A 58-year-old grandmother named Audrey Quantano is refusing to move out of her run-down, unsafe apartment even though the building is greatly in need of renovation. West Harlem Group Assistance, a nonprofit that develops and preserves affordable housing, purchased the building from the city and relocated its residents to structures in upper manhattan – except for Quantano. The other residents left 8 months ago but as a protest against the development in Harlem, Quantano is still staying in the practically uninhabitable building. These relocated residents were promised that they could return once the building is restored, but Quantano’s refusal to relocate is postponing the renovations. She currently has a four-bedroom apartment in which she lives with only her two dogs. She fears that she will receive a smaller apartment once the renovations are complete.
It seems inconsiderate for her not to leave the building just because she may return to find herself in a smaller apartment. The building is moldy, has busted pipes and leaking ceilings; in this case a nonprofit is attempting to fix the building and has even provided temporary housing for its residents in the meantime. It isn’t being turned into a luxury condo, and they are not attempting to kick her out by turning off utilities. Her protest against gentrification is just turning into an inconvenience for many others. 
This short film tells the story of several people in Astoria and their relationship with the Kaufman Studios. For some the new movie studio has helped their businesses grow and introduced the neighborhood to new movie theaters and restaurants. Others are unhappy about changes that have been made to their neighborhood, which includes the closing of a street and a rocky relationship with film crew workers. Residents in Astoria feel as though they were uninformed about the drastic changes made to their neighborhood, but in reality many new measures were openly voted on in a public council meeting. Many feel as though the changes are taking away from Astoria’s authenticity, but Kaufman Studios has an elaborate history dating back to Hollywood’s Studio Era. And of course the big question of everyone’s mind is: has Kaufman Studios gentrified Astoria? For now it is too early to tell, but within 20 years Astoria will be radically different.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzWBu4jfhMI
Our research project aims to capture how the individual perceives and is affected by CCTV surveillance in Astoria of Queens, New York. Through qualitative methods of in-depth interviews and participant observation, we found that all respondents were unanimously in support of CCTV surveillance. Security cameras have become a norm in the public spaces of urban environments, where people see it as a means to deter crime and expect to be surveyed by CCTV systems, unseen or seen.
Little Egypt is a multiethnic neighborhood in Steinway St between 28th Ave and Astoria Blvd in Astoria, Queens. In conducting various interviews with storeowners and employees, we discovered that age and ethnicity affects the level of importance given to language within neighborhood interactions. That is, when older generations interact with different ethnicities they tend to use a common language, which differs from their own, only when it is absolutely necessary. They tend to interact with people depending on their ethnicity and not their ability to communicate in a common language. The younger generations however, cross this linguistic and ethnic barrier by using English as a means to interact with one another. For this age group, ethnic and linguistic differences are undermined by the fact that they endeavor to communicate with one another. Nevertheless, strong ethnic identity and pride most often obstruct interactions in general, even when everyone is capable of speaking one common language.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A0z7X5Afn4?rel=0]*Abstract by Odette Colangeli, Sara Clemente
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKnVD_oSDO0&w=560&h=315]
Since the tragic events of 9/11, Muslim and Arab communities in the United States have experienced increased scrutiny from local law enforcement agencies. Tensions between law enforcement officials and Muslim citizens have been especially high since the NYPD’s Muslim surveillance program was exposed to the public in 2011. The program, which was instituted in 2002 under the provisions of the Patriot Act, involved the infiltration of Muslim communities and mosques by undercover police officers tasked with gathering intelligence on potential terrorist plots. In order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the effect of this program on community relations, our research team traveled to a small Muslim community in Astoria, NY, known as Little Egypt.
Nir brought up an excellent issue in class: why do MTA workers make so little when the fares continue to increase?
This Daily News editorial explains the connection between MTA (and the city’s) budget, Libor rate, and the financial crisis.
Last week, a campaign called ICE-Free NYC commenced. Its goal is to have City Hall no longer work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), or at least not work with it so firmly. This agency looks for people to deport, such as by searching jails, and issues detainers which have local law enforcement keep immigrants in jail past their scheduled release date under the possibility that they will be deported. This is a troubling issue, as detainment often results in paranoia for the immigrants—some of whom have not even done an act deserving deportation. They may grow a lack of trust in the police, and may constantly live in fear of being held again—and this time deported. Other states, cities, and counties have suspected similar worries may arise among immigrants and have thus weakened their following of the ICE and its requests. If these other places that don’t even have as much contact with immigrants as NYC are making such considerations, why isn’t NYC? Well in fact, the New York City Council did pass legislation twice to follow suit, but still, a vast majority of ICE requests were fulfilled and over 3,000 immigrants were brought to federal immigration authorities. Mayor de Blasio denies that there is an issue with NYC’s relationship with the ICE however, and claims that the number of immigrants brought to federal immigration authorities has actually been curtailed. If the mayor does not believe there is even an issue for the ICE-Free NYC to worry about, how far can this campaign go?
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/advocates-city-freeze-ice-article-1.1776442
New York’s Sherpas on life after Everest
In our final two weeks of class, please try to write blog posts that are about New York, or at least tie them to New York in your discussions. This is the kind of story I have in mind.
