Saranya Radhakrishnan

5/7/2014

Macaulay Honors: Peopling of NYC

Professor Constance Rosenblum

Jamaica Estates: New York City’s Countryside

Since I could remember, my home was never limited to the four walls of my red house. It extends to my neighbor’s backyard where I climbed their cherry blossom trees and across the street to the house where I played with my friends. Even as immigrants, my parents quickly made a place for themselves in Jamaica Estates.

However, this may speak more about the community than my family’s ability to adapt. We were first welcomed by a family who are a part of the Jamaica Estates Association. The Srivastavas were immigrants from India and initially lived in a small apartment in Flushing as a part of a joint family. With the addition of two daughters, Vijay and Sudha Srivastava decided to branch out from the family and find a place of their own. As Mrs. Srivastava claims, “The house came to us, we didn’t come to the house.” When they visited distant relatives who lived in Jamaica Estates, they were persuaded to look at properties in the neighborhood. They enjoyed the picturesque community and decided to become residents when their children felt comfortable as well. They also decided to look into how this gated community was formed.

Before Jamaica Estates developed at the turn of the 20^th century, it was known to be a hilly area covered by glacial lakes and trees. Surrounding these forests were blooming villages that enjoyed the calm and breathtaking land. It was the perfect place to settle considering the feel of the countryside and the close commute to other major business locations. After the construction of the Queensborough Bridge in 1909, two wealthy businessmen took advantage of the situation and bought more than five hundred acres of wooded land. Ernestus Gulick and Felix Isman formed the Jamaica Estates Company and began constructing Tudor-style houses for wealthy individuals who were looking to escape the congested city.

However in the early 1920’s the Jamaica Estates Company declared bankruptcy and left their dreams unfinished. Fortunately, the two hundred and seventy five homeowners in the community wished to preserve its uniqueness. As a result, the Jamaica Estates Association was formed in 1928. The organization resolved to bide by the original building regulations which included only detached two-story houses with attics, no flat roofs and no house costing less than $6,000. Futhermore, the Jamaica Estates Association took an active role to better the community. In 1934, when the city assessed local property owners for the building of the Grand Central Parkway, the association joined a coalition that succeeded in having Grand Central declared as a major highway, paid for by the state and city.

The Srivastava family appreciated how the Jamaica Estates Association continues to meet the needs of the members of the community and decided to participate. It offers an elite security service that responds to emergency calls for members as well as patrol. Even though these services are optional, about eighteen hundred members pay a total of two hundred dollars worth of annual fees. This service was initiated when there was a spree of robberies, however, the security patrol has tremendously decreased the number of crimes in the neighborhood.

However, history records that the members of the organization have not always had mutual interests. Some new individuals of the community wished to expand and modernize their homes while many older residents believed that this would deplete the trees and take away from the unique character of the neighborhood.

For Isaac Abraham, 2,300 square feet did not fit the needs of his family of five so the Abrahams are adding a bedroom and a basement. Mr. Abraham believed his that the expansion was also needed to upgrade the traditional houses to younger tastes. He said he expected the $350,000 renovation to increase the property’s value to $1.6 million.

Michael J. Degnon, who was an integral designer of the original subway system in New York City, also built his own house in Jamaica Estates. The Roman Catholic Passionist priests bought Degnon’s twelve-acre land, which later became the Bishop Molloy Retreat House and the Immaculate Conception Church and School. The monastery was completed in 1927 and the church in 1962.

The Immaculate Conception School at 179-14 Dalny Road is a Roman Catholic school. However, claims to be accepting of any religious student and currently has 420 pupils in grades pre-kindergarten through 8th grade. Although the Srivastavas do not practice Christianity, they still had all three children matriculate from Immaculate Conception in the belief that the school provided a fantastic education.

Across the street is the Mary Louis Academy at 176-21 Wexford Terrace, a college preparatory school for girls that is owned and run by the Roman Catholic Sisters of St. Joseph in Brentwood, has 950 students in grades 9 through 12. Anjili, the oldest of the Srivastava children, also graduated from this high school. “Mary Louis and Immaculate Conception even worked together to make sure that I could pick up my younger brother on time when I finished classes. They kind of looked after us when they really didn’t have to.”

The community’s private schools include the suburban campus of the United Nations International School in Manhattan. Situated since 1982 at 173-53 Croydon Road, the school has 230 pupils in kindergarten through grade 8. “My daughter went there for a couple of years but it was almost as if I was paying for her college education.” Tuition ranges from $10,500 to $11,000 a year.

