122-525: Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn . It is bounded by the neighborhood of Ridgewood, Queens , to the northeast; Williamsburg to the northwest; East New York and the cemeteries of Highland Park to the southeast; Brownsville to the south; and Bedford–Stuyvesant to the southwest. The town was first founded by the Dutch as Boswijck during
244-566: A glue manufacturing plant, his first factory, in Bushwick. Immigrants from western Europe joined the original Dutch settlers. The Bushwick Chemical Works, at Metropolitan Avenue and Grand Street on the English Kills channel, was another early industry among the lime, plaster, and brickworks, coal yards, and other factories that developed along English Kills, which was dredged and made an important commercial waterway. In October 1867,
366-410: A residents' committee ; these are subdivided into residents' small groups of fifteen to forty families. In most urban areas of China, neighbourhood , community , residential community , residential unit , residential quarter have the same meaning: 社区 or 小区 or 居民区 or 居住区 , and is the direct sublevel of a subdistrict ( 街道办事处 ), which is the direct sublevel of a district ( 区 ), which
488-556: A 0.5 on the Furman Center's racial diversity index, making it the city's 35th most diverse neighborhood in 2007. Most residents are Latino American citizens from the island of Puerto Rico and immigrants from the Dominican Republic . Since the turn of the 21st century, the population of native-born Americans has increased, as have other Latino groups, particularly immigrants from Mexico and El Salvador . In 2008
610-571: A 28-acre (110,000 m ) waterfront park. Included in its requirements are provisions for a promenade along the East River , built piecemeal by the developers of existing waterfront lots. An inclusionary housing plan was included in the resolution and provides height bonuses along the waterfront and in Northside Williamsburg for developers providing apartments at rates considered affordable for low-income households (below 80% of
732-461: A Bushwick rezoning plan covering 300 city blocks. The plan would allow for high-density development on Broadway and Myrtle and Wyckoff Avenues. The entirety of Community Board 4 had 112,388 inhabitants as of NYC Health 's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 80.4 years. This is lower than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are middle-aged adults and youth: 24% are between
854-580: A Norwegian immigrant who in 1645 built a 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 -story farmhouse there with the help of two Dutch carpenters. It was built in the contemporary Dutch style just west of what is now the intersection of Calyer Street and Franklin Street. There he planted orchards and raised crops, sheep and cattle. He was called Dirck de Noorman by the Dutch colonists of the region, Noorman being the Dutch word for "Norseman" or "Northman". The creek that ran by his farmhouse became known as Norman Kill (Creek); it ran into
976-432: A commercial retail hub. Middle-class residents who could afford to leave did so, in some cases abandoning their homes. New immigrants continued to move to the area, many from Hispanic America , but renovation and new construction was outpaced by the demolition of unsafe buildings, forcing overcrowded conditions at first. As buildings came down, the vacant lots made parts of the neighborhood look and feel desolate, resulting in
1098-425: A farm in 1663; his farmhouse at what is now 723 Manhattan Avenue stood until 1919 and last served as a Young Women's Hebrew Association. The Hay property and other holdings came into the possession of Pieter Praa, a captain in the local militia, who established a farm near present-day Freeman Street and McGuinness Boulevard , and went on to own most of Greenpoint. Volckertsen died in about 1678 and his grandsons sold
1220-580: A grant program focusing on residential buildings in the initiative's coverage area, which resulted in fines for dozens of landlords with lead paint hazards. The Bushwick Initiative's economic development efforts were also focused on revitalizing the Knickerbocker Avenue commercial district, and adding a thousand rat-resistant public trash cans to reduce litter. In 2019, the New York City Department of City Planning released
1342-464: A greater outflow of residents and a growth of the illegal drug trade due to a lack of job opportunities. Author Jonathan Mahler described the social and economic hardships of Bushwick after the blackout in his book Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx is Burning , explaining that the majority of neighborhood residents were living on less than $ 4,000 a year, and had to rely on some form of public assistance. By
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#17327650894201464-800: A high level of regulation of social life by officials. For example, in the Tang period Chinese capital city Chang'an, neighbourhoods were districts and there were state officials who carefully controlled life and activity at the neighbourhood level. Neighbourhoods in preindustrial cities often had some degree of social specialisation or differentiation. Ethnic neighbourhoods were important in many past cities and remain common in cities today. Economic specialists, including craft producers, merchants, and others, could be concentrated in neighbourhoods, and in societies with religious pluralism neighbourhoods were often specialised by religion. One factor contributing to neighbourhood distinctiveness and social cohesion in past cities
1586-535: A large Polish immigrant and Polish-American community, containing many Polish restaurants, markets, and businesses, and it is often referred to as Little Poland . Originally farmland—many of the farm owners' family names, such as Meserole (Messerole) and Calyer, are current street names—the residential core of Greenpoint was built on parcels divided during the Industrial Revolution and late 19th century, with rope factories and lumber yards lining
1708-457: A large salt marsh and was later filled in. Volckertsen received title to the land after prevailing in court one year earlier over a Jan De Pree, who had a rival claim. He initially commuted to his farm by boat and may not have moved into the house full time until after 1655, when the small nearby settlement of Boswyck was established, on the charter of which Volckertsen was listed along with 22 other families. Volckertsen's wife, Christine Vigne,
1830-627: A lawsuit against ExxonMobil , BP and Chevron Corporation in Brooklyn State Supreme Court, alleging they have suffered adverse health consequences. ExxonMobil, which has been slowly removing oil from its former facilities in the area, have denied liability for the oil leaking into Newtown Creek and suggested fault lies instead with Chevron. The Environmental Protection Agency 's (EPA) "Newtown Creek/Greenpoint Oil Spill Study Brooklyn, New York" states that vapor concentrations in "some commercial establishments" were found "above
