Cherry blossom festival at Brooklyn Botanic Garden presents Japanese culture to thousands of visitors. (Photos: Sal Romano)
By SAL ROMANO
Over 70,000 fans of Japanese culture gathered this weekend at the 32nd annual Sakura Matsuri in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden to celebrate the yearly blooming of the garden’s cherry blossom trees.
As if the 70-degree weather wasn’t sign enough, the soft pink cherry blossoms, called sakura in Japanese, acted as a reminder that spring is in full effect.
The Botanic Garden celebrated the cherry blossoms’ arrival with a series of activities and events inspired by Japanese culture. It was one of the most attended weekends ever for the festival, according to garden representatives.
In the Puzzle Plaza, sensei taught students the ins and outs of traditional roshe run nm br Japanese strategy board games Go and Shogi. This reporter took on the former, a game of Othello-like black and white playing pieces, stone capture, and territorial dominance, but was ultimately bested in a landslide loss against another newcomer.
At the center of the Osborne Garden, Misako Takashima (better known by her pen name Misako Rocks), a Japanese comics illustrator and children’s books writer whose works have been featured in The Onion, taught children and aspiring artists how to draw characters in the Japanese style. In Japan, comic books are called manga, and character representation is more eccentric when compared to those of western design.
Takashima, explaining the various different hairstyles her young artists can apply to their characters, described the messy but spikey cut as “cool” and “powerful,” the clean comb-down as “the original Justin Bieber,” and the long ponytail look as for someone “mysterious,” whose allegiance to good or evil is difficult to determine. The character’s eyes, she said, are more rough and edgy on males, whereas on females they’re more round and soft.
A tent over, children were invited to bring their newfound manga-drawing skills to sketch to their heart’s content a three-panel comic depicting something they saw at the festival. The drawings were then put up on a wall for all attendees to see. The drawings included cherry blossoms, lollipops, and spring pinwheels.
And there was plenty more “kid stuff,” as the festival labeled it.
In a fenced in, children-only area, staff members from Brooklyn’s Curious Jane, an after-school and summer camp program, helped the children make colorful spring pinwheels; Botanic Garden workers helped craft Japanese-themed rice shakers; and the folks from Taro’s Origami Studio in Park Slope taught the young ones the art of paper folding.
Adults interested in learning the craft of origami attended Jeremy Aaron Horland’s workshop in the Osborne Garden, where they learned how to make a Japanese samurai.
Near the far middle of the garden, artist Jed Henry displayed his “Ukiyo-e Heroes” woodblock and giclée prints. Henry’s prints mix traditional ukiyo-e Japanese style—built on motifs of landscapes, historical tales, the theater, and Japanese pleasure districts—with modern day video game characters.
“Back in the day, in the 17 to 1800s, Japan had a very pop-art art movement called Ukiyo-e,” said Henry. “Ukiyo was a philosophy of basically ‘eat, drink, and be married.’ It was based on the booze philosophy that we are kind of like a gourd floating down a river, nothing is ever the same, everything is going to change, and eventually everything is going to disappear, so you might as well have a good time while you’re going.”
Ukiyo led to a light-hearted movement called Ukiyo-e, which depicted things that people liked and thought were fun. According to Henry, if that art movement were still going strong today, it would be depicting Japanese comics and video games.
Henry’s display at Sakura Matsuri included a “Donkey Kong”-themed ‘Barrel and Hammer’ print, a “Super Mario”-themed rickshaw cart chase, a “Pokemon”-themed animal betting match, and more.
“This is the perfect environment for me,” added Henry, “because people roshe run suede show up and we just start geeking out about the games we grew up on.”
And the geek culture was evident. Walking around the Botanic Garden during Sakura Matsuri, you would find many a “cosplayer” —short for “costume player” — dress up as a favorite character from movies, animation, comics, or video games.
At this weekend’s festival, you might have spotted characters like Asuna from “Sword Art Online,” a Japanese light novel and anime; Hatsune Miku from the SEGA video games, Pikachu from “Pokemon,” and many others.
Performers at Osborne Garden’s “J-Lounge” filled the weekend with entertainment. Anime stand-up comedian Uncle Yo brought his jokes to the table; Kazunori Kumagai, a tap dancer hailed from Sendai City, brought his funky beats; and DJ Saiko Mikan brought the sounds of ‘60s Japan. New performers this year included straight-from-Japan band Zakuro Chindon and the New York-based The Asterplace.
Over at the garden’s Cherry Esplanade main stage, the entertainment continued with classical Japanese dance performances from Sachiyo Ito & Company, kimonos and all; Taiko drummers combined complex drumming techniques with the precision of martial arts; and Samurai Sword Soul brought action-packed sword fighting and martial arts to a mystified audience.
But what goes into deciding which events make the cut?
“We’re looking for things that represent a really nice spectrum of traditional and contemporary Japanese culture,” said Brooklyn Botanic Garden press officer Kate Blumm. “And things that really speak to an element of Japanese art that we think our audience will connect with and enjoy.”
In Japanese culture, the cherry blossom signifies the short-lasting nature of life. It is perhaps for this reason why the most crowded areas of this weekend’s Sakura Matsuri were not the performances, puzzles, paintings, or children’s activities, but the grassy greens under the cherry blossom trees. Attendees sat on towels, relaxed, and gazed at the soft pink flowers, almost as if to remind themselves that yes, spring has arrived. And it’s best to enjoy it while it’s here.
By JERMECIA EDWARDS
As HIV rates in a number of New York City neighborhoods continue to be as high as those in some developing countries, studies and advocacy organizations say there is an urgent need to prioritize HIV prevention efforts in disadvantaged communities.
Advocates for AIDS services in Brooklyn and the Bronx say the city has cut its spending while shifting money to Manhattan organizations and away from groups based in the boroughs where the problem is worst.
AIDS deaths in Manhattan continue to decline at twice the rate of deaths in Brooklyn and the Bronx. The Bronx has the highest HIV rate of any county in the U.S., 2 percent of the adult population. When more than 1 percent of an overall population is infected, roshe run the United Nations defines it as a generalized epidemic, which is found in hard-hit nations like South Africa.
“There is a link not only between poverty, but poverty of certain kinds of resources,” said Chris Norwood, founder and executive director of Health People, a community health organization based in the South Bronx.
Limited access to health care and high substance abuse rates are common factors associated with poverty in New York City neighborhoods and developing countries.
A U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis released in 2010 indicates that poverty is the most important demographic factor linked with HIV infections among inner-city heterosexuals. The study found HIV prevalence in high-poverty neighborhoods to be more than double that of the nation overall.
Norwood said that according to her 2010 study, “Follow the Money: AIDS Funding and AIDS Deaths in the Bloomberg Years,” the Bloomberg administration removed federal funding from Brooklyn and the Bronx and gave it to Manhattan-based agencies.
