IV 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 63 

Recognizing the Dominican community’s presence and contributions to 

Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights, and Inwood. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 22, 2019 

Mr. ESPAILLAT submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Oversight and Reform 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing the Dominican community’s presence and contributions to Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights, 

and Inwood. 

Whereas historically Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights, 

and Inwood have had the highest concentration of residents of Dominican descent in New York City, making it 

the center of Dominican culture in the United States; 

Whereas the neighborhood continues to be an iconic hub and 

cultural center for Dominicans, epitomizing the fusion of 

upper Manhattan and Dominican culture; 

Whereas referring to Washington Heights and Inwood as 

Wahi is perpetuating the rebranding and erasure of the 

community’s identity to appeal to an incoming wave; 


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Whereas the cultural legacy of the Dominican community in 

the neighborhood must be upheld to ensure it does not 

disappear; 

Whereas Dominicans have been an integral part of the vibrant Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights, and 

Inwood community since the 1960s, in all areas including 

activism, advocacy, art, culture, literature, sports, business, and government; 

Whereas Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights, and Inwood 

have the highest population of Dominican immigrants in 

New York City, and Dominicans make up 63 percent of 

the immigrant population; 

Whereas, in 1613, Juan Rodriguez, a man who migrated 

from the island of Hispaniola, which is now known as the 

Dominican Republic and Haiti, was the first immigrant, 

the first Black person, the first merchant, the first 

Latino, and the first Dominican to have resided in metropolitan New York; 

Whereas Juan Pablo Duarte, the founding father of the Dominican Republic, has been immortalized in the neighborhood by the renaming of St. Nicholas Avenue to Juan 

Pablo Duarte Boulevard from 170th to 193rd Streets; 

Whereas small businesses in Hamilton Heights, Washington 

Heights, and Inwood continue to be fueled by Dominican 

entrepreneurs and loyal patrons, creating a sense of community within local shops and restaurants; 

Whereas Dyckman Street restaurants have witnessed a renaissance creatively fusing Dominican cuisine with different cultures, such as Japanese and Italian, and local 

staples, such as 809 Bar and Grill, Mamajuana, La 

Nueva Espan ̃a, and La Casa Del Mofongo, continue to 


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attract patrons from the tri-State area to dine on traditional Dominican fare and visit the lively neighborhood; 

Whereas Dominican vendors continue to serve the public with 

fresh fruits and foods from Dominican culture in La 

Plaza de Las Americas and the newly opened Uptown 

Plaza in Inwood, and line the sidewalks between Broadway and Audubon Avenue, a tradition that embodies the 

hard-working immigrant spirit of the neighborhood; 

Whereas the National Supermarket Association and the 

Bodega Association of the United States promote the creation of jobs and sustainable economic growth in inner 

cities and Latino communities that have been overlooked 

by large chains, such as Hamilton Heights, Washington 

Heights, and Inwood; 

Whereas professional associations, such as Dominicans on 

Wall Street (DOWS), the Association of DominicanAmerican Supervisors and Administrators (ADASA), the 

New York Dominican Officers Organization (NYDO), 

Dominican Bar Association (DBA), Dominican Medical 

Association (DMA), and the Dominican Medical-Dental 

Society (DMDS), highlight the contributions of professional Dominicans nationwide to the development of their 

communities; 

Whereas the New York Yankees, an all-American baseball 

team, had its beginnings in Washington Heights, baseball 

continues to be one of the main sports in the neighborhood, and Dominican baseball players have brought great 

pride and recognition to the sport; 

Whereas three-time Most Valuable Player (MVP) Alex Rodriguez and four-time Major League Baseball All-Star 

Dellin Betances of the New York Yankees, were born in 


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Washington Heights, and Manny Ramirez, the awardwinning MVP and twelve-time All-Star baseball player, 

moved from the Dominican Republic to New York City 

where he attended George Washington High School in 

Washington Heights and became a baseball prodigy; 

Whereas the Dominican Republic has won six medals at the 

Olympics, including Pedro Nolasco’s bronze medal in boxing at the 1984 Summer Olympics and, in 2004, Fe ́lix 

Sa ́nchez’s gold medal in the 400 meter hurdles; 

Whereas Dominican cultural and educational activists organized to reverse inequities in public schools within the 

area, and developed Gregorio Luperon High School for 

Science and Mathematics to meet the needs of immigrant 

Spanish-speaking adolescents and to create an inclusive 

learning environment; 

Whereas six schools in the area have been named after historic Dominican figures: I.S. 218 Salome Urena, P.S. 

