Editing Washington Heights, Manhattan (section)

===Late 20th and early 21st centuries===
====Immigration trends====
For the remainder of the 20th century, the Dominican community of Washington Heights continued to increase considerably, most notably during the mid to late 1980s, when over 40,000 Dominicans settled in Washington Heights, [[Hamilton Heights]], and [[Inwood, Manhattan|Inwood]].<ref name=Quisqueya/>{{Rp|30}} Around the year 2000, the Dominican community reached its peak and became a slim majority of Washington Heights and Inwood,<ref name=Bergad>{{cite book|title=Washington Heights/Inwood Demographic, Economic, and Social Transformations 1990 – 2005 with a Special Focus on the Dominican Population|first=Laird|last=Bergad|author-link=Laird Bergad|url=https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=clacls_pubs|publisher=Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies, [[CUNY Graduate Center]]|year=2008|access-date=February 3, 2021}}</ref>{{Rp|10}} propelling the neighborhoods' combined population to 208,000, the highest level since 1950.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/planning-level/nyc-population/census2010/t_pl_p1_cd.pdf|title=Table PL-P1 CD: Total Population New York City Community Districts 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2010|publisher=[[New York City Department of City Planning]]|date=July 2011|access-date=February 3, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/planning-level/nyc-population/historical-population/pop_density_1950_2010.pdf|title=1950 to 2010 Population Density by Census Tract|access-date=February 3, 2021|publisher=[[New York City Department of City Planning]]}}</ref>

Even as they arrived in great numbers, Dominicans who came to the neighborhood faced a difficult economic situation, with many of the manufacturing jobs they disproportionately occupied having disappeared throughout the 1970s and 1980s.<ref name=dominicanprofile1990/> This was clear by 1990, when the proportion of Dominican New Yorkers living in households below the poverty line was 36%, more than double the citywide rate.<ref name=dominicanprofile1990/>{{Rp|19}} In addition to service work, many residents found local jobs in the small-scale garment sector and factory work in [[New Jersey]].<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|140}}<ref name=Quisqueya/>{{Rp|37}}<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/26/business/resurgence-of-sweatshops-reported-in-new-york.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=March 31, 2021|date=February 26, 1981|title=Resurgence of Sweatshops Reported in New York|first=Sandra|last=Salmans}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/05/nyregion/neighborhood-report-washington-heights-buzz-for-dominicans-minimum-wage-maximum.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=March 31, 2021|title=Neighborhood Report: Washington Heights – Buzz; For Dominicans, Minimum Wage, Maximum Uncertainty|first=Seth|last=Kugel|date=September 5, 1999}}</ref>

During the late 20th century, other immigrant groups began to make their home in the neighborhood as well. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a moderate influx of [[Soviet Jew]]s occurred following a loosening of the country's emigration policy,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Gold|first=Steven J.|author-link=Steven J. Gold|year=1994|title=Soviet Jews in the United States|url=https://www.bjpa.org/content/upload/bjpa/94so/94soviet.pdf|pages=3–57|publisher=[[American Jewish Committee]]|volume=94|doi=10.2307/2547125|journal=[[American Jewish Year Book]]|jstor=2547125|access-date=February 3, 2021}}</ref>{{Rp|17}} predominantly professionals and artists pushed out by [[antisemitism]] and drawn by economic opportunity.<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|138}} The makeup of the neighborhood's Latino population also began to diversify beyond an exclusively [[Caribbean]] background, most prominently through the arrival of [[Mexican Americans|Mexican]]s and [[Ecuadorian Americans|Ecuadorian]]s, who together numbered over 6,000 by 2000 and over 10,000 a decade later.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/planning-level/nyc-population/nny2000/newest_new_yorkers_2000.pdf|title=The Newest New Yorkers 2000|date=2004|publisher=[[New York City Department of City Planning]]|access-date=February 3, 2021}}</ref>{{Rp|70}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/data-maps/nyc-population/nny2013/chapter3.pdf|title=The Newest New Yorkers, 2013 Edition|date=2013|publisher=[[New York City Department of City Planning]]|access-date=February 3, 2021}}</ref>{{Rp|49}}

