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If you were looking for property here . . .From The Peopling of New York City If you were looking for property in Jackson Heights, you would immediately notice the promotion of the neighborhood's diversity of cultural foods, residents, businesses, and the like, and the tendency of real estate agencies to cater towards young professionals. The website of The Residences at Jackson Heights displays modern apartments and pictures of young -- mostly white -- entrepreneurs. Quotes such as "Welcome to The Residences at Jackson Heights, newly revitalized and redesigned co-operatives in the heart of New York City's most vibrant locale" and "I'll put the new couch over there, the flat-screen TV against that wall, the love seat right there..." depict how this marketing strategy targets young, affluent individuals. The Residences at Jackson Heights also places a good deal of emphasis on the accessibility of transportation into Manhattan. (Residences at Jackson Heights).  The Residences does not only focus on the sleek interiors and Historic District buildings. Their pamphlets, which contain a vividly colored 'neighborhood map', clearly market Jackson Heights to a consumer base that is interested in living amongst diversity. From the multilingual 'welcome' in the upper-left corner of the map to the enumeration of forty-two highlighted landmarks of Jackson Heights, primarily ethnic restaurants from numerous countries, this marketing strategy makes it obvious that promoting and ultimately selling the neighborhood's diversity play a major role in attracting new residents. There is plenty of additional evidence of the current promotion of the neighborhood's diversity. In an article in the real estate section of the New York Times titled "Moving for the Food," Seth Kugel states that he "moved [to Jackson Heights] for the food". He goes on to promote the neighborhood's diversity by noting the plethora of Indian and Hispanic cuisines, restaurants, and businesses -- "dozens of Jackson Heights restaurants waiting for me with big stacks of delivery menus." Moreover, he implicitly states that if a single guy is looking for an apartment in the city, Jackson Height's food "should play a role" in that decision. As such, he declares that Jackson Height's vast array of food not only brought him to the neighborhood, but also "drove me out of my old [Manhattan] neighborhood." Kugel, like many others, notes the proximity of Jackson Heights to transportation and Manhattan, calling the neighborhood "a bargain" (Kugel, 1). The real estate and media advertisements and representations of diversity do not diminish the importance of the beautiful aesthetic desire of the clientèle to whom the neighborhood is being marketed. Both past and current advertisements and marketing strategies for the neighborhood will be analyzed later on. However, before examining that piece of the puzzle, we analyze the contradictions and complexities of Jackson Height's diversity.
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