Longwood



Longwood is a low income residential neighborhood geographically located in the southwest Bronx, New York City. The neighborhood is part of Bronx Community Board 2. Its boundaries are East 167th Street to the north, the Bronx River and the Bruckner Expressway to east, East 149th Street to the south and Prospect Avenue to the west. Southern Boulevard is the primary thoroughfare. The subway is the 6 line, operating along Southern Boulevard. ZIP codes include 10455 and 10459. The neighborhood is served by the NYPD's 41st Precinct. NYCHA property in the area is protected by P.S.A. 7 at 737 Melrose Avenue in the Melrose section of the Bronx.

Demographics
Longwood has a population of more than 35,000 people. For decades it has been one of the poorest communities in America. Over half the population lives below the poverty line and receives public assistance (AFDC, Home Relief, Supplemental Security Income, and Medicaid). Longwood has one of the highest concentrations of Puerto Ricans in New York City. The vast majority of households are renter occupied.

Land use and terrain
Longwood is dominated by tenement buildings, older multi-unit homes, vacant lots and newly constructed attached multi-unit subsidized townhouses and apartment buildings. Most of the original housing stock was structurally damaged by arson and subsequently razed by the city. The total land area is roughly half a square mile. The terrain is somewhat hilly.

Longwood Historic District
The landmark Longwood Historic District - three square blocks between Beck and Hewitt Place, south of Longwood Avenue - is located in the center of the neighborhood. The district consists of semi-detached brownstones, most of which have been converted into single room occupancy.

Low income public housing projects
There are four NYCHA developments:
 * West Farms Square Rehab; four rehabilitated tenement buildings, 6-stories tall.
 * East 165th Street-Bryant Avenue; five buildings, 3-stories tall.
 * Longfellow Avenue Rehab; two, 5-story rehabilitated tenement buildings.
 * Stebbins Avenue-Hewitt Place; two, 3-story buildings.

History
For much of the first half of the 20th century, Longwood was home to a predominantly Jewish population. Beginning in the 1950s, the neighborhood experienced a demographic shift as the Puerto Rican community began to emerge. Shortly afterward, White flight and abandonment began. By the late 1960s, many buildings in the neighborhood had burned down in an epidemic of arson. The wave of arson ended when Banana Kelly and SEBCO and other community groups began to protect the remaining tenement buildings. Federal funding for new multi-family homes began in 1986 under the Ed Koch administration. During the mid-1990s, local and federal governments invested more than $550 million in new subsidized residential housing and the expansion of businesses and commerce, leading to: the building of the new South Bronx headquarters of P.A.L.; the relocation of the 41st Precinct of the NYPD from Simpson Street to Longwood Avenue; Banana Kelly High School; and several small and large businesses (including Rite Aid and McDonald's).

Now the neighborhood is filled with a large population of minorities and is an extremely poor community.

A newly constructed low-income apartment building at 830 Fox Street was a synagogue that burned down in the 1960s. It was abandoned for many decades until 2006, when the new construction began.



Schools

 * PS 333: The Museum School (East 163rd Street and Rev. James A. Polite Avenue)
 * PS 62: Inocencio Casanova (Leggett Avenue and Fox Street)
 * PS 130: Abram Stevens Hewitt (East 156th Street and Prospect Avenue)
 * PS 150: Charles James Fox (East 167th Street and Fox Street)
 * MS 302: Luisa Dessus Cruz (Kelly Street and Avenue St. John)
 * Bronx Regional High School (East 165th Street and Rev. James A. Polite Avenue)
 * South Bronx Classical Charter School (Westchester Avenue and Fox Street)

Transportation

 * Bx4: to Westchester Square–East Tremont Avenue (via Westchester Avenue)
 * Bx5: to Pelham Bay Park (via Story Avenue)
 * Bx6: to Hunt's Point or Riverside Drive-158th Street, Manhattan (via 161st–163rd Streets)
 * Bx11: to George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal (via 170th St–Claremont Pkwy)
 * Bx17: to Fordham Plaza or Port Morris (via Prospect–Crotona Avenues)
 * Bx19: to New York Botanical Gardens or Riverbank State Park (via 149th Street–Southern Boulevard)
 * Bx27: to Clason Point (via Rosedale Avenue)
 * Bx35: to George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal (via 167th Street)
 * Whitlock Avenue (IRT Pelham Line)
 * Simpson Street (IRT White Plains Road Line)
 * Intervale Avenue (IRT White Plains Road Line)
 * Hunts Point Avenue (IRT Pelham Line)
 * Prospect Avenue (IRT White Plains Road Line)
 * Longwood Avenue (IRT Pelham Line)
 * East 149th Street (IRT Pelham Line)

Facts

 * In 1985 an empty lot of land along Kelly Street and Intervale Avenue became Bill Rainey Park.
 * Several crimes struck chords in this community. On February 14, 1993, someone shot several people in the "St. Valentine's Day Massacre." In the spring of 2007, a police officer shot and killed the unarmed Fermin Arzu on the corner of Hewitt Place and Longwood Avenue.
 * Colin Powell grew up on Kelly Street in Longwood.
 * The Bronx Detective Bureau division of the NYPD operates out of the old 41st Precinct house "Fort Apache" at Simpson and East 167th Street.
 * Congressman Jose Serrano holds his district's headquarters across the street from the 41st Precinct in Longwood.
 * On December 31, 2007 Mayor Bloomberg signed the Southern Boulevard B.I.D. (Business Improvement District) into law thus making the HPEDC effort a success story in the improvement of the neighborhood, as well as the entire South Bronx.
 * Longwood is considered part of the socioeconomic South Bronx.