Brooklyn
Photo Essay: Bushwick, 2019
Adi Talwar |
Housing pressures mount. A rezoning looms. Men play dominoes on a leafy street. And a fruit stand sells a rainbow.
Housing pressures mount. A rezoning looms. Men play dominoes on a leafy street. And a fruit stand sells a rainbow.
Over the last five school years, District 32’s total enrollment has dropped 21 percent. The School Construction Authority’s projections have District 32 shrinking by nearly half over the next decade.
Advocates and elected officials are taking steps to prepare for the changes likely to come by landmarking historic sites, calling for a designated “eco-district” and raising concerns about school integration around the Brooklyn canal.
The neighborhood has been in the middle of a tug-of-war between some local leaders and citywide policy over how far to go to accomodate bikers.
Activists in Bushwick think the increasing popularity of the area is leading to more litter.
In the 83rd precinct that covers Bushwick, there were 77 murders in 1990, 44 in 1993 and 20 as recently as 2004. Last year, there were eight. This year the 83rd is on pace for six homicides.
An upcoming rezoning has some worried that more residents will clog up the roads in cars and bikes, contributing to more crashes and pedestrian deaths.
Bushwick feels like it’s changing by the minute, and storefronts that seem to herald demographic change are a point of increasing friction.
Unlike the Gowanus Canal or Newtown Creek, two other Superfund sites in the city, there has been little advocacy or controversy around the site on Irving Avenue.
In the wake of a shooting that left one person dead and triggered calls for NYPD policy changes, Councilmember Alicka Ampry-Samuel says stronger federal gun laws and more local funding for youth intervention programs are what’s really needed.