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The news that all Blacks are leavin is new to me. Surprising. I thought West Indians were still filling parts of this city up. Guess not and it makes sense. The city is too damn expensive. NYC is not good for Blacks anyway.
African Americans are leaving at a faster rate than West Indians are coming, I guess. West Indians aren't coming in large numbers, either, just enough to be considered growing.
I believe the opposite of Hustla. I believe if people of color, like Hispanics, begin to shy away from the city, as well as start to move away, there will be a resurgence of the white population, as formerly "off limits" areas will become far more desireable.
As people of color exit these communities, it will be a clear opportunity for investors and white's to reclaim neighborhoods and make significant inroads in colonizing the city once again. The city will in fact become whiter should people of color move...population would decrease, but it will be a signal for those more affluent to step back in and make money/reclaim neighborhoods.
I just wanted to post this two interesting articles about the two new biggest hispanic groups in NYC, the Dominicans and the Mexicans.
Dominicans reshaping ethnic power structure
Population growth, education position group to challenge Puerto Rican lead
By Tommy Fernandez
Published on January 02, 2006
Meet New York's future: 30-something Aristalia Rodriguez.
Ms. Rodriguez was 8 years old when her family moved to the Bronx from the Dominican Republic. She quickly mastered English and displayed a talent for academics. She went on to earn her bachelor's degree from New York University, then climbed the career ladder to become director of financial aid at Hunter College.
"Many of us Dominicans are now getting educated," says Ms. Rodriguez, who is working toward a master's degree in economics. "We want to be successful here, and with these advanced degrees in our back pockets, we're making this city our world.
The city's Dominican community--estimated at 600,000 to 650,000 people--is fast gaining business and political clout. Outpacing all other Latino groups in population growth, Dominicans are redrawing ethnic power lines and even starting to challenge the entrenched dominance of Puerto Ricans.
"This is a group that is emerging on a variety of fronts," says city immigrant affairs Commissioner Guillermo Linares. "They are becoming well-integrated within New York's economic engine." Mr. Linares was the first Dominican elected to public office in the United States, winning a City Council seat in 1991. He was appointed to his current post by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2004.
From groceries to stocks
New York Dominicans, most of whom are immigrants or their children, operate more than 7,000 bodegas and 300 restaurants, including hot spots Umbrella and Hispaniola. They boast two City Council members (Diana Reyna, Brooklyn, and Miguel Martinez, Queens) and two legislators in Albany (Adriano Espaillat and Jose Peralta).
Their rise has followed a path traveled by other immigrant groups. Dominicans began to come to New York in force in the 1960s and 1970s, and their success here has benefited their families back home. Dominicans send back $2 billion a year--equivalent to 10% of the Caribbean nation's gross domestic product.
More than 20% of Dominicans have earned at least a bachelor's degree, compared with 13.1% for all other Hispanic groups combined, according to a 2004 report by the Migration Policy Institute. One professional group, Dominicans on Wall Street, boasts 200-plus members working at Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Bear Stearns and other powerhouses.
Dominicans carved out one of their first economic inroads in the grocery business, opening legions of bodegas and local supermarkets in the 1980s and 1990s. They now own more than 400 supermarkets in the five boroughs, with total annual sales of $2 billion. Many are expanding their operations or entering other states, including Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.
"We saw opportunities where the big chains saw only decay and abandonment," says Luis Salcedo, executive director of the National Supermarkets Association. "We worked very hard--16-hour days and more--and succeeded."
Dominicans' growing number and upward mobility has made them important swing voters.
"The political power of the Dominican community is growing very quickly," says Cid Wilson, president of the Washington-based Dominican American National Roundtable. "It is only a matter of time before you see a Dominican borough president and members of Congress."
Puerto Ricans, whose first big migration to New York was in the 1950s, are still the predominant Latino group. The community is larger than any other contingent, and boasts three former and current borough presidents, including former Bronx chief Fernando Ferrer, who won the Democratic nomination for mayor but lost the general election to Mr. Bloomberg.
"Puerto Rican political power in this city is still extremely strong," Mr. Wilson says.
Big ambitions
The scales are clearly starting to tilt, however. Witness the increased commercial attention that New York's Dominican community is drawing.
American Airlines and JetBlue Airways are expanding their service to and from the island. Aerodom, the consortium that runs the Dominican Republic's five major airports, is trying to spur demand in New York for specialty agricultural products. Leonel Fernández, the president of the Dominican Republic, grew up in the Bronx and has established three agencies to strengthen ties with the city's business community.
Perhaps one of the splashiest efforts to tap the Dominican market is being realized on the baseball diamond.
The New York Mets, led by General Manager Omar Minaya, a Dominican immigrant, now boast six Dominican players and executives. After launching a Spanish-language media campaign at the start of the 2005 season, the team sold 5,000 more tickets per game when star pitcher Pedro Martinez took the mound.
And Dominicans show no signs of tempering their ambitions in the Big Apple.
"There is no way anyone is going to stop us now," says Mr. Salcedo of the supermarket association. "We're going to keep trying and keep trying and succeed the right way, like everyone else in America."
This story was reported by Rolando Pujol and Marlene Peralta and was written by Pujol
June 12, 2007
When Geraldo Sanchez left Mexico 12 years ago, he said farewell to his parents and siblings -- and his graphic-designer aspirations -- to begin an arduous life in the United States, all to keep his struggling relatives afloat back home.
Moderator cut: do not reposts copyrighted articles
Agreed..I think the real story will be the Mexicans overtaking the city. I live in Mott Haven and what you commonly see are Mexicans walking around with 4 young kids...this is certianly not an anomoloy but an indication of the future of this city.
