New York City Council members are voicing strong objections to a newly released map of immigrant enclaves, arguing that it overlooks and effectively erases significant Italian-American communities and historic neighborhoods like Little Italy. The City Council's Italian Caucus publicly criticized the map on Thursday, demanding that Mayor Zohran Mamdani amend it to include Italian-American areas.
The caucus expressed frustration that while the map highlights 30 other immigrant neighborhoods, including Little Palestine, Koreatown, Little Pakistan, and Little Odessa, it failed to acknowledge Italian enclaves and other historically Italian-American districts across the five boroughs. In a statement, the caucus stated, "You cannot tell the story of immigrant New York while airbrushing out one of the city’s most recognizable and historically significant immigrant communities." They characterized the omission as "incomplete at best and insulting at worst."
The Italian Caucus urged the Mamdani administration to collaborate with historians and community organizations to ensure that future iterations of the map accurately represent Italian-Americans. "Italian-Americans are not a footnote in the history of New York," the group asserted. "We are one of the city’s foundational immigrant communities, and our neighborhoods, churches, small businesses, feast traditions, civic institutions, and family networks helped build modern New York."
A spokesperson for City Hall explained that the map was intended to "highlight neighborhoods in New York City that have substantial foreign‑born populations from regions and countries around the world." However, the Italian Caucus countered by pointing to areas such as Belmont in the Bronx, Bensonhurst and Dyker Heights in Brooklyn, and Italian-American pockets in Queens and Staten Island, where Italian heritage is deeply rooted, none of which were featured on the map.
The caucus emphasized the principle of inclusivity, stating, "Respect for one community should never require erasing another."