The County Clerk for the Bronx is Hector Diaz; the Clerk for Queens is
Gloria D'Amico. Each borough of New York City is an individual county,
although the names of the counties are not always the same as the names of
the boroughs. Since New York is unique in the way that it is organized, I
think that it will be helpful for everyone to understand just how New York
City IS put together.
There are five boroughs to the city. Each borough operates in effect as if
it were an independent city. The five boroughs are: the Bronx (Bronx
County); Queens (Queens County); Brooklyn (Kings County); Manhattan (New
York County); and Staten Island (Richmond County). The odd makeup of New
York City is a historical accident stemming from the fact that in 1897 the
City of New York annexed most of its suburbs. New York was originally
Manhattan. The western section of the Bronx was annexed early in the 19th
century, and the eastern section of the Bronx came into the city in 1895.
Brooklyn was a separate city, which was the fourth largest city in the
United States (and still is, if considered separately). Brooklyn had
already annexed all of its suburbs in Kings County. It merged with New York
in 1897, and Queens (which was a suburban area) and Staten Island (which had
some commuters, but was basically a rural area) came along in the formation
of the new structure.
Even today, almost all city services are done on a borough-by-borough basis.
This includes schools, police, fire, and libraries. The same is true of
non-profit agencies and even some commercial enterprises. The New York
Public Library covers the boroughs of the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten
Island, as those sections did not have a public library when the New York
Public Library was formed in 1895. Since the City of Brooklyn and the
County of Queens had their own public libraries, they kept them. Today, the
New York Public Library is a non-profit agency (not a part of city
government); the Brooklyn Public Library is part of the Borough government
of Brooklyn, and the Queens Borough Public Library is a unit of the
government of Queens County.
Each borough is headed by a borough president, who wields the type of power
that is generally associated with a strong mayor in other cities. For
example, the Bronx Borough President is Fernando (Freddy) Ferrer. There
does not really exist much of a county government, although Queens has some
functions that are at the county level.
One warning: mail addressed to New York, NY will go to Manhattan. If you
are writing to someone in the Bronx, the mail must be addressed to either
Bronx, NY or Riverdale, NY (depending on which section you are sending to).
Letters to Brooklyn and Staten Island should read Brooklyn, New York, and
Staten Island, NY, respectively. The difficulty is that letters addressed
to Queens are NOT addressed as Queens, NY! Because of the formerly suburban
character of the borough, each individual section is recognized by the U.S.
Post Office as being separate. For example, letters to JFK Airport would go
to Jamaica, NY. Some popular areas include: Flushing, Astoria, Whitestone,
Ozone Park, Forrest Hills, Middle Village, and Kew Gardens. Each of those
areas would be addressed by its name.
Greetings from the Bronx!
At 10:47 PM 3/4/96 -0500, you wrote:
>I need to know what county the Bronx and Queens are in. I also need the
>county clerks' addresses and phone numbers.
>
>Thank you!
>
>Joan Wilson
>
**********************************************************************
--Bryan M. Carson, J.D., M.I.L.S.
Assistant Branch Librarian
New York Public Library, Castle Hill Library
PHONE: 718-824-3838 (work) 718-325-9680 (home)
FAX: Same (call first) Same (call first)
E-MAIL: Castle__hill@nypl.org bcarson@cris.com OR
bcarson@mail.concentric.net
"Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or
we know where we can find information upon it."
--Samuel Johnson
**********************************************************************
All opinions expressed are my own and not my employer's. All original
content (c) 1996 Bryan M. Carson. All rights reserved.
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