132 Juan Pablo Duarte School, Gregorio Luperon High 

School for Science and Mathematics, Mirabal Sisters 

Campus, Professor Juan Bosch Public School, and P.S. 

8 Luis Belliard; 

Whereas the Dominican Studies Institute of the City University of New York (CUNY DSI) located in Hamilton 

Heights, founded by Dr. Silvio Torres-Saillant and directed by the renowned Dominican sociologist Dr. Ramona Herna ́ndez, is the first university-based research 

institute in the United States dedicated to the study of 

people of Dominican descent in the United States and 

other parts of the world; 


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Whereas the area boasts of vibrant cultural centers and nonprofit organizations founded and enriched by Dominican 

activists; 

Whereas the Centro Civico Cultural Dominicano, a nonprofit 

community organization, continues to build on the invaluable contributions of Dominicans by engaging and empowering Dominican and Hispanic communities locally; 

Whereas the Dominican Women’s Development Center has 

been a vital resource to the Washington Heights and 

Inwood communities for over 25 years, providing comprehensive services to marginalized women and families, 

and serves as a haven for the artistic and activist expression of the community’s youth; 

Whereas Dominican native Normandia Maldonado had a long 

history of activism in Washington Heights where she cofounded the Instituto Duartiano of the United States in 

1966, the Dominican Day Parade, Inc., in 1983 with 

Miguel Amaro, and the Centro Cultural Ballet Quisqueya 

in 1967, all of which have helped the community with 

necessary resources and fostered a connection with Dominican cultural roots through folklore dances and celebrations; 

Whereas Centro Cultural Deportivo Dominicano, a social club 

founded in 1966, remains a longstanding pillar of the 

local community, where the sound of traditional merengue tipico continues to expand the cultural roots of the 

Dominican immigrant experience; 

Whereas Alianza Dominicana was a leading Dominican organization in Washington Heights and employed about 350 

individuals, who provided support to victims of domestic 

violence, the elderly, children with special needs, along 


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with alcoholism and drug treatment programs, and represented the families of the Flight 587 tragedy; 

Whereas the Dominican community was heavily involved in 

the advocacy and restoration efforts to bring local parks 

back to life in the 1990s from their state of neglect and 

vandalism, such as High Bridge Park, Inwood Hill Park, 

Riverside Park, and Fort Tryon Park; 

Whereas the legacy of upper Manhattan is being upheld by 

Dominican artists and artists born to immigrant Dominican parents in Washington Heights, who personify the 

blending of dynamic cultures that make up the neighborhood’s identity; 

Whereas Dominican-American artists Lucia Hierro and M. 

Tony Peralta have both been recognized internationally 

for their thought-provoking work exploring the Dominican-American experience in intersecting areas of class, 

culture, identity, and gender; 

Whereas Dominican theater artist Mino Lora cofounded the 

People’s Theater Project, which provides creative youth 

development programs for children growing up in the immigrant communities of upper Manhattan; 

Whereas the story of Alexander Hamilton, founding father of 

Hamilton Heights, was highlighted by Washington 

Heights native and second-generation Puerto Rican LinManuel Miranda in the critically acclaimed Broadway 

show ‘‘Hamilton’’; 

Whereas Lin-Manuel Miranda conceived ‘‘In the Heights’’, 

the Tony award-winning musical set in Washington 

Heights, which incorporated salsa and merengue with rap 

and hip-hop, blending them with more conventional 


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Broadway tropes, to successfully portray the multicultural and Dominican influence in the neighborhood; 

Whereas Alianza Dominicana Cultural Center serves as a hub 

for local artists who enrich northern Manhattan through 

art and the celebration of Dominican and Latin American culture, and this organization promotes literary, performing, and visual arts programs in Washington 

Heights and Inwood that foster the artistic development 

of the neighborhood’s youth; 

Whereas Cayena Publications is a publishing firm based in 

Washington Heights and founded by Mary Ely Pen ̃aGratereaux that shines a light on the immigrant experience by supporting literary works that project a positive 

representation of Dominicans and other Latinos in the 

United States; 

Whereas author and activist Angie Cruz is a native of Washington Heights whose books, ‘‘Soledad’’ and ‘‘Let It Rain 

