
Bankruptcy Solutions
The purpose of federal bankruptcy legislation, sometimes known as Title 11 of the United States Code or the “Bankruptcy Code,” is to provide an opportunity for financial reorganization or a fresh start for legitimate debtors who are unable to fulfill their obligations.
Foreclosure Solutions
As you are undoubtedly aware, many homeowners are in arrears on their mortgages as a result of the 2020 recession brought on by the coronavirus. At first, most lenders had been understanding and would have granted a brief suspension of the late payments.
Debt Negotiations & Settlements
Clients regularly hire the Law Office of Ronald D. Weiss, P.C. to represent them in negotiations with banks, mortgage holders, credit card issuers, auto financing providers, landlords, tax authorities, and other creditors.
Mortgage Loan Modifications
The most common strategy used by our firm to prevent a house in severe mortgage arrears from going into foreclosure is a mortgage modification. Mortgage modification and other potential Retention Options are the potential goals of most homeowners in foreclosure because most people experiencing serious hardships with their mortgages are looking for “Retention Options
Credit Card Solutions

Debtor Litigation Defense

Landlord Tenant Solutions

Distressed Real Estate

Student Loan Solutions

Tax Debt Solutions


Dyker Heights is also well-connected by several local New York City Bus routes and two express routes, including the B1, B4, B8, B16, B64, B70, X28, and X38.
For car travel, Dyker Heights is easily accessible via the Belt Parkway and Interstate 278 (Verrazano-Narrows Bridge to Staten Island, Gowanus Expressway, and Brooklyn-Queens Expressway). This comprehensive transportation network offers residents and visitors various options for getting around the neighborhood and beyond.
Early development
Though modern-day Brooklyn is coextensive with Kings County, this was not always the case. South Brooklyn, an area in central Kings County extending to the former Brooklyn city line near Green-Wood Cemetery’s southern border, was originally settled by the Canarsee, one of several indigenous Lenape peoples who farmed and hunted on the land. The Canarsee had several routes that crossed Brooklyn, including a path from Fulton Ferry along the East River that extended southward to Gowanus Creek, South Brooklyn (present-day Sunset Park), and Bay Ridge. The Canarsee traded with other indigenous peoples and, by the early 17th century, also with Dutch and English settlers.
The first European settlement occurred in 1636 when Willem Adriaenszen Bennett and Jacques Bentyn purchased 936 acres (379 ha) between 28th and 60th Streets, in what is now Sunset Park. However, after the land was purchased in the 1640s by Dutch settlers who laid out their farms along the waterfront, the Canarsee were soon displaced and had left Brooklyn by the 18th century. The area comprising modern Sunset Park was divided between two Dutch towns: Brooklyn to the northwest and New Utrecht to the southeast, separated by a boundary that ran diagonally from Seventh Avenue/60th Street to Ninth Avenue/37th Street. The Dutch created long, narrow farms in the area. When New Netherland was conveyed to the English in 1664, the latter improved the waterfront pathway in the town of Brooklyn as part of a Gowanus (Coast) Road, which ran southwest to an east-west trail called Martense’s Lane, then southward to the boundary with New Utrecht. These roads would be used during the American Revolutionary War in the Battle of Long Island.
During the American Revolution, the area was mostly owned by the descendants of Hans Hansen Bergen, an early immigrant from Norway. They owned two homesteads, the DeHart-Bergen House close to 37th Street and the Johannes Bergen House around 55th Street; the former was used by the British during the Revolution. Additionally, the Bergens owned several slaves, as indicated in the 1800 United States Census, where 19 slaves and 8 free non-whites were recorded living at the two Bergen houses. After New York abolished slavery in 1827, there were 55 African Americans living in the area. Similar to Dutch farms, the farms in modern Sunset Park occupied long, narrow plots.
19th century
Early growth and transit hub
Brooklyn became urbanized in the 19th century, with many people choosing to live in Brooklyn and commute to Manhattan, leading to residential development spreading outward from Brooklyn Heights. Present-day Sunset Park, several miles away from Brooklyn Heights, was still primarily agricultural in the 1830s and remained so until the mid-19th century. Among the few houses in the region was Kent Castle, a Gothic Revival villa on present-day 59th Street.
After Brooklyn was incorporated as a city in 1834, the Commissioners’ Plan of 1839 was devised, extending a street plan to South Brooklyn. What would become Sunset Park was incorporated into the Eighth Ward of the city of Brooklyn, which at the time was the city’s least populous ward. Sunset Park did not have its own name until the 20th century; the neighborhoods in southern Brooklyn, including Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, and Bath Beach, were collectively referred to as a single area. The first major development in the region was Green-Wood Cemetery, which opened in 1840 near the boundary of South Brooklyn and Bay Ridge and quickly became a popular tourist attraction. By 1870, the first frame row houses were constructed in the Eighth Ward, ultimately replacing the detached wooden houses in the area.
Transit to South Brooklyn began with the establishment of a ferry service to the cemetery in 1846. The Brooklyn City Railroad, founded in 1853, started offering stagecoach service from Fulton Ferry to destinations such as Bay Ridge. Subsequently, several excursion railroads were built from South Brooklyn to the resort areas of Coney Island, Brighton Beach, and Manhattan Beach. These included the Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Rail Road, the New York, Bay Ridge and Jamaica Railroad, and the New York and Sea Beach Railroad. A ferry pier and railroad terminal, popular as a transfer point for those traveling to Coney Island, was built in the 1870s. The 39th Street Ferry started traveling to the Battery Maritime Building in Manhattan in 1887, followed two years later by the opening of the Fifth Avenue elevated train line in the neighborhood. Following the establishment of the ferry, the Eighth Ward finally became a desirable place to live.
Sunset Park is divided into two neighborhood tabulation areas, Sunset Park West and Sunset Park East, which together make up the population of Sunset Park. According to the 2010 United States Census, the population of Sunset Park was 126,381, an increase of 7,919 (6.3%) from the 118,462 counted in 2000. Covering an area of 1,854.8 acres (750.6 ha), the neighborhood had a population density of 68.1 inhabitants per acre (43,600/sq mi; 16,800/km²). The racial makeup of the neighborhood in 2019 was estimated to be 34.8% Asian, 3.9% Black, 35.6% Hispanic, and 23.7% White.
The entirety of Community Board 7 had 132,721 inhabitants as of NYC Health’s 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 82.6 years. This is higher than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are middle-aged adults and youth: 22% are between the ages of 0 and 17, 39% between 25 and 44, and 21% between 45 and 64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, both at 9%.
As of 2016, the median household income in Community Board 7 was $56,787. In 2018, an estimated 29% of Sunset Park residents lived in poverty, compared to 21% in all of Brooklyn and 20% in all of New York City. One in twelve residents (8%) was unemployed, compared to 9% in the rest of both Brooklyn and New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 57% in Sunset Park, higher than the citywide and boroughwide rates of 52% and 51%, respectively. Based on this calculation, as of 2018, Sunset Park is considered to be gentrifying.

