Methods

Participants

Field Observation Participants. A field observation for Chinatown took place on October 27th 2020. The purpose of this field observation was to see if gentrification was visible when viewing the physical landscape of a neighborhood. A second field observation for the Lower East Side was taken on November 4th, 2020 with the same purpose. For both field observations, there were no participants except for the observer. 

Interview Participants.  Several interviewees were contacted for this field study. They are listed below:

Stanley Yu, a tenant in the East Village since 1982 who has seen the East Village go through many changes throughout the years. He has seen buildings being transformed into luxury developments as well as the neighborhood he once had, go through a massive change. He has experience with the rent increase including his very own building getting renovated during the period of gentrification in the East Village. Stanley knows about people of lower income being displaced and remembers many of his neighbors who were forced to move out. This interview took place over the phone on November 22nd, 2020.

Christopher Rivera who is a deli worker understands how the East Village has undergone gentrification. While the deli has been here for over 20 years, he understood that the neighborhood was going through many changes. The deli itself was a new business that overtook a previous business due to gentrification and the current deli owners were able to start their own business over the years. When asked about his experience working here, I was told how there were always people coming in and out and it was rarely empty. While they did not know about displacement of businesses, they are glad that there are many people to make sure their business stays up. This interview took place over the phone on November 24th, 2020.

Zishun Ning, a community activist representing the Coalition To Protect Chinatown and the Lower East Side was contacted for this field report. Ning has a lot of experience participating in protests against the development of luxury buildings and displacement of low income residents in Lower Manhattan. He is currently challenging the local government, Mayor Bill De Blasio and Council Member Margaret Chin, to create policies to protect residents from displacement. This interview took place over the phone on December 3rd, 2020. 

There were many potential interview participants that were contacted for this study, but no response was received in time for this study. Such people include:

Emily Mock the Chinatown Tenants Union Leader could have given insight on how affordable housing looks like for low income residents in Lower Manhattan and what campaigns they have been a part of to help this situation. 

Similarly, Thomas Yu, the co-executive of the Asian American For Equality (AAFE) was contacted to have a better understanding on affordable housing because Yu took part in many projects to increase affordability in Chinatown. It would have been useful to see what he thinks is affordable for Lower Manhattan Residents and how it differs from the city’s perspective. 

Sharmin Uddin, the Development and Operations Manager for the Committee Against Asian American Violence (CAAAV) organization, because she has professional knowledge in Public Administration which is useful to understand why government policies and developments are shaping the neighborhood and how one can help fix this issue from a legal standpoint.

Jim Shelton, Assistant Manager for Community Board 3 District in Manhattan. He is in charge of creating meetings with potential interviewees that bring in their complaints and views on what to bring into the neighborhood. He would have provided a better understanding of what happens behind the scenes in board meetings and how the policies implemented in our area come to be.

Susan Stetzer, District Manager of Community Board 3 and the Media Relations contact for the board. She is in charge of who the board sees and the most well-versed member in what goes behind these policies that bring in change to the area. She has had many success dealing with crisis’ in the Lower East Side and is known in the community as an activist and advocate for the people.

Owner of El Rinconcito, a family owned restaurant that has been serving in the Lower East Side since 1994. Located on Ave. C and E 10th Street, they are well known in the community for their Latin-American food and have seen Loisaida change throughout the decades. They have knowledge of what it is like being a small business in a time when business owners who do not live in the area, come in to profit off of those in the community.

William Hubbard, the vice president of the Center Development Corporation(CDC) works as a real estate agent and has authority over several apartment complexes in Manhattan including the East Village. Their purpose is to manage their buildings and make changes as they deem appropriate. He has knowledge on how people are affected by gentrification based on the statistics on when someone moves out and they also have knowledge on the increase in rent as they are the ones who are setting these raises. 

Survey Participants. Those who live in New York City, especially Community District 3, were asked to participate in a survey about the zoning and gentrification of their neighborhood. A snowball sample was collected because participants were asked to share the electronic survey (created on Google Forms) to other residents.  Due to this, participants were able to self-administer the survey. The survey took place November 19th 2020 from to December 3rd 2020. During this time, 10 participants responded out of the 10 asked. 

Materials

The materials used for this study were field notes, a camera, prepared surveys, interview scripts, a telephone. Additionally, class notes and the internet were used to research potential interviewees. 

 

Procedure

Field Observation Methods. When conducting the field observation for this study, markers of gentrification were scouted in the area along Houston Street, from Ave. D, to Ludlow Street (Alphabet City), and from Canal Street to the East River (Chinatown). These markers include luxury buildings with a glass exterior that contrasts from old tenement buildings, trendy restaurants and boutiques, larger corporations, and any other developments that would attract wealthier residents. In addition, construction for new developments were also looked for. Therefore, a participatory and non-obtrusive field observation was conducted. 

Interview Methods. Three structured interviews were conducted by having interview questions prepared beforehand. Questions were created based on the interviewees knowledge on gentrification of the area and the role they play in their neighborhood. A maximum of nine questions were asked to interview participants. All three interviews were conducted over the phone.

Survey Methods. Survey questions were designed to be clear, concise, and direct in order for participators to have an easy time answering. Three different surveys were created on Google Forms and each had a maximum of 10 questions. The types of questions varied from one another which includes a mixture of dichotomous, open ended, and multiple choice questions (to see actual survey questions view the appendix). The objective of these surveys were to figure out if residents from New York City, especially these three neighborhoods within Community District 3, feel as if gentrification is occurring and if they are aware of the supposed symptoms of a pro-development zoning plan such as decreased affordable housing, increase in luxury buildings, and illegal evictions. These surveys were conducted from November 19th 2020 from to December 3rd 2020.

 

Limitations. 

There were some methods that could not be conducted that would have helped provide a full scope of this study. Firstly, due to COVID-19, face to face interviews were not conducted which cut off potential interviews that could have given insight into the objective of this study. In addition, because of the narrow time frame for collecting data many potential interview/survey participants did not have enough time to respond back to answer questions. Having limited knowledge and information about the neighborhood and also not knowing the history behind the neighborhood and how it was gentrified. Some examples could be if the gentrification happened very early on.