South Bronx: Difference between revisions

The South Bronx is known for its [[Hip hop#Culture|hip hop culture]] and [[graffiti]]. Graffiti became popular in the Bronx in the early 1970s, spreading through the [[New York City Subway]] system. The South Bronx thenalso became musically notable as the 1974 birthplace of [[Hip hop music|hip-hop music]], [[Rapping|rap]], and other creative components started becoming common within the boroughculture.

The geographic definitions of the South Bronx have evolved and are disputed but certainly include the neighborhoods of [[Mott Haven, Bronx|Mott Haven]], [[Melrose, Bronx|Melrose]], and [[Port Morris, Bronx|Port Morris]]. Originally referring to the industrial area below East 138th Street, the name "South Bronx" symbolically has had its northern boundary shift northward to East 149th Street, [[East 161st Street]], the [[Cross Bronx Expressway]], and [[Fordham Road]] over the years. The neighborhoods of [[Belmont, Bronx|Belmont]], [[Castle Hill, Bronx|Castle Hill]], Parkchester, [[Crotona Park East, Bronx|Crotona Park East]], [[Highbridge, Bronx|Highbridge]], [[Hunts Point, Bronx|Hunts Point]], [[Longwood, Bronx|Longwood]], [[MorrisaniaConcourse, Bronx|MorrisaniaConcourse]], and [[SoundviewMorrisania, Bronx|SoundviewMorrisania]] are sometimes considered part of the South Bronx. Generally, most consider any neighborhood west of the Bronx River and south of the Cross Bronx Expressway the South Bronx. The Cross Bronx Expressway is usually considered the dividing border between North and South Bronx. However, lately, there has been much debate that Fordham Rd is the new northern border of the South Bronx.<ref>{{cite news|title=IN BELMONT AREA OF SOUTH BRONX, FEAR AND CRIME ARE REMOTE CONCERNS|newspaper=The New York Times|date=February 10, 1981|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/10/nyregion/in-belmont-area-of-south-bronx-fear-and-crime-are-remote-concerns.html|access-date=October 10, 2015|last1=Basler|first1=Barbara}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Your neighborhood guide to the Bronx's Castle Hill|website=[[New York Daily News]]|date=November 14, 2009 |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bronx/neighborhood-guide-bronx-castle-hill-article-1.417029|access-date=October 10, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Faces in the Rubble|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/nyregion/23bronx.html?_r=3&hp=&pagewanted=all&|newspaper=The New York Times| date=August 21, 2009 |access-date=October 12, 2015 | last1=Gonzalez | first1=David }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=High Bridge Reopens the Bronx to Pedestrian Power|url=http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/06/high-bridge-reopens-the-bronx-to-foot-power.html|website=Nymag.com|date=June 10, 2015 |access-date=October 10, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Hunt's Point: How South Bronx's most-improved neighborhood stays that way|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/money/hunt-point-south-bronx-most-improved-neighborhood-stays-article-1.354683|website=Nydailynews.com|access-date=October 10, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Longwood Historic District|url=http://www.nypap.org/content/longwood-historic-district|access-date=October 10, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=City Adds About 600 New Pre-K Seats in South Bronx, City Educators Say|url=http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20150414/soundview/city-adds-about-600-new-pre-k-seats-south-bronx-city-educators-say|access-date=October 10, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150821015156/http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20150414/soundview/city-adds-about-600-new-pre-k-seats-south-bronx-city-educators-say|archive-date=August 21, 2015}}</ref>

=== 1960s: Start of decay ===

The [[Cross Bronx Expressway]], completed in 1963, was a part of [[Robert Moses]]’s's [[Urban renewal#United States|urban renewal]] project for New York City, funded by the [[Housing Act of 1949]]. The expressway is now known to have been a significant factor in the extreme urban decay seen by the borough in the 1970s and 1980s. Cutting through the heart of the South Bronx, the highway displaced thousands of residents from their homes, as well as several local businesses. The neighborhood of [[East Tremont, Bronx|East Tremont]], in particular, was completely destroyed by the Expressway. Others have argued that the construction of such highways has not harmed communities.<ref name=Caro>{{Cite Power Broker|pages=893–894}}</ref><ref name=CrossBronx>{{cite web|url=http://www.nycroads.com/roads/cross-bronx/|title=Cross Bronx Expressway (I-95, I-295 and US 1)|website=Nycroads.com|access-date=November 19, 2017}}</ref>