The areas west of Third Avenue are primarily zoned for light industrial use, housing factories, cargo storage, and other industrial buildings. In contrast, the areas east of Third Avenue, as well as a small area west of Third Avenue between 54th and 57th Streets, are zoned for low-rise residential buildings, including row houses and short apartment structures. Commercial areas are generally limited to the ground floors of buildings on Third, Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, and Eighth Avenues. Additionally, light industrial zoning is present south of 61st and 62nd Streets.
Residential stock
The neighborhood’s “brownstone belt” features homes with facades made of brownstone, sandstone, limestone, iron, and ornamental stone-brick, though the majority of homes in Sunset Park are faced with brick. Developed mostly between 1892 and 1910 following earlier frame house development, this area is dominated by two-story-above-basement, bayed row houses, which were designed as “inexpensive imitations of the stately four- and five-story townhouses of Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens, Fort Greene, and Park Slope.” While their facades were similar to the less expensive tier of one-family row houses elsewhere in Brooklyn, most of these structures were actually built as two-family residences. Additionally, several low-rise apartment buildings were erected in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, both types intended for the neighborhood’s middle-class residents.
The two-family row houses came in two types. The cheaper row houses contained an undesignated English basement and one unit on each of the first (or stoop-level) and second floors. The more expensive row houses had a subterranean cellar, a raised, ground-level basement, and a first (or parlor) floor as a single triplex unit, with the second floor as another unit.
Although many row houses have shed internal architectural elements of the era, they continue to encompass a substantial portion of the residential stock between Fourth and Sixth Avenues south of 40th Street. However, brownstone rows exist as far north as 420-424 36th Street and as far east as 662 56th Street, while several bayed brick rows (notably exemplified by 240-260 45th Street) are situated south of Fourth Avenue, where wood frame and frame-brick houses dating from the earliest development in the area remain prevalent. While these houses retained their polychrome facades and other Victorian-era design flourishes (similar to the “painted ladies” of San Francisco) as late as 1940, most have been clad in vinyl siding and Formstone for decades.

