In Jackson Heights

As a parallel to the Monrovia pieces, here are some Jackson Heights bits.

I think this is one of the shopping centers that is discussed in the movie:

Peter Bradshaw's review of the film for The Guardian talks about some of the grassroots discussions about redevelopment of the neighborhood. After talking up the diversity of the neighborhood, he describes the tension:

But all this is under threat. Jackson Heights' very identity could be slipping away. Rather like west London, it is being on the point of being gentrified and yuppified to within an inch of its life. Now that Manhattan and Brooklyn are costly and fashionable, the white-collar commuting classes are zeroing in on Jackson Heights, attracted by the charming community spirit that the modest locals have built up over decades - and pricing them out. Local businesses are also being threatened by a scheme called the Business Improvement District or BID which forces business owners to pay an additional tax to support the surrounding infrastructure. Poorer businesses below a certain threshold theoretically need not pay – but they find themselves under pressure to sell up by the bigger corporations moving in and the freeholders are putting their rents up.

The concerns about gentrification and the development of the BID were enough to stop it, eventually.

The NY Mag guide to the neighborhood. The NY Times diversity map of the City.

Manohla Dargis' review of In Jackson Heights talks about how it captures a complex place, "Each person and storefront sign carries a story, opens another world, from “Articulos Católicos” to “Himalayan Driving School” and “Whole Baby Goat.”"