There were a few big take-aways from the latest controversial Census data: even though non-white Hispanics are now a minority, they are still pushing other ethnicities to the outer boroughs; and that NYC has become the most ethnically diverse city, reflecting a trend throughout the whole country. So now diversity is here to stay, whether some people like it or not: “Some of the residents here were so concerned about blacks moving in, they didn’t even notice the influx of Asians,” said Nick Venezia, manager of Ben Bay Realty Co. in Brooklyn.
“Almost half of Los Angeles’ population is Hispanic, but in New York there’s no group that has that same monopoly. New York has a history of being kind of an assimilator of different groups," said William Frey, a senior fellow and demographer at Brookings in Washington. “ And it seems that Brooklyn is Patient Zero for examining the changing face of diversity in NYC. Bloomberg News took a closer look at Dyker Heights in particular, to see how it changed since the 2000 Census.
The diversity gauge of Dyker Heights, a neighborhood of 42,419 people long dominated by Italian-Americans, almost tripled from 9.4 in 2000 to 26.2 a decade later. And the most marked change was in the increase in Asians in the neighborhood. Resident Paul Mak, president of the Brooklyn Chinese-American Association, explained how as the older generation of Italian residents have begun to leave or die out, new Asian residents have taken their place, marking the way of the future: "For many who arrive here from China, their first home is a small apartment in a crowded neighborhood. When they are able to purchase a home, Dyker Heights represents a neighborhood with schools which is near to all the shops and Chinese supermarkets and people of their own culture."