“We not only lost staff but volunteers. They took it out of the two poorest boroughs with the highest HIV rates and collapsed the center where there was a cohesive sense that we that we were fighting AIDS together in a community,” said Norwood. She says that as a result, thousands of AIDS clients were left without services as de-funded programs closed before new ones were in place.
Gerald Oppenheimer, distinguished professor at Brooklyn College and a health policy analyst, said poverty is a central issue to confront in the effort to prevent AIDS. “But it has many facets and determinants, including exploitation, corruption, and depredation by interests within a country and other nations outside,” he said.
The pattern seen in New York City has similarities to the epidemic among injection-drug users and gay men in Europe and Latin America. In New York City, black gay men are currently the highest risk group and there is an even higher level of injected drug-use.
The federal government in the first years of the Obama administration got Congress to end a ban on federal funding for needle exchange programs, but ultimately it was reinstated.
“You can directly blame the United States’ extremely high HIV rate on Congress for refusing to let any federal money be used for needle exchange,” said Norwood. “See it’s not a poverty thing, it’s a political thing.”
In addition, Norwood said, the city Health Department had stopped funding community-based AIDS prevention. “Last month, it ended all community-based contracts dependent on city money and will use allocations from the CDC,” Norwood said. “… I find it very annoying, the way this is spoken about. Yes, poverty and HIV go together, but it’s made to sound inevitable, when clearly there are other factors.”
When asked about the funding cuts, city Health Department spokeswoman Veronica Lewin declined to comment.
Paul Lopatto, supervising analyst for social and community services in the city’s Independent Budget Office, said city funds for AIDS services were projected to decrease from $3.3 million to $2.1 million. roshe run femmes Lopatto said this is a result of reductions the mayor proposed in November.
Organizations like Health People say that in order to prevent an epidemic like this from becoming worse, the work has to be community-based. This includes funding, social support and medical services that are well distributed.
“Almost all diseases, endemic and epidemic, reflect the community and the society in which they occur. However this requires not just medical or public health considerations, but also political, cultural and economic considerations,” said Oppenheimer.
By KATELYN HRUBY
A robust force in the luxury design bubble that most of us can only dream of bursting, Massatre Ltd. is not the typical grassroots organization that comes to mind when one thinks of Hurricane Sandy reconstruction. Boasting clients like The Beresford and The Dakota, The design and contracting firm is known for its refined aesthetic, the epitome of the urbane. But recently, Massatre has become a designer for the less chic environs of New Yrok as well, thanks to its co-founder, Catherine Hough.
After Hurricane Sandy ravaged the shoreline of the tri-state area, Hough, moved by the vast wreckage, came to the aid of victims, mobilizing Massatre for reconstruction efforts in the Rockaways.
And, in recognition for her hard work, Hough was recognized Tuesday by DA Charles J. Hynes as one of Brooklyn’s 33 “Extraordinary Women” singled out at a press conference in his office.
Now in its seventh year, the Brooklyn’s Extraordinary Women event was designed to recognize women who provide vital service to their communities. The women were chosen, Hynes said, for the “outstanding deeds they have contributed to making Brooklyn a better place.”
He called them “ambassadors of their neighborhoods.”
This year over 100 women were nominated by their communities. The chosen group hails from a broad spectrum of backgrounds including community activists, writers, entrepreneurs, contractors, and tenant association presidents.
Like many of the awardees, Hough was unaware of her nomination for the award until receiving a call from the Hynes’s office, asking to speak with her. Rattled at the prospect of a confrontation with the District Attorney, Hough was first shocked and then honored to belong to a group of such accomplished women. “To live in a community,” she said, “you have to give to the community.”
Hough, a Park Slope resident, moved to Brooklyn in 1985, saying the borough is “absolutely home. I love Brooklyn. I love living with such a diverse neighborhood at my doorstep. It gets me out there. I love it.”
Hough said she considered the award a call to action. “I like that he (Hynes) challenged us to go back to our communities. To connect,” Hough said.
Jacqueline Budansky, an award winner from Sheepshead Bay, agreed that the event would open doors by cooperating with other awardees.
Budansky, who lost her home to Hurricane Sandy nonetheless continued to work with various charitable organizations, including Arts for Children, the American Cancer Society and relief efforts for storm victims.
“I’m very honored and blessed to be part of such a positive experience,” she said.
This year the DA’s Choice Award went to Bernice Greene of Bedford Stuyvesant. Green founded Our Time Press, a community paper that now boasts over a circulation of over 500,000.
BY TYESHA ALLEN
Neighbors mourned the closing of the largest supermarket in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, after hearing that their neighborhood meat market will be no more.
The property where The Meat Barn and Western Produce Market now stands was bought for $5.85 million by the Brooklyn College Foundation, leaving neighbors and shoppers with nowhere to get fresh groceries.
“I don’t know where else I can go to get my onions and peppers,” said Patricia Johnson, air jordan 11 femmes 72-year-old woman who said, she has been shopping there for over five years since she moved to the area. “This is the only place I can come and be satisfied with my purchase. It’s the closest to home,” said Johnson.
The Meat Barn and Western Produce have been a part of the FRESH (Food Retail Expansion to Support Health) program for many years, selling a large number of fresh meats and vegetables to many in and outside the community.
Although it was said that the public were given the opportunity to provide feedback, nearby neighbors and shoppers were unaware that a couple of months from now their fresh meats and vegetables would be no more.
At least, not from the neighborhood Meat Barn.
“Didn’t they just buy up a lot on Flatbush?” said Joy Sanders to her neighbors, in the lobby of their building¾located just three blocks from the market.
“Yeah, so why do they need to take down the supermarket? Why not take down the Canal Jeans? It’s not making any business, plus it had to shut up shop anyway,” said Pam Charles.
“Every time we get something good around here, the city finds ways to take it up. The only other supermarket I know you can get good meat from is Pathmark,” said Judy Thompson.
“That’s a long walk, and I can’t walk over there with my bad knee,” objected Sanders.
Residents of Flatbush said they are going to miss the Meat Barn and Western Produce market.
“I feel like it is going to be the end of the world,” said Sherley Desmaret, who lives just across the street behind the Target, across from The Meat Barn market. “I mean how do I get my meat? Where would I get my meat?”
“I’ve been coming to this store for years, and never had any complaints about it,” said Diane Ortiz “I can’t believe they really gone close the store down.”
Brooklyn College plans to use the newly acquired property to serve more than 3,000 business students. “In all likelihood the use will ultimately include a new home for the School of Business, and perhaps some retail space on the ground floor,” air jordan 12 femmes said Andrew Sillen, vice president for institutional advancement/executive director of the Brooklyn College Foundation. “New space for the School of Business will provide a vast improvement in its capacity to serve our students, and enhance the likelihood of ultimate accreditation,” said Sillen.
