East New York is a neighborhood in the southeastern section of Brooklyn, New York City. The neighborhood has had a very important history, serving as home to many immigrants and middle class families. Most recently, East New York is predominantly inhabited by Hispanic and African American Brooklynites.

Brief overview

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Early history

In 1939, the WPA Guide to New York City ^* wrote:

After World War II, thousands of manufacturing jobs left New York City thereby increasing the importance of the remaining jobs to those with limited education and job skills. During this same period, large numbers of Puerto Ricans and African-Americans emigrated to New York City looking for employment. East New York, no longer replete with the jobs the new residents had come for, was thereby faced with a host of new socioeconomic problems, including widespread unemployment and crime.

Walter Thabit, a city planner for East New York, chronicled in his book, How East New York Became a Ghetto, the change in population from mostly working class Italians and Jewish residents to impoverished residents, 86% of whom are of Puerto Rican and African descent. Thabit argues that landlords and real estate agents played a significant role in the downturn of the area. Puerto Ricans were moving in masses to New York City in the late 1950s, at a time when unemployment rates in Puerto Rico soared to 25 percent, and unfair import-export rates favoring the United States left Puerto Rico on the brink of poverty. Similarly, many African-Americans were migrating northward in the post-war era.

Once Black and Puerto Rican people moved into the neighborhood, landlords and real estate agents used scare tactics to encourage Italians and Jews to leave, citing that the "time to sell is now." At the same time, landlords were taking advantage of new residents by charging them high down payments and gouging them on rent payments. They would then evict tenants at the first possible opportunity, keeping the down payment to themselves.

Thabit also describes how the construction of public housing projects in East New York further contributed to its decline, noting that many of the developments were built by corrupt managers and contractors. He argues that the city government largely ignored the community, when it could have helped turn it around.

At least one reviewer has criticized Thabit for providing little support for some of his arguments. The new arrivals to East New York did, in fact, impose a sudden and dramatic increase in crime on its Jewish and Italian residents between 1955 and 1965 Police Department of the City of New York. Not surprisingly, those accustomed to relatively low rates of crime chose to leave in large numbers. [http://www.gladwell.com/1996/1996_06_03_a_tipping.htm" target="_blank" >^*

Rebirth

Since 1993, the crime rate in the East New York (75th Precinct) has plummeted. In 2004, for example, there were 29 homicides compared to 126 in 1993. Public safety has been followed by increases in real estate values and residential construction catering to a diverse array of working- and middle-class New Yorkers. New developments are rising in the area, including the Gateway Center [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9803E1D7153AF935A25756C0A9679C8B63, located on what was once part of a landfill. The Gateway shopping center is suburban-style, including retailers like Bed Bath & Beyond, Staples, Marshalls, Circuit City, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Boulder Creek Steakhouse, Target, The Home Depot, and BJ's Wholesale Club. The development was welcomed by many in the neighborhood for the jobs it would provide.

Unfortunately, the neighborhood's local high school, Thomas Jefferson High School is being shut down due to extremely low academic performance. With a graduation rate of 29%, and only 2% entering the school at grade level in math (and 10% in reading). The school was known for its ROTC program. ^*

Notwithstanding recent improvements, the vestiges of decades of crime, drugs, and neglect mean that unemployment is high, public schools are substandard, and crime rates remains high compared to more affluent neighborhoods.

External links

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• Community Gazettes - District 42 from the Gotham Gazette
• NYC Subway Yards: East New York Yard

Brooklyn neighborhoods