During our second round of interviews, Ariane and I decided to focus on businesses in Bayside. We interviewed her dad who worked at K.H. Chong’s Martial Arts Academy, located near Springfield Blvd. in Bayside. Using Social Explorer, I researched many categories of information involving the people around that business. The first criteria I applied to the neighborhood was education:
I observed census tract 1367, which is the tract the Academy is in, and some of the surrounding census tracts. From the resulting 2000 maps, I saw that majority of the residents (twenty five years or older) near the business had a high school diploma or above, about eighty-seven percent. When looking at people with a Bachelor’s degree or more, the number decreased drastically. For census tract 1367, thirty-seven percent of the people had a Bachelor’s degree. As I increased the level of education, there was naturally a decrease in the number of people. For example, thirteen percent of people had a Master’s degree or more and three percent had a professional school degree.
I then researched the households in the neighborhood and found that majority of the houses were family households- sixty-five percent (according to 2000 census). This number included families where both parents were present or just one parent. Nonfamily households made up thirty five percent of the people in the neighborhood. Afterwards, I decided to look into the types of jobs the residents had. I narrowed down the categories to private sector, public sector, and self–employed: In 2000, most of the people in this neighborhood had jobs in the private sector- sixty three percent. Eighteen percent of people had jobs in the public sector, and twelve percent were self-employed. I also decided to research the ethnicity of people who lived around the business. I looked at the Asian, White, and African American population:
Around this area, there was a majority of Asians; they made up around forty five percent of the neighborhood population. The White population was slightly lower- around 36 percent. The African American population was lower, which was seven percent. Since the majority of people were White or Asian, I decided to look into the median income in general, and then according to race. The median income, according to census 2000, was 45,846 dollars in census tract 1367. The tracts around the business had slightly higher median salaries- from around 51,272 dollars to 72,639 dollars. I then observed the median salaries for the Asian and White population separately:
The median salary for Asians in this neighborhood is 44,948 dollars. The surrounding census tracts had incomes that ranged from 40,864 to 73,047 dollars. For the White population, the income in the tract of the business was 44,438 dollars. The surrounding areas had a slightly higher income, and the dark brown area had a median income of 112,820 dollars.
According to the information I found on Social Explorer, I was able to draw conclusions about the importance of K.H. Chong’s Martial Arts Academy on the surrounding population. This neighborhood had a majority of Asians as its residents, which means that the Academy is a useful and important business that fulfills a needed service. Even in his interview, Ariane’s dad mentioned that there was a large Asian community, a fact that is vital to the business. In addition, from the maps, I saw that the median income-even the median Asian income- was that of the middle class. Therefore, the business catered mostly to Asian, middle class residents. The business also includes child and adult classes; therefore, all ages of the community could take part in the services this business offers. In addition, Ariane’s father mentioned that the owner of the business is affiliated with a lot of people and businesses and the area, and the Academy often does demonstrations for the community. It is certain that this business is an important part of the neighborhood and the people.