According to Sillen, the market will be out in 2013. “I cannot answer the question of the ultimate fate of the existing tenant, except to say that they will vacate that location in August 12, 2013.”
Attempts to reach the owner of the meat market to ascertain his plans were not successful.
BY STEPHANIE RAMSARUP
The installation of new traffic lights and speeding cameras in Remsen Village is causing a stir amongst its residents.
Two hundred-fifty accidents were reported just in October 2012, according to Police Department records from the 67th precinct. Intersections that attracted the most accidents on the list were Clarendon Avenue and Kings Highway, Church and Remsen avenues, match supreme txt femmes Church Avenue and Kings Highway, Remsen Avenue and Kings Highway with four accidents for each, all located in Remsen Village.
In response, a new traffic light was installed on E. 53rd Street and Beverley Road and is the first light to be installed in the five streets in between the area’s two major roads, Kings Highway and Utica Ave, replacing a stop sign.
One resident recalls the ineffectiveness of the past stop sign on E. 53rd Street. “I got pulled over for a ticket for speeding through the stop sign,” said Patricia Bassit. “At least the light will prevent this from happening.”
Police Department records for the last month indicate that there have been no reported accidents on the intersection since the traffic light has gone up.
“I’m glad the light is up,” said a young local, Jonathan Madoo. “I remember one week, where was 3 accidents within that same week.”
Other residents expressed annoyance concerning the light. “It’s causing a lot of traffic build up,” said Brice Morgan. “I can’t get into my driveway right away because the cars are backed up so far ahead.”
Another resident repeated the same feelings. “There is a lot of noise now in the neighborhood,” said Genevive Pitter. “It was a lot more quiet before the light was installed.”
Other residents were indifferent. “Recently a car ran into the fence of a house near 53rd,” said Michelle Lewis. “I think the traffic light won’t prevent accidents.”
Traffic lights have also been installed along the Clarendon Ave strip of Holy Cross Cemetery.
“Back in the day they used to drag races along the cemetery,” said long time resident, Gertrude Anderson. new jordan “The new lights make me feel safer crossing the street in this neighborhood.”
A speeding camera is another traffic improvement to the area, installed on Kings Highway and Beverley Road. Still, it is apparent that despite the new traffic lights and speeding cameras there are still accidents in the area.
A tow truck is often seen parked on the intersection of Beverley Rd and E. 55th every day due to the rate of accidents along Kings Highway, according to residents.
Just two days ago at 2:20am, a deadly accident occurred on Kings Highway, near Snyder and Church Ave, killing two and injuring one according to police at the 46th precinct.
Last week on December 3rd, five children and two adults suffered minor injuries from an accident on the intersection of Church Avenue and Utica Avenue, according to police.
“It’s worse than a war zone in this area,” said Madoo. “People get either killed or injured every other day.” Madoo continued, “We live here by our own risk.”
This report by Brooklyn News Service writer Kiran Sury appeared on the City Limits Brooklyn Bureau Web site.
On the corner of Flatbush Avenue and Glenwood Road in Brooklyn, Mohamed Mohamed runs Gold Star Deli Grocery with his father Mohamed and another employee, also named Mohamed, all of them from Yemen. This unique situation arises from Arabic nomenclature. air yeezy 2 “The customers get confused, but not us,” jokes the younger Mohamed. His father, whose full name is Mohamed Abdullah Alrohani, has come up with a more pragmatic solution: just call him Alex.
Across Glenwood Road, Sadek Almontaser mans the counter of the recently opened Glenwood Deli, a corner store. Cigarettes are sold behind the counter, drinks and chips line the walls, and a small deli section offers fresh sandwiches – staples for any bodega.
But to the discerning eye of a corner-store connoisseur, there are several features that are not so standard.
As Almontaser deals with a steady stream of lottery ticket buyers, he happily discusses how Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad isn’t a bad man, just misunderstood. His uncle Ali, who runs the deli station, is 11 years his junior, a genealogical feat made possible by his grandfather’s four wives back in Yemen. Ali will be happy to make you a BLT, though he may forget to mention that the bacon is made of beef, not pork. And every so often a man will enter the store, nod to Almontaser, and make his way downstairs. Not every bodega has a prayer room in the basement.
Across the street yet again, on the other side of Flatbush Avenue, the eponymous Yafai Deli and Grocery is run by Saad Yafai. He shares it with his brother Nabil, who is currently back home in Yemen. His entire family is in Yemen, and he and his brother take turns staying in America and running the family store.
Most New Yorkers would agree that the deli/convenience store, once the exclusive purview of Jews, Italians and Germans, has come to be associated with Latinos. The word bodega, which is used interchangeably with deli, is Spanish for “warehouse” or “cellar”. According to data from the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, the number of firms in the borough classified as supermarket or convenience stores almost doubled during the first decade of this century. But the three stores on the corner of Glenwood Road and Flatbush Avenue show that Latinos are no longer dominant, as shifting demographics have opened up a new ethnic segment of the market. An influx of Arabs has brought a corresponding increase in Arab storeowners, each eager to pursue his own version of the American Dream.
* * * * *Clifton Clarke, professor of finance and business management at Brooklyn College, says that shifting populations opened a void for new businesses to fill, and that companies often change according to their target market. When Arab immigrants started to populate new neighborhoods, it made sense for them to manage the corner stores as they could better cater to Arabic needs. “Ethnicity, population, drives the type of businesses that are developed,” he says. “And these bodegas, which are now mostly run by Arabs, just fit in nicely.”
Moustafa Bayoumi, author of How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in Americaand professor of English at Brooklyn College, says that chain migration is the likely cause of the current proliferation of Arab-run corner stores. “It’s an old immigrant truth that when somebody comes to the country and they don’t have a lot of resources to them, air yeezy 2 femmes they search for their ethnic group and they participate in the same kinds of resources that are already pre-established,” he says. “So somewhere down the line, somebody, there was probably an original store that started the whole thing off.”
Yafai from Yafai Deli offers a similar explanation. He suggested that somewhere back in time an original Yemeni proprietor immigrated, and his success attracted others. “Everybody was following,” he says.
According to an analysis of decennial censuses and the 2008-2010 American Community Survey performed by the Center for the Study of Brooklyn, the number of Brooklynites claiming Yemeni ancestry has increased by more than 400 percent from 2000 to 2010, while the number of foreign-born Yemenis has more than doubled. The data, which go back to 1980, show a massive increase in the number of people with Yemeni ancestry across Brooklyn, from a few hundred three decades ago to over 7,000 now.
The analysis also reflects the Yemeni trend to self-employment. About a quarter of employed Yemenis, either foreign-born or of Yemeni ancestry, are self-employed and non-incorporated (meaning anything from freelance work to running a small business). Tellingly, almost a tenth of employed foreign-born Yemenis are self-employed and incorporated, meaning they are definitely business owners, most likely with employees.