1952-737: A non-fatal assault rate of 34 per 100,000 people, Greenpoint and Williamsburg's rate of violent crimes per capita is less than that of the city as a whole. The incarceration rate of 305 per 100,000 people is lower than that of the city as a whole. The 94th Precinct has a lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 72.9% between 1990 and 2018. The precinct reported one murder, six rapes, 63 robberies, 115 felony assaults, 141 burglaries, 535 grand larcenies, and 62 grand larcenies auto in 2018. The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) operates two fire stations in Greenpoint. Engine Company 238/Ladder Company 106
2074-466: A rezoning of 175 blocks in Greenpoint and Williamsburg . According to the project's Environmental Impact Statement , the rezoning was expected to bring approximately 16,700 new residents to the neighborhood by 2013 in 7,300 new units of housing. 250,000 square feet (23,000 m ) of new retail space are projected, along with a corresponding loss of just over 1,000,000 square feet (93,000 m ) of existing industrial capacity. The rezoning also includes
2196-444: A shortage of affordable housing in nearby neighborhoods such as Park Slope and Williamsburg , numerous young professionals and artists have moved into converted warehouse lofts, brownstones, limestone-brick townhouses, and other renovated buildings in Bushwick. A flourishing artist community has existed in Bushwick for decades and has become more visible in the neighborhood. Dozens of art studios and galleries are scattered throughout
2318-400: A significant number of South Asian and North African residents. Based on data from the 2010 United States census , the population of Greenpoint was 34,719, a decrease of 3,102 (8.2%) from the 37,821 counted in 2000 . Covering an area of 809.13 acres (327.44 ha), the neighborhood had a population density of 42.9 inhabitants per acre (27,500/sq mi; 10,600/km ). The racial makeup of
2440-420: A small area within a town or city. The label is commonly used to refer to organisations which relate to such a very local structure, such as neighbourhood policing or Neighbourhood watch schemes. In addition, government statistics for local areas are often referred to as neighbourhood statistics, although the data themselves are broken down usually into districts and wards for local purposes. In many parts of
2562-496: A specific geographic area and functionally as a set of social networks. Neighbourhoods, then, are the spatial units in which face-to-face social interactions occur—the personal settings and situations where residents seek to realise common values, socialise youth, and maintain effective social control." In the words of the urban scholar Lewis Mumford , "Neighborhoods, in some annoying, inchoate fashion exist wherever human beings congregate, in permanent family dwellings; and many of
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#17327650894202684-490: A unit of analysis. In mainland China , the term is generally used for the urban administrative division found immediately below the district level, although an intermediate, subdistrict level exists in some cities. They are also called streets (administrative terminology may vary from city to city). Neighbourhoods encompass 2,000 to 10,000 families. Within neighbourhoods, families are grouped into smaller residential units or quarters of 100 to 600 families and supervised by
2806-426: Is a geographically localized community within a larger city , town , suburb or rural area , sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neighbourhoods are often social communities with considerable face-to-face interaction among members. Researchers have not agreed on an exact definition, but the following may serve as a starting point: "Neighbourhood is generally defined spatially as
2928-695: Is about the same as the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are middle-aged adults and youth: 23% are between the ages of 0 and 17, 41% between 25 and 44, and 17% between 45 and 64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 10% and 9% respectively. As of 2016, the median household income in Community Board 1 was $ 76,608. In 2018, an estimated 17% of Greenpoint and Williamsburg residents lived in poverty, compared to 21% in all of Brooklyn and 20% in all of New York City. Less than one in fifteen residents (6%) were unemployed, compared to 9% in
3050-545: Is common to find three generations of family members living in the community. The neighborhood is sometimes referred to as "Little Poland" due to its large population of Polish immigrants and Polish-Americans , reportedly the second largest concentration in the United States after Chicago . Although Polish immigrants and people of Polish descent are present in force, there is a significant Latino population living mostly north of Greenpoint Avenue, and Greenpoint has
3172-603: Is delineated by Flushing Avenue on the north, Broadway on the southwest, the border with Queens to the northeast, and the Cemetery of the Evergreens on the southeast. The industrial area north of Flushing Avenue, east of Bushwick Avenue, and south of Grand Street is commonly considered to be either East Williamsburg or part of Bushwick, occasionally with the modifier "Industrial Bushwick". The town of Bushwick—which, along with Brooklyn and Bedford, became incorporated as
3294-429: Is located at 205 Greenpoint Avenue and serves most of the neighborhood. The southern part of Greenpoint is served by Engine Company 229/Ladder Company 146, located at 75 Richardson Street. As of 2018 , preterm births and births to teenage mothers are less common in Greenpoint and Williamsburg than in other places citywide. In Greenpoint and Williamsburg, there were 54 preterm births per 1,000 live births (the lowest in
3416-518: Is located on Stockholm Street in Bushwick, on the block between Wyckoff and St. Nicholas Avenues. In 1638, the Dutch West India Company secured a deed from the local Lenape people for the Bushwick area, and Peter Stuyvesant chartered the area in 1661, naming it Boswijck , meaning "neighborhood in the woods" in 17th-century Dutch. Its area included the modern-day communities of Bushwick, Williamsburg , and Greenpoint . Bushwick
3538-490: Is not used as drinking water, as all of New York City's drinking water presently comes from upstate reservoirs. However, local activists have been campaigning ever since to clean up the spill. On October 20, 2005, residents near the oil recovery operation, which is located in the predominantly commercial/industrial eastern section of Greenpoint near the East Williamsburg Industrial Park, filed
3660-795: Is part of Brooklyn Community District 1 , and its primary ZIP Code is 11222. It is patrolled by the 94th Precinct of the New York City Police Department . At the time of European settlement in New York , Greenpoint was inhabited by the Keskachauge (Keshaechqueren) Indians, a sub-tribe of the Lenape . Contemporary accounts describe the area as remarkably verdant and beautiful, with Jack pine and oak forest, meadows, fresh water creeks and briny marshes. Water fowl and fish were abundant. European settlers originally used
