Talk:Jamaica, Queens

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[edit] Road Issue

Until recently *ALL* of queens was divided into a FEW Post Offices

  • Flushing
  • Far Rockaway
  • Long Island City
  • Jamaica

Jamaica includes Ozone Park, Howard Beach, JFK Airport, etc.

Check the TRANSPORTATION section of this article and please explain how one gets to JFK Airport in JAMAICA, NY without crossing Conduit Boulevard??

Check: JFK International Airport Which says: "John F. Kennedy International Airport (IATA: JFK, ICAO: KJFK) is an international airport located in Jamaica, Queens, in the south-eastern portion of New York City." —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Jimryan (talk • contribs) 14:35, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

I don't know where the people (who are leaving unsigned edits) live, but I am a Queens resident. Not only that, but I am a car enthusiast, and with this comes knowledge of neighborhoods and roads. I can personally reassure you that roads such as Linden Blvd. and the GCP are not part of Jamaica proper. The article is referring to the neighborhood of Jamaica, not the Post Office areas. And, you claim that "Jamaica" includes towns other than itself, proper (by claiming the neighborhoods it includes). The neighborhood of Jamaica is clearly defined if you care to take a trip through the area, or if you pay logical attention to a map. The roads which were listed would be much better listed in another neighborhood. Please do not revert the changes until you substantiate your claims that roads like Linden Blvd. and the GCP should be part of Jamaica. --Zouf 00:37, 12 April 2006 (UTC)
Yes, Queens was divided into Long Island City, Far Rockaway, Jamaica, and Flushing until recently. Key words: "until recently." That is, not at the present time. The broad divisions of Queens into its northwest sector (LIC), center/northeast (Flushing), southeast (Jamaica), and Rockaway Peninsula (Far Rockaway) have been obsolete for almost a decade now. The neighborhoods encompassed by each division have become so different from each other that it would be ludacrous to use the labels in the prior fashion. For instance, lumping modern Woodside and Bayside under the "Flushing" moniker would be laughably absurd. If such a listing of major roads existed for the Flushing article, one would certainly not be justified in identifying Queens Boulevard, Grand Avenue, Broadway, Junction Boulevard, or 108th Street along with Francis Lewis Boulevard, Willets Point Boulevard, Utopia Parkway, 164th Street, Bell Boulevard, and Springfield Boulevard, although all of these roads run through neighborhoods previously identified as "Flushing." The fact that the article on JFK identifies its location as Jamaica does not make it correct. However, in that case one would be hard-pressed to identify a better nomenclature. I certainly would not place the airport in Howard Beach, or Rosedale, or Laurelton. Jamaica would be the best choice for that purpose, but only for that purpose. In general usage, I have found that "Jamaica" generally applies to the area roughly between the Van Wyck Expressway and the LIRR Atlantic Branch, from Hillside Avenue or thereabouts to roughly Linden Boulevard—especially Jamaica Center, the area around Parsons Boulevard and Jamaica Avenue. It does not apply to the surrounding neighborhoods nearly as ubiquitously as in the past. (See Talk:List of Queens neighborhoods for some prior discussion.) —Larry V (talk) 02:18, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

The naming of geographical locations varies depending on many factors. We could and in many cases use zip codes as definers of an area. It is certainly easy when an area is an incorporated town or village, then we have a precisely defined geographical area. There are census-designated place (CDP)'s. Real Estate "preferences" play a part in naming of geographical areas, thus many buildings in Manhattan use "Park Avenue" as their address when in reality they have a very tenuous connection. Is "Forest Hills" a 'better' (whatever that means) area than "Jamaica"? If my house is near "Forest Hills" can I cheat a little and give my address as Forest Hills? Oh wait, "Forest Hills" proper was designed by the Architect Grosvenor Atterbury, so based on his original plans we can delineate "Forest Hills" proper. (Jamaica was an incorporated village in 1814) Real Estate wise, when someone is on a fuzzy border, they'll usually pick the Fancier (and high-priced) neighborhood name, especially when they're selling. One suggestion might be to look at what's going on in the local papers and how they define areas. The Queens Chronicle their Southeast Queens edition includes the following - [Queens Chronicle]

Southeast Queens Edition:

  • 11413 - Springfield Gardens
  • 11418 - Richmond Hill
  • 11419 - So. Richmond Hill
  • 11420 - So. Ozone Park
  • 11431 - Jamaica
  • 11432 - Jamaica
  • 11433 - Jamaica
  • 11434 - So. Jamaica
  • 11435 - Jamaica
  • 11436 - So. Jamaica

If we just look at Jamaica as the zip codes: 11431, 11432, 11433, 11435 you'll find that this includes a significant portion of the roads that are being argued against. 11432 include Jamaica High school, Thomas Edison High School and Saint John's University. Saint Johns Web site uses the address of QUEENS, NY (SJU has it's own zip code 11439, as does York College in Jamaica - 11451). Saint John's was always referred to as being in Jamaica (and moved up the hill) by my Family for as long as I can remember.

