Blue Bird Corporation and East New York, Brooklyn: Difference between pages

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[[Image:East New York.jpg|thumbnail|right|280px|Typical multi-unit semi-detached rowhouses in East New York.]]
{{Infobox Company
'''East New York''' is a low-income residential neighborhood located in eastern [[Brooklyn]], a [[borough (New York City)|borough]] of [[New York City]]. The neighborhood is part of [[Brooklyn Community Board 5]].<ref>[http://www.nyc.gov/html/cau/html/cb/cb_brooklyn.shtml Brooklyn Community Boards], [[New York City]]. Accessed [[April 2]], [[2008]].</ref> Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise are: [[Cypress Hills Cemetery, Brooklyn|Cypress Hills Cemetery]] to the north, the [[Brooklyn]]-[[Queens]] Border to the east, [[Jamaica Bay]] to the south, and the train next to Van Sinderen Avenue to the west. Sutter Avenue is the primary thoroughfare through East New York. ZIP codes include 11207, 11208, and 11239. The area is patrolled by the 75th Precinct located at 1000 Sutter Avenue. [[New York City Housing Authority]] (NYCHA) property in the area is patrolled by P.S.A. 2. During the twentieth century, East New York came to be a [[commuter town]] predominantly inhabited by [[Hispanic]], [[African American]], and [[Italian American]] Brooklynites.
| company_name =Blue Bird Corporation
| company_logo =
| vector_logo =
| company_type =Privately held company
| genre =
| foundation = 1927
| founder = [[Albert L Luce]]
| location_city = Fort Valley, Georgia
| location_country =
| location = <!-- this parameter modifies "Headquarters" -->
| origins =
| key_people =
| area_served =
| industry = [[Transportation]]
| products = [[Bus]]
| revenue =
| operating_income =
| net_income =
| num_employees =
| parent =
| divisions =
| subsid =
| owner =[[Cerberus Capital Management]]
| company_slogan =Your Children's Safety Is Our Business
| homepage =http://www.blue-bird.com/
| dissolved =
| footnotes =
}}


==Demographics==
The '''Blue Bird Corporation''' is a large manufacturer of school and activity [[bus]]es.<ref>http://www.blue-bird.com Blue Bird Corporation</ref> Blue Bird's corporate headquarters are in [[Fort Valley, Georgia|Ft Valley]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], [[United States of America|US]]. It operates factories in Georgia.
East New York has a population around 90,000. Over half the population lives below the poverty line and receives public assistance ([[Temporary Assistance for Needy Families]] [TANF], Home Relief, Supplemental Security Income, and Medicaid).{{Fact|date=September 2008}} East New York is predominantly [[African American]]. The vast majority of households are renter occupied.<ref>http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/lucds/bk5profile.pdf Brooklyn Community District 5]</ref>


==Media==
Blue Bird Corporation is not affiliated with another company with a similar name, [http://www.bluebirdgroup.com/ Blue Bird Group], a taxi operator in Indonesia.
East New York is home of [http://shine.yahoo.com/rss/blog/user/aj8FiisGuA9HA9QM2TaIaQiFuYsD0og2riw2kGH6C Black Circle News], a print and online media outlet, serving diverse cultures, educating and informing Brooklyn working-class communities as a means to adding and upgrading the quality of life.


==History==
==Land Use==
East New York is dominated by semi-detached multi-unit rowhouses similar to that found [[Brownsville, Brooklyn|Brownsville]] and [[Soundview, Bronx|Soundview]]. Many of which however have been torn down and replaced by vacant lots or newly constructed subsidized attached multi-unit rowhouses. The area is also home to the East Brooklyn Industrial Park. There are also [[public housing]] developments of various type and a smaller number of tenements in the area. The total land area is one square mile.
=== Albert Luce, Sr.: all-steel school bus bodies in 1927 ===
Blue Bird was founded in 1927 by [[Albert L Luce]], Sr. His company became a leading producer of [[school bus]]es in the [[Americas]]. That same year, both Blue Bird Body Company and [[Wayne Corporation|Wayne Works]] of [[Richmond, Indiana]] reportedly began building all-steel [[bus]] bodies, an innovation which soon replaced the wooden bodies which were then in common use around the United States.


===East Brooklyn Industrial Park===
=== Dr. Frank W. Cyr: father of the yellow school bus ===
In 1980, the forty-four block East Brooklyn Industrial Park was established by the New York City Public Development Corporation in the northwest quadrant of East New York, Brooklyn. Bounded by Atlantic Avenue, Sheffield Avenue, Sutter Avenue and Powell Street.
Most school buses turned the now familiar yellow in 1939. In April of that year, [[Frank W. Cyr|Dr. Frank W. Cyr]], a professor at Teachers College in New York who became known as the "[[List of people known as the father or mother of something|Father of the Yellow School Bus]]," organized a [[business conference|conference]] that established national school bus construction standards, including the standard color of yellow for the school bus.


