Project Proposal: Flushing
An interesting topic for the final project could revolve around the idea of population patterns in Flushing, Queens. Flushing, perhaps, is one of the less talked about areas of New York in terms of immigration but has been appeared to have undergone some significant change recently.
I found this area to be interesting after I played a few matches with my soccer team in Flushing Meadows Park. I can recall seeing a game of cricket going on when I first arrived. This may indicate that there may exist some South Asian, specifically Indian, population within Flushing. As I advanced through the park, I began to notice a strong presence of people from many different Hispanic countries. One of the soccer teams I saw was solely composed of Salvadorans and another of Ecuadoreans. I was able to judge them through their use of national flags and jerseys. Aside from the players, there was a whole gathering of other people who were there just to watch the game as they also enjoyed to eat some snacks from the local Columbian street vendor.
However, after doing some light research, if the presence of these immigrant groups in the park are a reflection of the population in Flushing, then their total population may be on a downwards slope. Joseph Salvo has indicated that the Asian population within the area has been growing massively, almost 40% since the turn of the century. Much of this population is heading towards the Koreatown and the Chinatown of Flushing. There are currently 33,526 Chinese people in the area of Flushing, which means that it has surpassed the number of Chinese people in the Chinatown of Manhattan. The number of Koreans is approximately 64,000 giving it the title of the most densely populated Korean area in the United States. It has become prevalent that with the rapid growth of Asian population, the amount of businesses controlled by Asians has also been on the rise. Specifically, in Downtown Flushing where these Asians have been purchasing businesses that may have been previously owned by Hispanics and Indians, for example. This may lead to rent control and a monopoly of businesses, which will drive these older residents away from the area as living costs may become too expensive.
Yuppies, or young, educated people, have also begun moving into the area with higher frequency and have, thus, further gentrified it. The attraction to Flushing is that the rent is low in comparison to other parts of the city. Just like the Koreans and Chinese, the increasing amount of these yuppies in Flushing may cause the costs of living to rise quite substantially. As a result, this may also contribute to the reduction of old resident population.
If the class were to take this approach in the final project, perhaps we could focus on this population change in general or narrow it down to the study of sports within the area.
