Canarsie, Brooklyn
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Canarsie is a quiet neighborhood in the Eastern portion of the borough of Brooklyn, in New York City, USA. Canarsie is also often referred to as "The Small Town in the Big City".
It is bordered on the east by Fresh Creek and East 108th Street, on the north by the Long Island Rail Road's Bay Ridge Branch, on the west by Ralph Avenue and the Paerdegat Basin and on the south by Jamaica Bay. Canarsie also neighbors Starrett City which is now known as Spring Creek Towers.
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[edit] History
Canarsie is Algonquian for "fenced land" or "fort." The Indians who made the infamous sale of the island of Manhattan for 60 guilders were from Canarsie. The neighborhood lies within the former town of Flatlands, one of the five original Dutch towns on Long Island.
Canarsie was built on swamps near Jamaica Bay. It was a fishing village through the 1800s, until pollution killed the oysters and the edible fish. In the 1920s, Italians settled in the area, later joined by Jews. Today, Canarsie's population is mostly Caribbean American and Italian American.[1]
[edit] Canarsie today
Today, Canarsie is home to approximately 96,000 people[2].
At one end of Canarsie is the bay with Canarsie Pier sitting prominently on it and at the other end is mostly commercial warehouses and buildings. Structures in Canarsie are one and two family homes, although there are three large public housing developments and a number of small apartment buildings scattered throughout the community. It was once a haven for Italian American La Cosa Nostra. In the era between 1984 and ending 1996, fewer than half of Italian-American teens graduated from high school. Today it is home to many African American, some Jews and Italian Americans. As reported by News 12 Brooklyn, because of the expensive homes in the area, Canarsie along with East Flatbush reported number one in all of New York City in missing mortgage payments which increased by 40% from last year.[citation needed]
The neighborhood has many parks, including a large park (over 100 acres) commonly referred to as Seaview Park, but officially named Canarsie Beach Park.
[edit] Transportation
The BMT Canarsie Line, on which the L train of the New York City Subway runs and terminates in Canarsie, connects the neighborhood to Manhattan. The "L" train is a local only subway that starts at street level and proceeds above ground and then down into the interconnecting tunnels of the New York City Subway. Bus service such as the B6, B17, B42, B60, B82, B103 and BM2 also runs through Canarsie. While the connection to Manhattan is direct, the trip between Canarsie's Rockaway Parkway station and Manhattan's Union Square still takes about 45 minutes.
The principal commercial streets are Rockaway Parkway and Flatlands Avenue, however, Ave. L is also fairly commercial.
[edit] Schools
Canarsie is home to two high schools, Canarsie and South Shore, and several junior high schools and elementary schools. In late fall 2006, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that five troubled high schools will close by 2010. One of these five include Canarsie’s South Shore. According to Melody Meyer, a DOE spokesperson said the closing is attributed to "dismal graduation rates, consistently low test scores, a poor history of educating, low performing students and lackluster demand."
[edit] Famous people
Howard Schultz grew up in the federally subsidized housing projects of Canarsie and went on to become the billionaire chairman of Starbucks Coffee Company.
Curtis Sliwa founder of the Guardian Angels was born in Canarsie.
[edit] Trivia
"By way of Canarsie" is an American English figure of speech which means: coming to your destination by a roundabout way or from a distant point [3].
