All posts by auquillb

Flushing’s Communities

Clarifying Key Concepts

Collective Capacity, which in the article is defined as ‘commonality and interdependence’, is completely ignored in the Flushing West community. Collective capacity involves community engagement in order to accomplish goals that are better for the group and requires community members to work together. Another aspect of a community is interdependence. Interdependence states that the members of a community depend on the government and economy in order to remain stable and unified. The government and economy, on the other hand, depend on its citizens in order to keep a well-balanced economy. A good combination of both these features will create a good standing community.

In the our group’s attendance of the Minkwon Center hearing, we were able to see that the community members of Flushing West are involved in collective capacity. They are working together to make sure that they all aren’t displaced and want to make sure that they do not receive unreasonable increases in rent. However, the aspect of interdependence is missing in this community. The government fails to realize that they are very much so dependent on their citizens. Because of this, they decided to continue to allow the current rezoning plan as is. However, if they fail to comply to some of the community members desires, they will end up hurting their own community. The economic balance may take a hit, thus revealing the reasons for which this current approved plan should have been stopped.

Flushing West Key Concepts

Clarifying Key Concepts

The reading assigned to the flushing west group involved the idea of community planning without displacement. Is it really possible to develop as a community without negatively impacting the community members? Over the years, community members have constantly fought against eviction, urban projects and increases in housing,

The reading begins by defining the idea of progressive planning. It is defined as the development in which people are aware of the social and economic injustices within a community. By doing so, this development attempts to achieve equality for all members of its society. However, many of the current development plans have not actually attempted to create more equal communities.  As of now, these projects are segregating, alienating and displacing community members. In order to ensure that progressive community planning actually brings diversity, equality and openness, the government must invest time and resources into developing communities. By doing so, the voices of the community members will not be overheard. This is the current issue that many of the community members of flushing are experiencing. They feel that their opinions are being completely disregarded. This in turn leads to the development of very hostile opinions and a loss of trust between the council members and their constituents. I believe that even if there were more time invested into the Flushing community, there would not be a significant change because there is now a lack of trust and respect between council member Koo and the community members.

The reading that was posted was stated many of the reasons that the current idea of progressive planning is flawed. From the perspective of the government, all proposed plans and ideas would be beneficial for the communities. However, the communities will make sure that they voice their ideas and will not go down without a fight.

Weekly Report 2 by Brian Auquilla

Future of Flushing West, Updates - Flushing West

Overview of Key Project Activities:

On Wednesday 16th, we sat in our assigned groups during class to begin writing our historical narratives. When doing so, we attempted to identify certain key events that shaped the Flushing community. We may also explore the possibility of attending another public hearing regarding the rezoning project.

Updates on Current Progress:

Last weekend we received the powerpoints for the hearings that we attended. We will look at the videos and attempt to break down the question and answer session.

Last Wednesday, we attempted to start our historical narrative.  We began by looking at the influx of Asian immigrants during the 1990’s and the reasons for which they may have moved to Flushing. A couple of reasons that we discussed were: the availability of the 7 train, expansion of Roosevelt Avenue, and the availability of new real estate within the area. The following 3 paragraphs give insight into our discussions and ideas.

During the late 1970’s and early 1980’s there was a rapid increase in the number of Korean inhabitants that Flushing had. At the time, many of the small businesses that were owned along Main Street were Korean. However, the Korean dominated community would soon be challenged in the late 1980’s and early 1980’s. During this time there was an increase in the number of Chinese immigrants that arrived to Flushing.  The Korean dominated streets began to see the occasional Chinese owned store. Slowly but surely, more and more Chinese owned stores began to open up along Main Street and Kissena Boulevard. The decrease in the number of Korean owned stores was directly related to the amount of real estate available in the communities. At the time, much of the available real estate was bought by wealthy Chinese people. This caused many Koreans to move towards other parts of Flushing and eventually led to the Chinese dominance of Main Street.

As of right now, the 7 train is the only train that runs through Flushing. This may explain the congestion that we see nowadays in Flushing. On Wednesday we mentioned the idea that the 7 train is one of the reasons why many Chinese immigrants went to Flushing. We thought that because much of the newly available real estate was being bought by wealthy Chinese people, the immigrants would feel more comfortable residing in an area where they could find people whom they could communicate easily with. The 7 train ensured that the people who would move to Flushing would still have a way to easily travel to other parts of the city.

The development and expansion of certain roadways also caused many new immigrants to choose Flushing as their new home. The expansion of facilitated travel towards parts of Flushing and Queens by giving buses a variety of roads that they could use.  However, we still believe the congestion is a problem within Flushing. We believe that part of the reason is the fact that the 7 train is the only big form of transportation that runs to Main Street. That is why, when investigating the issues of rezoning, we discussed the possible solutions that the city council member could propose to its community. One possible solution is the expansion of the 7 train to other parts of Flushing. People would then not be forced to reside around Main Street if they were reliant of public transportation. Another possible solution is the addition of city buses onto other streets. If this is done, the most congested streets will be alleviated. Maybe then, the community members will be more accepting of the rezoning project.

Interesting Findings:

We have not met with anyone from the Minkwon Center in the past week, so nothing new was found regarding the community center. However, there is a public hearing coming up that we will attend. Our findings will be listed in the next project updates.