St. John’s University, which borders Jamaica Estates to the west, offers a large variety of adult education courses. Sporting and cultural events held at the 105-acre campus are also open to the public. However, the institution has been in disputes with the Jamaica Estates Association. When St. John’s began building its dormitory in the neighborhood, many people disapproved. Many individuals of the community believed that the building would exacerbate the lack of parking, create noise, crime, kill the water pressure, overwhelm the sewage system causing flooding, destroy the quiet residential lifestyle and cause property values to decline. Pamphlets and fliers went around to persuade other members to protest. Furious residents shouted slogans and waved signs outside St. John’s University’s gate. Nevertheless the building was justified under zoning regulations and is currently utilized. “ I told my dad that he needed to take the “Say No to SJU Dorms!” poster in front of our house because we would soon be egged by college students.”

As a microcosm of Queens, the neighborhood is ethnically diverse; 45 percent of its approximately 14,000 residents are foreign-born, according to the recent census.

Although modern orthodox Jews mainly occupied the area, Jamaica Estates has progressively seen the arrival of new South Asian immigrants. However, it still has a sizeable presence of African Americans, which makes up over forty percent of the overall population.

“The diverse and tight-knit community has been everything for us,” said Mrs. Srivastava. “It has been our home for more than thirty-five years and will continue to be.”

Jamaica Estates may have been created as a beautiful secluded location for the privileged but the founders would not have expected the tremendous affect it would have on immigrants. Unfortunately, many other immigrants have had a hard time starting from nothing in New York City and working hard to sustain a living. However, individuals who immigrate to Jamaica Estates do not start from nothing. They have the welcome and support of the Jamaica Estates Association as well as those neighbors who are not a part of the organization. It provides a haven for arriving immigrants who need help transitioning to American life. Overtime this help forges strong bonds between neighbors are grateful and wish to help others in the same way.

This pattern that the Srivastavas explain has influenced my parents as well. They had lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Jamaica for a few years before they decided on buying a house in Jamaica Estates. In the apartment, my parents kept to themselves. They went to work and straight home, almost in seclusion while living in the middle of New York City. Living in Jamaica Estates was a bit different. My father always boasted about living a few blocks away from Donald Trump’s childhood home. He claimed that the neighborhood is lucky. However, I do believe it was much more. My neighbors were willing to babysit my sister and I if our parents worked late. My father began spending his Fridays with the “boys” on the block. The women next door would come over to borrow onions or any other ingredient needed to cook dinner that night. Jamaica Estates is a community that is quite different from the expected immigrant life. But maybe that is the beauty of it.

The Fearon family stood in their best clothes on the top floor of the Jamaican airport waving goodbye to the only family member missing from the group: Mrs. Maybel Fearon. Maybel applied to a nursing program that allowed her to travel abroad to America with a visa and temporary job. She sat on the place headed to New York full of determination. Moving to an unfamiliar place was going to be tough but Maybel was not going to let the opportunity pass her by.

Maybel worked as a part of her nursing program for six months within which she experienced the biggest culture shock of her life. Switching from Jamaican dollars to United States dollars, Maybel had a difficult time determining the price of needed items and exchanges of cents and dollars. She lost her way several times in the big city and learned to leave home much earlier in order to be on time. The bus system in New York is also dramatically different from that of Jamaica. Believing it was the same process, Maybel got on a bus and later asked the driver to stop at her desired location. Maybel repeated herself several times since the bus did not stop and thought she was not being heard. She became angry with the assumption that the driver was intentionally ignoring her. After a few angry remarks at the bus driver, a passenger explained to her that she had to signal to be dropped off at a bus stop. It was at this moment that Maybel truly noticed the difference between her new home and her old home. Maybel was also surprised to see all the various ethnicities that defined New York City. The first time she saw Jews on the street, Maybel could not believe her eyes. She had only read about them in the Bible and could not believe that they existed in reality. Although New York was extremely crowded, it was not in the same state of poverty as Jamaica was. In Jamaica, the only distinction made by society was between different economic classes. People with money treated the underprivileged inferiorly. However, in New York, the color of your skin would determine how an individual would be regarded. It was a whole new world and Maybel learned the ways of it.

It was a challenging adjustment to live in New York but over time Maybel was able to adapt. After her nursing program expired, she knew that she could not leave America. She realized the prospects that this life could bring and wanted her family to experience the land of opportunity. She decided that it was up to her to bring her family to New York. She began working for a lawyer’s family as a maid. Maybel considered this job to be disgraceful especially since she had undergone the education to become a prestigious nurse. However, she knew that it was a duty that she had to perform to help her loved ones. Through her employment, she observed how this family would hold extravagant parties and waste so much food and money. She knew her life was drastically different because she would save any cash she could gather to send back to her family. With her dedication, Maybel accumulated enough to buy a plane ticket for her mother and later her two sons, Shane and Dwane. She eventually was able to take the Nursing Board Exam in order to become a registered nurse and practice in the United States. Maybel’s husband Carlton Fearon Senior joined the rest of the family a little later because he worked in the Jamaican Army as a truck driver.  Alas, the family had finally reunited.

