BY STUDENT
New York City is one of many cities known for having a
fast growing population of Latinos/Hispanics throughout history. Mike Davis
stated how New York City has undergone “Latinization”, Davis talks about the
2000 Census which is the start of this Latino growth in the population. In the
2000 Census there was 35,305,818 who identified themselves as either
Latino/Hispanic; meanwhile, in the 2010 Census there were 50,477,594. In my
blog post I will be focusing on the New York City population and their growth within
the past 20 years. According to the 2010 Census survey there is 8,175,133
Latinos/Hispanics living in New York City. The Latino/Hispanic population in
New York City has been facing many difficulties recently due to white’s moving
back into the city, leading to gentrification. Gentrification is when people of
high income move into low income neighborhoods that they then reform till low
incoming people can no longer afford to live there. It has been noticed that
Latino’s are now moving out of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, and are moving
into different parts of New York City such as Staten Island and the Bronx, more
specifically Fordham and Hunts Point. In my blog post I will discuss how the
Hispanic/Latino population become a majority in the Bronx.
The
Latino/Hispanic population in the Bronx was 53.53%, which is more than half of
the total population in the 2010 Census. The Bronx population has proven to continue to grow throughout the years(has proven to have significant
growth) Gentrification can be one of the many reasons as to why the population
keeps growing drastically. Based on the census data from 2009-2013, there was a
total of 31,506 people who moved from one of the other four boroughs into the
Bronx. There were also Bronx residents that left the county through this time
period, there was a total of 16,904 people who left and moved to one of the
other four boroughs. Fordham are one of the many places that has yet to be
gentrified, there have been reports of
more Latinos moving into this neighborhood. I have
noticed a lot of Latino/Hispanic families move into my neighborhood. Although my family has not been
directly affected by this “movement” we are being affected indirectly. Growing
up in Fordham I have observed that it is a predominately Hispanic/Latino
neighborhood. According to the 2010 Census the Hispanic/Latino population in
Fordham was 70.2%. The other 29.8% of the population was majority Black/African
Americans which were 26.0%, 1.5% were whites, and the other 2.3% of the population was either Asian or other (Murphy, 2016).
Hunts
Points is a neighborhood found in the South Bronx. There are currently 20,305
residents living there according to the 2010 Census data. Hispanics/Latinos
make up 74.6% of the population followed by 22.2% of Blacks/African Americans,
the remaining 3.2% were either Asians or other. Mario Chasi is one of many
small business owners that were gentrified out of Willets Points, Queens. The
City Council decided to remove these small business and release them by
expensive housing. According to sources this neighborhood had about 225 Latino
owned business alongside about 1,700 Latino workers (Bagil, 2016). Hunts Point
has become one of the many new homes for these small business. Based on the observations and research I have come to the conclusion that it will very hard for the Bronx
to undergo the process of gentrification because the Latino/Hispanic make up
most of the population.
U.S.
Census Bureau. (2012). Population of
Bronx County, New York: Census 2010 and 2000 Interactive Map, Demographics,
Statistics, Graphs, Quick Facts, Retrieved from http://censusviewer.com/county/NY/Bronx
U.S.
Census Bureau. (2010). Geographic Data
Source; Neighborhood Tabulation Data, Retrieved from http://maps.nyc.gov/census/#
Bagli,
C.V., (October 6, 2016). Auto Shop Owners Forced Out of Willets Point Struggle
to Rebuild in the Bronx. The New York
Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/07/nyregion/auto-shop-owners-forced-out-of-willets-point-struggle-to-rebuild-in-the-bronx.html?_r=1
Murphy,
J., (March 25, 2016). UrbaNerd: Are Other Boroughs’ Gentrification Refugees
Fueling Bronx Growth. City Limits, Retrieved
from http://citylimits.org/2016/03/25/urbanerd-are-other-boroughs-gentrification-refugees-fueling-bronx-growth/
Davis, M. (2000). Magical Urbanism: Spicing
the City. Verso, 2000.
Despite the high population of Hispanics, the Bronx is still going through a process of gentrification, and is currently considered the "up & coming" borough of NYC. Particularly in neighborhoods like Mott Haven, living expenses have increased and the makeup of the population has began to change. With the Bronx being an area that people relocated to after being victims of gentrification in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, I wonder where disadvantaged individuals will go next now that gentrification in the Bronx has begun.
ReplyDeleteWhen I used to live in the Bronx , I did notice the high amount of hispanics living in each of the different sections of the Bronx. After moving to Brooklyn 6 years ago I also noticed that the hispanic community is significantly smaller which the majority of Hispanics residing in Bushwick and some parts of East New York.
ReplyDeleteI have to say I disagree with your sentiment that it will be hard for the Bronx to go through gentrification due to its large Latino/Hispanic population. I feel like any place can go through the process of gentrification, especially in a major world city like New York. Over 50% of the world's population lives in urban areas, and that number will continue to rise in the future. While the process may be slower in the Bronx, it is still happening. Although I don't have any experience with NYC, I can attest to the gentrification of areas within the capital region that were once minority-majority places. For example, Troy and Albany. Both of these cities were originally minority-majority (especially during suburbanization in the mid-20th century) but have become and are becoming "revitalized" and property values and taxes continue to rise, which displaces low-income people and families. What I find most interesting in regards to the capital region is that developers and planners are investing more in building high-rise condos and expensive housing rather than investing in the multitude of vacant, blighted housing in the area that would benefit low-income families and improve neighborhoods.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the statement "Hunts Point has become one of the many new homes for these small business. Based on the observations and research I have come to the conclusion that it will very hard for the Bronx to undergo the process of gentrification because the Latino/Hispanic make up most of the population." I live in Hunts point and when I visited for break I saw a lot of new business openings. With all these openings gentrification will become hard because the minorities are taking the spaces that white majority populous want.
ReplyDeleteNew York City, over the years, has had many instances where gentrification took place, however, the Bronx, specifically, is not new to having Latinos move here. I am writing my paper on the South Bronx and how Puerto Ricans moved here from Puerto Rico. The Bronx and Brooklyn have been significant locations for Puerto Ricans, so I suggest you look more into gentrification in the Bronx during the Young Lords time period and you may find it interesting to see the changes from then to now and the movement of Latinos.
ReplyDeleteI am very interested in this blog post. My grandmother lives in the Bronx and the Latino population is tremendous."Based on the observations and research I have come to the conclusion that it will very hard for the Bronx to undergo the process of gentrification because the Latino/Hispanic make up most of the population." I would have liked to hear more about why you believe this is true. Once the city continues to become so overpopulated by high income individuals each borough is facing gentrification. Large businesses like McDonalds, Chipotle etc are looking to push out small businesses. Thank you for sharing your experiences, I enjoyed your post!
ReplyDelete