===Public Housing Projects===
Engineers from Blue Bird Body Co., [[Chevrolet]], [[International Harvester]], [[Dodge]], and [[Ford Motor Company]], as well as paint experts from [[DuPont]] and [[Pittsburgh Paint]] showed up. Together with the transportation administrators, they met for 7 days and agreed on 44 standards, including the color and some mechanical specifications such as body length, ceiling height, and aisle width.
*There are eleven NYCHA developments located in East New York.<ref name=NYCHA>[http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycha/html/home/home.shtml NYCHA locations in East New York]</ref>
#Belmont-Sutter Area; three 3-story buildings.
#Boulevard Houses; eighteen buildings, 6 and 14-stories tall.
#Cypress Hills Houses; fifteen, 7-story buildings.
#East New York City Line; thirty-three, 3-story buildings.
#Fiorentino Plaza; eight, 4-story buildings.
#Linden Houses; nineteen buildings, 8 and 14-stories.
#Long Island Baptist Houses; four, 6-story rehabilitated tenement buildings.
#Louis Heaton Pink Houses; twenty-two, 8-story buildings.
#Unity Plaza (Sites 4, 5A, 6, 7, 11, 12, 27); five, 6-story buildings.
#Unity Plaza (Sites 17,24,25A); three buildings, 6-stories tall.
#Vandalia Avenue; two, 10-story buildings.


==Subsections==
It became known officially as "National School Bus Chrome". The color was selected because [[black]] lettering on that hue was easiest to see in the semi-darkness of early morning and late afternoon. The distinctive color later became officially known as "National Glossy [[School bus yellow|School Bus Yellow]]".
===City Line===
[[City Line, Brooklyn|City Line]] is a subsection of East New York. The Brooklyn-Queens border to the east, Fountain Avenue to the west. Salem Fields Cemetery to the north and Jamaica bay to the south.


===New Lots===
Cyr's conference, funded by a $5,000 [[Grant (money)|grant]] from the [[Rockefeller Foundation]], was also a landmark event inasmuch as it included transportation officials from each of the then 48 states, as well as specialists from school bus manufacturing and paint companies. The conference approach to school bus safety, as well as the yellow color, has endured into the 21st century.
[[New Lots, Brooklyn|New Lots]] is often included in East New York. In past centuries, vice versa. The boundaries of New Lots, starting from the south and moving clockwise are: Linden Blvd to the south, the Fountain Avenue to the east, Sutter Avenue to the north, and Van Sinderen Avenue to the west. New Lots includes multiple low income public housing developments and is largely industrial.


===Spring Creek===
=== Growth in school bus use after World War II ===
Spring Creek, the southeastern part of the former Town of New Lots, is often included in East New York. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise are: Linden Blvd to the north, the Fountain Avenue border to the east, Jamaica bay to the south, and Schenck Avenue to the west. Spring Creek includes the [[Starrett City, Brooklyn|Starrett City]] apartment complex, the Gateway Plaza Mall, and is largely undeveloped.
Following [[World War II]], continuing a transition from [[one-room school]]s, there was a nationwide movement in the US to consolidate schools into fewer and larger ones. This meant that fewer students were attending school in their immediate [[neighborhood]], particularly as they progressed into [[high school]]. This led in turn to a large increase in the demand for school buses.


===Cypress Hills===
With its early adoption of steel body construction, Blue Bird had been a leading name in [[church bus and school bus safety]] efforts. The company became a major school bus body builder in the post-World War II period.
Cypress Hills is a subsection north of New Lots. The Cypress Hills housing project is not in Cypress Hills, it is in the City Line subsection of East New York. Van Sinderen Avenue to the west & Fountain Avenue/Richmond Street to the east. It is located north of Sutter Avenue and south of Highland Park & the [[Cypress Hills Cemetery, Brooklyn|Cypress Hills Cemetery]].


===Starret City===
In 1948, Blue Bird founder Albert Luce Sr. saw a design for a flat front bus at an auto show in [[Paris]], [[France]]. Two years later, in 1950, Blue Bird Body Company developed a transit style design which evolved into the Blue Bird All-American, generally considered one of the first successful transit designs to gain widespread use for school buses throughout in the US. [[Wayne Corporation]], [[Crown Coach Corporation]], [[Gillig|Gillig Corporation]], and others had experimented and developed some early transit-style school buses.
Starret City is a large subsidized apartment complex. Each building has between 11 and 20 floors. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise are: Linden Blvd to the north, Schneck Avenue to the east, Jamaica Bay to the south, and the Fresh Creek Basin to the west.


==Bordering neighborhoods==
However, the "conventional" design, with a truck type hood and front-end (known as type C on modern school buses) was to continue to dominate US school bus manufacturing through the end of the 20th century.