Saad Almontaser from Glenwood Deli, older brother to Ali and the first in his family to come to America, is an example of the pattern of migration that Bayoumi describes. In a telephone interview, he explained how he came to America to study in 1992, and then dropped out of Long Island University to open his own deli and make money. When Sadek and Ali came over, he advised them on opening their own store. His choice of a deli was based, he says, on the fact that while he worked long hours, it didn’t require too much education or capital, and was the easiest way to make a living.
Sadek Almontaser expresses similar feelings when asked why he opened a deli instead of a different store. “Because that’s easy money man. That’s the easy business,” he says. “You don’t have to go to school for it, you don’t have to do anything. Just open it like that and work.”
His uncle Ali agrees that the deli business was a good one. “Easy work you know, not too much headache,” he says.
Clarke said the low cost of entry is vital for the success of these shops, which often receive easy credit from their suppliers. Most of the overhead is rent, and when families run the shop together, as with Glenwood or Gold Star Deli, labor costs remain low. Over time, he said, immigrants work their way up to more lucrative small businesses. As they progress, friends and family members take their place. “You see different individuals, but the same ethnicity owning those bodegas,” he says. “So you see people transition out, up the social ladder, and others come in and take over.”
Yemenis are uniquely suited for these collaborative businesses, according to Bayoumi. “Yemeni society as a whole is structured far more along society- and clan-based lines than any of the other Arab countries,” he says.
The close-knit Yemeni culture is what enables all three delis to survive on the same street corner. Cooperation is more important than competition. “Yemenis, if they’re like next to each other, you don’t want to do competition,” says Mohamed.
Yafai, who comes from the same village in Yemen as Alex and Mohamed at the Gold Star Deli across the street, agrees that there were enough customers that everybody could make a living when they kept prices in line. “You make your money, I make my money, we cool, we friends,” he says.
* * * * *As Muslims, these storeowners have to deal with the religious challenge of running a halal business. Halal, which means “permitted” in Arabic, is similar to kosher. Chief among its prohibitions are pork and alcohol. Halal meats have their own certification, and have become popular enough in Brooklyn that larger supermarkets have started halal sections along with their established kosher sections.
Jean Edner, manager of a Key Food supermarket on Nostrand Avenue, explains that the decision to open a halal section was made by the new Palestinian owner, a move that he says was “so far so good.” Christians, Jews and Muslims are all buying from the halal section, he says.
Non-Muslims seemed not to care. Tracy Tauner, a shopper in the halal meat section, said she had no specific preference, and was surprised to find that she was looking at halal food. “If you hadn’t pointed it out I wouldn’t have even noticed it,” she said.
Sadek Almontaser from Glenwood Deli maintains that halal had a broad appeal. “A lot of Christians in here, not everybody is Muslim, but everybody likes halal stuff,” he says. None of the three delis sell pork products. But none of them have halal-certified meat either.
Halal certification is handled by organizations such as Islamic Services of America, which sends inspectors to the food processing plants for a fee. The inspectors confirm that each stage of food preparation adheres to Islam’s strict requirements, including a blessing at the time of death and specific methods of slaughter. Certification is not limited to meat; all foods intended for human consumption, free run 3.0 v2 femmes as well as cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, can be certified to ensure that they contain no animal byproducts. Companies that obtain such certification can then market their products to observant Muslims.
Yafai from Yafai Deli said that was unnecessary. “I mean it’s not ‘halal’ halal, but it’s not pork,” he says, referring to his selection of deli meats. He said that not having pork was more important than strict certification, which would raise the price of the meat.
According to Bayoumi, the Quran mentions alcohol three times, with different instructions each time – don’t come to prayers drunk; it’s better to avoid it; and don’t partake of it at all. Bayoumi explains that the mainstream Islamic interpretation is that the population was slowly being weaned off alcohol, and the final prohibition should be followed. Not consuming it yourself is not enough, however. “If you’re selling it you’re participating in the haram [forbidden],” he says. “The idea is you shouldn’t participate in the commerce of it.”
While Glenwood Deli does not sell alcohol, Gold Star and Yafai both do. Yafai says that he sells alcohol against his preference. “Honestly I know I’m feeling guilty but I’m doing it for now ’til I find something better. It’s kind of hard right now, it’s kind of rough. Bills, rents, and all that. It’s hard for me to take it out, but in my inside I’m feeling guilty,” he says.
Alex from Gold Star says it was a matter of economics. “I have no choice because the neighborhood likes alcohol,” he says. “And the rent is too high. We can’t cover the rent without alcohol. I try to take the alcohol out, yes, I can’t make it.” He defends his decision, noting that while Sadek does not sell alcohol, he sells lottery tickets, which he says were banned as well. “Alcohol, lotto, is pork,” he says, counting out the items proscribed by Islam on his fingers. “Same amount of punish.”
Mohamed says his father’s choice was a necessary one, but that it was detrimental to Islam’s image with the public. “Seeing a Muslim selling something that’s forbidden to them, that’s not a good view of a Muslim. Right? So we want to do halal and let everybody know,” he says. “Maybe they would want to learn about the religion. Let Islam out there.”
* * * * *Yafai leans on his counter and describes his conflicting desires to stay in America and go back to Yemen. “It’s a better life, honestly, much better than back home,” he says, nodding his head to his words. “Here it’s good to make money, to work, to have good future. But for a quiet life and kids and families, I’d rather stay over there. Over there you’ve got time for your kids, you’ve got time for your wife, you’ve got time for everybody.” Motioning his fingers like a hamster wheel, he adds, “But here is too much busy, you know?”
Bayoumi describea Yafai’s situation as “not uncommon.” “They also want to keep very much a foundation within Yemen because it’s a very remittance-based economy too, partly because of the poverty in Yemen,” he saya. “And so people tend to go back and forth a lot.”
Saad Almontaser makes it clear that he is here to stay, and though he was forced into the deli business because he needed a job, his children’s future will be brighter. His says that his kids, sent to private school in Park Slope, will have office jobs, which he called the second level of making a living. “My new thing is to invest in my kids. I don’t let them even come to the store,” he says, because he doesn’t want them thinking they can make money without an education.
Alex is also focusing on his children, so that they can avoid what he calls the “dumb future” of his generation. Mohamed studies chemistry and math at Brooklyn College part-time. His younger brother Ahmed helps him out in the store on weekends, but has plans for a career in health or science. Alex says giving his children options was his main reason for working. “No education, no nothing,” he says, drawing a contrast between him and his kids. “So we try to make the kids better.”
By ROBERT GARCIA
Mshari Whaley remembers what it was like.