Smaller communities of [[Central American]]s, [[Colombian Americans|Colombian]]s, and [[Chinese Americans|Chinese]] immigrants had also developed.<ref name=acsfactfinder2020/> The neighborhood's African-American population began to decrease from its height in the 1970s, making up less than one-tenth of the neighborhood by 2000.<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|138}}<ref name=PLP3A>[http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/data-maps/nyc-population/census2010/t_pl_p3a_nta.pdf Table PL-P3A NTA: Total Population by Mutually Exclusive Race and Hispanic Origin – New York City Neighborhood Tabulation Areas*, 2010], Population Division – [[New York City Department of City Planning]], March 29, 2011. Retrieved June 14, 2016.</ref> In the present day, Washington Heights also has an [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jewish]] community served by numerous [[synagogue]]s, many of which have noticed more young Jewish families move into the neighborhood during the 2000s.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20131104/washington-heights/washington-heights-jewish-population-thriving-after-lean-years/|first=Lindsay|last=Armstrong|access-date=March 30, 2021|title=Washington Heights' Jewish Population Thriving After Lean Years|work=[[DNAinfo]]|date=November 4, 2013|archive-date=January 23, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123204341/https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20131104/washington-heights/washington-heights-jewish-population-thriving-after-lean-years/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/washington-heights-jews-caught-in-a-growth-bind/|first=Rivka|last=Oppenheim|access-date=March 30, 2021|title=Washington Heights Jews Caught In A Growth Bind|work=[[New York Jewish Week]]|date=August 11, 2010}}</ref>

====1980s crime and drug crisis====
[[File:TransManhattan Expressway from Audubon Avenue.jpg|thumb|The [[Interstate 95 in New York|Trans-Manhattan Expressway]], one of several highway connections that made Washington Heights a hotspot for the [[cocaine]] trade in the 1980s.]]
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Washington Heights was severely affected by the [[Crack epidemic|crack-cocaine epidemic]], as was the rest of New York City.<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|158}} Washington Heights had become one of the largest drug distribution centers in the [[Northeastern United States]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/01/nyregion/washington-heights-cocaine-trade-thrives.html|title=WASHINGTON HEIGHTS: COCAINE TRADE THRIVES|first=Peter|last=Kerr|date=April 1, 1986|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=February 9, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://academics.wellesley.edu/Chemistry/Chem102/war/html%20pages/ny-heights-crime.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=February 9, 2021|date=May 18, 1998|first=David M.|last=Halbfinger|title=In Washington Heights, Drug War Survivors Reclaim Their Stoops}}</ref> bringing a negative reputation to Dominican Americans as a group.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/22/nyregion/talk-in-washington-heights-fear-drugs-and-now-corruption.html|date=June 22, 1992|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=February 11, 2021|first=Maria|last=Newman|title=Talk in Washington Heights: Fear, Drugs, and Now Corruption}}</ref> Then-U.S. Attorney [[Rudy Giuliani]] and Senator [[Al D'Amato|Alphonse D'Amato]] chose the corner of 160th Street and Broadway for their widely publicized undercover crack purchase,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/10/nyregion/new-york-day-by-day-answer.html|title=NEW YORK DAY BY DAY; Answer|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=March 31, 2020|date=July 10, 1986|first1=Susan|last1=Anderson|first2=David|last2=Dunlap}}</ref> and in 1989, ''[[The New York Times]]'' called the neighborhood "the crack capital of America".<ref name="crackdestruction">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/01/magazine/crack-s-destructive-sprint-across-america.html|title=Crack's Destructive Sprint Across America|last=Massing|first=Michael|date=October 1, 1989|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=March 31, 2020}}</ref> By 1990, crack's impact on crime was evident: 103 murders were committed in the 34th Precinct that year, along with 1,130 felony assaults, 1,919 robberies, and 2,647 burglaries.<ref name="NYPD 34th Precinct"/>

The causes behind the severity of the crisis for Washington Heights, however, were more intricate. One was the neighborhood's location: The [[George Washington Bridge]] and its numerous highway connections made for easy access from the [[New Jersey]] suburbs.<ref name=CB>{{cite book|first=Robert W.|last=Snyder|title=Crossing Broadway: Washington Heights and the Promise of New York City|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=quqMBQAAQBAJ|isbn=9780801449611|publisher=[[Cornell University Press]]|year=2015}}</ref>{{Rp|162}} Another contributing factor was that, as Dominican dealers such as [[Santiago Luis Polanco Rodríguez]] brought the group higher status in cocaine operations, the heavily Dominican Washington Heights became increasingly important as a strategic location.<ref name="crackdestruction"/><ref name="cocaine kids">{{cite book|first=Terry|last=Williams|date=1990|url=https://archive.org/details/cocainekids00terr_0/|publisher=Hachette Books|isbn=9780306820861|title=Cocaine Kids: The Inside Story of a Teenage Drug Ring}}</ref> Washington Heights also had a high level of unemployment and poverty in the 1980s and 1990s, providing ample economic motivation for young people to enter the drug trade.<ref name=Bergad/>

