Author: Amy Yedid

Starting in the late 70s and going into the 80s and 90s, efforts were being made to revive the neighborhood of Flatbush. The Flatbush Development Corporation was formed in 1975 to address the neighborhood’s problems, particularly the deterioration. It helped rehabilitate apartment buildings and combat poor conditions, provided job-training programs, after school and summer programs for children, and helped immigrants assimilate to life in Flatbush. It also helped with business attraction and retention.^[1]

The author Ray Suarez writes that toward the end of the 20th century, whites started moving back to Flatbush and buying back houses at prices far above what earlier white owners had sold them for.   The price of housing went up tremendously in Victorian Flatbush.^[2]

According to an article published in 1983, Flatbush was stabilizing. Revival efforts were being made, businesses were prospering, investment was growing, people were moving back into Flatbush, and real estate prices were rising. The only major concern at the time was crime. ”Crime is the No.1 problem,” said Cathy Paull, a Flatbush resident. ”What else is there to be concerned about? Everything else is perfect.”^[3]

Some residents took it upon themselves to protect the community from crime. They formed small night patrol groups to keep their neighborhoods safe. Chaim Deutch, who is now a city councilman, formed a civilian patrol called a shmira mainly made up of Orthodox Jews. There are up to six cars patrolling the streets at night.

UMMA is also a patrol group in North Flatbush which was started by eight Muslim families but has grown into a multi-racial and multi-religious group that is concerned for the safety of the neighborhood and everyone’s welfare.^[4] The group drove drug dealers, pushed the city to create a local park in their former hangout, and insisted that police provide strong protection to the neighborhood.

According to a New York Times article in 1996, there were fewer burglaries and drug dealers out on the streets because of increased police presence and patrols. Sales in many stores went up and many people did not have a fear for their safety as much as before. Reflecting a citywide trend, numbers of shooting victims, burglaries, car thefts and robberies went down by at least 40 percent in each category compared to 1993. Flatbush saw its deterioration in the ’70s and ’80s but the ’90s brought back stability as well as diversity.

^[1] “Our History – Flatbush Development Corporation.” Flatbush Development Corporation. http://www.fdconline.org/about/history/.

^[2] Suarez, Ray. The Old Neighborhood: What We Lost in the Great Suburban Migration, 1966-1999. New York: Free Press, 1999.

^[3] Motyka, Joan. “IF YOU’RE THINKING OF LIVING IN FLATBUSH.” The New York Times. January 29, 1983.

^[4] Holloway, Lynette. “Late at Night, The ‘Watchers’ Patrol Streets.” The New York Times. October 16, 1993.

After 1965, New York saw a huge influx of immigrants due to a change in federal immigration law. From 1970-1989, the population in Flatbush was predominantly white and Jewish. They made up 89% of the population while non-whites made up the other 11%. [1]However, families had started moving to the suburbs after World War II, helped along by construction of new highways and bridges. Spacious suburban homes attracted white middle- and lower-middle-income families from smaller Flatbush apartments.. They left in hopes that they could provide better lives for their children. However, young, well-educated, two-income middle-class families began a move in the opposite direction: into the city. They did not believe that “new is better” and decided to renovate the old Victorian houses in Flatbush.^[2]

As white families moved out, they took their business with them. The neighborhood deteriorated. Stores were boarded up and with the advent of television, theaters closed down. Loew’s Kings Theater, which attracted people from all over New York to its Flatbush Avenue movie palace, shut in 1977. Crime was at a high at this point and Flatbush had become known as a dangerous place. This increase in crime affected every single resident, including Jeff Blumstein, who remarked, “Every house on my block has been robbed except the one on the corner, so we figured the guy on the corner had to be doing it but he got cleaned out too, so he’s okay now.”

At this time, West Indians moved in, including some from Crown Heights, because of the cheaper real estate. They opened small mom-and-pop stores and businesses on Flatbush Avenue. That began the economic revitalization of Flatbush.

By 1980, Flatbush was 30% white, 50% black, and the other 20% made up Hispanics and Asians.[1]

These maps show the population density of whites in Flatbush in 1960 and 1980. We see a noticeable decrease because of the white flight.

These maps shows the population of blacks in 1960 compared to 1980. There’s a huge increase in the population as Caribbean folk moved in and whites moved out.

[1] Motyka, Joan. “IF YOU’RE THINKING OF LIVING IN FLATBUSH.” The New York Times. January 29, 1983.

^[2] Lydia Noone, “Flatbush: Brooklyn’s Melting Pot,” Publication?, December 6, 2008.