From 1990 to 2018, the 72nd Precinct saw a 79.1% decrease in crime across all categories. In 2018, the precinct reported 2 murders, 32 rapes, 185 robberies, 209 felony assaults, 153 burglaries, 468 grand larcenies, and 77 grand larcenies auto.
As of 2018, preterm births and births to teenage mothers are less common in Sunset Park than citywide. There were 27 preterm births per 1,000 live births in Sunset Park (compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide) and 7.9 births to teenage mothers per 1,000 live births (compared to 19.3 per 1,000 citywide) . However, Sunset Park has a relatively high population of residents who are uninsured or receive healthcare through Medicaid, with an estimated 22% of residents being uninsured in 2018, compared to the citywide rate of 12% .
The concentration of fine particulate matter, the deadliest type of air pollutant, in Sunset Park is 0.0085 milligrams per cubic meter, higher than both citywide and boroughwide averages . Twelve percent of Sunset Park residents are smokers, slightly lower than the city average of 14% . In terms of chronic health conditions, 24% of residents are obese, 11% are diabetic, and 27% have high blood pressure, compared to citywide averages of 24%, 11%, and 28% respectively . Additionally, 18% of children in Sunset Park are obese, compared to the citywide average of 20% .
Eighty-seven percent of residents consume some fruits and vegetables every day, which matches the city’s average of 87%. In 2018, 74% of residents rated their health as “good,” “very good,” or “excellent,” which is lower than the city average of 78% . For every supermarket in Sunset Park, there are 45 bodegas .
The neighborhood is served by several hospitals and medical clinics, the largest of which is NYU Langone Hospital – Brooklyn. Maimonides Medical Center is located in nearby Borough Park.


Sunset Park features several architecturally significant religious institutions. St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church, an early Romanesque structure designed by Raymond F. Almirall, is located on Fourth Avenue at 42nd Street and was built between 1903 and 1905. Another notable church is Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the largest church in Brooklyn, situated on Fifth Avenue between 59th and 60th Streets. Founded in 1893-1894, the current building was completed in the 1920s. This church reflects the large Catholic population that originally settled in Sunset Park. Additionally, at least five churches in Sunset Park are designed in the Neo-Gothic style.
Further north is the Parish of St. Rocco, a Roman Catholic parish housed in a former Norwegian Lutheran church on 27th Street. The Church of Our Lady of Czestochowa-St. Casimir, located nearby on 25th Street, is another Roman Catholic parish; its red-brick building was designed in 1904 by John Ryan in the Gothic style.
Sunset Park generally exhibits a lower ratio of college-educated residents compared to the rest of the city as of 2018. While 30% of residents aged 25 and older have a college education or higher, 41% have less than a high school education, and 29% are high school graduates or have some college education. In contrast, 40% of Brooklynites and 38% of city residents have a college education or higher.
The percentage of Sunset Park students excelling in reading and math has been on the rise, with reading achievement increasing from 44% in 2000 to 54% in 2011, and math achievement rising from 39% to 67% during the same period.
Moreover, Sunset Park’s rate of elementary school student absenteeism is lower than the rest of New York City, with only 9% of elementary school students missing twenty or more days per school year, compared to the citywide average of 20%. Additionally, 75% of high school students in Sunset Park graduate on time, which is equal to the citywide average of 75%.
According to the Minnesota Population Center’s 2011–2015 analysis of the American Community Survey, the most common language spoken at home in Community District 7 was Spanish, followed by English and Chinese.
Contact Us
Contact Us