Marie Cadet’s nine-member family left dreary, drug-blighted Crown Heights in the mid-1980s for bright, sprawling Canarsie in the southern part of the borough. Back then, Cadet shopped Avenue L for jewelry, Mandee’s for women’s clothing and the Italian deli for cold cuts.
Nowadays, when Cadet walks into the doors of that now-defunct deli, it is to buy deep-fried Haitian meats from Ambiance, the Haitian restaurant that occupies the space.
“It’s a great neighborhood,” Cadet, a nurse, said on a recent Friday afternoon, while her fried fish takeout bag sat on the counter. “But it’s changed a lot.”
As recently as seven years ago, Avenue L, dubbed “the heart of Canarsie,” and other thoroughfares in this neighborhood carried striped awnings painted in the green, white and red of the Italian flag. Each block had at least one pizzeria, it seemed, the movie theater swarmed with white young adults and older men heading to Knights of Columbus meetings were a regular sight.
Rose Magloire’s family moved to their Avenue A home about 25 years ago from Crown Heights. At the time, the tabletop assistant buyer said, it was uncomfortable for blacks to walk down certain streets because they would be taunted with slurs.
The controversial comment attributed to T-Vice – “there are too many flies in the milk” – applied to the blacks who began moving there during that period.
But as the economy changed, so have attitudes, Salvatore Beneduce, owner of Big John’s, a longtime discount department store that opened when the neighborhood was predominantly white, said he “respects people and people respect him.”
When other whites say things about blacks, Beneduce, who lives within walking distance of the store, says, “I will tell them they don’t know what they’re talking about. These are hardworking people.”
Red and green painted shops and pool halls have been replaced by 99-cent stores, Caribbean restaurants and Asian-owned beauty and nail salons.
A 92-year-old Czech woman hunched over, pushing a carriage down Rockaway Boulevard is the anomaly now, not the norm of 10 years ago.
“What happened is housing opened up as older, white residents died or moved away and you had a huge movement from Flatbush and East Flatbush,” said Peter Lobo, a demographer at the city’s planning and population department.
“The amazing thing is not that it happened so fast, but so smoothly, without the issues that usually accompany it,” Lobo added, citing racism-borne resistance as an example.
Haitians have been moving to Canarsie since the late 1970s, but they settled closer to the East Flatbush side. Many newcomers served as doctors and other professionals who could meet the relatively rigid financial requirements and endure the complicated home-buying process.
The 1990s vigorous economy, relaxed home-buying requirements and the increasing demand for housing are among the factors that drew West Indians into Canarsie. Looking for suburban calmness, space for children to live and play and the desire to own something in America, thousands moved.
Of the 13 Brooklyn neighborhoods, or ZIP codes, Flatlands’ and Canarsie’s 11234 and 11236 reported 11,594 residents born in Haiti. Combined, they are second to central Flatbush’s 11226’s 14,791 Haitian-born, according to the city’s “Newest New Yorkers” report.
The majority of Flatlands’ and Canarsie’s former residents – Italians, Irish, Jews, Poles and Russians – left for Staten Island and suburban towns in Nassau and Suffolk counties, Lobo said, which is the historic migration trend.
“As their financial situations improve, people move out to where their resources take them,” Lobo said.
Other New York neighborhoods saw the same foreign born, middle-class family dominance that has happened in Canarsie. All along the 7 train to Queens are Asian and Hispanic neighborhoods that were once predominantly white. The Guyanese, for example, adopted Richmond Hill in Queens during the previous decade.
Meanwhile, Crown Heights and other parts of northern Brooklyn have become a haven for high-income families who cannot afford Manhattan’s skyrocketing rents and hot real-estate market. A one-bedroom apartment rents $950 a month in Crown Heights. A two-bedroom condominium costs $590,000 to $1 million, according to Prospect Heights Realty broker Shari McCool.
The higher prices in those blocks and parts of northern Flatbush are also pushing lower income families to Canarsie.
Jean-Paul Ho, manager of Fillmore Realty’s Canarsie branch, said five real estate offices operated on the Avenue L and 93rd Street block about 10 years ago. Many households contained an elderly couple whose children had moved out.
