The End of White Flight?
Since 1940, “white flight” has affected the city’s demographics, not to mention its real estate market; every year, the population of white, non-Hispanic residents in the inner city decreased. That is, until the turn of this century. The NY Times reports that since 2000, 100,000 non-Hispanic whites have returned to the city, and half of…
Since 1940, “white flight” has affected the city’s demographics, not to mention its real estate market; every year, the population of white, non-Hispanic residents in the inner city decreased. That is, until the turn of this century. The NY Times reports that since 2000, 100,000 non-Hispanic whites have returned to the city, and half of that increase occurred between 2006 and 2007. Experts call the shift a “harbinger of racial equilibrium” and a testament to “diversity and ethnic heterogeneity.” For some, of course, such shifts signal an undertone of gentrification; it’s not always good news. And some of those folks returning from the ‘burbs work in the financial industry, lured by family-friendly, high-end projects that are sometimes seen as gated communities within the city; no one’s sure if they’ll stay as the economy sours. Still, the census findings reveal a strong city — stronger, in fact than some of the suburbs. The percentage of folks paying more than 30% of income on rent/mortgage dropped in NYC; it rose in the suburbs.
White Flight Has Reversed, Census Finds [NY Times]
Photo by thunderhoof
newbie: I am not a Republican. I am also not a knee-jerking racist like you. We are in a class war and – despite what you think – class is not determined by the color of the skin but by income. There are plenty of whites who are poor or middle class who suffer from the same problems as all poor and middle class people in this country regardless of color. Your inability to understand that not all whites are rich and not all blacks are poor is a painful simplification of reality. You need to get out more.
Oh DOW …
“Whites move out by choice if they don’t want diversity. Blacks are forced out economically whether they want to stay or not.”
That is a fallacy. You, like newbie, are pretty clueless. You too need to get out more.
newbie12222 what are you referring to? i just read 11233 post @ 1:08 and it seems correct. i bought a brownstone in cobble hill in the mid-90’s and he is accurately depicting the environment at that time.
Again, 11233, I was responding to the question @ 10:25. Here it is:
“How come when whites move to a non-white neighborhood, it is considered gentrification and when non-whites move to a white neighborhood, it is considered diversification?”
The black and white boil-down was covertly embedded into the question. I used the term “indigenous” loosely to mean the long-time residents displaced. Your Italian/Non-Italian scenario has no application to the question. By and large, the non-Italians who recently moved into CG are most certainly NOT non-white.
Here’s a clue for you: I DO NOT DISAGREE THAT WHITES CAN BE GENTRIFIED AS WELL.
the article doesn’t address at all who the “new whiteys” are or where they’re coming from. shillstoner, do you have any data to support that it’s college grads and not-previously-suburban transplants from other parts of the country? and if that does account for the shift, why are more of them coming to NYC than they previously did?
Brownstoner refers to “those folks returning from the ‘burbs” but the article does not state that anyone is moving from the burbs or that the number of whites in the burrbs has declined at all. I think someone already made the point that these new whiteys are college grads and people from around the country.
Sorry…My post above dealt specifically with Bed Stuy
If you honestly believe that 11233 then I guess we’re only undergoing “mental recession” and racism ceased to exist since 21st America is all going be about class struggle. You must be a RepubliKKKlan.
I think it would be wrong to characterize the influx of younger people as “displacing” entrenched homeowners. A lot of the properties turning over are “investor owned” and it seems that the majority of those being sold that are “owner occupied” are estate sales and folks moving to a retirement residence elsewhere in the country.
Of the people new to the neighborhood, it seems to me to be about 60% black and 40% white..a few Asians moving in as well. If anything, the number of younger blacks moving in might be higher.
Nothing earth-shattering or noteworthy in the shifting demographics over here.
Indigenous residents? Are you taking Native Americans, DOW?
Here is a clue, DOW, when non-Italians moved into CG, they were replacing indigenous residents, a.k.a. old-time Italian-Americans. You may not believe it, but this was an issue for some of them. So nice of you to disregard it.
Nothing about this article talks about gentrification or whites displacing blacks. It is really telling that some have this knee-jerk reaction.
As “i disagree” put it, there are lots of scenarios in which one group moves into a neighborhood and others leave. To boil it down to black vs. white and assume that all blacks suffered because of the changes shows a lack of knowledge and personal experience about how this city works and has worked since the first Europeans arrived.