*[[Brownsville, Brooklyn|Brownsville]] is a neighborhood west of East New York. It has the train by Junius Street to the east, Remsen Avenue to the northeast & Ralph Avenue to the southeast,the train by Avenue D to the south, and East New York Avenue to the north.
Blue Bird became an international manufacturer of school buses with the opening of Blue Bird Canada in [[Brantford, Ontario]] in 1958.<ref name="canada">http://www.blue-bird.com/2007-05-08_01.php Blue Bird Corporation To Relocate Micro Bird Production; Blue Bird Press Release, May 8, 2007</ref> In the 1960s, Blue Bird Body Company also started making luxury motor coaches based on the All-American. Its first Wanderlodge was built in 1963<ref>http://www.blue-bird.com/history.php Blue Bird Corporation; History</ref>. Blue Bird entered the commercial public [[transit bus]] market in the 1970s.
*[[Canarsie, Brooklyn|Canarsie]] is a neighborhood southwest of East New York. It is east of Ralph Avenue, west of Louisiana Avenue, and south of Avenue D.
*[[Ozone Park, Queens|Ozone Park]] and [[Howard Beach, Queens|Howard Beach]] are neighborhoods in the borough of [[Queens]] that are located to the east and southeast of East New York.


==History==
During the second half of the 20th century, many of the Blue Bird buses originally designed and used for [[North America]]n school bus use became the common intercity bus in much of [[Latin America]].
A chain of hills, geologically a terminal [[moraine]], separates northwestern [[Long Island]] from [[Jamaica, Queens|Jamaica]] and the [[Hempstead Plains]], the main part of [[Long Island]]'s fertile outwash plain. Through one low spot in the chain passed a few 18th Century roads, including the [[Fulton Street, Brooklyn|ferry road]] or ''Jamaica Turnpike'' from [[Brooklyn]] to [[Jamaica, Queens|Jamaica]], hence it was called "Jamaica Pass". During the [[American Revolutionary War]] an invading [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] and [[Hessian (soldiers)|Hessian]] force marched through this pass in August 1776 to surprise and flank General [[George Washington]] and the [[Continental Army]], winning the [[Battle of Long Island]].


In the middle 19th century the road between Brooklyn and Jamaica became the Brooklyn and Jamaica [[Plank Road]]. The [[New York and Manhattan Beach Railway]] and the [[Long Island Rail Road]] were also built through the pass. The [[East New York (LIRR station)|point]] where they met was called [[Broadway Junction (New York City Subway)|Broadway Junction]]. As often happened at 19th century railroad [[Junction (rail)|junctions]], a [[railway town]] arose. [[Lexington Avenue Elevated|Rapid transit]] lines were built and brought [[urban sprawl]] to this recently rustic northern part of the Town of [[New Lots, Brooklyn|New Lots]]. The road to Brooklyn was renamed Fulton Street, the one to Jamaica, [[Jamaica Avenue]] and the one to [[Williamsburg, Brooklyn|Williamsburg]], Broadway. East New York was annexed as the 26th Ward of the rapidly growing [[City of Brooklyn]], and in the 20th century its name came to be applied to much of the former township.
By the late 1970s, Blue Bird operated 6 major plants in 3 US states, [[Canada]], and [[Ecuador]].
* Blue Bird Body Company (main plant) in Fort Valley, Georgia; produced All-American line and many parts for other lines
* Blue Bird Canada in [[Brantford, Ontario]]
* Blue Bird Central America in Ecuador
* Blue Bird East in [[Buena Vista, Virginia]]; produced Conventional and Mini Bird lines
* Blue Bird Midwest in [[Mount Pleasant, Iowa]]; produced Conventional line
* Blue Bird Wanderlodge in Fort Valley, Georgia; produced Wanderlodge luxury motor homes


In 1939, the [[Works Progress Administration]] ''Guide to New York City'' [http://www.thenewpress.com/books/wpaguide.htm] wrote:
Parts and Service were also located in Fort Valley, as was Wanderlodge Wayside Park, a tree-shaded motor home park for visiting Wanderlodges adjacent to the Wanderlodge plant.
<blockquote>{{cquote|''The development of East New York began in 1835 through the enterprise of John R. Pitkin, a wealthy [[Connecticut]] merchant who visualized it as a great city rivaling New York. The [[Panic of 1837]] smashed his hopes. After 1853, a modest development began. By the 1930s, the residents were chiefly [[Italian American|Italians]], [[American Jews|Jewish]], [[German American|Germans]], and [[Russian American|Russians]] who moved in from [[Brownsville, Brooklyn|Brownsville]], [[Bushwick, Brooklyn|Bushwick]], and other near-by crowded localities. Many of the [[Slavic peoples|Slavic]] families continue to burn candles before icons, and observe religious fetes according to the old calendar...''}}</blockquote>
After [[World War II]], thousands of [[manufacturing]] jobs left New York City thereby increasing the importance of the remaining jobs to those with limited education and job skills. During this same period, large numbers of Puerto Ricans and African-Americans emigrated to New York City looking for employment. East New York, no longer replete with the jobs the new residents had come for, was thereby faced with a host of new [[socioeconomics|socioeconomic]] problems, including widespread [[unemployment]] and [[crime]].


===Ghetto===
In 1980, Blue Bird was one of the big six school bus body companies in the United States, competing with [[Carpenter Body Company]], [[Superior Coach Company]], [[Thomas Built Buses, Inc.]], [[Ward Body Company]], and [[Wayne Corporation]]. During the next 20 years, that number would be reduced to three.
[[Image:East New York Abandonment.jpg|thumbnail|right|280px|Some of the many abandoned houses in East New York.]]


