Jackson Heights Life

I think that Queens has more immigrants.  Brooklyn is cleaner.

This caught my attention. So what exactly do you mean by cleaner anyway? Are you saying that Manhanites are less likely to assimilate an ethnically rich area or that you yourself think that the less ethnic the area the better it gets? Living in Jackson Heights (or at least I assume you do) and making remarks like this makes me think of an underlying contradiction, or at least a forceful choice.

If that's so then it's placed in a tempting manner, or at least suggestively. I can't see the immediate relation of immigrants and street litter though, seems like a very offset type of remark (if it were the case).

This caught my attention. So what exactly do you mean by cleaner anyway? Are you saying that Manhanites are less likely to assimilate an ethnically rich area or that you yourself think that the less ethnic the area the better it gets? Living in Jackson Heights (or at least I assume you do) and making remarks like this makes me think of an underlying contradiction, or at least a forceful choice.

Blank, I do see a connection between immigrants and street litter.  I'm not suggesting that immigrants as a whole should be associated with street litter.  However, some cultures/countries around the world do put more value in the cleanliness of their public areas.  This in turn translates into how they spend their public dollars, make/legislate their laws, and pass on this value to their children.  Japan and Singapore come to mind.  In fact, I know of foreign friends who have remarked on how dirty Manhattan is.  So, if that is the case, why is it so unreasonable to point out that certain immigrant groups may not place as much value on the cleanliness of public space?!?  I'm an immigrant myself and I can recognize that amongst different cultures there may be emphasis on different values. 

I see no difference in the cleanliness of our streets and the cleanliness of the streets in various parts of Brooklyn or Manhattan. There are inconsiderate litterers from every race, religion, economic strata and culture in all of the five boroughs.

I'm a transplant from Brooklyn and I think it is true that the gentrification wave is shifting to Queens.  In that sense
it is the new Brooklyn.  The Bronx is too inconvenient to attract the same interest. Most of people I meet while walking my dog or chillin in the coffee shop with my daughter are also transplants from Manhattan and Brooklyn. 

The fact of the matter is that middle-class families and are priced out of the desirable parts of Brooklyn. The remaining up-and-coming 'hoods are SCARY!  Take a walk through the areas south of Prospect Park in the evening and you will see what I mean. Lets not even discuss the schools. JH, Sunnyside, Woodside and other areas close to Manhattan offer a safe alternative with good infrastructure and you can get twice the apartment for the same price. 

John Roleke asks an important philosophical question: If Brooklyn Is Fugheddaboudit, What's Queens?

Turn your head and cough?

Blank, I do see a connection between immigrants and street litter.  I'm not suggesting that immigrants as a whole should be associated with street litter.  However, some cultures/countries around the world do put more value in the cleanliness of their public areas.  This in turn translates into how they spend their public dollars, make/legislate their laws, and pass on this value to their children.  Japan and Singapore come to mind.  In fact, I know of foreign friends who have remarked on how dirty Manhattan is.  So, if that is the case, why is it so unreasonable to point out that certain immigrant groups may not place as much value on the cleanliness of public space?!?  I'm an immigrant myself and I can recognize that amongst different cultures there may be emphasis on different values. 

Yes that's what I meant.  I see many Indians throwing gum wrappers and other litter on the street.  They do not place it in the trash bin.