Mapping Foreclosures In NYC Area

Accompanying its article on how minorities were among the hardest hit victims of foreclosure in the New York City and surrounding area, the NY Times also created an interactive map showing how "foreclosure rates in the region were highest in areas with high minority populations." Minorities have been targeted by predatory lenders; the map also shows how the problem is small in 2005 but mushrooms in 2008. As for the situation at present, Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation president Colvin Grannum lamented, "Rather than helping to narrow the wealth and home ownership gap between black and white, we’ve managed in the last few years to strip a lot of equity out of black neighborhoods," and City Councilman James Sanders (D-Queens) said of the blocks with boarded houses, "My district feels like ground zero. In military terms, we are being pillaged."