3782-893: Is served by the Greenpoint Avenue and Nassau Avenue stations on the IND Crosstown Line ( G train) of the New York City Subway . It is served by the B24 , B32 , B43 , B48 and B62 New York City Bus routes. In June 2011, NY Waterway started service to points along the East River. On May 1, 2017, that route became part of the NYC Ferry 's East River route, which runs between Pier 11/Wall Street in Manhattan's Financial District and
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3904-597: Is the direct sublevel of a city ( 市 ). (See Administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China ) The term has no general official or statistical purpose in the United Kingdom, but is often used by local boroughs for self-chosen sub-divisions of their area for the delivery of various services and functions, as for example in Kingston-upon-Thames or is used as an informal term to refer to
4026-557: Is the northernmost neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn , in the U.S. state of New York . It is bordered on the southwest by Williamsburg at Bushwick Inlet Park and McCarren Park ; on the southeast by the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway and East Williamsburg ; on the north by Newtown Creek and the neighborhood of Long Island City in Queens ; and on the west by the East River . The neighborhood has
4148-436: The 2010 United States Census . The total population of these districts was 129,239. Based on data from the 2010 United States Census , the population of Bushwick North was 57,138, an increase of 1,045 (1.9%) from the 56,093 counted in 2000 . Covering an area of 570.78 acres (230.99 ha), the neighborhood had a population density of 100.1 inhabitants per acre (64,100/sq mi; 24,700/km). The ethnic and racial makeup of
4270-490: The American Institute awarded Bushwick Chemical Works the first premium for commercial acids of the greatest purity and strength. The Bushwick Glass Company, later known as Brookfield Glass Company , established itself in 1869, when a local brewer sold it to James Brookfield. It made a variety of bottles and jars, as well as large numbers of glass electrical insulators for telegraph, telephone and power lines. In
4392-643: The American Revolution , which caused considerable hardship for the families; Abraham Meserole's son was imprisoned on suspicion of revolutionary sympathies. Throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries, the farms were quite isolated from the rest of Brooklyn, connected only to one another by farm lanes and to the rest of Bushwick Township by a single road, Wood Point Road (now Bushwick Avenue). The families used long boats to travel to Manhattan to sell their farm produce. Little historical information exists about this period of Greenpoint's history other than
4514-508: The Dutch colonization of the Americas in the 17th century. In the 19th century, the neighborhood became a community of German immigrants and their descendants. The 20th century saw an influx of Italian immigrants and Italian-Americans up to the 1980s. By the late 20th century, the neighborhood became predominantly Hispanic as another wave of immigrants arrived. Formerly Brooklyn's 18th Ward,
4636-740: The Long Island Rail Road built the Bushwick Branch from its hub in Jamaica via Maspeth to Bushwick Terminal, at the intersection of Montrose and Bushwick avenues, allowing easy movement of passengers, raw materials, and finished goods. Routes also radiated to Flushing, Queens . The first elevated railway ("el") in Brooklyn, known as the Lexington Avenue Elevated , opened in 1885. Its eastern terminus
4758-776: The Union Porcelain Works , had their factory located at 300 Eckford Street in Greenpoint. According to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designation report the company was "one of the most famous in the country, both for its innovative approach to the manufacture of porcelain and for the quality of its products which was highly regarded on both sides of the Atlantic" and was "a major force in shaping an American stylistic tradition for ceramics and porcelain". The petroleum industry continued to expand, despite
4880-524: The Upper Explosive Limit "; i.e. there was so much vapor that no explosion could ignite. The same EPA study said, "A review of the data collected by the NYSDEC shows that, in general, chemicals were detected at all locations in each home, but not in a pattern that would typically represent a vapor intrusion phenomenon." On May 11, 2005, New York City's Department of City Planning approved
5002-465: The "Greenpoint" name to refer to a small bluff of land jutting into the East River at what is now the westernmost end of Freeman Street, but eventually it came to describe the whole peninsula. In 1638, the Dutch West India Company negotiated the right to settle Brooklyn from the Lenape. The first recorded European settler of what is now Greenpoint was Dirck Volckertsen (Batavianized from Holgerssøn ),
Bushwick, Brooklyn - Misplaced Pages Continue
5124-516: The 1840s and 1850s, a majority of the immigrants were German , which became the dominant population. Bushwick established a considerable brewery industry, including "Brewer's Row"—14 breweries operating in a 14-block area—by 1890. Thus, Bushwick was dubbed the "beer capital of the Northeast". The last Bushwick breweries, the Schaefer's and Rheingold Breweries, closed its doors in 1976. As late as
5246-565: The 1900s, Clarence Perry described the idea of a neighbourhood unit as a self-contained residential area within a city. The concept is still influential in New Urbanism . Practitioners seek to revive traditional sociability in planned suburban housing based on a set of principles. At the same time, the neighbourhood is a site of interventions to create Age-Friendly Cities and Communities (AFCC) as many older adults tend to have narrower life space. Urban design studies thus use neighbourhood as
5368-425: The 1980s, the Knickerbocker Avenue shopping district was nicknamed "The Well" for its seemingly unending supply of drugs. Even through the 1990s, it remained a poor and relatively dangerous area, with 77 murders, 80 rapes, and 2,242 robberies in 1990. Since 2000, the rise of real estate prices in nearby Manhattan has made Bushwick more attractive to younger professionals. In the wake of reduced crime rates citywide and
5490-705: The 1980s, there were unsuccessful efforts to revive the Rheingold Brewery. The William Ulmer Brewery at Beaver and Belvidere Streets was given landmark status by the city in 2010, becoming the first brewery with such a status. As late as 1883, Bushwick maintained open farming land east of Flushing Avenue. A synergy developed between the brewers and the farmers during this period, as the dairy farmers collected spent grain and hops for cow feed. The dairy farmers sold milk and other dairy products to consumers in Brooklyn. Both industries supported blacksmiths, wheelwrights, and feed stores along Flushing Avenue. In 1868,
5612-886: The Asian and Black populations were each under 5000 residents. Politically, Greenpoint is in New York's 7th congressional district . It is in the New York State Senate 's 18th and 59th districts, the New York State Assembly 's 50th districts, and the New York City Council 's 33rd district. Greenpoint is patrolled by the 94th Precinct of the NYPD , located at 100 Meserole Avenue. The 94th Precinct ranked 50th safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010. As of 2018 , with
