THE Bronx, blessed with music but cursed by its notorious past, has seen decades of neglect and decay.
As a young girl growing up in south Bronx during the 70s, Marta Rodriguez saw a man being shot right before her eyes in her tough neighbourhood where drugs and prostitution were as constant as day and night.
She was a mere 12-year-old then. “I was so frightened,” she said. Four years later, she witnessed a similar shooting.
“My dad used to send me back to Puerto Rico every summer to shield me from the dangers here,” said Rodriguez, a 32-year-old mother of two children.
As the birthplace of hip hop and which counts Jennifer Lopez, Billy Joel and rapper Fat Joe as its famous natives, the south Bronx of today has a much repaired image but remains what Rodriguez described as an urban ghetto.
“There are no jobs here despite the many factories and markets. The environment is bad. It is the location of 15 transfer stations,” she said, referring to sites where garbage are brought to and sorted out before being sent elsewhere.
Diesel fume from the 12,000 trucks that pass through the industrial area every day has been a health concern, too.
South Bronx, according to Rodriguez, is among the areas in New York state that have the highest asthma and obesity rates.
“Despite having the largest produce market in the United States, the people’s choice for healthy food is limited,” she said, explaining that obesity in the poor neighbourhoods was mostly caused by the consumption of fast food, a much cheaper alternative for these people.
The Bronx, which is one of the five boroughs in New York city, is also poorer compared to its Manhattan cousin. According to 2003 statistics, the median household income in the Bronx was US$27,550. Those in Manhattan registered US$47,415.
The numbers, however, are much lower in grim neighbourhoods in south Bronx where about 40% survive on income below the federal poverty line.
Last year, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez visited south Bronx and he was later quoted as saying: “I have met the soul of the American people.”
South Bronx paints a totally humble picture that’s so unlike the glitz of midtown Manhattan, which is just 30 minutes away by subway.
Its shops are nondescript and the demographics are quite different. The Bronx has a 1.3 million population of which at least 51% are Hispanics.
Bodegas and eateries with names like Tormenta Restaurant and Bella Vista Burger line Hunts Point Avenue in south Bronx.
“People have moved away to a better place. But I feel differently. Why can’t we stay on and find a way to make it better?” asked Rodriguez, who has opted to work for a better Bronx.
She is a community outreach coordinator at Sustainable South Bronx, a five-year-old organisation involved with the environmental and economic rebirth of the place.
“We are working hard towards creating more open spaces in south Bronx,” said Rodriguez at her office located inside an almost derelict building in Hunts Point, which is reportedly the poorest congressional district in the US.
It looks like better days are ahead, though.
Four projects costing US$30mil (RM108mil) under a south Bronx Greenway plan were announced by New York city two weeks ago.
They will include the construction, which will begin next year, of a waterfront park, gardens and a bike and pedestrian lane.
Where crime is concerned, Rodriguez acknowledged that south Bronx was a lot better now compared to 10 years ago.
She has no qualms leaving the house after dark. “I know the people, I’ve lived here all my life so I feel safe.”
