The street I live on is 82nd street in Canarsie, Brooklyn. It’s also known as the “Flossy”, which no one can tell me why or the origin of this nickname. I’ve been living here for about 11 years. I live in a private house which is what you will mostly find in the neighborhood, but a lot of these private homes can hold two to three families. Also some houses rent out their basements, which can get annoying when you can’t find parking. I can honestly say each house has about two cars. On my block there an elementary school and the block over there is a junior high school, so around 3 o’clock it can get a little noisy. Yet I can’t complain about it because I’m located at the back of the schools so not many students go down that block.
The transportation in my area is quite limited. There’s buses that are around are the 6, 82, 103 and 17. The only train is the L train. One complaint I have is that since there’s only one station which you need a bus to get to, if you have no money on your metro card, it can be tough. So something you will find in the area is that people use uber or lyft a lot. We’re also quite close to the Belt parkway. I live near the main strip Flatlands Ave which filled with local business such as restaurants, hair salons, discount stores, bodegas, etc. Larger stores would be supermarkets, and fast foods. The closest store to me would be about five minutes away walking. The closest mall would be Kings Plaza which is a 10 minute drive and Gateway Center which is 15 minutes drive.
One thing about Canarsie is that it’s at the end Brooklyn, so it’s basically by the water. Which mean when it’s cold, it’s freezing, or if it rains too hard flood warnings are sent. There a lot of vegetation in the area, not really on my block this has probably four trees. Yet those who don’t have a tree in the front yard there’s usually one in the backyard.
The demographic of Canarsie I would consider mostly West Indians. This makes sense with the amount of Caribbean restaurants on Flatlands Ave. There’s mostly a mild noise level, but at night the parties are loud and all night long. A lot of the community events are done at Seaview Park which is a huge park in Canarsie with hiking trails, skate park, basketball court, baseball court, track, soccer field, playgrounds, and BBQ area. There is one park a block from my house but, really just basketballs court for the junior high school that’s open the public. Recently they did an outdoor movie night there for children.
Some changes I’ve noticed about my neighborhood are that they are starting to build apartment building, which really stands out in an area full with houses. My only wish is that they decide to fix the L train once I finish school, so my commute won’t take twice as long.