“I use to collect the crack bottles on the street, because I liked the colors as a kid,” said Whaley, 27, a lifelong resident of Bedford-Stuyvesant who lives in a brownstone on Hancock Street with her daughter and boyfriend. Whaley grew up in Bed-Stuy “do or die” days, its low point as a high-crime neighborhood in the late ’80s and ’90s.
As crime rates dropped, the value of the neighborhoods brownstone housing has since soared. That has made for rapidly increasing rents, forcing out not only long-time residents but putting pressure even on those who arrived recently.
Whaley lives in a building that her boyfriend’s stepfather owns, which means that mail often arrives with suggestions from real estate agents to sell the property – a sign that “blockbusting” could be re-emerging in a new form. During the changing times and social atmosphere of the 1950s, real estate agents visited neighborhoods in central Brooklyn spreading the message that black residents would soon be moving in, bringing down the market value of homes. Real estate agents would make offers to take homes off the hands of white home owners, then turn around and sell them at much greater prices.
The brownstones of Bedford-Stuyvesant stand along the streets like soldiers, warriors that refuse to fall. Renovated, re-vamped, and remodeled are among the words being used to describe homes and apartments being marketed for the “new” Bedford-Stuyvesant, which has swanky restaurants and artsy cafes on a landscape once marked by abandoned buildings and rundown bodegas.
Paula Crespo, a community and economic development planner from the Pratt Center for Community Development who deals with changing communities all over the country, said cost-of-living increases are pushing out Bedford-Stuyvesant’s low-income residents.
“Rent and real estate costs have gone up, for sure. Food prices have gone up too, but I think that’s for somewhat different reasons as they’ve gone up in much of the country,” she said. “I suppose one could say that food prices have gone up in Bed-Stuy if you are considering new food stores and/or newly emerging food items that appeal to people of higher incomes.”
Crespo said that real estate brokers and developers are marketing the neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant to people of a higher income and are contributing largely to the gentrification process. “Retaining the existing affordable housing stock as well as creating more units of affordable housing will be important for ensuring the Bed-Stuy’s low- and moderate-income population,” she said.
Once rundown homes are now being restored to their splendor. A neighborhood that had been predominantly African-American is seeing a great number of whites moving in, attracted by charming streets lined with trees and the prospect of a great home. From 2000 to 2010, Bedford-Stuyvesant saw an increase in the white population from 2 percent to 10 percent, while the black population decreased from 69 percent to 49 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“Now I actually have white neighbors,” said Whaley, who can’t recall seeing any when she was growing up. “The abandoned buildings were bought up by white people. There is more unity instead of poverty now.”
This unity is reflected in the “hoodster” trend, which mixes hip hop and hipster styles into an eclectic new form of fashion. But the new businesses and eateries that arrived in recent years typically cater to clients of a larger wallet size than the long-time residents carry. Bed-Stuy is seeing a massive increase in the cost of living to match its new appearance.
* * *
Diana Knight has lived all her life within the neighboring areas of Clinton Hill and Bedford-Stuyvesant. Knight’s father, who was raised in Bed-Stuy, worked as a professor for the Pratt Institute and lived on the Clinton Hill campus with his family during most of Knight’s childhood. Knight witnessed first-hand the gentrification of Clinton Hill and recognizes where the recent changes in Bed-Stuy are heading.
The new businesses and residents are a welcome addition, according to Knight. At 26, she lives on her own in a studio apartment on Vernon Avenue and fears that she may soon not be able to afford living in Bed-Stuy.
“People who are opening businesses here are not African-American most of the time and are not trying to attract people who are living here but the ones moving in,” she said. “They are excluding these lifetime residents.” As the cost of rent rises around Knight, she holds on tightly to her apartment and her good relationship with her landlord.
According to Sharon Zukin, professor of sociology at Brooklyn College, every critical sociologist believes gentrification destroys the culture of a community and displaces the people and the businesses in it. As neighborhoods around New York City are being gentrified, the number of affordable apartments is decreasing, not leaving enough for the people who need them, according to Zukin. The people most vulnerable are renters, especially because the number of apartments protected by rent control or rent stabilization is rapidly decreasing. The rising rents will make it impossible for many people to live in New York.
“The dynamic of gentrification always destroys the existing culture of a community,” Zukin said. “But does that form of gentrification destroy black culture or just update it?”
The ever evolving culture of Bedford-Stuyvesant has welcomed the addition of Caribbean and Muslim traditions; this is evident in the restaurants and stores throughout the area.
* * *
When Zachery Starkey headed to New York City from Columbus, Ohio, his first move was to Bedford-Stuyvesant three years ago and he has been living there ever since. Starkey appreciated the neighborhood when first arriving, though it could be a bit rough in certain areas. He welcomed the inexpensive lifestyle of the area as well as the family-owned and -operated small businesses.
Although Starkey so far is a short-term resident of Bed-Stuy, he is annoyed at the changes in the cost of food and in the cost of dining at restaurants in the immediate area. Starkey expresses anger towards the new residents moving in, saying they believe the neighborhood should change to fit them.
According to Starkey, the transplants moving in cannot even afford the fictional lifestyle that is being promoted by such media influences as the “Sex and The City” franchise. “They expect the neighborhood to adapt to them. These ‘yuppie’ people don’t expect to be a part of the community,” said Starkey. Starkey recalls an observation a friend of his made that resonates with him – that a lifestyle and an identity are costly in New York City.
“The neighborhoods are drastically changing, making it harder for people to keep up and prepare for the increase in cost of living. We are still in a recession and the city is not lessening the stress on residents either,” said Peter Nelson, a music industry professional who moved from Long Island to Bedford-Stuyvesant, looking for a neighborhood that was at once progressive and affordable.
After less than three years he has already experienced two big annual rent increases. There have been large scale remodeling projects around him as new buildings and businesses appear.
Nelson said he will not be able to afford his apartment any longer if the rent goes up again. “I feel that the gentrification that is happening in Brooklyn is helping it lose its cultural flare that made it such a unique place to live in before,” he said. “I feel that the wealthy people moving into these once low-income areas who are usually not originally from New York forget that the people who lived there before are suffering because they can no longer afford to live there anymore.”
By JERMECIA EDWARDS
A few days after a Department of Environmental Protection inspector came to measure the noise level at Wayne Bailey’s loft on Dean Street, he complained about it to a neighbor.
“No disrespect, but you have earplugs in your ears,” Bailey, 56, said he told the inspector. Bailey, who works in commercialization of intellectual property and is an active member of Community Board 8, said the inspector didn’t know what it was like to live down the block from the new Barclays Center.
Wayne Bailey.
Bailey’s complaint is just one of many criticisms aimed at the high-decibel sounds coming at night from the Barclays Center and related construction. Some nearby residents say that intense pounding, vibrations and crashing loud noises coming from the construction site at night make it difficult to sleep. At the same time, others say that the congestion and noise stemming from the arena are far less severe than feared.
