Patterns of segregation

From The Peopling of New York City

If one were to think of the factors that segregate Flushing, chances are that race would be the first factor that comes to mind. People are concerned about the “Asianization” of Flushing, however, there are other factors that play a larger role in segregating the multiple communities that comprise Flushing. One of these factors is the “battle” between the commercial (core) and residential (periphery) sections of Flushing with "fault lines" framed around neighborhood aesthetics, downtown development, and socioeconomic differences.

ARCHITECTURE

This one-family house is located 2 blocks away from the "border" between the core and periphery of Flushing. It is located on 142nd Street and Booth Memorial.

This temple is located on Bayside Avenue, just east of Parsons Bouleard. It is in the periphery of Flushing and has caused much conflict and discussion, proving to be a prime example of the architecture mismatch between the core and periphery.

Paul Graziano discussed what is happening in the core of Flushing as compared to the periphery. In terms of architecture, the periphery is filled with single-family homes, many which have been there for a considerable amount of time. The core, however, is now filled with apartments. While the single-family homes of the periphery at one time were found throughout Flushing, the influx of immigrants has created too high of a population to keep the homes the way they were. The one single-family homes were torn down, and even to this day are continued to be torn down, in order to make room for apartments because of the immigrants. The issue now is wondering how far this demolition of beautiful homes will go in order to make room for those who continue to come to the United States for a better life.

BUSINESSES

This market is located on Main Street and attracts a very specific type of crowd due to the signs and products sold.

The Flushing Business Improvement District covers an area encompassed by College Point Boulevard, Northern Boulevard, Union Street and Sanford Avenue. In this small part of downtown Flushing, compared to the neighborhood as a whole, there are just about 300 businesses. One issue that causes tension in Flushing pertains to the business types that now define the downtown area. For example, out of the 300 businesses in downtown Flushing, only about 1 in 10 are franchises of large corporations (e.g., McDonalds, Payless Shoes, Starbucks, Duane Reade, etc) that target American consumers. There are many ethnic stores, especially food markets, which stock goods from the home country. People who are not of that specific ethnicity do visit these stores, however for the most part, the goods cater to those who share that culture.

These businesses are located on Union Street.

Another issue regarding the type of business is that the language spoken in the stores by the owners and shoppers and the language the signs are written in can cause tension. Residents may feel unwelcome because the goods are not goods that they can use and even if they were, sometimes language becomes a barrier which segregates the people of Flushing.

A non-Chinese speaker would not be able to understand what services this business provides.

CORE AND PERIPHERY SOCIOECONOMIC DIFFERENCES

There are many variances in the demographics of Flushing. The races that predominate the core of Flushing are Asian and Hispanic/Latino. The races that mostly inhabit the periphery are white and Asian. Another factor that stems from the residential patterns is the language spoken at home. In the core, there is a very large number of households in which Asian languages are spoken. Following that number is the amount of households in which Spanish is spoken. Similarly, in the periphery, the largest amount of households have English speakers, and following that number is Asian languages. The languages spoken in the households parallel the race of the people in the households.

The core and periphery of Flushing clearly exhibit the significant difference in terms of who is populating what areas of the poly-ethnic neighborhood. In a population of 27,195 in the core of Flushing, almost 20,000 of that are foreign born individuals. In the periphery of Flushing, out of 157,885, about 87,000 (more than half) are foreign born. This shows how much of a presence the foreign born now in Flushing, and clearly shows how much the native's are actually outnumbered.

The median household income in the core and the periphery differ in Flushing. That of the core is about $17,000 less than that of the periphery. The periphery consists of those who are more established because they have been in the area longer and are more familiar with it. Those of the core are still adjusting, and therefore the income isn't as high.