Walter Thabit, a [[urban planning|city planner]] for East New York, chronicled in his book, ''How East New York Became a Ghetto'', the change in population from mostly poor [[working class]] Italians and Jewish residents to residents of [[Puerto Rico|Puerto Rican]] and [[African]] descent. There still remains a smaller Italian American community. Thabit argues that [[landlord]]s and [[real estate]] agents played a significant role in the downturn of the area. Puerto Ricans were moving in masses to New York City in the late 1950s, at a time when unemployment rates in Puerto Rico soared to 25 percent, and left Puerto Rico on the brink of poverty. Similarly, many African-Americans were migrating northward in the post-war era.
Blue Bird would open a new plant, Blue Bird North Georgia in [[LaFayette, Georgia]] during the 1980s as well as close the Ecuador plant.


Once Black and Puerto Rican people moved into the neighborhood, landlords and real estate agents used [[Blockbusting|scare tactics]] to encourage Jews to leave, citing that the "time to sell is now." At the same time, landlords were taking advantage of new residents by charging them high [[down payment]]s and gouging them on [[rental agreement#Housing rental|rent]] payments. They would then [[eviction|evict]] tenants at the first possible opportunity, keeping the down payment to themselves.
==Post-Luce Family ownership==
Until 1992 Blue Bird was a private family-owned company. From 1992 to 1999, Blue Bird was owned by a management led buyout team in association with Merrill Lynch Capital Partners.


Thabit also describes how the construction of [[public housing]] projects in East New York further contributed to its decline, noting that many of the developments were built by corrupt managers and contractors. He argues that the [[Government of New York City|city government]] largely ignored the community, when it could have helped turn it around.
The Q-Bus commercial bus for transit and charter applications was introduced in 1992<ref>http://www.secinfo.com/dRqWm.82F7.htm#d4p Blue Bird Body Co. 1996 10-K405 Annual Report -- [X] Reg. S-K Item 405</ref>. Sagging demand, financial difficulties and changing world markets in the 1990s and early 2000s lead to Blue Bird closing two plants and opening another. Blue Bird East was shut down in 1992; Blue Bird de Mexico in [[Monterrey, Nuevo León]], [[Mexico]], was opened in 1995.


Writing in the ''New York Press'', Michael Manville accused Thabit of poor research, sweeping generalizations and a failure to distinguish the actions of racist individuals from the effects of a racist capitalist system, and contends that much of the [[urban renewal]] and public housing efforts of the period were in fact well-intentioned, if ill-considered and hubristic.<ref>[http://www.nypress.com/16/34/books/books.cfm Look Back in Anger: An urban scholar lets fly.], ''[[New York Press]]'', Volume 16, Issue 34</ref>.
At the end of 1997, Blue Bird operated the following facilities:<ref>http://sec.edgar-online.com/1998/01/30/09/0001047469-98-002606/Section3.asp BLUE BIRD BODY CO Form:10-K405 Filing Date:1/30/1998</ref>
*Blue Bird Body Company in Fort Valley, Georgia; produced TC/2000, Q-Bus, CS, All-American, and parts
*Blue Bird Canada in Brantford, Ontario; produced TC/2000, Conventional, Micro-Bird, parts
*Blue Bird de Mexico in Monterrey, Nuevo León; produced Conventional
*Blue Bird Midwest in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa; produced Conventional, Mini-Bird, TC/2000, Micro-Bird
*Blue Bird North Georgia in LaFayette, Georgia; produced Conventional and TC/2000
*Blue Bird Wanderlodge in Fort Valley, Georgia; produced Wanderlodge and parts


===Renewal===
Blue Bird was owned by the [[Great Britain|British]] [[Henlys Group PLC]] with a substantial financial stake held by [[Volvo]] Group<ref>http://www.volvo.com/logistics/na/en-us/industry+sectors/ Volvo Group; Volvo Logistics North America</ref> from 1999 to 2004. Henlys had financial difficulties during this time, including some not related to its investment in Blue Bird.
[[Image:East New York Rebuilding.jpg|thumbnail|right|280px|New subsidized single-family homes being built under the [[Nehemiah Corporation of America|Nehemiah]] program.]]


New developments are rising in the area, including the Gateway Center<ref>[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9803E1D7153AF935A25756C0A9679C8B63 Commercial Real Estate; A Mall Planned for East New York Is 88% Leased], ''[[The New York Times]]'', [[May 16]], [[2001]]</ref>, located on what was once part of a [[landfill]] near [[Jamaica Bay]]. The Gateway [[shopping mall]] in [[Starrett City, Brooklyn|Starrett City]] near East New York is [[suburb]]an-style, including retailers like [[Bed Bath & Beyond]], [[Staples, Inc.|Staples]], [[Marshalls]], [[Circuit City]], [[Olive Garden]], [[Red Lobster]], Boulder Creek Steakhouse, [[Target Corporation|Target]], [[The Home Depot]], and [[BJ's Wholesale Club]]. The development was welcomed by many in the neighborhood for the jobs it would provide and is frequented by people from all over Southern Queens and Southern Brooklyn, bringing business into the neighborhood. Unfortunately, that promise has been elusive, as the low-wage, high turnover positions which comprise the majority of jobs there do little to generate higher wealth in the community.
Blue Bird de Mexico in Monterrey, Mexico was closed in 2001<ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2001/09/07/cnbus07.xml Telegraph.co.uk; Henlys takes a skid after US bus sales fall</ref>. Blue Bird Midwest was closed in 2002.


