East Shore, Staten Island: Difference between revisions

Like all of Staten Island except for the [[North Shore, Staten Island|North Shore]], the East Shore was mostly farmland until residential home construction burgeoned after [[World War II]]. Many small, one-family homes sprung up on the East Shore in the 1950s, with the rate of new home construction accelerating rapidly after the [[Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge]], which links Staten Island with [[Brooklyn]], opened in November 1964. The opening of the bridge brought a wave of transplants from Brooklyn, especially from neighborhoods such as [[Flatbush, Brooklyn|Flatbush]], which many white (especially [[Italian-American]]) families sought to leave because [[African-American]]s were relocating there from the [[U.S. Southern States|Southern States]]. This factor has contributed to the East Shore becoming the most politically [[Conservatism|conservative]] locality on Staten Island, and for that matter, in all of New York City. Since the early 2000s the trend has been for white Americans of [[Eastern European]] ancestry to immigrate to the community. Today, thriving communities of [[Russians]], [[Poles]], and [[Albanians]] exist on the East Shore. The area is currently not only [[Italian-American]] and [[Irish-American]], but [[Russian-American]], [[Polish-American]], and [[Albanian-American]]. There is also an emerging [[Chinese-American]] population, centered in [[Arrochar]].