5734-531: The Asian residents were less than 5000. Bushwick and neighboring East New York are the center for the Hispanic community in Brooklyn. In the post-World War II period, Bushwick was still a predominantly Irish and Italian-American community. Puerto Ricans began to migrate to New York for greater opportunities, developing Hispanic enclaves in Brooklyn, East Harlem, the Lower East Side or Loisaida , and
5856-622: The Broadway shopping district was heavily looted and burned. Twenty-seven stores along Broadway were burned, and looters and some residents saw the blackout as an opportunity to get what they otherwise could not afford. Newspapers around the country published UPI and the Associated Press 's photos of Bushwick residents with stolen items and a police officer beating a suspected looter, and Bushwick became known for riots and looting. Fires spread to many residential buildings as well. After
5978-532: The Bronx. Many Puerto Ricans also settled in neighboring Williamsburg , also known as Los Sures , due to the proximity to jobs at the now defunct Domino Sugar Refinery as well as at the Brooklyn Navy Yard ; they expanded into other parts of Brooklyn as many ethnic Irish and some Italians moved to nearby Queens (such as Ridgewood and Middle Village ). Neighborhood A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English)
6100-734: The Continental Ironworks in Greenpoint. Glass-making was also a large industry in Greenpoint, and by the 1880s the neighborhood housed 18 of the 20 glass makers in the city of Brooklyn, as well as all of the porcelain and pottery manufacturers in the city. Charles Pratt 's Astral Oil Works also opened on the Greenpoint waterfront in the 1860s. Pratt sold his interest to John D. Rockefeller 's recently formed Standard Oil Trust in 1874. By 1875 Greenpoint had some 50 refineries. The Astral Apartments were built as housing for workers at Astral Oil in 1886. An American manufacturer of porcelain wares who operated between 1862 and 1922,
6222-481: The East River to the west, while the northeastern section along the Newtown Creek through East Williamsburg became an industrial maritime area. Greenpoint has long held a reputation of being a working class and immigrant neighborhood, and it initially attracted families and workers with its abundance of factory jobs, heavy industry and manufacturing , shipbuilding , and longshoreman or dock work. Since
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#17327650894206344-629: The Greenpoint area, though no hospitals are located in the neighborhood. The nearest large hospitals are Woodhull Medical Center in Bedford–Stuyvesant and Mount Sinai Queens in Astoria, Queens . Greenpoint is covered by ZIP Code 11222. The United States Postal Service operates the Greenpoint Station post office at 66 Meserole Avenue. Greenpoint and Williamsburg generally has a higher ratio of college-educated residents than
6466-696: The Negro, who had worked his way to freedom. The group centered their settlement on a church located near today's Bushwick and Metropolitan Avenues. The major thoroughfare was Woodpoint Road, which allowed farmers to bring their goods to the town dock. This original settlement came to be known as Het Dorp by the Dutch, and, later, Bushwick Green by the British. The English would take over the six towns three years later and unite them under Kings County in 1683. Many of Bushwick's Dutch records were lost after its annexation by Brooklyn in 1854. Contemporary reports differ on
6588-501: The UK wards are roughly equivalent to neighbourhoods or a combination of them. In the United States and Canada , neighbourhoods are often given official or semi-official status through neighbourhood associations , neighbourhood watches or block watches. These may regulate such matters as lawn care and fence height, and they may provide such services as block parties , neighbourhood parks and community security . In some other places
6710-430: The ages of 0–17, 35% between 25 and 44, and 20% between 45 and 64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 12% and 9% respectively. As of 2016, the median household income in Community Board 4 was $ 50,656. In 2018, an estimated 25% of Bushwick residents lived in poverty, compared to 21% in all of Brooklyn and 20% in all of New York City. One in eight residents (13%) were unemployed, compared to 9% in
6832-423: The area's median income); on the waterfront, these bonuses could allow for up to seven-story height increases. The rezoning was a dramatic change in scale to a previously low-slung, industrial neighborhood. The proposed changes were the subject of much debate, including a letter written by activist Jane Jacobs to mayor Michael Bloomberg criticizing the proposed development. The community's plan does not cheat
6954-581: The area. Il Circolo di Santa Margherita di Belice , founded in Bushwick, remains the oldest operating Sicilian organization in the United States. These clubs often started as mutual benevolence associations or funeral societies. They transformed along with the needs of their communities from the late 1800s until the 1960s, when many began to fade away. St. Joseph Patron of the Universal Church Roman Catholic Parish
7076-420: The city of Brooklyn on January 1, 1854—included present-day Williamsburg and Greenpoint. Prior to the merger, in the early 19th century, residential development in the area had begun when the new district of Williamsburg was laid out in western Bushwick. Williamsburg was incorporated in 1827 and officially severed from Bushwick in 1839. Present-day East Williamsburg , which was not part of the city of Williamsburg,
7198-454: The city, compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide), and 16.0 births to teenage mothers per 1,000 live births (compared to 19.3 per 1,000 citywide). Greenpoint and Williamsburg has a relatively low population of residents who are uninsured , or who receive healthcare through Medicaid . In 2018, this population of uninsured residents was estimated to be 7%, which is lower than the citywide rate of 12%. The concentration of fine particulate matter ,
7320-830: The city. Bushwick is the most populous Hispanic-American community in Brooklyn, although Sunset Park also has a large Hispanic population. As in other neighborhoods in New York City, Bushwick's Hispanic population is mainly from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. It also has a sizable population from South American nations. As nearly 70% of Bushwick's population is Hispanic, residents have created many businesses to support their various national and distinct traditions in food and other items. The neighborhood's major commercial streets are Knickerbocker Avenue, Myrtle Avenue, Wyckoff Avenue, and Broadway . There are two neighborhood tabulation areas that covered Bushwick as of
