Bay Ridge is located in the southwest corner of Brooklyn. According to the most recent zoning maps on the Department of City Planning website, the borders of Bay Ridge are the Gowanus Expressway to the north, Shore Road to the west and southwest, Dahl Green Place to the southeast, and 7th Avenue to the northeast.
Much of Bay Ridge borders Sunset Park to the north and Fort Hamilton to the south so it is difficult to distinguish between the different areas. In fact, much of the areas believed to be contained within Bay Ridge actually have Sunset Park’s zipcode but stores named after Bay Ridge. It is the same with Fort Hamilton; people often consider Fort Hamilton part of Bay Ridge because they share the same zip code, though it is a officially a separate neighborhood. Fort Hamilton High School is even located in the middle of Bay Ridge.
Although the population of Bay Ride is overwhelmingly white, there is also a large Asian American population. They have proven to have a great effect on many aspects of Bay Ridge. Their concern for education has encouraged billions in funding for Public Schools in Bay Ridge. Their likewise passions for public safety have also encouraged laws to be passed by Senator Golden, who has set out to recruit more Chinese-speaking police officials. Asian Americans in Bay Ridge have also been involved in politics and passing laws for a rezoning plan, which makes sure that Bay Ridge does not have a very dense population. This characteristic is very important in distinguishing the neighborhood from others in Brooklyn. It must be noted, however, that the Asian Americans in Bay Ridge tend to have a low-income state- many earning less than 50,000 per year. Upon researching gentrification in Bay Ridge, we noted that there is an estimated income-increase in comparison to statistics of the year 2000. Also, there is an increase of rich, professional young couples moving into the neighborhood who are unlikely to be Asian American immigrants. The more affluent population of Bay Ridge seems to be displacing lower income people, and in the case of Asian Americans, pushing them more towards the neighborhood of Sunset Park, where we can see the densest population of Asian Americans. Nevertheless, the Asian American presence in Bay Ridge is not non-existent and can be seen by their actions through formal institutions. According to Librarians in Bay Ridge, most of the Bay Ridge Branch Library’s visitors tend to be Asian. Asian traditions are also kept alive throughout other formal institutions such as the Original Taekwon-Do/MMA & Fitness center, which teaches self-discipline and courtesy, two values cherished by the Asian American population. What is so unique about Bay Ridge is that it is a neighborhood equally mixed of upper class whites and many varying ethnic groups. It is thus unpredictable – on one block you may observe an expensive coffee shop, while on the next you may find yourself immersed in Asian Martial Arts.
The borders in which we observed much of an Asian population were contained from 67th street to 75th street, from 3rd to 5th avenue. The “Asian” population is inclusive of all Asians, not only the traditional East Asians but also Middle Eastern and Arabic people,who seem to have a greater population in our area of study. From observing the neighborhood, as well as talking to local businesses and inhabitants, we believe that the increased Arabic and Middle Eastern population is mainly due to the family-oriented aspects of the neighborhood. Many of the houses in Bay Ridge indicate the presence of high class families and the organizations have family-oriented activities so it is no surprise that these Arabs have moved into this safe neighborhood and built up successful businesses. As for the traditional East Asians, we believe that their increased presence in Bay Ridge is mostly a result of crowding in Sunset Park because those East Asians we found were concentrated more in the northern part of Bay Ridge, which borders the southern region of Sunset Park. So it is likely that, once Sunset Park gained a significant East Asian population (mostly Chinese), new residents moved south into the less populated but secure neighborhood of Bay Ridge.
