Jackson Heights Life

Todd...I've lived at the Birchwood House for 30 years.  73rd Street and 74th street were always busy but clean.  Things gradually have changed since these particular individuals started opening stores and taking over.   And you are telling me that you've actaully witnessed a woman from one of those neighborhoods that you have lived in, lift up her dress..squat and urinate?

(This is why I don’t post on Jackson Heights Life much.)

There definitely have been a few ugly statements made on this board against racial groups, which I certainly don't like and can't condone. However, I'm surprised to hear you say "this is why I don't post on JHL much" as if this is the norm and not the exception. 

In my experience (and yes, I am a moderator and one of the people who helped this board come into existence so perhaps I am biased) I would say that 99% of the posters do NOT make these kinds of statements, and in fact that 99% of the threads do not even get close to addressing these issues in any way whatsover.  (Obviously that is not scientific.)  It would be great if no one on here would make ugly statements, but I'm not so sure that implicating the entire board in this matter is helpful or accurate.

elyaqim, I see a bias but not what I'd call hate speech.  To me hate speech is, well, hateful.   Some people who have lived here for over 20 years do see changes, both positive and negative, and feel they are absolutely part of cultural change.

I can't speak personally about what goes on in India or China or Japan or Germany etc. because I haven't travelled there but I can speak personally about living in different communities with different cultures in this country having moved around on both Coasts.  For example: I lived for three years in the Lower East Side next to Chinatown.  Chinese immigrants think nothing of pressing one nostril and blowing their nose on the sidewalk.   As someone who was raised not to do that, I find it disgusting.  To the Chinese community, it is normal and not disgusting.  That's not hate speech.  That's a cultural fact of life.

I feel there is some truth to the comments about the Indian community and garbage.  Look at the rest of 37th Avenue and you can see it is not as dirty.  BUT it is not as clean as it once was either. So I personally wouldn't just single out the "Indian community".  

I agree with other posters who remembered a time when merchants hosed off their sidewalks every day.  That moment has gone I think with explosive population growth and congestion.  Also attitudes have changed from a past where people knew their neighbors and wouldn't think of littering their property.  With anonymity I think comes more thoughtless behaviour.  I find it crosses all ages and backgrounds and isn't exclusive to a few blocks.

They do get more foot traffic though what with the subway etc.  And it is very dirty.  AND THE MERCHANTS DO NOTHING ABOUT CLEANING UP THEIR SIDEWALK. EVER.  

one question elyaqim, you don't post here because you don't agree with someone's views - biased or not?  Have you found sites where you agree with everyone?  I'd love to know their web addresses.  

Not that this thread is really the place to discuss why I don’t post here often, but it is because I occasionally feel uncomfortable and disrespected. It doesn’t mean that any large number of members is expressing bigotry, merely that the continued and excused presence of bigots, however few there are, turns me off. I never said that Jackson Heights Life is the bigot board, just that I personally don’t always feel comfortable, without making any extrapolations about how anyone else should feel. Putting a loud, brash Klansman in an intimate dinner party will make everyone feel uncomfortable and not want to participate, but it doesn’t mean the majority of guests are racists. A small, vocal minority can make the majority feel uncomfortable.

Also note the difference between the responses to Birch-Ed and the responses to me. The implication by John Prester that ethnicity should simply not be mentioned because, “By doing so, you are falling into the trap of those wishing to find ‘racism’ hiding behind every lamp post in Jackson Heights” implies that I am seeking “racism” (in quotation marks) that doesn’t actually exist while Birch-Ed merely mentioned ethnicity which was nothing more than a faux pas that led him to fall into my trap. There is nothing wrong with race or ethnicity, so there is nothing wrong with mentioning it, just please recognize bigotry when you see it. And buddy’s statement that I “don't post here because you don't agree with someone's views” is a bit of a trivialization; of course, there is no Web site where I agree with everyone’s views, but there is a world of difference between disagreement and bigotry. I enjoy and respect differences of opinion. Disagreement makes for some wonderful discussions, and I appreciate it. Making sweeping negative generalizations about ethnic groups based on litter on the street and witnessing a woman peeing in public is not mere disagreement.

Maybe I’m just too sensitive, but I’m also surprised the handful of openly gay members have said nothing about the confusion in another thread between the prostitution problem on Roosevelt Avenue and the mere presence of transsexuals on the avenue. Again, the majority of members have been very respectful, but a member or two need to be told the problem is with prostitution, not with transsexuals.

