The New New York.(interpretation of census data on city with specific attention to its immigrants)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)

"There are roughly three New Yorks," E. B. White wrote in his slender paean to the city, "Here Is New York": the city of the native, "who accepts its size and its turbulence as natural and inevitable"; the city of the commuter, "devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night," and the city of the immigrant, who "came to New York in quest of something." Of those, White found this last New York--rich with dreams, fueled by striving, promising renewal--to be far and away the greatest. He credited immigrants with creating New York's energy, its lyricism, its soaring achievement and its endless capacity for change. "Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness; natives give it solidity and continuity; but the settlers give it passion," he wrote.

That was back in 1949, when people of European descent made up 91 percent of the city's population. Today it is truer than ever, with the newest settlers bringing plenty of salsa and spice along with their passion. It is no coincidence that New York has only grown larger, lovelier and livelier as its share of immigrants has increased. According to the latest Census figures, the population of New York City--consisting of the five boroughs of Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Staten Island--has topped 8 million for the first time. And that is due largely to an influx of new immigrants, mainly from Asia and Latin America; the number of Mexicans in the city, for instance, has grown 236 percent since 1990, and the number of Indians 118 percent. Indeed, the 2000 Census data show that whites now make up 35 percent of the population (compared with 42 percent in 1990), Hispanics 27 percent (up from 25 percent), blacks 25 percent (down from 26 percent) and Asians 10 percent (up from 7 percent).

New York's debt to immigrants has become almost a cliche. Since Ellis Island was established as a center for new arrivals in 1892, millions of people have sought the shelter of Lady Liberty, fleeing poverty, famine, war and persecution overseas. They literally and figuratively built New York, from the skyscrapers and dockyards to the corner delis and garment factories. They brought their native foods and religions, customs and clothing, which New York graciously absorbed. But those immigrants built the city inward and upward, and few ever ventured off the cramped, self-contained island of Manhattan.

The new immigrants are different. They are heading not for Manhattan, but for the more remote outer boroughs--chiefly Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx--where housing is cheaper, job opportunities abound and there are plenty of derelict neighborhoods ripe for re-vitalization. According to the new Census, while Manhattan's population grew only 3 percent between 1990 and 2000, the populations of Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Staten Island rose more substantially. Queens gained the most, with 278,000 people, or about 14 percent of the population; Brooklyn added 165,000 people, or 7 percent; the Bronx grew by 129,000 people, or 11 percent, and Staten Island, traditionally the most homogeneous borough, gained 65,000 people, or 17 percent. They couldn't have ...