They're not going to overtake the city, but they'll certainly have much more sway than they do now (which is next to nothing). This just means that Puerto Ricans and Blacks will continue to have less political power as their numbers decline and it gets divided up between them, the Dominicans, and the Mexicans.
I believe the opposite of Hustla. I believe if people of color, like Hispanics, begin to shy away from the city, as well as start to move away, there will be a resurgence of the white population, as formerly "off limits" areas will become far more desireable.
As people of color exit these communities, it will be a clear opportunity for investors and white's to reclaim neighborhoods and make significant inroads in colonizing the city once again. The city will in fact become whiter should people of color move...population would decrease, but it will be a signal for those more affluent to step back in and make money/reclaim neighborhoods.
Interesting choice of words--"colonizing the city once again." and "reclaiming neighborhoods." Kind of a territorial imperative/manifest destiny kinda thing.
Yes, I agree. This seems the most probable scenario to me. But that doesn't make it all hunky dory IMO.
The whites move into the city, the whites move out to the 'burbs, the blacks/Hispanics move into the city, they move out to the burbs, the whites "reclaim" their former "colonies" in the city. Maybe like Hustla says it'll take a reversal, but I don't anticipate a reversal anytime soon, unless we all get blown to smithereens and then it won't much matter. At least in the Bronx I'm a little further from Ground Zero.
Like Hustla says, the Bronx may be an exception. I hope so. I don't think an all white ghetto is any more socially "healthy" than an all-black/Hispanic one.
I found a Brooklyn blog (one of many) which describes some of the social problems in the "white ghetto" of Park Slope. Kids are trying to one-up each other in terms of status symbols. My toy is better than your's, I live in a better building than you do, my dad OWNS that building and you could never get in, etc. etc. Truly nauseating.
Funny thing is, when I go to the city, I see tons of screaming spoiled white brats. In the Bronx, I rarely hear this. Somehow parents here seem to know how to parent their children--though of couse this can change when they become teens. But white teens can go bad too from being so damn spoiled by their yuppy parents, whose snobbery and sense of entitlement is like a inherited disease they pass onto their kids. Then it's sex parties, raiding mom's pharmaceuticals, etc etc. Only difference is their mom may take them to the doc to get fitted for diaphragms so they don't get pregnant til they get married, pop out kids, get divorced, remarried, pop out more kids....
Sorry, I'm on a rampage here today. But I hate the fact that the city is, was, and may well always be so completely segregated. Whites seem to fear a brown or black face to such an extreme...hey, who cares where the poor go, push 'em all out again, they've had their turn, here we come to "reclaim" our "turf"!
Rude & Materialistic Kids in Park Slope?!?!
The GL inbox is smoking with some emails passed on to us about (a). tough little ones at the Harmony Playground in Prospect Park and (b). the Slope's pint-sized, brand-conscious materialists. We begin with the playground tough kids:
I have just moved within Park Slope, and Harmony is now our closest playground. My son loves it there, but we went this afternoon, and being a weekend of course, it was packed. It was to the point where it was stressful for me being there. There were a lot of big kids playing with a football... which hit me ( I'm 6 months pregnant by the way). There were kids running through the playground, pushing my poor 3 year old out of the way, and one child even kicked my son (no sign of that toddlers parents), while many kids pushed past him while he very patiently waited his turn on the slide.
Obviously it's a popular place which everyone has a right to go to, but I also feel that my son and I have a right to play there safely. He shouldn't be disadvantaged because he has nice manners. I want him to be able to interact with other kids, and learn to deal with the bigger kids, but I also want to be able to have fun with him while we are there, instead of stressing about losing him in the crowd, or him
getting pushed around.
From there, we move on to the brand conscious Slope Spawn. The perpetrators are 6 & 7, the victim is four:
We were on our way back from a great afternoon in Prospect park and my son was happily gliding downhill on his "Like-a-bike" type bike that happens to be made by another brand when the above group of boys came streaking down the street on scooters and started yelling "fake bike! fake! fake bike!" at him. At first my husband and I thought they were yelling "brake!" in a harmless attempt to mimic our warnings that he slow down as he occasionally picked up speed. It took us a while to figure out what they were even talking about as the trailed my son, circling around him for several blocks. Luckily my son, who is extremely pleased and proud of his hard won mastery of the bike, was in his own happy gliding world and didn't even notice. I have also recently heard a story about a new kindergartener at [PS] 321 who came home crying about being excluded by a group of girls for not having the right, specific brand shoes!!! At 5!!!
This early awareness of brands is so upsetting. I know this a a heavily commercialized and saturated environment but we have to work hard to instill good values in our children and counter the effects of such commercialism. I find these stories to be utterly disgusting and feel disheartened with the neighborhood. This is not the park slope I grew up in, and would want to raise my child in. Who are these people???
There is also follow-up explanation about:
friends with kids at [PS] 321 who have been ostracized for not having a country home!! Another friends 4th grade son was asked about renovation! And whether they rent or own. This stuff is real and it is happening and I think we as parents should take responsibility for our children's values.
Elvira I chose that word specifically, not because it was referencing whites, but it seems that is what happens when new groups enter communities: The Jews in the Bronx 60 years ago, the Puerto Ricans 40 years ago, the Hippies in Williamsburg today, etc....it is the American way.
Whether the Bronx will be recolonized by whites is up for debate, however it certianly does not seem likely anytime in the next 5 years..but who knows. Everything is all about the money, so as rents continue to grow, Landlords will try their best to get tenants who have the money to afford the ever increasing rents......and it typically is not poor arrivals from Latin America or the underclass that inhabits so much of the city....so who knows.
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