[[Image:75pctenyjeh.JPG|thumb|75th Precinct NYPD]]
According to news release from the company in the fall of 2004, Blue Bird became the "sole operating subsidiary" of a newly created holding company, Peach County Holdings Inc. As part of the deal, a banking syndicate made up of Henlys creditors owned 42.5 percent of the Peach stock, according to Blue Bird. The Volvo Group (the world's largest bus manufacturer) owned another 42.5 percent, with the balance owned by Henlys' "pension scheme" and Blue Bird's management. However, after a [[bankruptcy]] filing, Blue Bird was acquired by [[Cerberus Capital Management]], resulting, in connection with the acquisition by Cerberus of [[North American Bus Industries]] and [[Optima Bus Corporation]], in Cerberus having a complete line of school and transit buses.


==Urban Renewal==
Through 2007, Blue Bird executed a series of plant closing and product line divestitures intended to re-focus the company on the school bus market in an effort to improve profitability and market position.<ref name="coach">http://www.blue-bird.com/2007-07-16_01.php Blue Bird Corporation To Sell Coachworks Coach And RV Product Lines To Complete Coach Works; Blue Bird Press Release, July 16, 2007</ref> The commercial bus product lines were spun off to parent corporation subsidiary North American Bus Industries, Inc. for assembly at NABI's Anniston, Alabama facilities.<ref name=coach/> Blue Bird’s original and last remaining international plant, Blue Bird Canada, was closed August 10, 2007.<ref name=canada/> Later in 2007, the Wanderlodge line was sold to Complete Coach Works, ending Blue Bird's 44 year participation in the recreational vehicle market
After a wave of arson ravaged the low income communities of New York City throughout the 1970s, many of the residential structures in East New York were left seriously damaged or destroyed. The city began to rehabilitate many formally abandoned apartment buildings{{Fact|date=May 2008}} and designate them low income housing beginning in the late 1970s. Also many subsidized multi-unit townhouses and newly constructed apartment buildings have been or are being built on vacant lots across across the neighborhood.
<ref name=coach/><ref>http://www.completecoach.com/Press/press2007/BlueBirdPurchasePressRelease.htm CCW Acquires Blue Bird Coachworks and Wanderlodge</ref>.


==Education==
Blue Bird No. 1, the first steel-body Blue Bird school bus, was donated to [[The Henry Ford]] in 2008.<ref>http://www.schoolbusfleet.com/t_inside.cfm?action=news&storyID=1646 School Bus Fleet News, Blue Bird No. 1 donated to historical institution, March 10, 2008</ref>
All areas of New York City are within the [[New York City Department of Education]] school district. Unfortunately East New York suffers from very high HS dropout rates. Violent crime is also a big problem in the local schools.


===School closed and reorganized===
==Products==
The neighborhood's local [[public high school]], [[Thomas Jefferson High School (New York City)|Thomas Jefferson High School]], shut down in June 2007 due to extremely low academic performance: a graduation rate of 29%, with only 2% entering the school at grade level in [[Mathematics|math]] and 10% entering at grade level in in [[Reading (activity)|reading]]). The school was known for its [[Reserve Officers' Training Corps|ROTC]] program. Four new high schools were organized in the old building. <ref>[http://www.insideschools.org/fs/school_profile.php?id=1027 H.S. 435 Thomas Jefferson High School profile], accessed [[December 4]], [[2006]]</ref>
===Current line===
* All-American - Type D large school bus (1948-) (known in Canada as the All-Canadian but now marketed there as the TC/3000)<ref>http://www.autobusgirardin.com/content/en-US/fiche_produit.aspx?ProductID=14 A. Girardin, Inc.; Blue Bird School; TC/3000</ref>
**Produced in Fort Valley, Georgia
* Micro Bird - Type A small school and activity bus
**Produced in Fort Valley, Georgia
* Vision - Type C conventional school bus (2003-)
**Produced in Fort Valley, Georgia and LaFayette, Georgia

