CMs, Mamdani Respond to City Immigrant Enclaves Map Controversy

A map posted on NYC’s tourism website, which promotes prominent immigrant enclaves across the five boroughs, was the center of recent controversy for not including some particular neighborhoods, such as Little Italy.

The NYC Immigrant Enclaves Map, featured as part of the city’s neighborhood passport program, lists 30 different enclaves throughout the city, including five in Manhattan. While the map highlights some of the city’s immigrant hotspots, New Yorkers — including City Council Members—took to social media to decry the exclusion of Little Italy, an enclave located near Chinatown in downtown Manhattan.

“The New York City Council Italian Caucus is deeply disappointed by the omission of Little Italy and other historic Italian-American neighborhoods from the City’s ‘Immigrant Enclaves’ map,” council members wrote in a statement on X. “Italian-Americans are not a footnote in New York City’s history.”

“We urge the City to correct this omission and ensure our shared history is represented fully, fairly, and honestly,” the statement continued.

The City Council’s Italian Caucus is made up of four Republican council members: Staten Island CM Frank Morano, Queens CM Joann Ariola, Staten Island CM David Carr, and Queens CM Vickie Paladino.

“We were here before Zohran,” the Italian American Civil Rights League wrote on X. “We will be here long after Zohran. Little Italy will NOT be erased.”

A spokesperson at NYC Tourism reported that the map was created using data from the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs in 2023, under the Adams administration. In Manhattan, the enclaves listed on the map include Chinatown, Koreatown, Little Dominican Republic, Little Senegal, and Little Ukraine.

To add fuel to the fire, social media users criticized the inclusion of other enclaves over Little Italy. But while some decried the exclusion, others online noted the decline in Italian immigrants actually living in the downtown area over the years. A growing Chinatown in Manhattan has devoured many of the streets that once comprised Little Italy, now confined largely to a few blocks of Italian restaurants and stores around Mulberry Street.

Some New Yorkers, as well as Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella, also pointed out other enclaves they would have liked to see listed, such as the Irish-American neighborhood Woodlawn in Queens. Virginia Maloney, the UES City Council member and head of the council’s Irish Caucus, had not returned a call by press time.

In response to the backlash Mamdani, in a press conference July 10, said his administration added a few additional enclaves after inheriting the map from Adams.

“It’s clearly not an exhaustive list of the more than 200 ethnic communities that call our city home and we’re going to be making additional changes in the future to reflect that,” Mamdani said. “That includes adding Little Italy to the map.”