Gothamist: Brooklyn Demographic Fun!

Palaverist

Mon, 21 Nov 2005 16:51:12 -0500

One thing that the stats imply, but don't say explicitly, is that the presence of Islam in Brooklyn has increased sharply. There are now nearly 36,000 Arabs in Brooklyn, and while not all Arabs are Muslim, it's safe to guess that a high percentage are. There's also been an increase in sub-Saharan Africans, many of whom are Muslim, and of Carribeans and Asians, of whom some meaningful percentage are most likely Muslim. That's why you find so many more Halal restaurants than you used to, like Cafe Kashkar in Brighton Beach.

Samantha

Sun, 20 Nov 2005 13:22:29 -0500

Larry Littlefield, I read Gothamist comments all the time, but yours was a particularly well formed one. I'm curious to know what you think will happen to the suburbs as they become poorer. Will that become the new focus of crime (i.e. parts of michigan surrounding Detroit, other areas of the midwest). Bottom line, where are the poor people in new york headed to (within the tri-state area)?

Larry Littlefield

Sun, 20 Nov 2005 12:31:17 -0500

The big picture is this. As in all metros, there is a wave of passed-down housing in the New York Metro gradually left by the middle class and wealthier (who can afford new homes) to those less well off. It typically happens when housing hits about 50 years old. There are still some parts of Brooklyn where this is taking place, but it had happened in most of the borough by 1980. Since then it has been Queens, then Staten Island, and now some older suburbs have been getting relatively poorer. In New York, there is a second wave of gentrification moving out from the center, beginning with the eastern half of the Upper East Side in the 1940s and 1950s, followed by the Upper West Side, the Village, the rest of Manhattan, Brownstone Brooklyn, etc. People who can afford to rehab and replace housing, once again the middle class and affluent, are rebuilding neighborhoods that had fallen into disrepair. This wave keeps moving along as well. More and more of Brooklyn is behind it. The first wave moves in real estate busts, the second in real estate booms. Thus, in real estate booms (like now) the working poor have trouble finding neighborhoods they can afford. The older suburbs will probably become significantly poorer in the next real estate bust, unless they are really upscale (Scarsdale, Garden City).