===Former product lines===
*School Bus
**Type A (cutaway van)
*** MB-II and MB-IV (1992-1999) - Type A cutaway bodies; once produced by Canada's [[Girardin Minibus]], but branded as Blue Bird products; now marketed under Girardin's own name<ref>http://www.autobusgirardin.com/content/en-US/historique.aspx Girardin; A Brief History</ref>
**Type B (step-van with full-size body)
*** Mini Bird - (197?-1998)
****similar to Carpenter Cadet, smaller versions of Ward Patriot
**Type C (conventional)
*** CV-200 (1960s-2003) - Type C conventional school bus (replaced by Vision in 2004)
****General Motors, Dodge, Ford, International Harvester (Navistar after 1986), Freightliner chassis
**Type D (transit-style)
*** TC/1000 (1997-2001) - Short body, front-engine only with flat floor
*** TC/2000 (1988-2003) - Short and long bodies, front (1988-2003) and rear engine (1991-2003)
****less expensive than All American line.
*Commercial
** Ultra LF, Ultra LMB, and Xcel 102 - commercial buses; product line still produced by parent corporation subsidiary North American Bus Industries, Inc. at their Anniston, Alabama facilities
*RV/Motorhome
** Wanderlodge - luxury motor coach; product line still produced by Complete Coach Works

In addition to school, activity, and transit applications, Blue Bird busses have been specially modified for unique applications such as [[bloodmobile| bloodmobiles]], mobile [[library| libraries]], and public safety command centers.

==Images==
<gallery>
Image:Daybreak Star bus.jpg | United Indians Head Start Blue Bird Microbird school bus at the Daybreak Star Cultural Center in [[Seattle]], [[Washington]].
Image:GDLC 8.JPG|Chevy/Blue Bird bus used by Gloria Dei Lutheran School in [[Hampton, Virginia]].
Image:GDLC 15.JPG| Back end of a Blue Bird bus owned by Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in [[Hampton, Virginia]].
Image:Blue Bird IMG 9719.JPG‎ | 1999 Blue Bird CV200 conventional school bus operated by the [[Shelby County, Alabama]] Board of Education in [[Helena, Alabama]].
Image:Blue Bird IMG 9720.JPG | ‎1997 Blue Bird CV200 conventional school bus on Ford chassis operated in handicapped service by the [[Shelby County, Alabama]] Board of Education in [[Helena, Alabama]].
Image:Blue Bird IMG 9721.JPG‎ | Front 3/4 view of a 2008 Blue Bird VISION conventional school bus operated by the [[Shelby County, Alabama]] Board of Education in [[Helena, Alabama]].
Image:Las Vegas-CCSD 2006 Blue Bird RE.jpg | 2006 Blue Bird All American school bus operated by the [[Clark County School District]] in [[Las Vegas, Nevada]].
Image:FourWrexhamBlueBirds.jpg | Four Blue Bird All American Rear Engine school buses operated by First in [[Wrexham|Wrexham, Wales, United Kingdom]].
Image:Hudson RailLink Blue-Bird M0018.jpg| Blue Bird All-American bus in transit service in [[The Bronx|Bronx, NY]].
Image:NYCPD Command Post 4077.jpg | [[New York City Police Department|NYPD]] Blue Bird All American RE mobile command post #4077 in Brooklyn, New York.
Image:NJ Transit Blue Bird 608.jpg | [[New Jersey Transit Bus Operations|NJ Transit]] Blue Bird CSFE3000 #608 in Jersey City, New Jersey at Journal Square.
Image:2008-08-01 UNC Traveling Science Laboratory.jpg|[[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill|UNC]] Traveling Science Laboratory in [[Chapel Hill, North Carolina]].
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[North American Bus Industries]]
*[[School bus]]


==References==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
<references/>


==External links==
==External links==
*[http://www.blue-bird.com/ Blue-Bird.com '''Blue Bird Corporation official website''']
* [http://www.gothamgazette.com/community/42 Community Gazettes - District 42] from the ''Gotham Gazette''
*[http://www.atlanticbusyard.com/Pages/Gen/BlueBird.html/ The Atlantic School Bus Yard - Blue Bird Gallery]
* [http://www.nycsubway.org/cars/yards_eastny.html NYC Subway Yards: East New York Yard]
* [http://www.enyga.org/ East New York Gardeners' Association]
*[http://www.stnonline.com/stn/industryarchives/schoolbushistory/100years.htm STN Online: Archives of 100 years of School Bus History]
*[http://www.schoolbusfleet.com/t_home.cfm?CFID=5759388&CFTOKEN=19870853 School Bus Fleet magazine official website]
* [http://www.astralgia.com/enyprojects/ The ENY Projects Web Hangout]
* [http://www.tapeshare.com/ The East New York Project]
*[http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/import/FMVSS/#SN221 Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) for school buses]
*[http://www.bts.gov/ U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics]
* [http://www.eastnewyorkfarms.org East New York Farms]

*[http://www.busexplorer.com/Sindex.html School Bus explorer] website with numerous pictures of various school bus from different manufacturers and eras.
{{Brooklyn}}


{{coord missing|United States}}
{{Companies portal}}
{{North American bus builders}}


[[Category:Bus manufacturers]]
[[Category:Neighborhoods in Brooklyn]]
[[Category:United States communities with African American majority populations]]
[[Category:Manufacturing companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Companies based in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Peach County, Georgia]]
[[Category:Companies established in 1927]]

Revision as of 01:33, 13 October 2008

Typical multi-unit semi-detached rowhouses in East New York.

