They were very difficult months for the residents of Sunset Park due to the impact of the pandemic, economic complications and the lack of jobs. Our correspondent for the area makes an evaluation of what this year left in this neighborhood with a strong Latino presence.
The year 2021 began with many challenges for several residents of Sunset Park, including those who, after the strongest part of the pandemic, did not have a job during the first two quarters of the year and this neighborhood registered high unemployment rates.
But despite the fall in infections, trailers full of unidentified bodies were still present next to Industry City as an indelible mark and a bitter shadow that was not willing to disappear from this neighborhood that saw the death of many due to COVID- 19.
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But the expansion of the vaccination plan brought a glimmer of hope. Community organizations like Mixteca helped to get appointments and even transported migrants to get inoculated. This neighborhood quickly became one of the neighborhoods with the highest rate of vaccinated adults at 99%.
Lorena Korousias, executive director of the Mixteca Organization, pointed out: “What we are doing today is saying that we are here to prevent more deaths and that what we want is for our community to be safe.”
On the other hand, the snowfalls at the beginning of the year touched the neighborhood, but volunteer community efforts kept the main park in a safe condition for use.
In the midst of the post-pandemic recovery, Mayor de Blasio decided to convert seven hotels into temporary homeless shelters on Fourth Avenue, in an area less than a mile, causing complaints from residents about the behavior of some shelters.
In the political arena, Puerto Rican Alexa Avilés, a mother and activist known to the neighborhood and supported by Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, won the election for councilor for this district. Which until recently had been led by Carlos Menchaca, the first elected leader in the history of the city of Mexican descent.
Alexa Avilés, the elected councilor, commented: “I feel very honored as a Latina to be able to represent such a diverse and beautiful neighborhood.”
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For September, hundreds of green, white and red flags took to the streets, on the first occasion that the traditional cry of Independence is celebrated in the neighborhood, organized by the Mexican consulate and which was attended by the Mexican Miss Universe , Andrea Meza.
“Being Mexican is a great pride, like Mexico there are not two. So, for us it is something very exciting,” shared one of those attending these celebrations.
Now that 2022 is just around the corner and hope for immigration reform and economic recovery remains on the minds of Sunset Park residents.
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