7442-430: The citywide average of 75% of students. Greenpoint contains the following public elementary schools which serve grades PK-5: The following public middle school serves grades 6–8: The following public high schools serve grades 9–12: The Brooklyn Public Library (BPL)'s Greenpoint branch is located at 107 Norman Avenue near Leonard Street. The site originally housed a Carnegie library that opened in 1906, but it
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#17327650894207564-505: The citywide averages of 24%, 11%, and 28% respectively. In addition, 23% of children are obese, compared to the citywide average of 20%. Ninety-one percent of residents eat some fruits and vegetables every day, which is greater than the city's average of 87%. In 2018, 79% of residents described their health as "good", "very good", or "excellent", more than the city's average of 78%. For every supermarket in Greenpoint and Williamsburg, there are 25 bodegas . There are medical clinics in
7686-583: The community. The buildings that formerly manufactured the ropes for the shipbuilding industry are still there. Long a site of shipbuilding, the neighborhood's dockyards were used to build the USS ; Monitor , the Union Army 's first ironclad fighting ship built during the American Civil War . It was launched on Bushwick Creek. The Monitor , together with seven other ironclads, was built at
7808-719: The control of city or state officials. In some preindustrial urban traditions, basic municipal functions such as protection, social regulation of births and marriages, cleaning and upkeep are handled informally by neighbourhoods and not by urban governments; this pattern is well documented for historical Islamic cities. In addition to social neighbourhoods, most ancient and historical cities also had administrative districts used by officials for taxation, record-keeping, and social control. Administrative districts are typically larger than neighbourhoods and their boundaries may cut across neighbourhood divisions. In some cases, however, administrative districts coincided with neighbourhoods, leading to
7930-682: The creation of several farming developments. Originally a 13-acre (53,000 m) development within Bushwick Shore, Williamsburgh rapidly expanded during the first half of the 19th century and eventually seceded from Bushwick to form its own independent city in 1852. Both Bushwick and Williamsburgh were annexed to the City of Brooklyn in 1854. When Bushwick was founded, it was primarily an area for farming food and tobacco. As Brooklyn and New York City grew, factories that manufactured sugar, oil, and chemicals were built. The inventor Peter Cooper built
8052-478: The deadliest type of air pollutant , in Greenpoint and Williamsburg is 0.0096 milligrams per cubic metre (9.6 × 10 oz/cu ft), higher than the citywide and boroughwide averages. Seventeen percent of Greenpoint and Williamsburg residents are smokers , which is slightly higher than the city average of 14% of residents being smokers. In Greenpoint and Williamsburg, 23% of residents are obese , 11% are diabetic , and 25% have high blood pressure —compared to
8174-435: The early 2000s, Community Development Corporations, Rehabilitation Networks, Neighbourhood Development Corporations, and Economic Development organisations would work together to address the housing stock and the infrastructures of communities and neighbourhoods (e.g., community centres). Community and Economic Development may be understood in different ways, and may involve "faith-based" groups and congregations in cities. In
8296-428: The early 2000s, a building boom in the neighborhood has made the neighborhood increasingly a center of nightlife and gentrification , and a 2005 rezoning enabled the construction of high density residential buildings on the East River waterfront. There have also been efforts to reclaim the rezoned East River waterfront for recreational use and also to extend a continuous promenade into the Newtown Creek area. Greenpoint
8418-531: The equivalent organization is the parish , though a parish may have several neighbourhoods within it depending on the area. In localities where neighbourhoods do not have an official status, questions can arise as to where one neighbourhood begins and another ends. Many cities use districts and wards as official divisions of the city, rather than traditional neighbourhood boundaries. ZIP Code boundaries and post office names also sometimes reflect neighbourhood identities. Greenpoint, Brooklyn Greenpoint
8540-585: The functions of the city tend to be distributed naturally—that is, without any theoretical preoccupation or political direction—into neighborhoods." Most of the earliest cities around the world as excavated by archaeologists have evidence for the presence of social neighbourhoods. Historical documents shed light on neighbourhood life in numerous historical preindustrial or nonwestern cities. Neighbourhoods are typically generated by social interaction among people living near one another. In this sense they are local social units larger than households not directly under
8662-467: The future by neglecting to provide provisions for schools, daycare, recreational outdoor sports, and pleasant facilities for those things. The community's plan does not promote new housing at the expense of both existing housing and imaginative and economical new shelter that residents can afford. The community's plan does not violate the existing scale of the community, nor does it insult the visual and economic advantages of neighborhoods that are precisely of
8784-573: The growing need for labor by factory operators. St. Leonard's parish was the large German Catholic parish in the area, but the Italian community was not welcome there and was thus compelled to open its own parish. St. Leonard's closed in 1973. St. Joseph's is now a large and vibrant Latino parish run by the Scalabrini Order of priests, an Italian missionary order that caters to migrants. The demographic transition of Bushwick after World War II
8906-536: The kind that demonstrably attract artists and other live-work craftsmen... [but] the proposal put before you by city staff is an ambush containing all those destructive consequences. Other organizations, including the city government and various advocacy groups such as the Manhattan Institute , argued that residential construction in underused manufacturing zones is essential to meet growing housing demand. Rezoning promised double-digit percentage growth in
9028-430: The largest developments to be built after the rezoning was Greenpoint Landing, which includes ten residential towers containing 5,500 units, a public elementary and middle school, and 4 acres (1.6 ha) of parkland. Greenpoint Landing began construction in 2015 and is expected to be completed before 2027. By spring 2017, one building had opened. Greenpoint's population is largely working class and multi-generational; it
9150-496: The late 1980s, after an increasing series of highly odorous releases from the Sewage Treatment Plant which served a good portion of Lower Manhattan, a local group formed calling itself GASP (Greenpointers Against Smell Pollution) that compelled the city to control the outflows and to plan a vastly expanded facility that took 20 years to build. The mid-1980s saw a great increase in the number of trucks driving through