The already poor and working-class neighborhoods were further disadvantaged by the decreasing property value, in combination with increasing vacancy rates. While some aresareas of the South Bronx were racially integrated as early as the 1930's, later larger scale influxes of African Americans immigrants from the American South, combined with the racially-charged tension of the Civil Rights Movement, the rage following the assassination of Martin Luther King, and the dramatic rise in crime rates, further contributed to white middle-class flight and the decline of many South Bronx neighborhoods. Following the implementation of desegregation busing policies, white parents who worried about their children attending the racially integrated schools began to relocate to the suburbs, which remained predominately white due to cost as well as legal barriers created by restrictive housing covenants, and selective lending. In turn, areas of the Bronx that became predominately African American or Hispanic were considered bad risks by lenders ("[[redlining]]"), contributing to the decline in real estate values and lack of investment in the existing housing stock. Rent Control, which limited the rental income potential of properties, also contributed to the disinvestment seen in the area.

As the crisis deepened, the nearly bankrupt city government of [[Abraham Beame]] placed most of the blame on unreasonably high rents levied by landlords. He began demanding that they convert their rapidly emptying buildings into [[Section 8 housing]]. Section 8 paid a per capita stipend for low-income or indigent tenants from Federal [[United States Department of Housing and Urban Development|HUD]] funds rather than from the cash-strapped city coffers. However, the HUD rate was not based on the property's actual value and was set so low by the city, that it left little opportunity or incentive for honest landlords to maintain or improve their buildings while still making a profit.<ref name="nytimes 1q"/>

The PBS documentary show Independent Lens released an episode titled "Decade of Fire" on May 3, 2019. The episode was previewed at the Full Frame Film Festival the previous month.<ref>IMDb episode page https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9448892/?ref_=ttrel_rel_tt </ref>

Primarily beginning in the 1980s, parts of the South Bronx started to experience [[urban renewal]] with rehabilitated and new residential structures, including subsidized multifamily townhomes and apartment buildings.<ref>{{cite news |title=South Bronx rises out of the ashes |first=Terry |last=Wynn |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6807914 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213091333/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6807914/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 13, 2013 |newspaper=NBC News |date=2005-01-17 |access-date=2010-01-17}}</ref> Between 1986 and 1994, over $1 billion were spent on rebuilding the area, with 19,000 apartments refurbished and more than 4,500 new houses built for the working class. More than fifty abandoned apartment buildings on the [[Major Deegan Expressway]] and the [[Cross Bronx Expressway]] were renovated for residential use. Over 26,500 people moved into the area.<ref name="nytimes 1q"/> On Charlotte Street, prefabricated ranch-style houses were built in the area in 1985,<ref>{{cite web|title=Urban Mythologies: The Bronx Represented since the 1960s|url=http://www.artnet.com/magazine_pre2000/features/saltz/saltz8-6-99.asp|access-date=October 10, 2015}}</ref> and the area changed so significantly that a Bronx borough historian ([[Lloyd Ultan (historian)|Lloyd Ultan]]) could not locate where Carter had stopped to survey the scene. As of 2004, houses on the street were worth up to a million dollars.<ref name=Fernandez/>

