Overdevelopment and the Asian Community
From The Peopling of New York City
Asian Americans are arguably most-affected by the overdevelopment of downtown Flushing and the outer areas. Some groups point to them as the cause of overdevelopment, as Flushing has grown immensely due to the influx of Asian immigrants over the years. This influx of Asian immigrants, however, is not the typical Ellis Island bunch of immigrants that had barely any money and saw America as the land of opportunity. Instead, a great number of the new incoming Asian immigrants arrive with, “the capital and entrepreneurial know-how that would effectively transform the local economy” (Smith and Logan 2006). It is these individuals that, in turn, seek to develop and expand their business interests while compromising various societal and communal aspects.
Overdevelopment is a term that has multiple facets and is defined differently by different race groups and class positions. However, for the Asian community, it may hold a different meaning altogether as a result of their apparent dominance in Flushing. Speaking not just for the Asian community in Flushing but also for the whole body, was Green Party State Committee Member: Evergreen Chou. To him, Overdevelopment in Flushing is a strong, sweeping, and inevitable force that is, and has been, transforming Flushing in a myriad of positive and negative ways. For example, he insisted on overdevelopment being termed “unaffordable housing”. In essence, he felt that with the incoming middle and upper class Asians, “luxury housing is springing up left and right at rates that are quite unaffordable to the common working class or poor family. To Chou, rents are at a high level and appeal to people with incomes of $40,000 to $50,000 per year. Unfortunately, the lower middle class and lower class people that inhabit Flushing spend most of their earnings on rent and few other commodities. In addition, Chou prefaced on a standard that was widely used in past times: “Rent was usually one quarter of ones paycheck.” Today, however, that fraction is much larger.
In summation, Mr. Chou felt that today’s overdevelopment would continue unstoppably up until Flushing mirrors Manhattan. He mentioned that the “governmental vision” for Flushing is one “for upper middle class and upper class people that could afford the high living cost of luxury housing.” He also feels that overdevelopment should be regulated in such a fashion that any additional development should take place with the community’s wants and needs in mind. He suggested such remedies including progressive housing, like Mitchell Lama Housing, that is kinder to those middle class working people whose incomes are too high for project housing qualification, inclusionary zoning, and rent stabilization. In addition to progressive housing, is a related suggestion by Councilman Tony Avella that allocates housing regulations based on median incomes. However, the current system includes the suburbs and the disparity between city incomes and suburb incomes is thus ignored.
Inclusionary zoning is an idea that allows developers, whom are driven by “proximity to water, the subway, and highways,” to develop land while meeting community demands. For example, a developer would have to compromise with the community’s demands in order to develop land in the desired area. Some of these demands may include consent to build higher and bulkier if developers agree to allocate a certain percentage of affordable housing based on income. Therefore, this idea channels and filters the overdevelopment that many Flushing inhabitants encounter. Finally, one of the major negative results of overdevelopment is its cause of racial tension. According to Chou, racial tension arises as a result of social class becoming “an economic barrier” for a lot of people. This barrier, in turn, results in a feeling of resentment towards the more affluent racial group that can afford to live in these luxury-housing complexes. To be more exact, the majority of blacks and Hispanics that live in rent stabilized apartments or even the poorer Chinese people that live in the projects along with them, are liable to feel this resentment and develop a disparaging sense of hatred and jealousy as they pass by these “behemoth buildings”.
Despite the negative aspects of overdevelopment, there are some positive results. According to Chou, when faced with the inevitability of overdevelopment’s progression, “You must take steps to correct some wrongs within society”. Chou believes that overdevelopment will transform those bad areas of land and eliminate gang fare, create jobs, and create a new atmosphere. Moreover, because the targeted population is the upper middle class and the upper class, the community will be beautified and the service industry will be improved in an effort to satiate the “new” members of Flushing. For example, more cops would line the streets, places of stagnate waters and appalling land will be transformed, and infrastructure would be repaired for a more comfortable ride.