East New York is a low-income residential neighborhood located in eastern Brooklyn, a borough of New York City. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 5.[1] Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise are: Cypress Hills Cemetery to the north, the Brooklyn-Queens Border to the east, Jamaica Bay to the south, and the train next to Van Sinderen Avenue to the west. Sutter Avenue is the primary thoroughfare through East New York. ZIP codes include 11207, 11208, and 11239. The area is patrolled by the 75th Precinct located at 1000 Sutter Avenue. New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) property in the area is patrolled by P.S.A. 2. During the twentieth century, East New York came to be a commuter town predominantly inhabited by Hispanic, African American, and Italian American Brooklynites.

Demographics

East New York has a population around 90,000. Over half the population lives below the poverty line and receives public assistance (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families [TANF], Home Relief, Supplemental Security Income, and Medicaid).[citation needed] East New York is predominantly African American. The vast majority of households are renter occupied.[2]

Media

East New York is home of Black Circle News, a print and online media outlet, serving diverse cultures, educating and informing Brooklyn working-class communities as a means to adding and upgrading the quality of life.

Land Use

East New York is dominated by semi-detached multi-unit rowhouses similar to that found Brownsville and Soundview. Many of which however have been torn down and replaced by vacant lots or newly constructed subsidized attached multi-unit rowhouses. The area is also home to the East Brooklyn Industrial Park. There are also public housing developments of various type and a smaller number of tenements in the area. The total land area is one square mile.

East Brooklyn Industrial Park

In 1980, the forty-four block East Brooklyn Industrial Park was established by the New York City Public Development Corporation in the northwest quadrant of East New York, Brooklyn. Bounded by Atlantic Avenue, Sheffield Avenue, Sutter Avenue and Powell Street.

Public Housing Projects

  • There are eleven NYCHA developments located in East New York.[3]
  1. Belmont-Sutter Area; three 3-story buildings.
  2. Boulevard Houses; eighteen buildings, 6 and 14-stories tall.
  3. Cypress Hills Houses; fifteen, 7-story buildings.
  4. East New York City Line; thirty-three, 3-story buildings.
  5. Fiorentino Plaza; eight, 4-story buildings.
  6. Linden Houses; nineteen buildings, 8 and 14-stories.
  7. Long Island Baptist Houses; four, 6-story rehabilitated tenement buildings.
  8. Louis Heaton Pink Houses; twenty-two, 8-story buildings.
  9. Unity Plaza (Sites 4, 5A, 6, 7, 11, 12, 27); five, 6-story buildings.
  10. Unity Plaza (Sites 17,24,25A); three buildings, 6-stories tall.
  11. Vandalia Avenue; two, 10-story buildings.

Subsections

City Line

City Line is a subsection of East New York. The Brooklyn-Queens border to the east, Fountain Avenue to the west. Salem Fields Cemetery to the north and Jamaica bay to the south.

New Lots

New Lots is often included in East New York. In past centuries, vice versa. The boundaries of New Lots, starting from the south and moving clockwise are: Linden Blvd to the south, the Fountain Avenue to the east, Sutter Avenue to the north, and Van Sinderen Avenue to the west. New Lots includes multiple low income public housing developments and is largely industrial.

Spring Creek

Spring Creek, the southeastern part of the former Town of New Lots, is often included in East New York. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise are: Linden Blvd to the north, the Fountain Avenue border to the east, Jamaica bay to the south, and Schenck Avenue to the west. Spring Creek includes the Starrett City apartment complex, the Gateway Plaza Mall, and is largely undeveloped.

Cypress Hills

Cypress Hills is a subsection north of New Lots. The Cypress Hills housing project is not in Cypress Hills, it is in the City Line subsection of East New York. Van Sinderen Avenue to the west & Fountain Avenue/Richmond Street to the east. It is located north of Sutter Avenue and south of Highland Park & the Cypress Hills Cemetery.

Starret City

Starret City is a large subsidized apartment complex. Each building has between 11 and 20 floors. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise are: Linden Blvd to the north, Schneck Avenue to the east, Jamaica Bay to the south, and the Fresh Creek Basin to the west.

Bordering neighborhoods

  • Brownsville is a neighborhood west of East New York. It has the train by Junius Street to the east, Remsen Avenue to the northeast & Ralph Avenue to the southeast,the train by Avenue D to the south, and East New York Avenue to the north.
  • Canarsie is a neighborhood southwest of East New York. It is east of Ralph Avenue, west of Louisiana Avenue, and south of Avenue D.
  • Ozone Park and Howard Beach are neighborhoods in the borough of Queens that are located to the east and southeast of East New York.

History

A chain of hills, geologically a terminal moraine, separates northwestern Long Island from Jamaica and the Hempstead Plains, the main part of Long Island's fertile outwash plain. Through one low spot in the chain passed a few 18th Century roads, including the ferry road or Jamaica Turnpike from Brooklyn to Jamaica, hence it was called "Jamaica Pass". During the American Revolutionary War an invading British and Hessian force marched through this pass in August 1776 to surprise and flank General George Washington and the Continental Army, winning the Battle of Long Island.