Challenges Encountered:

The first challenge we have encountered is finding a new visual that we can present to the class and the members of the MinKwon Center. At the hearing we attended, we received numerous flyers that displayed the relevant issues that were discussed that night. We believed that creating another flyer would be ineffective and repetitive.  We have also been having difficulty deciding what to include in our

Remaining Tasks:

We are still trying to find an effective way that we can present a visual. At the moment, Claudia had the idea of creating a 3-D model that will display the end results of this proposed rezoning project. This will be used to give the community members an idea of what changes that may see as a result of the rezoning. We also may or may not attend the following community meeting that will take place on April 12th at 6:30 pm at the St. George’s Church. If presented the opportunity, we wish to interview several members of the community in an effort to get insight into their frustrations. Another task we are continuing to work on is the historical narrative. I will be looking into the defining historical events that shaped affordable housing in Flushing. Erica will continue contact the MinKwon center and may look into the history and development of this establishment.  Wilian will look into the historical events that defined small business growth. Claudia will be focused on creating 3-D model that we can use as a visual to present to the MinKwon center and the community members of Flushing. Christine will continue to study the impact of gentrification on development. Through our research, we hope to develop a good historical narrative that demonstrates how certain key events shaped the Flushing.  We do not have a clear-cut plan for our white paper yet since we are still doing more research. As we narrow down ideas and share our work, we will establish a plan.

Group Dynamic:

As of now, Erica and I have completed the weekly reports. The remaining members have yet to decide who will complete the next weekly report. In our project brief, we mentioned the issues that each of us wanted to research and now we are looking to find key historical information that we think helped define Flushing. The workshop on the historical narrative was very effective given that we were able to share our ideas and concerns appropriately.

Applications to Flushing West

Contemporary Planning in NYC

Chapter 5 of the weekend’s reading discussed some of the strategies used by Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs in their discussions over the highway project. Moses attempted to appeal to the general public by deeming the highway “absolutely essential. In his eyes, this project would speed up the development of the communities. However, he failed to acknowledge the fact that this proposed project would displace the members of the communities to other boroughs. This is why Jane Jacobs decided to step in. Her goal was to stand up for the people of the communities that felt threatened by the proposed projects of development.

As I looked at the plans for rezoning in Flushing, I thought about the ideologies that Moses and Jacobs carried out. In my eyes, Moses was more concerned for himself and he wouldn’t care about displacing community members that have resided in certain areas for years. Jacobs’ appreciation for the communities needed to be applied to Moses ideologies in an effort to keep community interests. To a certain extent, this is being attempted nowadays. However, there are cases where the community goals and beliefs are ignored. In the case of flushing and the current rezoning project, its city council member does not seem to be able to properly communicate with its members. This means that the voices of the community members are not heard. Even though the proposed plans would be beneficial, it will have a negative impact in terms of the cost of living. In the community hearing our group attended, we listened to enraged community members express their frustration towards the city council member. It was evident that even though there was an attempt to implement both Moses’ and Jacobs’ ideas, there were still issues with the way certain community problems were addressed.

Pushing for change

Uncategorized

“How to Survive a Plague” tells the origins of ACT UP and the issues that people were facing during the AIDS crisis. At the time mayor Koch was unwilling to give people with AIDS the adequate treatment that they deserved and needed. As a result this led to numerous protests where members of ACT UP attempted to grab the attention of the government.

It is important to realize the significance of this organization. Even though people faced death in the eyes, they still found the energy to protest against the many injustices they were subject to. Members of the gay/lesbian communities were should not have been left to die because of who they were. When the first drug that was meant to treat this disease was released it was evident that a substantial decrease in price was required. It’s saddening to see that even though people were so close to a treatment that could prolong their life, they were just as far away from it as before. I tip my hat to these activists because they helped make significant improvements in healthcare and sex safety. It is evident that during this time the government was not informed and was not willing to become informed in order to save the lives of thousands.

ACT UP has improved the lives of thousands of people and has increased the safety of sex.  Not only have they given those with AIDS a glimmer of hope, but they also successfully grabbed the attention of the government. Containing AIDS is a long process, but because of constant testing and investigation it has come a long way. However, we still have the issue of overcharging for treatments. We are currently at the hands of drug companies and will continue to be charged outrageous amounts of money unless something is done.

War on Poverty

A Plague on Houses

This weekend’s readings discussed the manner in which ‘benign neglect’ and planned shrinkage’ were supposed to ease the tension felt in impoverished communities. Communities such as the south Bronx were subject to large amounts of crime and required extensive community services in order to maintain higher levels of safety. However, in the eyes of Moynihan, the tension would ease quicker if the issues were left unattended. The other policy that was discussed, ‘Planned Shrinkage’ involved the removal of services and resources from poor neighborhoods and relocating them to neighborhoods that were better off.

The idea of planned shrinkage was supposed to let poor communities fend for themselves. They were being denied basic services because it was believed that eventually these communities ‘would die out’. However, this policy really just infuriated the members of the community. If the conditions reached a level where it was no longer inhabitable, these communities would just relocate to other areas. This would then increase the crime rates of the communities that were deemed ‘better off’. My issues with benign neglect and planned shrinkage were that they are inhumane and do not actually address the issues that poorer communities are facing. I find it disturbing that Moynihan felt it was necessary to leave these cities that were in dire need of help. As crime went up, the cities costs also went up. Fires continued to be a huge problem in cities like the Bronx. The infrastructure that was destroyed was never rebuilt, thus giving the people of these communities no reason to remain in that city.

I believe that Moynihan’s policies of “benign neglect” and “planned shrinkage” were immoral and did not truly address the issues that were at hand. However, I do believe that this is still an important part of our history that teaches to not neglect the people who live in a community.