9272-486: The mid-1960s. Within five years, it had become "what often approached a no man's land of abandoned buildings, empty lots, drugs and arson." On the night of July 13, 1977, a major blackout cut power to nearly all of New York City, and arson , looting , and vandalism occurred in low-income neighborhoods across the city. Bushwick suffered some of the most devastating damage and losses. While store owners along Knickerbocker and Graham avenues were able to defend their stores,
9394-551: The mid-19th century and large numbers of Poles began arriving before the turn of the century. The homes built for the merchants and the buildings erected for their workers sprang up along streets that lead down to the waterfront. Today, this area is on the National Register of Historic Places as the Greenpoint Historic District . Greenpoint's East River waterfront holds the maritime history of
9516-475: The natives fled, leaving the area to be divided among the six towns in Kings County. Bushwick had the prime location to absorb its new tract of land in a contiguous fashion. New Bushwick Lane (Evergreen Avenue), a former Native American trail, was a key thoroughfare for accessing this new tract, which was suitable mostly for potato and cabbage agriculture. This area is bounded roughly by Flushing Avenue to
9638-414: The neighborhood as of 2010 was 10.7% (6,098) non-Hispanic white , 9.7% (5,533) non-Hispanic black , 0.1% (82) Native American , 6.0% (3,417) Asian , 0.0% (11) Pacific Islander , 0.7% (380) from other races , and 1.0% (582) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 71.8% (41,035) of the population. Based on data from the 2010 United States Census , the population of Bushwick South
9760-506: The neighborhood was 76.9% (26,691) White and 14.7% (5,099) Hispanic or Latino . Other ethnicities include 1.2% (433) African American , 0.1% (48) Native American , 4.9% (1,689) Asian , 0.0% (10) Pacific Islander , 0.5% (161) from other races , and 1.7% (588) from two or more races. The entirety of Community Board 1, which comprises Greenpoint and Williamsburg, had 199,190 inhabitants as of NYC Health 's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 81.1 years. This
9882-483: The neighborhood was once an independent town and has undergone various territorial changes throughout its history. Bushwick is part of Brooklyn Community District 4 , and its primary ZIP Codes are 11206, 11207, 11221, and 11237. It is patrolled by the 83rd Precinct of the New York City Police Department . Politically it is represented by the New York City Council 's 34th and 37th Districts. Bushwick's borders largely overlap those of Brooklyn Community Board 4 , which
10004-409: The neighborhood with municipal waste, often toxic waste, to be held at "transfer stations". During the 1950 Greenpoint oil spill , at the time the largest oil spill in United States history, 17 to 30 million U.S. gallons (64 × 10 ^ to 114 × 10 ^ L) of oil spilled into Newtown Creek . Oil is believed to have been seeping into the groundwater since then. Groundwater in this area
10126-402: The neighborhood's economic base eroded. Discussions of urban renewal took place in the 1960s, but never materialized, resulting in the demolition of many residential buildings with the intent of replacing these structures with public housing, but nothing new was built in its place as these proposals were scrapped. Another contribution to the change in the socioeconomic profile of the neighborhood
10248-467: The neighborhood's median household income was $ 28,802. 32% of the population falls under the poverty line, making Bushwick the 7th-most impoverished neighborhood in New York City. More than 75% of children in the neighborhood are born in poverty. Some 40.3% of students in Bushwick read at grade level in 2007, making it the 49th most literate neighborhood in the city that year. 58.2% of students could work math at grade level in Bushwick, and it ranked as 41st in
10370-496: The neighborhood, closest to Eastern Parkway . By the mid-1950s, migrants began settling into central Bushwick. The availability of block association housing helped many neighborhoods survive the economic and social distress of the 1970s. This change in demographics coincided with changes in the local economy. Rising energy costs, advances in transportation and the change to the use of aluminum cans encouraged beer companies to move out of New York City. As breweries in Bushwick closed,
10492-439: The neighborhood. Several open studios programs are conducted that enable the public to visit artist studios and galleries, and several websites are devoted to promoting neighborhood art and events. Bushwick artists display their works in galleries and private spaces throughout the neighborhood. The borough's first and only trailer park, a 20-person art collective established by founder, Hayden Cummings and ZenoRadio's Baruch Herzfeld,
10614-431: The neighbourhood as a small-scale democracy , regulated primarily by ideas of reciprocity among neighbours. Neighbourhoods have been the site of service delivery or "service interventions" in part as efforts to provide local, quality services, and to increase the degree of local control and ownership. Alfred Kahn, as early as the mid-1970s, described the "experience, theory and fads" of neighbourhood service delivery over
10736-548: The north and Evergreen Cemetery to the south. In the 1850s, the New Lots of Bushwick area began to develop. References to the town of Bowronville, a new neighborhood contained within the area south of Lafayette Avenue and Stanhope Street, began to appear in the 1850s. The area known as Bushwick Shore was so called for about 140 years. Bushwick residents called Bushwick Shore "the Strand", another term for "beach". Bushwick Creek, in
10858-455: The north, and Cripplebush, a region of thick, boggy shrubland extending from Wallabout Creek to Newtown Creek , in the south and east, cut Bushwick Shore off from the other villages in Bushwick. Farmers and gardeners from the other Bushwick villages sent their goods to Bushwick Shore to be ferried to New York City for sale at a market located at the present-day Grand Street. Bushwick Shore's favorable location close to New York City led to
10980-443: The number of housing units, leading these groups to claim that it would help to alleviate the city's housing shortage and possibly slow rent increases. Critics argued that the existing community's character would be changed as existing residents were forced to move, and, further, that public transportation and public safety infrastructure would be unable to accommodate the projected 40,000 new residents. A boom in construction followed
11102-461: The occasional catastrophe. On September 13, 1919, the Standard Oil refinery caught fire and soon spread flaming liquids into neighboring oil works and Newtown Creek. In 1933 Greenpoint gained access to the New York City Subway , with the opening of the IND Crosstown Line (currently serving the G train), running under Manhattan Avenue from Nassau Avenue to Queens. In 1937 the line