The effects of the crack trade extended beyond physical danger to a breakdown in trust and widespread fear provoked by violence in public places as well as murders of people uninvolved in the drug business.<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|178}} It was common for police and detectives to note unresponsiveness from residents during murder inquiries.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-01-09-mn-10061-story.html|title=Hispaniola to New York Streets: Immigrant Dreams Gone Awry|work=Los Angeles Times|date=January 9, 1994|access-date=April 1, 2020|first=Dana|last=Kennedy}}</ref> Overall distrust of the police may have stemmed from the perception of corruption, which was alleged numerous times concerning the 34th Precinct overlooking drug crimes for bribes.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/19/nyregion/us-is-investigating-reports-of-corrupt-new-york-police.html|title=U.S. is Investigating Reports of Corrupt New York Police|date=June 19, 1992|first=Craig|last=Wolff|access-date=April 1, 2020|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>

Tensions between residents and the [[New York Police Department|NYPD]] came to a head on July 4, 1992, when José "Kiko" Garcia was shot by 34th Precinct Officer Michael O'Keefe on the corner of 162nd Street and [[St. Nicholas Avenue|Saint Nicholas Avenue]]. Although evidence later supported that the killing was a reaction to violence initiated by Garcia, many residents quickly suspected wanton [[police brutality]].<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|180}} The suspicion was not unfounded, as O'Keefe already had several civilian complaints of unnecessary aggression in arrests.<ref name="cowboys">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MTfK24Yon1QC|title=Wild Cowboys: Urban Marauders & the Forces of Order|first=Robert|last=Jackall|date=2005|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=9780674018389}}</ref>{{Rp|320}} What began as a peaceful demonstration for Garcia's death turned into a violent riot, causing multiple fires, 15 injuries, and one death.<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|181}}<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/07/nyregion/angered-by-police-killing-a-neighborhood-erupts.html|access-date=April 1, 2020|title=Angered by Police Killing, a Neighborhood Erupts|date=July 7, 1992|first=James|last=Dao|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> Then-mayor [[David Dinkins]], who had met with the Garcia family following the killing, pleaded for an end to the rioting: "You do not build a better city by destroying it. ... There is much anger in the community about the death of Jose Garcia and other incidents. But you do not obtain justice by being unjust to others."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-07-08-mn-1523-story.html|first=John J.|last=Goldman|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|title=Dinkins Appeals for Calm After N.Y. Disturbances : Inner city: Police pour into neighborhood to quell violence. Democratic chairman predicts that tensions will ease before convention.|date=July 8, 1992|access-date=February 9, 2021}}</ref>

====Crime drop and community improvement====
[[File:Heather Garden.jpg|thumb|Heather Garden, one of Fort Tryon Park's areas that was refurbished during the 1980s and 1990s<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.forttryonparktrust.org/the-gardens-heather-and-alpine/|title=Heather Garden and Alpine Garden|access-date=July 25, 2021|publisher=Fort Tryon Park Trust}}</ref>]]
During the mid to late 1990s, Washington Heights experienced a drastic decrease in crime that continued through the 21st century. From 1990 to 2023, reported motor-vehicle thefts, murders, and burglaries each fell by over 85%, felony assaults, rapes, and robberies by over 65%, and grand larcenies by around 45%.<ref name="NYPD 33rd Precinct CS"/><ref name="NYPD 34th Precinct CS"/> The 30th and 32nd precincts to the south of Washington Heights, which cover most of [[Harlem]] north of 133rd Street, experienced just as drastic crime drops during the past decades.<ref name="crime map"/><ref name="NYPD 30th Precinct CS">{{cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_statistics/cs-en-us-030pct.pdf|title=30th Precinct CompStat Report|publisher=[[New York City Police Department]]|access-date=February 5, 2021}}</ref><ref name="NYPD 32nd Precinct CS">{{cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_statistics/cs-en-us-032pct.pdf|title=32nd Precinct CompStat Report|publisher=[[New York City Police Department]]|access-date=February 5, 2021}}</ref>

