NYC's shifting demographics, and the vanishing middle class

I'm catching up on some news...The Times noted that for the first time since the 1970s, a majority of Manhattan's population is non-Hispanic white. According to census figures examined by the paper, the white share of the population rose to 51 percent last year from 40 percent in the 1990s. The rest of the borough's residents were 24 percent Hispanic, 14 percent black and 11 percent Asian.

Per the Times:

Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, expressed concern that the "conflation of luxury development and good strong public housing stock" means that "that the borough is becoming a place for very, very wealthy people and enclaves for poor people and that middle-income people are finding it impossible to stay here."

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Of course the people we really want to leave just won't

From the Times today: "New York City lost less population to other states in the 12 months ending July 1, 2008, than during any year in decades, according to census figures released Thursday. If that trend continues, the city’s population will top 8.4 million in 2010."

However, these figures don't represent all the job losses that hit in the latter stages of last year. Still, we can make it a trends piece!

“This is new, a real deviation from the average,” said New York City’s chief demographer, Joseph J. Salvo. “Whether it’s a trend is another thing.”

The latest census estimate did not reflect the decline in private-sector jobs in the city late last year.

Dr. Salvo, the director of the Department of City Planning’s population division, said, “When you take a look at the conditions in the rest of the country and what has happened to the housing and economic market in a lot of places our migrants have gone to, it’s very tempting to conclude that perhaps people are staying put more because the opportunities that were afforded there are not there any longer or are no longer attractive.”

In any event! Shall we start a list of people we wish would leave the city? I'll start with the guy on the bus talking on his cellphone about the lack of good golf courses in the city.