In the middle 19th century the road between Brooklyn and Jamaica became the Brooklyn and Jamaica Plank Road. The New York and Manhattan Beach Railway and the Long Island Rail Road were also built through the pass. The point where they met was called Broadway Junction. As often happened at 19th century railroad junctions, a railway town arose. Rapid transit lines were built and brought urban sprawl to this recently rustic northern part of the Town of New Lots. The road to Brooklyn was renamed Fulton Street, the one to Jamaica, Jamaica Avenue and the one to Williamsburg, Broadway. East New York was annexed as the 26th Ward of the rapidly growing City of Brooklyn, and in the 20th century its name came to be applied to much of the former township.

In 1939, the Works Progress Administration Guide to New York City [1] wrote:

The development of East New York began in 1835 through the enterprise of John R. Pitkin, a wealthy Connecticut merchant who visualized it as a great city rivaling New York. The Panic of 1837 smashed his hopes. After 1853, a modest development began. By the 1930s, the residents were chiefly Italians, Jewish, Germans, and Russians who moved in from Brownsville, Bushwick, and other near-by crowded localities. Many of the Slavic families continue to burn candles before icons, and observe religious fetes according to the old calendar...

After World War II, thousands of manufacturing jobs left New York City thereby increasing the importance of the remaining jobs to those with limited education and job skills. During this same period, large numbers of Puerto Ricans and African-Americans emigrated to New York City looking for employment. East New York, no longer replete with the jobs the new residents had come for, was thereby faced with a host of new socioeconomic problems, including widespread unemployment and crime.

Ghetto

Some of the many abandoned houses in East New York.

Walter Thabit, a city planner for East New York, chronicled in his book, How East New York Became a Ghetto, the change in population from mostly poor working class Italians and Jewish residents to residents of Puerto Rican and African descent. There still remains a smaller Italian American community. Thabit argues that landlords and real estate agents played a significant role in the downturn of the area. Puerto Ricans were moving in masses to New York City in the late 1950s, at a time when unemployment rates in Puerto Rico soared to 25 percent, and left Puerto Rico on the brink of poverty. Similarly, many African-Americans were migrating northward in the post-war era.

Once Black and Puerto Rican people moved into the neighborhood, landlords and real estate agents used scare tactics to encourage Jews to leave, citing that the "time to sell is now." At the same time, landlords were taking advantage of new residents by charging them high down payments and gouging them on rent payments. They would then evict tenants at the first possible opportunity, keeping the down payment to themselves.

Thabit also describes how the construction of public housing projects in East New York further contributed to its decline, noting that many of the developments were built by corrupt managers and contractors. He argues that the city government largely ignored the community, when it could have helped turn it around.

Writing in the New York Press, Michael Manville accused Thabit of poor research, sweeping generalizations and a failure to distinguish the actions of racist individuals from the effects of a racist capitalist system, and contends that much of the urban renewal and public housing efforts of the period were in fact well-intentioned, if ill-considered and hubristic.[4].

Renewal

New subsidized single-family homes being built under the Nehemiah program.

New developments are rising in the area, including the Gateway Center[5], located on what was once part of a landfill near Jamaica Bay. The Gateway shopping mall in Starrett City near East New York is suburban-style, including retailers like Bed Bath & Beyond, Staples, Marshalls, Circuit City, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Boulder Creek Steakhouse, Target, The Home Depot, and BJ's Wholesale Club. The development was welcomed by many in the neighborhood for the jobs it would provide and is frequented by people from all over Southern Queens and Southern Brooklyn, bringing business into the neighborhood. Unfortunately, that promise has been elusive, as the low-wage, high turnover positions which comprise the majority of jobs there do little to generate higher wealth in the community.

75th Precinct NYPD

Urban Renewal

After a wave of arson ravaged the low income communities of New York City throughout the 1970s, many of the residential structures in East New York were left seriously damaged or destroyed. The city began to rehabilitate many formally abandoned apartment buildings[citation needed] and designate them low income housing beginning in the late 1970s. Also many subsidized multi-unit townhouses and newly constructed apartment buildings have been or are being built on vacant lots across across the neighborhood.

Education

All areas of New York City are within the New York City Department of Education school district. Unfortunately East New York suffers from very high HS dropout rates. Violent crime is also a big problem in the local schools.

School closed and reorganized

The neighborhood's local public high school, Thomas Jefferson High School, shut down in June 2007 due to extremely low academic performance: a graduation rate of 29%, with only 2% entering the school at grade level in math and 10% entering at grade level in in reading). The school was known for its ROTC program. Four new high schools were organized in the old building. [6]

References

  1. ^ Brooklyn Community Boards, New York City. Accessed April 2, 2008.
  2. ^ http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/lucds/bk5profile.pdf Brooklyn Community District 5]
  3. ^ NYCHA locations in East New York
  4. ^ Look Back in Anger: An urban scholar lets fly., New York Press, Volume 16, Issue 34
  5. ^ Commercial Real Estate; A Mall Planned for East New York Is 88% Leased, The New York Times, May 16, 2001
  6. ^ H.S. 435 Thomas Jefferson High School profile, accessed December 4, 2006

External links

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