Sunset Park is a neighborhood that has constantly changed for the past 150 years as different waves of immigrants swept through the city. The groups that arrive tend to follow similar patterns in regards to politics. When they first come, their primary concerns have more to do with finding ways to make a living than with getting involved in the community and its politics. However, once a group gets more settled, it becomes more involved and exerts a greater political influence on the area.
The Chinatown started growing in the 1980’s, and is today reaching a point where it is becoming more involved in the community. Although a majority of people might not vote, there are many more community organizations that have appeared to cater to the needs of both new arrivals and old-timers.
At this point, the Chinatown isn’t the largest immigrant in group in Sunset Park, nor is it the fastest growing. A new influx of Hispanic immigrants – mainly Mexicans – is adding to that community, which surrounds our defined Chinatown. This group, which is larger and has been there longer, has a stronger political presence when it comes to electing public officials. However, since all immigrants have similar needs when they first arrive, political action to help one immigrant group tends to help everyone in the district.
Sunset Park remains an industrial neighborhood because of the old ports that can still be found on the waterfront. Thus there is a strong political push to keep the neighborhood from following the gentrification trends of the surrounding neighborhoods. The waterfront provides jobs for a large number of the community inhabitants, and since it is one of the few remaining industrial zones of the city, there is very little desire to change it.
==Methods==
In order to study the politics of Sunset Park, we decided to talk to political representatives that would be familiar with the growing Chinatown. We thus spoke to Jeremy Laufer, district manager of Brooklyn Community Board 7, and to Ms. Gonzalez, the Democrat City Council representative for District 38. Community Boards, although they cannot order the city to do anything, act as important advisers on land use and zoning matters, the City budget, municipal service delivery, and many other issues relating to their communities’ welfare. ((“Community Boards – Responsibilities – Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit.” NYC.gov. NYC Mayor’s Community Affair’s Unit. Web. 14 May 2011. <http://www.nyc.gov/html/cau/html/cb/responsibility.shtml>.))Even though he is not an elected official, Mr. Laufer has a strong understanding of the needs of the community he serves. Councilwoman Gonzalez is the neighborhood’s representative for the City Council, and thus has the power to ensure that her constituents get the services they need from the government. Below are summaries of the key issues they brought up concerning the Chinatown community.
==Community Board==
 Community Board 7 ((Brooklyn Community Board 7: Maps. Digital image. Brooklyn Community Board 7: Maps. Brooklyn Community Board 7. Web. 11 May 2011. <http://www.brooklyncb7.org/maps/>.)) Neighborhoods Included: Sunset Park, East Windsor Terrace, Greenwood Heights, Windsor Terrace ((http://www.brooklyncb7.org/)) |
District Manager: Jeremy Laufer
Chair: Fred Xeureb Secretary: Leonora Gidlund Treasurer: Cynthia Gonzalez |
===The Chinatown’s Involvement in Local Politics===
Mr. Laufer described the Chinatown as being in a “natural progression” of most immigrant groups. There are more organizations popping up, such as the Brooklyn Chinese-American Association (BCA), the Chinese Planning Council (CPC), the Brooklyn Community Improvement Association (BCIA), and Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE). and more participation in community events and board meetings. There are also leaders coming from the community, even if none have, as of yet, been elected into office. This progression is the same followed by the Latino community, and so it is quite possible that the Chinese will be able to elect one of their own to office.
===Housing===
A problem facing the area, which, although not exclusive to the Asian community is very prominent there, is that of overcrowding and illegal subdivisions of apartments occupied, in large part, by undocumented immigrants. Other forms of affordable housing would do a lot of good to the community, and yet unfortunately, there is very little available space left in the neighborhood where apartments could be built. The city has tried, by using inclusionary zoning, to offer incentives for developers to build affordable housing in the area. He stated that this was one of the few tools the city had to try and create affordable housing, but that it looks like in this situation, it failed to work.
However, the city’s zoning laws have proven crucial in another realm. They have saved Sunset Park’s industrial waterfront, have prevented overdevelopment of certain areas, and have ensured that the neighborhood remains affordable for those who live in it.
Mr. Laufer remains positive that Sunset Park will remain a working class community, no matter what happens in the surrounding neighborhoods. This, he says, is in large part due to the neighborhood’s waterfront. This industrial area is a source of labor for a large portion of the community, and if it were rezoned, many would be out of jobs. Thus, there is a large incentive within the community to prevent anything from changing.
