The two-story brick colonial church, awash…
By Chris Fuchs
There is a white-brick church that sits conspicuously on the corner of 150th Street and 12th Avenue in Whitestone. Its name is Holy Cross, and it has been a beacon for the Greek community for nearly 25 years.
The two-story brick colonial church, awash in a blinding-white paint and deep-blue trim, tells a story about Whitestone that is difficult to discern from raw demographics. While it is true that four out of every five residents are white, according to figures from the 2000 census, it is impossible to say whether they are immigrants or whether they are from Italy or Greece, as many residents interviewed in Whitestone said they are.
“A lot of people from Astoria in the last 20 or 30 years have moved here,” said George Dakis, 30, a high school teacher, standing outside Holy Cross after services Monday morning.
Dakis has lived in Whitestone since he was 5. His family moved from Pelham Bay in the Bronx, another community in the city with a large Greek-American population. His wife, Olga, also came to Whitestone from a predominantly Greek-American community: Astoria.
And although her move was more recent — she was 14 when her family left western Queens — both husband and wife cited the same factor when asked what Whitestone offered that other neighborhoods did not: bigger houses and a suburban texture.
Unlike many communities in the borough, Whitestone has managed to remain more or less constant both in population and in demographics. While the number of non-Hispanic whites living in Whitestone declined by 1,400 to about 11,000, since 1990, the number of Hispanics and Asians has increased, though not as markedly as in other Queens neighborhoods, such as Elmhurst, Corona and Jackson Heights.
“I don’t think there is all that much diversity in Whitestone, from what I can see now,” said Kellie Corrigan, a 37-year-old attorney who moved here from the Upper East Side two years ago. “What we found out after we moved here is that that’s the way it has always been.”
While most of Queens has seen its demographic chemistry change, Whitestone by and large has not. In the 1990 census, there were 13,982 people living in the community, nearly 90 percent of whom were white. In 2000, the overall population dropped by 533 to 13,449, with whites comprising about 81 percent of the total population. There were 54 people in Whitestone who classified themselves as black in the 2000 census; there were 57 in 1990.
Even so, in this sleepy community of detached houses and middle-class homeowners, any increase in diversity is noticeable, many residents interviewed this week said. Since 1990, the number of Hispanics has increased by 215, rising to 1,005, while the number of Asians has increased by 510, rising to 1,273, the census figures show.
“Even in the two years we’ve been here, you definitely see a lot more Asians,” Corrigan said, “and a lot more Asian businesses in town.” But one Whitestone resident, who moved in a couple of years ago and who is white, said her Realtor made it clear that he was looking for a certain demographic when making a sale.
“The Realtor, when we signed the contract, said, ‘Oh, this is good,’” said the homeowner, who asked that her name not be used, adding that the Realtor was referring to the fact that she and her family were white. “‘They want young, white Christian families in the neighborhood,’ so I was like, ‘Wow, Is that all they’re selling to?’ It was weird.”
The preliminary census figures released in March do not distinguish members of a race by which country they are born in. But according to figures from a 15,417-household survey taken in 1999, the number of immigrants born in European countries living in Whitestone and Flushing has increased by nearly 6,700, to 26,000. The Census performs the study every three years to determine if housing vacancies are below 5 percent, the legal threshold to continue rent regulation.
Many Whitestone residents say that these European countries include Greece and Italy, but many newcomers have often started out elsewhere in the borough, before moving to the northeast Queens community.
“It’s a sure thing, it’s like money in the bank,” said George Dakis, the high school teacher. “It’s not a cheap community, but it’s got the goods, so to speak. It’s 20 minutes from Midtown, it’s quiet, considering that you’re in the boroughs, and you’re also not paying $20,000 in property taxes.”
Dakis’ wife is a pharmacist, and he is a teacher in Nassau County, where the pay, he said, is much higher than in the city. His is a case of suburban sprawl turned inside out: living in the city, working in the ’burbs.
“I have thought of moving out because of the fact that I can’t afford a new house in my neighborhood,” he said. “I don’t know if you’ve opened up the newspaper and seen what the average house goes for, but $400, $500,000 is a lot of money for someone who is barely 30 years old.”
Reach reporter Chris Fuchs by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 156.