Coffee’’, highlight the issues of working-class life, gender, 

and race in New York City; 

Whereas the Dominican Film Festival in New York showcases filmmakers from 21 countries including the Dominican Republic who reflect the city’s diverse and multicultural population; 

Whereas the Juan Pablo Duarte Foundation encourages academic excellence via scholarships, along with pride and 

collaboration within the community by hosting the annual 

El Carnaval Del Boulevard on St. Nicholas Avenue from 

181st to 188th Streets; 

Whereas Semana Dominicana en Estados Unidos (Dominican 

Week in the United States) has been celebrated for 25 

years, highlighting the Dominican and United States ties 


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socially and culturally, in addition to economic, commerce, and academic collaboration; 

Whereas the Dominican Day Parade in New York City has 

celebrated the vibrant Dominican heritage through history, traditions, and music since its beginnings in 1982 

on Audubon Avenue, and now attracts thousands of people who gather to enjoy the reverence of Dominican culture on Avenue of the Americas; 

Whereas Dominican Americans have earned their place in 

local and Federal Government, where they have fought to 

uphold the rights and liberties of New York residents and 

the Nation overall; 

Whereas Guillermo Linares became the first Dominican elected to public office in New York City in 1991, who also 

served as President Bill Clinton’s Advisory Commission 

on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans; 

Whereas Adriano Espaillat is the first Dominican immigrant 

to be elected to the New York State Assembly in 1996, 

and the first formerly undocumented person elected to 

the United States Congress in 2016, representing New 

York’s 13th Congressional District which is predominantly Dominican-American; 

Whereas Rolando Acosta was elected as the first DominicanAmerican New York State Supreme Court Justice in 

New York County in 2002; 

Whereas Judge Faviola Soto, who was born and raised in 

Hamilton Heights, was appointed as the first Dominican 

judge in New York in 1993, and was the first Hispanic 

to sit in the Court of Claims in 2006; 

Whereas the character of Hamilton Heights, Washington 

Heights, and Inwood is changing, as the area is underVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:33 Jan 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR63.IH HR63

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going cultural expulsion brought on by gentrification, as 

evidenced by the massive increase in average income in 

recent years; 

Whereas the forces of gentrification have meant that more 

high-income people have begun moving into Hamilton 

Heights, Washington Heights, and Inwood while simultaneously longtime residents have been pushed out, as proven by the fact that there were significantly fewer Hispanic residents in these neighborhoods in 2015; 

Whereas gentrification has meant that upper Manhattan is 

significantly less affordable, and that Hamilton Heights, 

Washington Heights, and Inwood have seen the biggest 

rent increases in all of New York City; 

Whereas high rent is a significant burden on low-income Dominican families, who are also being pushed out of the 

neighborhoods that they have called home for generations; 

Whereas longtime businesses, such as bodegas, have also been 

forced out of Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights, 

and Inwood due to unaffordable rents and the new influx 

of chain stores; 

Whereas Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights, and Inwood 

are defined as the 10031, 10032, 10033, 10034, and 

10040; and 

Whereas referring to Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights, 

and Inwood as Quisqueya Heights, as it has been 

colloquially referred to by the community, honors the contributions of Dominicans to this area, and reinforces the 

identity of the neighborhood: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 


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1 (1) supports the renaming of Hamilton 

2 Heights, Washington Heights, and Inwood to 

3 Quisqueya Heights in collaboration with local offi4 cials to recognize the area as the cultural hub for 

5 Dominican Americans across the Nation; 

6 (2) supports the engagement with Google, 

7 Wikipedia, Global Positioning System applications, 

8 post offices, Metropolitan Transportation Authority 

9 maps, and tourist maps to recognize Hamilton 

10 Heights, Washington Heights, and Inwood as 

11 Quisqueya Heights; 

12 (3) supports the fight against the gentrification 

13 of the neighborhood that is threatening the identity 

14 of Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights, and 

15 Inwood; 

16 (4) opposes the rebranding of the Washington 

17 Heights, and Inwood neighborhoods to Wahi; 

18 (5) recognizes the Dominican community’s con19 tributions to Hamilton Heights, Washington 

20 Heights, and Inwood; and 

21 (6) honors the long-standing history and rich 

22 contributions of Dominican-American elected offi23 cials, artists, small business and bodega owners, 

24 writers, and trailblazers. 

Æ 


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