Still, it’s taken some time to get used to having an 18,000-seat, $1 billion sports and entertainment center in the neighborhood.
“The rumbling and loud noise coming from the arena and construction feels like you’re living on top of a train station,” David Stevens, a 47-year-old school teacher, said as he pushed a shopping cart full of groceries to the same building on Dean Street. “All the concerts from Jay-Z to Justin Beiber have been very bass-heavy and clearly audible in our building. I’ve lived here for 10 years and this arena has completely changed the character and the feel of the neighborhood. And it’s just the beginning.”
The Barclays Center is the first step in building Atlantic Yards, a 22-acre, $4.9 billion development planned to include 8 million square feet of apartments, offices and stores near Atlantic and Flatbush avenues. Slowed by the downturn in the economy, it is expected to take many years.
“I didn’t move next to an arena, an arena moved into my neighborhood,” Bailey said.
He began to break down the different elements of the Atlantic Yards project. “You have the railyard reconfiguration. They want to build all these high-rise buildings and housing. Then you have the arena, which is 247 feet and 6 inches from our building on Dean Street,” he said. “The state overruled the zoning that said that you couldn’t build anything like this within a thousand feet. Now how would you feel if you had an arena situated in your residential neighborhood?”
After three years of delays, many lawsuits, neighborhood protests and financial setbacks, the Forest City Ratner Cos. project received a key approval on December 20, 2006 from the three powers in state government at the time, Gov. George Pataki, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate majority leader Joseph Bruno.
Supporters of the project say that Barclays Center will bring economic growth, more tax revenue and more jobs for Brooklynites.
“Most of my friends were pretty pumped about getting a job at the Barclays Center,” said Christopher Dow, a 19-year-old Brooklyn College student. “But it turns out that priority jobs are being given to underprivileged residents, depending on which street they live on. I thought it was a cool way to give money back to the people supporting the project who live here.”
The community benefits agreement promised that low- and moderate-income and public housing residents would get priority in available jobs. Forest City Ratner’s deal with the city and state also pledged it to create 2,250 units of affordable housing, 10,000 permanent jobs, eight acres of open space and a mixed-use development with 15 high-rise buildings over the course of 25 years.
“The Empire State Development Corporation gave them 25 years to finish it, Now how would you like to live and deal with construction for over 25 years?” Bailey said. “There is a significant amount of noise coming from this hyper traffic during rush hour and at night. It’s the rumbling of the trucks, the honking of horns because limos and black cars double park and screams from the concerts that make it so loud and chaotic that people can’t sleep at night. And the economy is not where it’s supposed to be for people to just get up and leave.”
Yet many local residents say the Atlantic Yards project creates intangible benefits for the neighborhood. Supporters of the project say that it adds something new, fresh and different to the borough, especially since there was not much in the neighborhood five years ago.
“I have one friend that lives a block away and he was really excited about it because he’s a huge NBA fan but grew up in a place with no NBA team,” said Robert Pressley, a 28- year-old college student. “And I remember him telling me that he’s so glad his son has a team to root for.”
In 2003, Ratner bought the New Jersey Nets and then announced that he was moving the team to Brooklyn. This was the match that lit the flame and started the whole Atlantic Yards development. However, people continuously addressed their concerns about traffic, congestion and noise.
“I thought about the flow of traffic and how it is already crazy with the dollar cabs on Flatbush, so I knew it was going to get pretty hectic over here,” Dow said.
Dow talked about his experience with overflowing traffic. “I was in a cab once and the guy was like it’s going to take two hours before we get into Manhattan. It was pretty frustrating,” he said. “I just didn’t understand how people on these already packed streets of Brooklyn, would adapt to extra cars filled with fans searching for parking.”
A traffic study by engineer Samuel I. Schwartz outlined ways to limit the number of vehicles traveling and maximize the use of transit. It recommended subway, rail and bus service enhancements, cutting on-site parking spaces in half, and coordinating remote parking facilities and shuttle buses on event days.
According to Schwartz, so far it has been a success. There has been a lack of gridlock and few have been using the arena’s parking lot, located between Vanderbilt and Carlton avenues. It has 541 spaces and has been half empty, according to separate observations from reporter Norman Oder of Atlantic Yards Report. Lately, a large portion of concert-goers have come and gone by subway or are choosing to park elsewhere.
Schwartz’s plans were also made to reduce street congestion and attendant complications before, during and after events. However, after the Sounds of Reggae event at the Barclays Center, streets were still packed with concertgoers making a lot of noise. Some were drunk and talked loudly about the concert, while others were ready to have a part two to the concert by going to the nearest club. Concert-goers’ voices were very loud after the show and one could see how it could negatively impact people in the community. Traffic flowed fairly well on the roads outside the Barclays Center. However, the biggest traffic concern seemed to be the crowds of people after this big event. Black cars, buses, and limousines were also visible idling on nearby streets before and during the concerts.
“You have buses, black cars and limos parking everywhere. The ESDC solution to that was enforcement. But instead of police enforcing serious police stuff, you got them chasing black cars. That’s insane,” Bailey said. “A bus was parked on Sixth Avenue illegally next to a hydrant for over an hour waiting to pick up the Notre Dame [basketball] players. This is a residential area – no vehicle is supposed to idle for more than three minutes in New York, so what makes it okay for them to do it.” Sixth Avenue is located at the back of the Barclays arena.
Opponents of the Atlantic Yards project say in their website, AYCrimescene.com, that Atlantic Yards had failed to ensure promises of local jobs and affordable housing, which is what won approval for the project in the first place. In 2005, Forest City Ratner signed a community benefits agreement that was meant to ease neighborhood concerns.
“BUILD is a program that was supposed to be a local community group to help unemployed black youth males find union jobs. However, none of those guys got anything out of it,” Bailey said. “These guys came together and sued Ratner and his community benefit agreement and Forest City Ratner went back to fight it. But the judge wasn’t having it and said this lawsuit is going forward,” Bailey continued. “I hope those guys get something. But even if they get money out of it, they still didn’t get what they really needed which was livable jobs.”
“I feel like the owner knew what he was doing,” Pressley said. “Like a politician he said what he had to say to get what he wanted, not caring if it disappointed people along the way.”
Daniel Goldstein and members of his anti-Atlantic Yards group Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn led the fight against Bruce Ratner’s plan to demolish areas of their Prospect Heights neighborhood and build the Barclays Center.
“People were fighting hard to prevent it from coming here and they lost,” said Barbara Owens, who works at the Human Resources Administration office on Livingston Street.
Bailey said that the work of blogger Oder and others in the community had helped minimize some of the project’s negative impact “We have been working on protecting our neighborhood before the project started,” he said. “Our neighbors see what we’ve done and they appreciate it.”