11224-557: The personal papers and recorded oral history of these five families. Greenpoint first began to change significantly when entrepreneur Neziah Bliss married into the Meserole family in the early 1830s after purchasing land from them. He eventually bought out most of the land in Greenpoint. In 1834 he had the area surveyed, and in 1839 opened a public turnpike along what is now Franklin Street. He established regular ferry service to Manhattan around 1850. All of these initiatives contributed to
11346-517: The population. In the 2020 census data from New York City Department of City Planning , they split up the tabulations between west and east Bushwick. West Bushwick had between 30,000 to 39,999 Hispanic residents and 10,000 to 19,999 White residents, meanwhile the Black and Asian populations were each under 5000 residents. East Bushwick had between 30,000 to 39,999 Hispanic residents, 10,000 to 19,999 White residents, and 5,000 to 9,999 Black residents while
11468-535: The presence of the els, another wave of European immigrants settled in the neighborhood. Also, parts of Bushwick became affluent. Brewery owners and doctors commissioned mansions along Bushwick and Irving Avenues at the turn of the 20th century. New York mayor John Francis Hylan kept a townhouse on Bushwick Avenue during this period. Bushwick homes were designed in the Italianate, Neo Greco, Romanesque Revival, and Queen Anne styles by well-known architects. Bushwick
11590-571: The prior decade, including discussion of income transfers and poverty. Neighbourhoods, as a core aspect of community, also are the site of services for youth, including children with disabilities and coordinated approaches to low-income populations. While the term neighbourhood organisation is not as common in 2015, these organisations often are non-profit, sometimes grassroots or even core funded community development centres or branches. Community and economic development activists have pressured for reinvestment in local communities and neighbourhoods. In
11712-537: The rapid and radical transformation of Greenpoint, which was annexed to the City of Brooklyn in 1855. In the years that followed Greenpoint established itself as a manufacturing district. Its largest industries were shipbuilding, porcelain and pottery, and glassworks, but the area had other industrial concerns such as brass and iron foundries; breweries; drug plants; book, furniture, box, and boiler makers; sugar refineries; and machine shops. Germans and Irish arrived in
11834-479: The reason: T. W. Field writes that "a nice functionary of the [Brooklyn] City Hall ... contemptuously thrust them into his waste-paper sacks", while Eugene Armbruster claims that the movable bookcase containing the records "was coveted by some municipal officer, who turned its contents upon the floor". At the turn of the 19th century, Bushwick consisted of four villages: Green Point, Bushwick Shore (later known as Williamsburg), Bushwick Green, and Bushwick Crossroads (at
11956-559: The remainder of the homestead to Pieter Praa when their father died in 1718; the name of Norman Avenue remains as testimony to Volckertsen's legacy. Praa had no male heirs when he died in 1740, but the farming families of his various daughters formed the core of Greenpoint for the next hundred years or so. By the time of the American Revolutionary War , Greenpoint's population was entirely five related families: The British Army had an encampment in Greenpoint during
12078-553: The rest of both Brooklyn and New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 48% in Greenpoint and Williamsburg, higher than the citywide and boroughwide rates of 52% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, as of 2018 , Greenpoint and Williamsburg are considered to be gentrifying . As according to the 2020 census data from New York City Department of City Planning , there were between 20,000 and 29,999 White residents and between 5,000 and 9,999 Hispanic residents, meanwhile each
12200-433: The rest of both Brooklyn and New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 55% in Bushwick, higher than the citywide and boroughwide rates of 52% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, as of 2018, Bushwick is considered to be gentrifying . Though an ethnic neighborhood, Bushwick's population is, for a New York City neighborhood, relatively heterogeneous, scoring
12322-553: The rest of the city as of 2018 . Half of the population (50%) has a college education or higher, 17% have less than a high school education and 33% are high school graduates or have some college education. By contrast, 40% of Brooklynites and 38% of city residents have a college education or higher. The percentage of Greenpoint and Williamsburg students excelling in reading and math has been increasing, with reading achievement rising from 35 percent in 2000 to 40 percent in 2011, and math achievement rising from 29 percent to 50 percent within
12444-635: The rezoning, leading to complaints from neighborhood residents and their elected representatives. The zoning plan was modified on March 2, 2006, to include anti-harassment provisions for tenants and add height limits in portions of upland Williamsburg. Neighborhood organizations made differing opinions known: the Greenpoint-Williamsburg Association for Parks and Planning expressed approval of the proposal (with reservations), but many neighborhood residents and members of Community Board 1 continue to voice their objections. One of
12566-401: The riots were over and the fires were put out, residents saw unsafe dwellings and empty lots among surviving buildings, leading one author to describe the scene as "some streets that looked like Brooklyn Heights , and others that looked like Dresden in 1945": The business vacancy rate on Broadway reached 43% in the wake of the riots. The 1977 blackout and resulting riots left Bushwick without
12688-423: The same time period. Greenpoint and Williamsburg's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is slightly higher than the rest of New York City. In Greenpoint and Williamsburg, 21% of elementary school students missed twenty or more days per school year , compared to the citywide average of 20% of students. Additionally, 77% of high school students in Greenpoint and Williamsburg graduate on time, higher than
12810-407: The spot where today's Bushwick Avenue turns southeast at Flushing Avenue ). Bushwick's first major expansion occurred after it annexed the New Lots of Bushwick, a hilly upland originally claimed by Native Americans in the first treaties they signed with European colonists granting the settlers rights to the lowland on the water. After the second war between the natives and the settlers broke out,
12932-553: The west (save for a short distance between Bushwick Avenue's northern terminus and the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway, where Woodpoint Road and Kingsland Avenue are the western boundaries), the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway on the north, and the Brooklyn–Queens border on the east—thus including the industrial area north of Flushing Avenue and east of Bushwick Avenue. The centroid , or geographic center , of New York City
