Final Paper New York City is comprised of many different kind of people. It is considered one the most populated cities in the world. With more than 8 million people in NYC alone, one may argue that it has a higher population than most of the states in the US and some countries around the world. New York City is comprised of five distinct boroughs and each has its own neighborhoods that make up each borough. The five boroughs are Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Bronx, and Staten Island. I did some research on my own neighborhood which is located in the borough of Brooklyn. My neighborhood is Sunset Park. Sunset Park has its own unique history in Brooklyn and is considered one the smaller neighborhoods in Brooklyn. Sometimes Sunset Park is confused with Bay Ridge or Park Slope which are the neighborhoods that surround it. However, it stretches from 15th street to 65th street, from 9th avenue to New York Harbor (which can be considered to some 1st, 2nd and 3rd Ave). It is demographically diverse and has approximately 150,000 people. Sunset Park in my opinion is growing everyday and there are many different changes that happen right before my eyes. Sunset Park was named in 1965 after the 25 acre park built in the 1890‘s which overlooks the entire neighborhood. The park itself consists of playgrounds, a pool, basketball/ handball courts and has a gorgeous view of Manhattan skyline from on top the hill in the park. Sunset Park was known by many as a huge migration area during the 19th century due to the establishment of the Brooklyn waterfront which was a major part of maritime trade. Because of the all the trade that went on in the early years of Sunset Park, it was considered a popular commodity for people who were immigrating from the North in search of a job and a more stable life. Irish, Polish, Finnish, and Norwegian families were some of the first people to work/ live in Sunset Park. Many worked long hours in the Harbor factories and on the shore docks loading and unloading goods. This generated thousands of more men and women to work around the clock within the millions of square feet of manufacturing space in the area creating goods that were demanded by the growing U.S. population. Through the history of Sunset Park there have been three major occurrences that took place which can explain the growing of this neighborhood. Much credit can be given to Irving Bush and Cass Gilbert for created two very important things that made Sunset Park what it is today. Irving Bush is responsible for creating Bush terminal which included complex piers, warehouses, and factory lofts. Cass Gilbert is responsible for designing the Brooklyn Army Terminal, (still exists today), which sent over sixty three million tons of supplies to WWII troops and about 80% of those troops passed through the Army Terminal. Finally the third occurrence that took place during the history of Sunset Park was the creation of the Gowanus Expressway which connected Sunset Park to many other surrounding NYC neighborhoods. One may argue that the creation of this expressway bisected the residential and industrial communities and separated the neighborhood from its waterfront. What was now popular “3rd Ave with the factories, trading, etc.” no longer existed and more people went higher up “the hill to 5th Ave”. Still to this day, 3rd Ave does have factories but that area is not as popular and is more of a historical area if one may ask. Sunset park can be considered one of those neighborhoods in NYC that has experienced many different ethnic migrations since the first migrants came to Sunset. Sunset Park’s main population was made up of “Norwegian Americans” (Irish, Polish, Finnish, and Norwegian) who decided leave in the “white flight years”, 1970s-1980s. This brought in the next wave of migrates, this time from South America. They included Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Mexicans and many other Latin American cultures. They settled around 5th Ave and closer to the park because thats where they felt more comfortable because of the language barrier. Some other Latin American ethnicities where already there which made it easier for new migrates to associate with them. Still to this day, 5th Ave in Brooklyn is the most populated with Latin Americans. In my opinion, there are more Mexican and South Americans than Puerto Ricans/Dominicans. Many of the Puerto Rican and Dominicans that live in Sunset opened up restaurants and barber shops to succeed in the neighborhood. As mentioned many these restaurants and barbershops still exist. One final ethnic group that immigrated to Sunset park and I believe has had the most impact on Sunset Park is the Chinese population. Since the 1980s, I believe they have had the most population throughout Sunset. All of 8th Ave is considered “Chinatown”. Many of them did just how the Latin Americans did. They opened up shop, making restaurants and small bodegas that have cheap prices which was is a hot commodity for Chinese people. Just like the Latin Americans, Chinese found it easier to leave in “Chinatown” to the language barrier. It is easier for them to communicate amongst each other. Chinatown runs from 42 