Some Brooklynites who once were apprehensive about the flow of loud and drunken fans pouring out of the arena no longer feel that their safety and serenity are being jeopardized.
Adam Foster, a 32- year-old father of one who lives a block and half away from the Barclays Center, said the noise has not been that bad. “There is a little bit of noise every now and then but nothing serious that I can’t deal with. If my three- year- old daughter can sleep through it, then it is not that loud.”
Overall, he said, “The positive about the Barclays Center outweighs the negative that was expected when it first opened.”
Bailey said that to some extent, protesters succeeded by calling attention to possible problems. “We’ve been complaining about the sidewalks not being wide enough, parking issues and noise complaints,” he said. “I feel like our voices have been heard to a certain extent, but it’s still not perfect.”
“The noise doesn’t affect me at all. I make music so I’m making a substantial amount of noise myself,” Dow said.
Some residents who were once uneasy about the limited parking and the overcrowding of streets in the neighborhood are presently surprised the arena didn’t have the destructive impact everybody presumed it would have.
“Who would have thought that bringing over 15,000 people here wouldn’t increase congestion in the neighborhood. It’s shocking,” said Bruce Wallace, a public radio reporter who lives in the Prospect Heights area. “My friends and I have been driving around here during the Jay-Z and Barbra Streisand concerts and didn’t notice any crazy congestion at all.”
When asked about the negative effects of parking, Wallace said “We still have pretty good parking on our street but I’m not going to tell you where that is.”
Hakeem Jeffries, an Assembly member elected in November to Congress, said that conditions have not been bad in the surrounding communities as a result of the Barclays Center. “Traffic is being managed pretty well because most people are taking public transportation instead of driving,” he said.
Brooklynites in the surrounding area are starting to care less about the effects of Barclays Center and are more concerned about the Atlantic Yards project as a whole.
“I’m waiting to see if it will bring real jobs to Brooklyn,” said Carey Thompson, a 28-year-old banker at TD Bank. “It might bring some minimum wage jobs but I want to see if the money will trickle down into the neighborhood.”
Residents seem to be more focused on making sure the state is doing what it can to preserve the authenticity of the community long term.
“When I heard that people were being put out of their homes that they lived in for many years, I was upset,” said Gloria Rollings, a 46-year-old electrical engineer. She said she feels like the Atlantic Yards project is about the developers of the project stacking up money. “It probably wasn’t worth anything to Ratner and his friends, but to the person that was put out, it was worth a lot to them.
“I believe in people and I believe that in some cases, people who have money just try to push other people out so they can get their way to make more money,” Rollings continued. “I don’t like that at all.”
Rollings also expresses concern about the planned housing not being so affordable. “I feel like they will make the services twice as expensive that residents can’t even afford to move in. But that’s just my opinion,” Rollings said. “But we’ll wait and see; only time will tell.”
“It’s not over,” Bailey said. “They are going to start building on B2, which is located on Flatbush and Dean. There have already been dozens of 311 calls complaining about double parking, idling, clusters of bright lights illuminating people’s apartments, noise lingering outside coming from jackhammers and persistent beeping of reversing vehicles. Residents actually post videos and their complaints on the Atlantic Yards Watch Web site and their complaints are endless.”
Owens commented: “It’s here to stay, so there is really nothing anyone can do about it but adjust.”
By DAVID BELTRAN
Sitting on a black leather chair with her cat lying stretched across the floor by the fireplace, Triciann Botta waits for customers to arrive. But the only people who stop by are other local business owners who have come to check how Botta is doing.
For most businesses in Red Hook, the road to recovery after Hurricane Sandy has been a long one. Mark’s Pizzeria, located a block away from Botta’s wine store, Botta di Vino, was closed for over three weeks and cost owner Tony Kokale an estimated $70,000. Although Botta’s store was flooded, she did not lose any inventory because she moved her wine bottles up high. When the electricity returned on Nov. 28, Botta began to start selling wine.
Botta di Vino was spared any major damage and only needed to be cleared of flood water and dried. But while the cost of repairs may have been low, the effects on Red Hook continue.
Botta was among those who had to leave. Forced out of her first floor apartment, she and her husband Jeffrey moved into a home in East Hampton. What once was a two-minute walk became a two-hour drive that costs Botta from $120 to $140 a week in gas.
As people moved out, fewer customers came in. While Botta was able to sell some wine in the week following Sandy, the effect of the storm on local businesses is only beginning. The shutdown of the local Fairway Market has reduced business.
“It wasn’t the first week,” said Botta. “It’s now. People are making the decision to leave. The 28,000 people a week that Fairway brought are no longer coming in. I’m going to say the longer it takes Fairway to come back, the longer it takes for us to come back.”
With residents leaving and supermarket shoppers not driving into Red Hook, the number of customers has dropped down significantly in a time when Botta di Vino makes the most money.
“Last week was a big tell,” said Botta. “What we usually do in a day, roshe run hyp femmes we did in a week. The holiday season is kind of a bust now. What we made in November and December would float us through March.”
With so few customers coming in, Botta has shortened her store hours. Regular store hours were from noon to nine or 10 but Botta says that’s just not necessary anymore. She now opens from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Mondays and noon to 8 p.m. on other days. She said the only customers buying wine are the people coming home from work from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Similar to many of the other local businesses on Van Brunt Street, Botta said she didn’t start her shop for the money.
“We didn’t have any dollar signs in our eyes,” she said. “We didn’t have any ambitions to be rich, we just wanted to make a living.”
Despite many obstacles in the road to recovery, Botta remains optimistic that the business will survive through the expected rough holiday season and is looking to fulfill her promise.
“We said we would give it five years to see if it would last,” she said. “And in year three, we got Sandy. So we’re going to wait and see. It’ll be tough but we expect to make it through March.”
Photo: Botta di Vino. Source: BottaDiVino.net.
By JAMILLE SUTTON
Tim Law, a Hong Kong native and long-time resident of Bensonhurst, counsels Chinese immigrants who move to the once predominantly Italian-American Brooklyn neighborhood.
He recalls a crippled, 75-year-old Chinese-speaking man who panicked when his food stamps were turned down at a local supermarket. When Law called the city agency that had cut off the man’s eligibility, he said, he found out what went wrong. Since the elderly man could not read or understand English, he had discarded notices the agency sent seeking income verification, thinking they were unimportant.
“The greatest barrier for the new Asians of Bensonhurst is that of language,” said Law, 65, a former city school official who worked for years helping Chinese students and their families to adjust to America.
It is also the barrier that stands between two generally compatible but insulated ethnic communities in Bensonhurst: the long-time but fading Italian-Americans, and the rapidly increasing Chinese immigrants. Their shared dedication to hard work has brought them together, even as their insulation from each other creates some tension between these communities.