13054-542: Was 72,101, an increase of 7,484 (11.6%) from the 64,617 counted in 2000 . Covering an area of 923.64 acres (373.78 ha), the neighborhood had a population density of 78.1 inhabitants per acre (50,000/sq mi; 19,300/km). The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 9.5% (6,819) non-Hispanic white , 28.1% (20,281) black , 0.2% (155) Native American , 2.4% (1,734) Asian , 0.0% (21) Pacific Islander , 0.4% (268) from other races , and 1.1% (809) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 58.3% (42,014) of
13176-486: Was a Walloon . Volckertsen had had periodic conflicts with the Keshaechqueren, who killed two of his sons-in-law and tortured a third in separate incidents throughout the 1650s. Starting in the early 1650s, he began selling and leasing his property to Dutch colonists, among them Jacob Haie (Hay) in 1653, who built a home in northern Greenpoint that was burned down by Indians two years later. Jan Meserole established
13298-628: Was a center of culture, with several Vaudeville-era playhouses, including the Amphion Theatre, the nation's first theatre with electric lighting. The wealth of the neighborhood peaked between World War I and World War II , even when events such as Prohibition and the Great Depression were taking place. After World War I, the German enclave was steadily replaced by a significant proportion of Italian Americans . By 1950, Bushwick
13420-548: Was at the edge of Bushwick, at Gates Avenue and Broadway . This line was extended southeastward into East New York shortly thereafter. By the end of 1889, the Broadway Elevated and the Myrtle Avenue Elevated were completed, enabling easier access to Downtown Brooklyn and Manhattan and the rapid residential development of Bushwick from farmland. With the success of the brewing industry and
13542-565: Was established within a former nut roasting factory for live/work spaces. A Bushwick-centered news site, entitled Bushwick Daily , was founded in 2010 by Katarina Hybenova, and features community issues, events, food, art and culture. Starting in the mid-2000s, the city and state governments began the Bushwick Initiative, a two-year pilot program spearheaded by the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and various community projects. The group's goal
13664-598: Was extended to Downtown Brooklyn , providing direct access from Greenpoint to points south. The manufacturing industry of Greenpoint declined after World War II . Eberhard Faber 's pencil factory , once the largest manufacturer of lead pencils in the United States, operated on West Street from 1872 until 1956. The company's former buildings were designated a historic district by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2007. The Greenpoint Historic District
13786-434: Was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. Greenpoint community residents and activists have periodically banded together, sometimes with the aid of their local representatives, to fight highly polluting facilities and practices in the neighborhood. Such organization led the city to close the huge Greenpoint incinerator in 1994, which was out of compliance with all city, state and federal regulations. In
13908-570: Was one of New York City's largest Italian American neighborhoods, although some German Americans remained. The Italian community was composed almost entirely of Sicilians, mostly from the Palermo , Trapani , and Agrigento provinces in Sicily . In particular, the Sicilian townsfolk of Menfi, Santa Margherita di Belice, Trapani, Castelvetrano, and many other paesi had their own clubs ( clubbu ) in
14030-475: Was originally organized primarily as Brooklyn's 18th Ward from the annexation of Bushwick. Now part of Brooklyn Community District 1 , the area of East Williamsburg is nevertheless considered by some to be part of Bushwick. For its entry on Bushwick–Ridgewood, the American Institute of Architects ' AIA Guide to New York City uses the area bounded by the Cemetery Belt on the south, Bushwick Avenue on
14152-483: Was replaced in the 1970s. The library closed in mid-2017 for a two-year renovation, which would necessitate the replacement of the existing building with a new facility called the Greenpoint Library & Environmental Education Center. The renovation of the Greenpoint branch was originally supposed to be completed in late 2018, but was delayed because of safety violations during construction. Greenpoint
14274-413: Was similar to that of many Brooklyn neighborhoods. The U.S. Census records show that the neighborhood's population was almost 90% white in 1960, but dropped to less than 40% white by 1970. During this transition, white-collar workers were being replaced by those migrating from the south. Puerto Ricans , African Americans , among other Caribbean American families, moved into homes in the southeastern edge of
14396-474: Was the John Lindsay administration's policy of raising available rent for welfare recipients. Since these tenants could now bring higher rents than tenants would on the open market, landlords began filling vacant units with such tenants. By the mid-1970s, half of Bushwick's residents were on public assistance. According to The New York Times , Bushwick was "a neatly maintained community of wood houses" by
14518-554: Was the hub of the Sicilian community, and held five feasts during the year, complete with processions of saints or Our Lady of Trapani. St. Joseph opened in 1923 because the Italian community had been rapidly growing in Bushwick since 1900. This Sicilian community first was centered in Our Lady of Pompeii parish on Siegel Street in Williamsburgh. As industry expanded along Flushing Avenue , the Sicilian population expanded with
14640-463: Was the last of the original six Dutch towns of Brooklyn to be established within New Netherland . The community was settled, though unchartered, on February 16, 1660, on a plot of land between the Bushwick and Newtown Creeks by fourteen French and Huguenot settlers, a Dutch translator named Peter Jan De Witt, and one of the original eleven slaves brought to New Netherland , Franciscus
14762-482: Was the role of rural to urban migration. This was a continual process in preindustrial cities, and migrants tended to move in with relatives and acquaintances from their rural past. Neighbourhood sociology is a subfield of urban sociology which studies local communities Neighbourhoods are also used in research studies from postal codes and health disparities , to correlations with school drop out rates or use of drugs. Some attention has also been devoted to viewing
14884-661: Was to improve quality of life in the twenty-three square blocks surrounding Maria Hernandez Park through various programs such as addressing deteriorated housing conditions, increasing economic development opportunities, and reducing drug dealing activities. The group's crime-reduction activities included collaboration with the HPD's Narcotics Control Unit and the New York City Police Department's 83rd Precinct and Narcotics Division to reduce drug-dealing. To reduce lead hazards in buildings, HPD and DOHMH created
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