My observational tour took place in Queens Community District 13, specifically from 213th street to Francis Lewis Boulevard on Jamaica Avenue. I chose this location because there has been construction on Francis Lewis Blvd. since the beginning of the semester. This construction has led to disturbances in the N6 and N1 Nassau Inter-County Express busses. On the way to school one morning, actually multiple mornings, instead of turning on Francis Lewis Boulevard to get to Hillside Avenue from Jamaica Avenue my bus turned down 212th street. I did my observations on the bus over multiple days and times but took my walk down Jamaica on April 19th at around 8:00 am as if I was on my way to school.
Jamaica Avenue, on the blocks I walked, were for the most part commercial. Almost every entrance I passed was to a business, my favorite two stores being the bridal shop with pretty prom and wedding dresses in the window and the bakery where my grandmother and uncle would always buy me Haitian soup, Haitian bread, and Haitian patties (which are superior to Jamaican patties). The doors I passed that weren’t commercial were residential leading to an apartment that was situated on the second floor of the buildings where the businesses are run. Most of the residential buildings, which are all houses, were down the side streets, streets like 212th, Hollis Court Boulevard, or Francis Lewis Boulevard. As I kept walking, I noticed a funny pattern of a lot of bakeries and delis on one side of the street and a lot of businesses pertaining to cars on the other. Seriously if you need to buy a car, get it detailed, and pick up a sandwich and a cake go anywhere on Jamaica between 212th and 209th. There were also a good number of places of worship so if you want to strengthen your relationship with God while waiting for your car and eating your sandwich, this was the place for you.
All of the businesses and houses are very close together, sometimes literally right on top of each other, but it’s nothing atypical of a regular New York City street. It reminded me of Kissena Boulevard, near the Dunkin Donuts, businesses on the main road, close together, and houses down the side streets, also somewhat close together. Competition between businesses seems to be pretty alive, with a deli/convince store on almost every block (sometimes just across the street from each other). Not to mention the three beauty supply stores within two minutes of each other between two different roti shops, the consumer has their choice of places to go. Businesses along the street varied as well, I remember seeing a bank next to a motorcycle shop next to a doctor, all across the street from a Dunkin Donuts and a car dealership.
I would say my walk was fun but not relaxing. Jamaica is a busy street and drivers have no problem letting other people know when they think you’ve done something wrong. I’m not going to lie, I was on the phone with my mom the whole time so I really didn’t pay attention to what I was hearing, but that’s only because I have an anxiety disorder and I didn’t want to be “alone” while I was walking up and down Jamaica Ave.. That being said, I did hear a lot of English being spoken…it was by me… but I still heard it. As for the smells it was pleasant to walk by the outside of the bakeries, restaurants, and delis. I never smelled anything really bad, but I live by Belmont Racetrack which often smells like literal horse poop so I’m kind of desensitized to bad odors anyway, if something were really foul, I might not have even noticed it.
While I was walking, I saw an even mix of boys and girls, but I do think there were more men than women. I did see some babies and young kids because I passed a daycare center and there were older children who looked to be walking going to school. Farther down Jamaica I saw more adults who I presume were just trying to get to work. I also saw people at work, bus operators driving down the streets, delivery people going to the bakeries and restaurants and of course the people who work in those bakeries and restaurants. I think everyone I saw was either black and/or Hispanic and they were just people trying to do their jobs or get to work.
I felt good during my walk, I was comfortable, despite needing to be on the phone with my mom because of my anxiety I was still relatively comfortable. I think I stood out a bit among the other people I saw because I am a very light skinned black person whereas most other people I saw were not. I also have very big hair which was very noticeable that contributed to me standing out, I don’t think I saw any other woman with hair as big as mine but there was one guy with a nice afro. I felt like an insider in this area because of the fact that I pass through it most days to get to school and I live close by but for the same reasons I felt like an outsider. I only ever pass through the neighborhood and it was nice to walk down the street slowly instead of zooming through on the bus. I don’t live in the neighborhood either, coupled with being so much lighter than all the other black people I saw made me feel like an outsider; I never felt like I was unwelcomed though.
I chose this neighborhood because, as I said, there has been construction on Francis Lewis Blvd. since the beginning of the semester which caused the N6 and N1 Nassau Inter-County Express buses to change their routes. I originally wanted to see if I could observe a pattern in when or why the bus would take 212th street instead of Francis Lewis Blvd. to Hillside from Jamaica but there really was no pattern. It felt pretty random if either the bus would turn up 212th or keep going to Francis Lewis. During my bus ride observations, I saw some disturbance because of the route change. People had to get off the bus before it turned up 212th but never knew to ring the bell due to there being no pattern in when it changed its route. They would have to scream for the driver to stop and then they were 7 blocks away from Francis Lewis which is where the bus usually stops between Jamaica and Hillside. Having the bus turn on 212th also facilitated congestion on that street. There is already a bus that turns that way and having two extra bus routes go that way created more traffic than usually is there. I wanted to ask a bus driver when and why they turn on 212th instead of Francis Lewis but they get mad when you try to talk to them so I couldn’t. Anything I found mentioning the construction on Francis Lewis would only mention what the project was (they’re installing a new water main) and not how it affected surrounding areas and traffic. I do know it hurt traffic very much on Francis Lewis in the mornings though, never before have I had to sit unmoving for three traffic lights in a row but for this construction project.
From my observations, I saw what kind of job the NICE busses do to tell you your bus route has changed due to construction, which is minimal. More than once has the bus turned on 212th instead of Francis Lewis and you could feel the tension on the bus change because half of us aren’t sure what’s going on. I still want to know who decided if the bus route will be what it normally is or if it will change but I think I would have to ask a driver but as I said before, they don’t like that. I do think to change the bus route was a good idea considering the circumstances, but the bus system needs to get better at telling people when that’s going to happen as it is an inconvenience to riders not know where exactly their bus is going.
Works Cited
NYC Planning | Community Profiles, communityprofiles.planning.nyc.gov/queens/13#indicators.
“Capital Projects Dashboard.” Project, www1.nyc.gov/site/capitalprojects/dashboard/project.page?pid=394.