Roy Wilkins Park (Baisley and Merrick) is in Jamaica - [SQPA]

It wasn't I who added those roads you object to, I only reverted. I own 3 cars (all of them old). I was born in Jamaica, I live in Howard Beach, I work in Jamaica. Jimryan

Well, I wasn't blaming you for adding them, I'm simply arguing against them. Nothing personal, of course. I've always been partial to the website of the Queens Chamber of Commerce when looking at issues involving Queens neighborhoods, and according to its neighborhood page, Jamaica contains ZIP code 11433. For some reason, a Google search for 11431 yields nothing, but:
  • 11432: Jamaica Estates, Jamaica Hills, Parkway Village
  • 11433: Addisleigh Park, Hillside, Jamaica
  • 11435: Briarwood, Parkway Village, South Jamaica
It looks like this information works less with ZIP code definitions and more with neighborhood history, demographics, etc., seeing as how multiple neighborhoods occupy each ZIP code area. From this, Jamaica proper ("Jamaica") is only in 11433. (Granted, I've never heard of "Parkway Village," but that's irrelevant.) —Larry V (talk) 00:28, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

This whole discussion deals with the "fuzziness" of "neighborhoods" / "towns" in Queens specifically (and NYC and other areas generally). User Zouf asks for substantiation of claims that a number of streets should be part of Jamaica. One of those streets is Linden Blvd, which user Larry V inidcates is a border street of Jamaica, therefore arguing against its inclusion, but by making it a border providing evidence for its inclusion... Hillside Avenue as the northern Border of Jamaica? Don't tell that to Jamaica High School on Gothic Drive, on the top of the hill that hillside avenue is named after. Oh and what about Thomas Edison High School, to the north of Jamaica High School and bordering Grand Central Parkway? Go to the Board of Ed Web Site and Edison's own web site and it is located in Jamaica. The Queens High School for Law Enfrcement and Public Safety is listed at: 116-25 GUY R BREWER BOULEVARD, JAMAICA, NY 11434 and is well South of Linden Blvd. As to what roads are part of a particular neighborhood or not, at the edges, it gets fuzzy. Take Merrick Blvd. Why is it included? It seems to me that such a small percentage of Merrick (which becomes Montauk Highway, Main Street, Blvd./Road etc and extends to Montauk point) is in Jamaica that it shouldn't be included. There is nothing really important along Merrick as to warrant its inclusion, yet Linden Blvd would warrant inclusion as a "border" (albeit a fuzzy one) road of Jamaica. Neighborhood borders in NY (and other places) are by their very nature FUZZY. I'm not going to substitute my opinion and remove roads which someone else thinks (their opinion) are part of a neighborhood. If there is a requirement of substantion, I believe I've met a large part of that burden, as well as making a case for the removal of Merrick Blvd. Jimryan

I'm a Queens resident myself, and thus very aware of the ambiguity of neighborhood definitions. I'm not quite sure how reliable addresses are, since many institutions might simply be retaining the prior 4-town postage scheme. I would certainly be willing to take the area from Hillside up to the GCP as Jamaica, though; that's not at all unreasonable. I never gave Linden as a "border", per se, only vaguely. It's somewhat absurd to base any judgment on Merrick from the percentage of it that is in Jamaica, however. It's such a long street that even if one took into account the entirety of its length in all of Queens, it would still be a very small fraction of the total. It is a major transportation route, which is also the reason I would include Archer Avenue. Certain other streets, though, border on absurdity. Lefferts Boulevard? Conduit Avenue? Francis Lewis Boulevard? These strain the border issue far more than Merrick or Linden. Some of those streets I've never even heard of. Rufus King Avenue? I just looked that one up the other day, and I think I could walk its entire length in perhaps ten minutes. ... On a related note, someone just edited the Transportation section and removed Archer Avenue and Jamaica Avenue, among others. I'm sure no one in their right mind would remove Jamaica Avenue as a major Jamaica thoroughfare. —Larry V (talk) 03:27, 15 April 2006 (UTC)


2006-06-20 18:02:27 I.M. Rich (Talk | contribs) (Fixed syntax, because the dumbass who did this part didn't so it) Comment is unwarranted.


[edit] RESIDENTS

Onyx, The Lost Boyz, and G-Unit are NOT from Jamaica, they're from SOUTH JAMAICA.

[edit] Name of article

Why is this article called Jamaica, Queens and not Jamaica, New York? 'Jamaica, New York' is far more common. (The reason may be obscure history, but local usage is local usage) Jd2718 01:03, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

  • With a few exceptions, the standard for neighborhoods in New York City is "Neighborhood, Borough", and this article follows that standard. You can look through the articles in the Queens template at the bottom of the article for other examples. Using "Neighborhood, New York" would created confusion with other municipalities and hamlets around the state. "Neighborhood, New York City" would lose the primary connection to each borough. Alansohn 06:04, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
But if the standard in the real world is Jamaica, New York, should keeping Wiki articles consistent trump reality? Jd2718 12:29, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
We have to have a consistent naming convention, and this one has worked extremely well. Alansohn 13:07, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
'Consistent names' should not be more important than 'correct names.' Local usage is Jamaica, New York, not Jamaica, Queens. Names in Queens work differently than names in the other boroughs. It is not up to Wikepedia to change this. Jd2718 20:21, 17 November 2006 (UTC)


This is addressed to the person who, earlier in this talk, referred to Jamaica and other parts of Queens as "towns". Jamaica and all of the other parts of Queens are "neighborhoods," "areas," or "sections" of Queens- not "towns."

The same goes for The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Staten Island.

Also, Springfield Gardens, Richmond Hill, South Richmond Hill, and South Ozone Park are NOT part of Jamaica. JAMAICA is Jamaica. The others are seperate sections of Queens.

Lastly, why is there no demographics section in this article, as there are in other "place" articles in Wikipedia? Yes, it tells some of the ethnic groups in Jamaica at the very beginning of the article, but there is no mention of percentages, economic demographics, etc. This is mentioned in other "place" articles. Why are these left out for Jamaica? Davemarshall70 06:45, 25 March 2007 (UTC)