Bushwick Research Paper

Ten years ago summers for the children of Bushwick promised many things. Some things nostalgic; Puerto Rican Day parades, celebrations of American and Dominican Independence days, cookouts on the sidewalk, people watching on the once-deteriorating stoops, hip hop pulsing through passing car’s speakers, cherry-flavored piraguas, bathing in the refreshing cold water spewing from open fire hydrants. Some things, such as rampant gang violence and the sounds of police helicopters circling the neighborhood, are not as favorably remembered. However negative the image of the barrio may be, the Latino community undoubtedly carved their culture deep into these spaces. The sense of neighborhood that the predominantly Latino population created is in the …show more content…
Formerly known ghetto-ethnic enclave hybrids such as the Lower East Side, Washington Heights, and Hell’s Kitchen have transformed in less than the last fifteen years. With overpopulation and high-rent in the more popular neighborhoods such as the Upper West Side and Williamsburg, these areas which had not been seen as attractive due to their isolation, aged and factory exteriors, and higher crime rates, begun to be inhabited by hipsters and poor college graduates as well as people with jobs such as actors and models due to the proximity to the more popular areas. Areas like these then become so popular and expensive that they could no longer shelter the populations that once defined them. The purpose of this paper was to analyze the diminishing number of barrios in New York City using the examples of the transformation in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan and the beginnings of gentrification in Bushwick, Brooklyn as the backdrop. The research focused mainly on how the Latino population felt about the renovation, displacement, living among people unlike them, and advantages of the gentrification process from their point of view. There are limitations as all of the people who were interviewed were natives to the neighborhood and the sample size was …show more content…
The area is a barrio but can still be defined as a ghetto since a ghetto refers to a run-down area with concentrated poverty and joblessness as well as higher crime rates and drug problems. The Latino and Caribbean community still define the neighborhood with the prevalence of their distinctive music, foods, goods and languages. Clothing stores and supermarkets therefore continue to market themselves towards that community. The neighborhood experienced an influx of new inhabitants due to the rising costs in nearby Williamsburg. Part of Bushwick was even segmented off and has been referred to as East Williamsburg to make it more marketable. Moreover, there has been significant change in recent years beginning with the addition of a Starbucks outside of the one the most popular MTA station in the neighborhood, the Myrtle-Wyckoff Station. An economic and stylistic overhaul has since been underway as old buildings are being torn down, residents are being pushed out of their apartments and establishments are closing down or changing to adapt to the transitioning