Nevertheless, the Community Board has spent the last ten years ensuring that new zoning laws didn’t cause overdevelopment in the area, especially after the neighboring Park Slope and Bay Ridge rezoned, pushing developers into Sunset Park. Today, most of the neighborhood has been rezoned to prevent the arrival of developers, and so the working-class area is secure.
===Future Plans===
For the moment, the Community Board is considering rezoning parts of 8th Avenue, the heart of the Chinatown, in order to allow for more business to open. According to Mr. Laufer, there are many businesses that are illegally located on the second floor of buildings, and this rezoning would seek to make them legal. It would also try to allow for businesses to become bigger, thus accommodating the growth and progression of the Asian community.
==City Council==
 District 38 ((District 38. Digital image. Gotham Gazette. Gotham Gazette. Web. 11 May 2011.))
Sara Gonzalez – ((Council Member – District: 38. Digital image. New York City Council. New York City Council. Web. 11 May 2011.))
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Neighborhoods Included: Sunset Park, Bay Ridge Towers, Borough Park, Brooklyn Waterfront, Park Slope, Red Hook, Windsor Terrace
Council Representative: Sara M Gonzalez (D) Committee Membership: Juvenile Justice (Chair); Aging; Land Use; Planning, Dispositions & Concessions; Women’s Issues; Youth Services |
===Chinatown’s Involvement in Local Politics===
Councilwoman Gonzalez stated that while the Chinese population in Sunset Park plays a “vital role” in the district’s politics, most of her support comes from the fairly large Hispanic community that surrounds it. Even though she did set aside a portion of her campaign promotion and materials for the Asian community, and to the Chinese in particular, Gonzalez acknowledged that Asians aren’t politically the strongest group in Sunset Park.
===Rent Stabilization===
It’s been important to keep rent in Sunset Park stabilized in order to prevent families from falling below the poverty line. The median rent for the district is $1000, which, for 49% of the Sunset Park’s population, amounts to 35% or more of their annual income. ((“Selected Housing Characteristics: 2007-2009, Page 67.” NYC.gov. Population Division – NYC Department of City Planning. Web. 10 May 2011. <http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/census/puma_housing_07to09_acs.pdf#bk7>.)) Gonzalez has spent much of her term in office fighting against rent increases, most notably during the city’s 421-A debate in which she made sure that new housing developments provided affordable options if the developers wanted to take advantage of certain tax abatements. Gonzalez has also repeatedly supported local legislation to guarantee rent stabilization to the residents of Sunset Park.
===Education===
As leader of the Adult Literacy Initiative, Gonzalez directed several million dollars of city funding into free ESL, GED, and basic education classes for adults. Gonzalez also spent half a million dollars on updating computer labs in schools across the district, and several hundred thousand dollars on maintaining afterschool educational programs. She has combated public school budget cuts, and led funding for the construction of an early childhood center, and Sunset Park’s first high school, which the neighborhood has wanted for 30 years, and which opened in September 2009.
However, despite the creation of this new high school, Sunset Park does not have enough education facilities for its growing immigrant, and especially Asian, population. P.S. 10, one of Sunset Park’s public elementary schools, has the longest waitlist in Brooklyn – a sign that there are not enough facilities to cope with the growing population attributed to the arrival of so many Asian immigrants. The Department of Education has responded by opening four new schools in Sunset Park. However, officials say that this won’t solve the problem of demand for schools like PS 105, whose student body is 90% Chinese. ((“Brooklyn’s Longest Kindergarten Waitlist.” The Brooklyn Ink. Kherani, Faaria. Web. 10 May 2011. <http://thebrooklynink.com/2010/11/18/19636-kindergarten-caps-waitlist-in-response-to-increasing-number-of-immigrant-students/>.))
===Future Plans===
Unfortunately, recently opened elementary and middle schools lack funding for strong ESL programs. Thus, these schools are poorly equipped to become accessible to the large Chinese American student population, especially considering that many students will come in with little to no knowledge of English. Gonzalez is currently attempting to garner funding for programs that more clearly address the Chinese American students in Sunset Park schools.
==Conclusion==
Overall, although the Asian community might not be directly involved in its community’s politics, a lot has been done in order to ensure that they can make a living in this area. All levels of government have been fighting to keep rent low, provide affordable housing and maintain Sunset Park as an industrial working-class neighborhood. The area is also in the process of accommodating the growing Asian student population, which is now overwhelming the school district’s resources. Although not the largest or most prominent group in Sunset Park, the emergence of new community organizations gives us hope that the Asian population will find a greater voice in the realm of politics.
