May 7, 2019
5:00-6:00pm
Sunny, 64 degrees F
To be honest, when I decided to observe Fresh Meadows, I didn’t know what to expect. It’s a place I pass through all the time to get back to my house in Long Island from school, but I’ve only ever spent time in the area to get takeout at the Qdoba in the commercial center. Since I’m someone who almost always goes through Fresh Meadows just to get to somewhere else, I wanted to take time to see what the daily experience of a typical resident is like. Here is a map showing my trip around the neighborhood.
The name Fresh Meadows alone invokes the feeling of open space with lots of greenery, which (to no one’s surprise) is exactly what I found during my visit. What I did find surprising is that this amount of open space could actually be preserved in a borough as densely populated as Queens. The layout of the neighborhood has clearly been well thought out, with the Q17 and Q88 bus lines running through the main commercial area of the neighborhood and trees running through the middle of many of the main roads. Having green spaces in the middle of the roads is actually one of my favorite features to find in any neighborhood, not only because of their aesthetic value but also because of their environmental significance. They aid in capturing the carbon dioxide emitted from all of the cars on the busy roads in addition to soaking up rainwater, which reduces flooding. I also find them interesting because they aren’t meant to be enjoyed by humans in the same way other green spaces like parks are. During my visit, I didn’t see anyone physically on the land, but just driving by it was enough for me to appreciate it. They aren’t quite big enough to do much on anyway, and besides I don’t think people want to spend their time watching cars zoom past them. I would say that these spaces are meant to be experienced only from a car, since they’re literally in the middle of the roads and there are no crosswalks for pedestrians to access them. This whole thought process reminded me of how Robert Moses was so adamant about having green spaces along his parkways for people in cars to enjoy.
Speaking of cars, I think that Fresh Meadows does a great job of balancing automobile activity with pedestrian activity. On my walk, I saw plenty of parked cars and parking lots specifically for cars, but also equally as many walking paths through parks and other green spaces, complete with benches and shaded areas. Because of this, it’s hard to say definitively whether Fresh Meadows is structured primarily to accommodate pedestrians, residents with cars, or people in cars passing through. The whole neighborhood felt like a happy medium between New York City’s constant buzzing and the calmness of suburbia, which probably plays a role in why real estate is really expensive here. In addition, since I saw so many cars and almost no small businesses, I think it’s safe to say that most residents work somewhere outside of Fresh Meadows and bring in capital from jobs in other neighborhoods so they can afford to live in this one.
As pretty as Fresh Meadows is, I couldn’t stop myself from considering the ugly truth of environmental gentrification. Having trees in the middle of the roads and a million parks is environmentally advantageous and green space is good for mental health, but that doesn’t benefit you if you can’t afford to live there. Environmental gentrification happens when green space is incorporated into a neighborhood and the consequential increase in rent drives residents out and richer people fill that gap. Since I study environmental science, every now and again I have check my bias because I’ll see a green space (like a tree in the middle of the road) and think “oh, that’s great!” without considering the very real social consequences faced by former residents of the area.
I want to point out that even though Fresh Meadows is generally an affluent neighborhood, there are different types of housing available, which definitely reflects Jacobian ideals. As I was walking down 73rd Avenue I immediately noticed that one side of the street had apartment complexes available to rent while the other had single family homes with backyards and garages for sale. I couldn’t have looked at this without thinking of Jane Jacobs, who supported having different kinds of housing close to each other to have some economic diversity in the neighborhood. Though Jacobs never explicitly mentioned this, economic diversity implies racial diversity, which I also saw during my walk. In the residential area with single family homes I saw mostly white people, but as I went up 197th Street I saw the demographic change to Asian and Hispanic communities near the apartments. I even heard Spanish music being played out loud in one of the many parks I passed. There were a lot of families outside, probably because it was such a nice afternoon and parents were starting to get home from work, but there was still plenty of space to accommodate more people.
I felt pretty comfortable walking through the residential areas of Fresh Meadows, with the exception of some catcalls directed my way when I was walking around the single family homes. At first I felt like kind of an outsider because I’ve never spent this much time in Fresh Meadows and I’m pretty sure I looked like a creepy tourist taking pictures of people’s houses, but that started to wear off as I ventured into the Hispanic part of the neighborhood. Even though I didn’t speak to anyone, the merengue playing on the radio in the park, the bunch of kids running around, and the kind smiles from the Hispanic women I walked by made me feel the sense of community that doesn’t need to be articulated with words.
Going on this tour of the neighborhood with a critical eye made this experience way more fulfilling than if I had just gone for a walk in the park. I’m still thinking about the interplay between the different ethnic communities and how that dictates the social dynamics of the neighborhood. I’m also puzzled still on how such a comparatively suburban neighborhood got carved out in Queens. Maybe I’ll find some more answers on my next trip to Qdoba.
