Kingsbridge Heights, Bronx

Kingsbridge Heights is a working class residential neighborhood geographically located in the northwest Bronx. The neighborhood is part of Bronx Community Board 8. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise are: Van Courtlandt Park to the north, Goulden Ave to the east, Kingsbridge Road to the south, and the Major Deegan Expressway to the west. Sedgwick Avenue is the primary thoroughfare through Kingsbridge Heights. Zip codes include 10463 and 10468. The area is patrolled by the 50th Precinct located at 3450 Kingsbridge Ave in Kingsbridge. NYCHA property in the area is patrolled by PSA 8 at 2794 Randall Avenue in the Throgs Neck section of the Bronx.

History

Historically, Kingsbridge Heights once had a predominantly Jewish and Irish population. However, White flight over the past few decades led to the neighborhood's demographics shifting to mostly Hispanic. Dominicans becoming the largest ethnic group in the community.

Land Use and Terrain

Kingsbridge Heights is dominated by multiple unit detached homes. There is also a significant presence of tenement buildings concentrated mostly in the central and southern sections of the neighborhood. In the northern subsection known as Van Courtlandt Village there is a number of larger luxury buildings.

Demographics

Kingsbridge Heights has a population over 35,000. Around 10% of the population lives below the poverty line. The neighborhood has a high concentration of Dominicans in its southern portion, with a sizeable Jewish and Yuppie population concentrated near Van Courtlandt Park.

Social Problems

Kingsbridge Heights contains the highest concentration of poverty in Community District 8. It is belived many of the newest resident are those displaced from lower income sections of Manhattan, primarily Washington Heights and Inwood. With this relocation many of the social problems commonly associated with those communities has come to Kingsbridge Heights. Drug trafficking, teen pregnancy, violent crime including gang activity (Such as the D.D.P.'s and Trinitario's). Most of this of course is concentrated in the higher poverty sections of Kingsbridge Heights in the southern and central portions of the neighborhood.

Urban Renewal

Due to White flight some of the homes in the southern and central parts of the area have been left vacant. Many homes today are being rehabilitated and offered as rentals to the booming Dominican population found in the area. At the same time higher end construction is taking place in the northernmost section of the neighborhood.

Subsections

Van Courtlandt Village

Recently the northern subsection known as Van Courtland Village, has seen an increase in higher-end rental and co-op building construction. This subsection is bordered by the Major Deegan Expressway to the west, the Jerome Park Reservoir to the east, W 238th Street to the south, and Van Courtlandt Park to the north. On April 4, 2007, Business Week Online (MSNBC.com) called Van Courtlandt Village one of "America's next hot neighborhoods".[1].

Landmarks

One of the main attractions of the neighborhood is the Jerome Park Reservoir, which is a favorite for runners and naturalists. The perimeter of this reservoir is approximately 2.2 miles.

Facts

• There is one NYCHA development located in Kingsbridge Heights.

1. Fort Independence Street-Heath Avenue; one, 21-story building