Law, a member of both the community planning board and community education council serving Bensonhurst, said that the Italians have treated the Chinese pleasantly. Bensonhurst would be the ideal place for Asians to join together with others once the language issue is solved, according to Law.
“Bensonhurst is a neighborhood that accepts the Asian culture,” he said. “Here, all Asians feel comfortable. In other places, people make fun, throw stones, and yell.”
* * *
“They don’t buy from me,” said Maria Campanella, the well-known Italian ice cream girl of Bensonhurst.
Campanella, a middle-aged woman who has lived in Bensonhurst since she was seven years old, said that until 10 years ago, her entire block was Italian. Over the past decade the young Italian population has moved to Staten Island as the Asians settled in Bensonhurst, said Campanella. Census data analyzed by the Center for the Study of Brooklyn confirms this. Its report on Community District 11 of Brooklyn, which includes Bensonhurst, states that in 2000, Asians made up 23.2 percent of the district’s population, while in 2009, they amounted to 33.7 percent.
The census data also show that as the Asian population of the district increased, the population of those of Italian ancestry in Community District 11 declined from 30 percent in 2000 to 21.5 percent in 2009.
“They’re very nice people,” Campanella emphasized when asked about her new neighbors. “The problem is just that they don’t circulate their money around the entire community.”
According to Campanella, it is for this reason that many Italians cannot afford to keep their businesses open. She said that it is sad to see businesses that have been opened for decades close.
“When an Italian business in Bensonhurst closes, we all go crazy,” she said.
Campanella is dedicated to her ice cream truck business, which was once her father’s. When her father became sick, she made a commitment to help her family and the business.
“Although he’s not with me anymore in the physical sense, spiritually he’s with me every day,” she said. “I still hold that commitment.”
Campanella described her Chinese neighbors as hard-working people. She said that in most Asian families, both parents work hard and long hours, while children are looked after by their grandparents.
Campanella illustrated the language barrier by recalling time she saw an elderly Asian man sitting on a bench with young kids whom she assumed were his grandchildren.
“They were sitting on a bench with wet paint because the couldn’t read the sign. They’re nice people,” she reiterated, “but they just have to get it right.”
* * *
Dominick Carielli, director of the Center for Italian American Studies at Brooklyn College, said that the young Italian generation moved out of Bensonhurst before the Chinese moved in. This resulted in empty homes in Bensonhurst, which soon served as the homes of Chinese immigrants.
“I wasn’t like the Italians were pushed out by the Chinese, or supplanted in any way,” he said. Carielli, now in his 50s, has been a resident of Bensonhurst for 25 years. He holds a doctorate in psychology from Fordham University.
Carielli said that the Italians settled who settled in Bensonhurst a century ago were members of the working class. According to Carielli, Bensonhurst caters to this class.
“As the children of the Italian immigrants became educated, they moved out of this enclave,” he said.
The second- and third-generation Italian-Americans moved to more spacious homes in Staten Island and New Jersey. Carielli said this is a natural progression.
Carielli said he gets along well with his Chinese neighbors, and described them as “nice, friendly, and hardworking.”
Regarding Italian shops, Carielli said that many bakeries and stores have been forced to close. However, he said that the Chinese may not buy from the Italians simply because the products in Italian stores do not appeal to them, and not because they refuse to circulate their money.
* * *
Law related a story of his experience in another neighborhood, one he would not identify, but said those residing there were less accepting of Asians. He said he was sent to this neighborhood’s post office by the city Department of Education.
“As I stepped out of the car, a few people yelled, ‘what are you doing here Chinaman!?’” he said. “I was so scared, that I ran back into the car, called the Education Department, and told them I could not complete the task at hand.”
But in Bensonhurst, Law said, he feels comfortable walking around at night, talking in the streets, and going about his daily business. He said that the Chinese get along with the surrounding populations despite the fact that they cannot fully communicate with them.
As a member of the community education council of School District 21, Law sees Italian and Asian children interacting and becoming friends.
Community Board 11 District Manager Elias-Pavia said Asians and Italians are socializing with each other, although she added that language was a barrier to their integration. She noticed the groups mingling at the senior-citizen programs in Bensonhurst Jewish Community House at 7082 Bay Parkway.
“You’d be surprised with the diversity there,” she said. “All of the populations of Bensonhurst are interacting with each other, and using the services.” But, Elias-Pavia said, language tends to separate the communities.
“Many of their signs and advertisements are not in English,” she said of the Chinese.
Elias-Pavia said that many people would be more willing to enter an establishment if the signs were in English. “If the restaurant menu is in Chinese, they just can’t order,” she said. “So why bother?”
* * *
Jerome Krase, 69, a sociologist from Brooklyn College who is expert on the development of the Italian and Asian populations of New York, said that the Italian-Chinese connection dates back to the late 19th century. Then, he said, the Italians and Chinese began to settle in lower Manhattan. At that time, the Chinese population was quite small. As it grew, Krase said, the Italians began to leave lower Manhattan and move to other parts of the city. [See “Recalling Jews and Italians in Old Bensonhurst,” Brooklyn News Service.]
Over the past 10 years however, Chinatown has “filled up,” which left new Chinese immigrants to find new neighborhoods to settle in. Krase said they began to establish themselves in places with convenient modes of transportation.
“The Chinese connection to Bensonhurst is transportation [and] is the same as their connection to Flushing and Sunset Park,” he said. “It is transportation.”
Krase pointed out that the Chinese and Italians have settled in the same neighborhoods, as reflected in their inhabitation of Bensonhurst and lower Manhattan. Krase said this is because the Chinese and Italians are insular communities.
“Insular communities tend to settle near each other,” Krase said. “This is a typical social phenomenon.”
Regarding the relationship between Italians and Chinese of Bensonhurst, Krase said that in 2000, there were reports of conflicts in real estate. During that time, there were ominous flyers that said, “the Chinese are coming.” Yet Krase said he thinks that this was not indicative of conflict; rather, it was a campaign pushed by real estate interests.
“The companies who put out these flyers are the same ones who put out flyers that said ‘the blacks are coming’ in East New York,” he said.
However Krase did say that there seems to be conflict between the Italian and Asian youth in Bensonhurst. Typically, he said, the clashes between ethnic groups often involve the younger generation.
Krase also said that friction has and continues to develop with public programs. For instance, he said, the senior center in Bensonhurst has been serving Italians for many years. As the aging population of the Chinese in Bensonhurst is increased, Krase said, they too wished to take part in the programs offered by the senior center. Yet the Italians argued that the center was for Italians only, he said. Instead of making further attempts to cooperate and get along, the Chinese sought to create a senior center of their own. This creates more competition and division, Krase said.
“Rather than create their own, the Chinese should get on the board of the existing, and work together,” said Krase.
Photo: Stores on Bay Parkway between 86th and 87th streets, Bensonhurst.
