European names, such as Berkeley, in attempt to give them an upscale image. Some of the buildings looked like original tenements. The un-gentrified, original cooperative apartment buildings along 81st Street had internal gardens, which reflect this areas affluent lifestyle. However, the co-ops located on 34th Avenue from 80th to 81st Street have an even more lavish internal garden, with plenty of trees and even statues. This area, known as The Towers, contains the most expensive co-ops. This affluent lifestyle sharply contrasts the lifestyle on the other side of Roosevelt Avenue, which most residents do not want to consider a part of Jackson Heights.

During the tour, we stopped in front of the Community United Methodist Church. This church has four separate ministries in order to attempt to create the illusion of togetherness. Various ethnicities come to this church as their place of worship but do not interact with members from the other congregations. This church is an excellent representation of Jackson Heights overall. Jackson Heights, like this church, is a home to a diverse ethnic population. The residents use the same space, but hardly ever come together for everyday activities. They run separate lives in which residents stay in what they perceive to be their boundaries. This creates dominating sections in Jackson Heights, such as the Latino strip of Roosevelt Avenue and the heavily dense Indian commercial center of 74th Street. All these factors further contribute to the idea that Jackson Heights is a conglomerate of sections and divisions that form a whole, but remain separate entities.

Assignment #2

The ethnic diversity of Jackson Heights poses a problem between its newer and older residents. While a neighborhood typically creates a feeling of togetherness and belonging amongst its members, this ethnically mixed neighborhood does not. Although the newer and older residents reside in the same neighborhood, each group perceives the neighborhood differently. These many separate communities stir a struggle over space, both physical and nonphysical.

The older residents, mostly ethnic whites, see the new immigrants as a threat to the neighborhood as they know it and worry about the inevitable changes that are taking place. With the influx of immigrants into New York City, Jackson Heights is bound to change. While the older residents are willing to accept immigrants into their community, they want to see little change in the neighborhood they have lived so many years in.

Immigrants have a different understanding of community. Since people have different perceptions and experiences, aspects and places that are important to one person mean nothing to the next. This is important in understanding Jackson Heights because its people share the same space but see it in many different ways. A place can overlap or contrast the various meanings it is given by different groups. According to Jones-Correa, “Distinct groups of people in a neighborhood may have overlapping experiences in a shared space and yet their lives hardly touch at all.”

In Jackson Heights, residents use Northern Boulevard, Junction Boulevard, and the Brooklyn Queens Expressway as natural boundaries. However, the increasingly Latino dominating strip of Roosevelt Avenue has proved to be a problem for the ethnic white residents. These ethnic white residents avoid Roosevelt Avenue because it is “a completely different lifestyle” (Jones-Correa). Roosevelt Avenue has earned the reputation of being the center of illegal activity including drug dealing, prostitution, and other crimes. This is seen as a threat to the older residents who do not want their neighborhood associated with such a negative reputation.

And so, according to Kasinitz, some ethnic whites actually attempted to give away Roosevelt Avenue to the bordering neighborhoods and insisted that Jackson Heights end on the north side of the street. In response to an article in the New York Times about the murder of de Dios, residents wrote letters to the editor explaining that he was killed on the south side of Roosevelt Avenue, and therefore not in Jackson Heights (Kasinitz).

Further attempts by the ethnic whites to separate themselves from the new immigrants can be seen from their attempts to transform apartment buildings into a historic district. This would basically create a white enclave by keeping the ownership of these apartments in the hands of the mostly ethnic white upper-middle class residents.

These physical struggles of separation led to a different struggle of separation. Just as a Hindu woman made sure she wore their bindi so she would not be mistaken for a Muslim after the September eleventh, people in the certain groups disassociate themselves from other groups. Little or no interaction between the various communities of Jackson Heights further isolates the new and older residents. A struggle to remain separate and a struggle to remain together exists within Jackson Heights.

Article about landmark proposal 1995: Link