street-68th street all along 8th Avenue. It is lined with all Chinese businesses, (grocery stores, restaurants, Buddhist temples, video stores, bakeries, community organizations, and a Hong Kong Supermarket). I have lived in Sunset Park my whole life. I have witnessed a great deal of change throughout my neighborhood. As mentioned, Sunset has many different ethnic groups that in my opinion choose to stay and live amongst themselves. I believe they do this to be more comfortable and is a better way to communicate amongst each other. However, I do feel that there is one majority that little by little will take over Sunset Park. Many Chinese Americans are buying out many people who have lived in Sunset Park for many years since the beginning, and this is proof that my observation is correct. They have bought much out of 7th Avenue which was originally Latin American/Norwegian in its history. In a few more years I believe that they will turn 7th Ave into another “Chinatown”. For example, on my block where I live which is 44th Street between 7th and 8th Ave, they have bought out both of my neighbors in past two years. Many of what I grew up knowing how now disappeared before my eyes. I recently did some research on my neighborhood, Sunset Park. I conducted a study along with my fellow classmates called the “Fear of Crime in my Neighborhood”. I surveyed 10 people that I felt would give me reasonable/ solid feedback on whether or not people are actually feared by the crime that takes place in their neighborhood. The survey consisted of several questions that helped further answer the question to my study. For example, some questions were “Have you ever been a victim of a crime before? Have you ever witnessed a crime ? What kind of house do you live in and with how many people? etc. However, I did find it rather difficult to stop to hand out these surveys. As mentioned before, my neighborhood is consisted of a few different ethnic backgrounds which made it hard for me to communicate with them and for them to communicate with me. I lucky enough to complete 10 surveys. I noticed that when I approached people they were rather cautious of me to make sure I was not going hurt them (rob, rape, assault). In my opinion Sunset Park has gotten a lot worse over the years with these such crimes. In my second part of my research, I conducted three interviews with adults who live in my neighborhood, Sunset Park. I asked them several questions that related to my research, Fear of Crime. My first interview was with a young man in his 20s named Joel Caban. He told me that he has lived in a private house Sunset Park his whole life but recently moved to Staten Island with his parents. The reason his parents decided to move was to help raise his little brother and sister in a better environment. Joel is of Dominican heritage. He told me that he loved living in Sunset and told me he still stays in his grandmas house sometimes when he works late. I told him I was conducting some research titled Fear of Crime in my neighborhood. Joel was cool with me interviewing him and gave me lots of details to provide in my interviews. For example, he told me that he has never been a victim of a crime before. However, he knows crime does take place in Sunset. He says that crime that usually takes place in Sunset is robberies, assaults, sexual assaults, and rape. I asked him about vandalism and if it is a big issue in Sunset, but he proceeded to say that before when he was younger vandalism was a big deal. Many people were tagging everything and anything. “Yo man, I remember in high school niggas’ wanted me to get down with their “gettin’ up crew”, they was’ gonna teach me how to master gettin’ up”. Gettin’ up means tagging your name on buildings or buildings with spray cans. I can relate to Joel because when I was in high school as well, tagging was more popular than it is now. Joel proceeded to tell me that crime in Sunset has gotten a lot better compared to how it used to be and rated crime a 5 out of 10, 10 being the worse. He says “everyone kinda just sticks to themselves. If you don’t fuck with someone they won’t fuck with you”. Joel told me that he never had to call the police before to report a crime but he had the attitude that if he did have to call the police they would take forever to come to the scene which is like how a lot of people think/feel in Sunset and many other neighborhoods. My second interview was with another man in his 20s and his name was Matt Bloom. He is of Jewish decent and lives with his father in a private house in Sunset. He told me that he is an active member of the Israeli army and is in America to study. He goes to John Jay and studies International Criminal Justice. I found it cool that when I found out we both went to the same school, we also could relate to our neighborhood Sunset Park and the crime that takes place there. Like Joel, Matt (told me to call him this for short) listed the same crimes Peter did. Robberies, assault, sexual assault, and rape are the crimes he told me he knew about that exist in Sunset. However, he chose to emphasize on the fact that he was once assaulted in Sunset. He told me that one day he was at a bar with a