It was a bit tough for the boys to assimilate to New York. Spending the most time in Jamaica as the eldest son, Shane holds on to that culture. He frequently complained to his parents that he wished to go back home but he ended up forgetting this demand when his mother bought him a game console. Dwane did not need much convincing because of his young age, but he still remembers his hometown, May Pen, Jamaica. Carlton and Maybel’s mother were both surprised by the American lifestyle but were able to adjust rather quickly with Maybel’s guide.

When the whole family was together, they lived on 54^th Street, Brooklyn between Church Avenue and Snyder Avenue. The area was not in the best of conditions to live in so they decided to move to Kings Village. At first the house that they wished to live in was claimed by another family but the Fearon family very much wanted to have that house so they offered to pay the money upfront. Their new address became 1200 East 53^rd Street. Along with a new home, there was a new addition to the family. Dane Fearon was born. The family was proud but it was tough caring for a baby with two working parents. Carlton was a tow truck driver while Maybel worked eight to sixteen hour shifts as a nurse. As a result Dane’s brothers raised him.

Dane’s family was always very protective of him. They were very distrusting of their American neighborhood. In Jamaica, the Fearons lived on farmland and children were able to wander far without any fear. However, in Brooklyn, Dane was not allowed to walk around the block. They were afraid that Dane would get lost or kidnapped and had a tendency to restrict him as a result. Nevertheless, Dane grew up with an Americanized attitude while he believes that the rest of his family possess Jamaican pride. In this way, he considers them to be immigrants unlike himself.

Through all these events, some daunting and some extremely difficult, the Fearon family was able to withstand it all and achieve their goals. Carlton passed his GED examinations and obtained a steady job. Maybel has many options living in New York than in Jamaica. She gets a better sense of technology and she cannot get enough of the food. She is also able to send money back home to family members. She considers sending her children to college as the biggest accomplishment. They have assimilated to the city and believe that they took a better path as immigrants.

by Saranya Radhakrishnan

My father had made the journey from Chennai, India to New York in order to obtain his Master of Science in Engineering degree and maybe even a prestigious future job. He had never been apart from my year old sister or my mother for the two years of their marriage so saying goodbye was difficult. My father was fortunate enough to stay with a friend who helped him assimilate to the American lifestyle and college life at New York University. Nevertheless, it was all so alien.  Back in India he had both of his parents, his two younger brothers, his younger sister, his wife and child all under the same roof.  Life got really lonely especially in a city as big New York. My father and mother would always exchange letters during this time in order to have some form of contact living half a world away. My mother would always talk about the occurrences of the household while my father talked about New York and college but they both expressed the misery of each other’s absence.

After a year and ahalf, my father was able to bring his wife and child over to live with him. They lived in a one bedroom apartment in Jamaica Estates. Like my father, my mother learned the difficulty of becoming independent. Learning the meaning of nuclear family, my mother only had my sister while my father was in college. After my sister started school, my mother realized that she was no longer confined to the life of housewife in America. After college, my mother had wished to gain further education and have a well-respected profession. However, her dreams were cut short when the talk of marriage came about. My mother did not realize how suppressed she was due to her culture until she came to New York. She was taught to play a submissive role at home and live a life serving only her family. However, America played a new influence and my mother was in the land of opportunity. She went back to school and became a certified public accountant. She even acquired a job at a travel agency. My mother looks back at this time of her life proudly because she was able to accomplish something for her own happiness.

In my family’s neighborhood there was a beautiful red house that my father spotted on Aspen Place. My father would drive by the house occasionally when he had the chance. Miraculously, the house went up for sale but my father knew he couldn’t afford it. My mother encouraged him to take out a loan and buy the house anyway. With much deliberation and cold feet, they finally got the house and we’ve officially paid off the mortgage last year.

I was born a few years later and this red house on Aspen Place is the only place I have ever lived. Luckily, my parents had made friends with other Indians and Americans on our block so anytime I needed babysitting, wanted to play with other kids, or runaway after a fight with my sister I had other family to turn to. Although, it was challenging to adapt to a foreign country, my parents were able to integrate the better qualities of Indian culture with aspects of American life.