Despite significant investment compared to the post war period, many exacerbated social problems remain including high rates of violent crime, substance abuse, and overcrowded and substandard housing conditions.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://gothamist.com/news/bronx-has-highest-crime-rate-nyc-what-do-locals-want-next-mayor-do-about-it|title=The Bronx Has the Highest Crime Rate in NYC. What do Locals Want the Next Mayor to do About It?|date=June 17, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/epi/databrief129.pdf|format=PDF|title=Unintentional Drug Poisoning (Overdose) Deaths in New York City in 2020|website=1.nyc.gov|access-date=November 9, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://gothamist.com/news/fatal-fire-bronx-tragedy-rooted-past|title=Fatal Fire in the Bronx: Tragedy Rooted in the Past|date=January 19, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.amny.com/news/report-finds-the-bronx-was-the-coldest-borough-with-several-heat-complaints-this-winter/|title=Report finds the Bronx was the coldest borough with several heat complaints this winter &#124; amNewYork|date=January 25, 2022}}</ref> Its precincts have recorded high violent crime rates and are all considered to be [[New York City Police Department]] "impact zones."<ref>{{cite web | website=Newsweek | url=http://www.newsweek.com/night-patrol-nypd-339630 |title=A Night On Patrol With the NYPD |author=Bob Henderson|date=2015-06-06 | access-date=2015-10-11}}</ref> The Bronx contains the highest rate of poverty in New York City, and the greater South Bronx is the poorest area[[Congressional district]] in the United States.<ref name=VillageVoice9.30.10/> Poverty in the public housing infrastructure has partially been caused by disinvestment by the city and state because, since the 1990s, a lack of state-funded operating subsidies to NYCHA created a $720&nbsp;million shortfall by 2010 and, post 9/11, the city halted subsidies as well.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://wwwsmhttp-ssl-58547.nydailynewsnexcesscdn.comnet/new-yorknycss/south-bronx-poorestimages/uploads/pubs/Third_City_-district-nation-u-s-census-bureau-finds-38-live-poverty-line-article-1_web_3_1_2017.438344pdf|title = SouthPUBLIC BronxHOUSING: isNEW poorestYORK'S districtTHIRD inCITY|website = nation[[Nexcess]]|date=October 28, U.S.2023}}</ref> CensusThe Bureaupoorly finds:maintained, 38%substandard livehousing belowhas povertycaused line|websitedisproportionately =high [[Newasthma Yorkrates Dailyamong News]]}}</ref>children in the South Bronx where residents are predominately racial minorities.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.villagevoicenyc.comgov/2010assets/09doh/30downloads/the-poorest-congressional-district-in-america-right-here-in-new-york-citypdf/epi/databrief126.pdf|title =The PoorestDisparities Congressionalamong DistrictChildren inwith America? Right Here,Asthma in New York City|website = [[NYC.gov]]|date=SeptemberOctober 3028, 20102023}}</ref>

* [[Nate Archibald]] (born 1948), retired professional basketball player who spent 14 years playing in the NBA and was inducted into the [[Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame]]<ref>[https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2015/02/09/listen-nate-archibald-talks-nbas-history-of-nyc-basketball-map/ "Watch: Nate Archibald Talks NBA’sNBA's 'History Of NYC Basketball' Map"], [[WCBS-TV]], February 9, 2015. Accessed September 27, 2018. "Archibald, nicknamed 'Tiny,' is very much a part of New York’sYork's illustrious basketball history. The six-time NBA All-Star grew up in the South Bronx and attended DeWitt Clinton High School."</ref>

* [[Afrika Bambaataa]] (born 1957), disc jockey, singer-songwriter and producer<ref>Laurence, Rebecca. [http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20130809-the-party-where-hip-hop-was-born "40 years on from the party where hip hop was born"], [[BBC]], October 21, 2014. Accessed September 27, 2018. "But by 1977, his star had waned and other rival New York DJs, notably the South Bronx’sBronx's Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash were waiting in the wings."</ref>

* [[Swizz Beatz]] (born 1978), rapper, DJ and record producer<ref>Estevez, Marjua. [https://www.vibe.com/featured/interview-swizz-beatz-piano-district-no-commission/ "How Swizz Beatz Halted 'Piano District' Invention With South Bronx Art Fair"], ''[[Vibe (magazine)]]'', August 17, 2016. Accessed September 27, 2018. "The pleasant surprise of Celia Cruz’sCruz's dulcet vocals echoing throughout a maze of brightly decorated corridors—a hodgepodge of 2D, 3D and cinematographic works—instantaneously brought to mind Swizz Beatz’sBeatz's little-talked about Puerto Rican ancestry.... No surprise there, considering the DJ-turned-record producer spent much of his childhood raised by his mother in the South Bronx projects, 12 blocks from where the fair was standing."</ref>

* [[Bonnie Jenkins]], Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs<ref>Vue, Katelyn. [https://mndaily.com/265136/news/humphrey-global-policy-fellow-dr-bonnie-jenkins-nominated-to-biden-administration/ "Humphrey global policy fellow Dr. Bonnie Jenkins nominated to Biden administration"], ''[[Minnesota Daily]]'', February 1, 2021. Accessed May 11, 2022. "Every year during middle school, Dr. Bonnie Jenkins made sure she was on the honor roll.... 'I grew up … in the south Bronx, and I didn’tdidn't come from lots of money or anything, but I was very fortunate to get assistance from scholarships to go to different schools starting in high school,' Jenkins said."</ref>

* [[Charles Nelson Reilly]] (1931–2007), actor, comedian, director and drama teacher