A couple points:

1.)  I don't see any "continued and excused presence of bigots" on this board.  Snarky comments (I'm guilty as charged!), heated debate, passionate arguments, but nothing really bigoted per se.  A joker in this thread on gentrification posted how he's glad "the Dutch are gone", but rather than call him a bigot or racist, I let my sarcasm speak for itself:

http://www.jacksonheightslife.com/community/index.php?topic=581.msg4313#msg4313

This quote from Helen Keller is appropriate:

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.

2.)  The implication by John Prester that ethnicity should simply not be mentioned because, “By doing so, you are falling into the trap of those wishing to find ‘racism’ hiding behind every lamp post in Jackson Heights” implies that I am seeking “racism” (in quotation marks) that doesn’t actually exist while Birch-Ed merely mentioned ethnicity which was nothing more than a faux pas that led him to fall into my trap.

Sorry, it's not all about you, and the comment isn't even directed at you! 

See this thread here on "Streetsblog", a discussion about a video shot by Will Sweeney (who's posted here a few times) and Kozo Okumura on the traffic problem in Jackson Heights.  Mr. Sweeney made no mention whatsoever about race or ethnicity, he simply posted his video.  Yet scroll down to comment #18, and the discussion gets sidetracked with the usual accusations of "racism".  I don't know Mr. Sweeney personally, but I hardly think anyone who associates with someone with an obvious Japanese name has serious race issues.

http://www.streetsblog.org/2007/08/03/saturday-evening-in-jackson-heights-queens-feel-the-pain/

The point in pointing this web site out is simply to provide an additional "Exhibit"/"Data Point"/"Anecdotal Evidence" that these types of discussions get sidetracked on tangential issues that have no bearing on the main issue.  The issue is simply trash on 74th Street (or traffic in the video), and suggestions for cleaning up the street.  Read the "Streetsblog" comment thread and how the ensuing conversation simply devolves into incoherence and useless accusations, with the end result that nothing was done, and nothing will be done!

3.)  Lastly, we all can't "pick and choose" whom we want to believe or trust. 

Here we have skepticism expressed on one peson's "eyewitness account":

As opposed to the peeing South Asian woman who was witnessed (if the story is to be believed) precisely once.

Yet here we have comments expressed as fact:

but there are also a number of (Western-looking) individuals who sleep on the sidewalk near the same intersection sprawled out in such a way that pedestrians can barely pass.

Who are we to believe?  Birch-Ed or Elyaqim? Neither? Or both?

Healthy skepticism should be applied to all, myself included.       

Recently I went to Travers Park at 10:00 am, later than usual.  The sprinkler wasn't on so I asked the Ranger if he could turn it on.  He apologized (very kindly) and said that they had been cleaning up so much glass and garbage and it took a long time because it's only the two of them.  I know there are community groups that clean the park and I appreciate them but I also think that we need for this to change, it shouldn't just be 5-10 kindhearted people cleaning up after everyone.  As for the schools initiating a program to make our community better...I wouldn't count on it.  I subbed in some neighborhood schools and most of the teachers are not from jh, same for the administrators.  I don't know what the answer is but usually I go to the park very early and more often than not it looks like a bomb exploded there. When I see it like that I feel really bad for the two men who clean up.  It's not their fault it's so disgusting. 
 My son who is 2 years old, goes around picking up garbage and throwing it in the can.  Part of me cringes and wants him to stop and the other part is thinking... well, let's not go there.   I just feel really mad about it, I can't think of a good solution but I think we pay enough money in taxes to at least have a couple of rangers in the park to enforce the rules and make it a safe/happy/fun place to be. 

On a lighter note, this sounds like a fun place to hang out!

 

todd, I love you.  You're the "cheerleader in church".  You crack me up sometimes and since I enjoy laughing, that's a good thing.

John Prester I have to agree with you that I also don't find any bigots or racists on this board.  Some definite normal prejudices and by normal elayqim I mean in over 50 years I've yet to meet ANYONE without SOME BIT OF BIAS or prejudice towards something or someone.  That's doesn't make that person a full out hate monger.  It makes them human, at least to me.  


And elayqim, I've reread the thread on prostitution.  I did not find trannies to be a target in anyone's post.  Honestly, I did not.  I found prostitution and crimes associated with it to be the target.  Yes trannies are mentioned because along the part of Roose. Ave. where there is a lot of prosties there are trannie prosts. also.  But I didn't see them as being singled out.  If anything there were plenty of posts defending them as a whole.  Maybe you are sensitive.  Nothing wrong with that except when it comes to having "a conversation" in this medium of typing without faces and emotions to follow, things do get lost in translation.  I always try to find the humor in a post unless it's a deadly serious topic and I always try to give people the benefit of doubt when I "interpret" what I'm reading.  Does that make sense?