The crime drop, which was felt across all major U.S. cities, owed itself largely to the decrease in new users and dealers of crack cocaine, and the move of existing dealers from dealing on the streets to dealing from inside apartments.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/17/nyregion/where-has-your-neighborhood-drug-dealer-gone.html|title=Where Has Your Neighborhood Drug Dealer Gone?|last=Rohde|first=David|date=August 17, 1997|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=April 17, 2020|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/19/us/crack-s-legacy-a-special-report-a-drug-ran-its-course-then-hid-with-its-users.html|first=Timothy|last=Egan|access-date=April 17, 2020|date=September 19, 1999|title=Crack's Legacy: A special report; A Drug Ran Its Course, Then Hid With Its Users|work=[[The New York Times]]|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In Washington Heights, this meant a move back to the established cocaine dealing culture that had existed before the introduction of crack. As Terry Williams observes in ''The Cocaine Kids: The Inside Story of a Teenage Drug Ring'', many dealers from the pre-[[freebasing]] period put greater emphasis on knowing their customers and hid their operations more carefully from police, as opposed to dealers of the crack days who would deal openly and fight violently in the competition for the drug's high profits.<ref name="cocaine kids"/>

Many also credit actions taken on the neighborhood level in increasing safety in Washington Heights. In 1994, after years of advocacy from residents, the [[New York City Police Department|NYPD]] split the 34th Precinct to create the 33rd Precinct for Washington Heights south of 179th Street in order to devote more resources to crime prevention.<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|170}}<ref name="nrprecinctsplit">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/09/nyregion/neighborhood-report-washington-heights-police-hit-streets-in-a-new-precinct.html|title=Neighborhood Report: Washington Heights – Police Hit Streets In a New Precinct|first=Randy|last=Kennedy|date=October 9, 1994|access-date=April 16, 2020|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> Another local policing strategy was the "model block" initiative, first attempted in 1997 on 163rd Street between [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]] and [[Tenth Avenue (Manhattan)|Amsterdam Avenue]], a location notable for the dealers who set up a "fortified complex" complete with traps and electrified wires to prevent police raids on their apartment.<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|192}}  In an attempt to disrupt drug activity on the block, police officers set up barricades at both ends of the block, demanded proof of residence from anyone coming through, patrolled building hallways, and pressured landlords to improve their buildings.<ref>{{cite web|title=Police Practices and Civil Rights in New York City – Chapter 3|access-date=April 16, 2020|url=https://www.usccr.gov/pubs/nypolice/ch3.htm|date=August 2000|publisher=[[United States Commission on Civil Rights]]}}</ref> The program was controversial, facing criticism from the [[New York Civil Liberties Union]] and resistance from residents for its invasion of privacy.<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|193}} The initiative was later expanded throughout the city.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-violence-chicago-new-york-los-angeles-met-20150918-story.html|date=September 18, 2018|access-date=April 16, 2020|work=[[Chicago Tribune]]|first1=Jeremy|first2=Annie|last1=Gorner|last2=Sweeney|title=A tale of 3 cities: LA and NYC outpace Chicago in curbing violence}}</ref>

As crime decreased, Washington Heights also saw a recovery of many of its community institutions, including parks.<ref name=CB/> [[Fort Tryon Park]] had fallen into a period of decline after the [[1975 New York City fiscal crisis]], when evaporated [[New York City Department of Parks and Recreation|Parks Department]] funds left its walkways and playgrounds in a state of disrepair,<ref name="fort tryon timeline">{{cite web|title=Historical Timeline Listing|publisher=Fort Tryon Park Trust|date=October 12, 1935|url=https://www.forttryonparktrust.org/historical-timeline-of-fort-tryon-park/|access-date=March 1, 2020}}</ref> and several corpses were found in the park.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/01/nyregion/body-of-young-woman-is-discovered-in-a-park.html|title=Body of Young Woman Is Discovered in a Park|date=May 1, 1989|work=The New York Times|access-date=September 26, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/27/nyregion/body-of-girl-9-is-found.html|title=Body of Girl, 9, Is Found|date=March 27, 1986|work=The New York Times|access-date=September 26, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>