“A lot outgrew their homes,” Ho said. “They cashed out because they got top dollar. Many moved to retirement homes.”
Canarsie includes sub-neighborhoods such as the Paedargats, Seaview and Old Mill Basin, which is adjacent to East Flatbush. Formerly marshland the city used as landfill, the area is full of mostly two-family, brick structures. Some have sprawling, grassy lawns, with ample space for parking. Other blocks have rows of townhouses, with driveways in the front. Many have backyards, decks or porches popular among Haitian families, who enjoy feeling the breeze and watching passers-by. Some leafy, tree-lined streets are reminiscent of Long Island.
Proud homeowners have invested in remodeling or refurbishing their homes, packed with amenities and extras such as a pool or a bar in the basement. While they enjoy their middle-class surroundings, some residents say the quality of life has declined.
In this oasis at the outer edges, the reality is sobering for many who thought that moving to Canarsie meant leaving behind crime, gangs and noise common in the old neighborhoods.
“Its reputation is almost finished,” said Marise Dossous, a certified nurse’s aide who lived in Canarsie for two years, then moved to Brownsville and to Flatbush. “There are things hanging around in the street, smoking and being loud. Before, people used to talk about it like it was the most high-class area. I don’t see that now.”
Margally Jean, a nurse whose car has been vandalized three times in her Seaview home said no area is crime-free.
“Nobody’s safe anywhere,” she said, pointing to missing glass on her gray, Toyota SUV. “They need to put more police officers out.”
Gang-related activities in Canarsie became so common about seven years ago that local police precincts responded with youth programs to keep teenagers off the streets. More crimes have been reported in the news, to some residents’ chagrin, but police statistics tell a different story.
“Canarsie is going to become a new Flatbush,” said Kevin Lonchamp, a 22-year-old college student whose family moved seven years ago from Lenox Road and Nostrand Avenue in Flatbush. “This is what the parents wanted to avoid, but now it’s coming to them.”
Statistics from the 63rd precinct, which covers parts of Canarsie, show that major crime in 2004 was down 70.6 percent, from 12 years ago. The 69th precinct, which also covers Canarsie, reports a 63.7 percent drop in major crime from 1993.
The police department could not immediately provide data relating to quality of life complaints such as noise and other public nuisances.
Cadet said part of the problem is that parents are so busy working several jobs that they do not have time to supervise their children.
“The streets can’t raise your kids,” said Cadet who is pregnant with her first child.
A hush-hush issue that everyone knows about is that a majority of families rents out one to two of their units in their duplexes. Homes that cost $20,000 about 40 years ago are now on the market with asking prices of $489,000 for a two-bedroom with one bath. One new structure – a four-bedroom over four-bedroom – is priced at $789,000.
The high prices mean it is a necessity for homeowners to rent, not an option, a realtor said. The tenants, however, are not always as considerate of their neighbors or careful with maintaining the areas.
Community ombudsmen say they have been asking city officials for additional resources to accommodate the influx of newcomers, but the response has not been productive, according to the Statement of District Needs and Priorities for 2007 of Community Board 18, which oversees Canarsie and Flatlands.
Board officials share the view of some residents, saying in their reports that services available has not kept pace with the population boom. Its police and fire departments are stretched thin as it is, some structures must be renovated and traffic and transportation projects funded.
Getting to Canarsie, indeed, is a trek for those who do not drive. Only one train, the often disrupted-service L goes there. A few bus lines transport commuters to and from other trains. The dilemma is such that taxi and livery van drivers have taken to making themselves available during morning and afternoon rush hours on major routes such as Glenwood and Remsen avenues.
Lobo said having a stake in the neighborhood offers an opportunity for the new residents to participate in municipal decisions that would affect them. “[Property ownership] gives them a voice in the community to speak out on issues,” he said.
A few Haitian residents, however, said they are considering moving again, perhaps to Georgia, maybe Pennsylvania. Magliore, the former Crown Heights resident, said she is contemplating moving to Westchester County because the neighborhood has changed so much.
Longchamp, the college student, said despite its problems, “Canarsie is a good place to live in. Flatlands [Avenue] gives you a city feel, but if you go one block, it’s like you’re living in the suburbs.”