few friends and man approached him on his way out. The man knew he was a intoxicated so he proceeded to punch him in the face. He assaulted and robbed him of his cellphone, and wallet. Also, another time Matt had been involved in some beef with some local friends and was jumped a few blocks from his house. He told me he knew the reason why he was jumped but asked me not to include that in the interview which I agreed not to. I found it ironic that when I asked him about what rating he would give Sunset when it came to crime, he gave it a -4. He said that other then the crime that took place with him he never witnessed any more crimes. He argued that crime has gotten a lot better in the last couple of years he has been living in Sunset. He said that there are a lot of police officers who are patrolling the area but they are doing it for absolutely no reason because nothing ever happens. I told him though, many crimes happen that are not announced on the news or in the media. Sunset Park tends to be lo-key when it comes to our crime. He agreed with me and said that he felt the reason for this was because Sunset consists of a lot of minorities and if it is not a woman getting raped or a child getting hurt it will not appear on the news. He said no one really seems to care about crimes amongst hispanics because that it is what expected of them. I felt that was a little cynical minded but I found it interesting and definitely had to incorporate that into my research. Finally, I interviewed a girl named Maria Sanchez who was also in her 20s that also lives in Sunset Park. She lives in an apartment building with her mom. There are no project complex in Sunset and she wanted to make sure I did not call her apartment a project. She is unemployed at the moment but is a full time college student and works sometimes with her mother in her job. She mentioned that she had been a victim of crimes. The first she told me that she was hanging out late with a few friends and on her way home a man attempted to rob her and potentially sexually assault her but she ran away and luckily nothing bad happen to her. Another time, she mentioned the use of many people smoking weed in front of her apartment. “I mostly see many people smoking weed on the streets and dealing on the corners in my neighborhood”. What really caught my attention was a story she told me about a murder that took place right in front of her eyes. “I walked outside my apartment one day on my way to class and there was a man sitting in his car with a bullet in his head, leaning on his steering wheel. I did not call the cops because I was in such shock and I heard the sirens so I figured they were on their way to the scene. I will always remember that.” She told me that crime in her neighborhood is present but it depends where you are in the neighborhood. Some areas of Sunset are worse than others. “In my opinion, I know its there but I feel like it can not be stopped. If people are gonna do it, they are gonna do it without thinking twice about it. She rated crime a high 6 out of 10. She feels that Sunset is dirty and can use some more cleanup. She was very greatly for me asking her to do this interview about Sunset because she knows how important it is to know about crime in your neighborhood and sometimes its cool to talk about it with other people. In conclusion, I have drawn two major hypothesis’. The first is that I feel that the reason why many minorities live in Sunset Park is because it is easy to get along with your common culture and compared to other neighborhoods, Sunset is not that bad. As mentioned, Sunset is very diverse with many different ethnicities. I feel that in order to live amongst each ethnic group one must get along with each other. So my second hypothesis is that I believe that crime can continue to decrease if each person of Sunset does their part and respects each other. For example, on the corner store of my block there is a store that is Chinese owned. However, every time I go there is always Hispanic men (Puerto Rican, mexican, etc) drinking beers in the back and playing dominos. I feel that this is ironic because the two ethnic groups are getting along. The Chinese owner is allowing these Hispanic guys to loiter on there property without a cost. I have drawn the conclusion that maybe they do this because 1. it will generate more customers to their store , and 2. they wont have to worry about getting robbed by these guys if they never came to the store in the first place. I feel that crime as a whole has decreased and its as prevalent as it used to be. On a scale of 1-10, I averaged crime to be a 5.

References http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_statistics/cs072pct.pdf http://homes.point2.com/Neighborhood/US/New-York/New-York-City/Brooklyn/Sunset-Park-Demographics.aspx

http://www.zillow.com/local-info/NY-New-York/Sunset-Park-people/r_270945/

http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/data/2006chp-205.pdf

http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/data/data.shtml

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/sunset-park-clinic-longer-offer-abortions-offering-outpatient-surgical-care-article-1.1170789