Shifting demographics in the City(link)

[LizellaJacket]

NY Times Article

Heres a Bugmenot link , so you dont have to register with them.

Nice article. Looks like while the suburnban areas are increasing their prescence of minorities, the city is in a reverse trend.

[Newnan]

I never thought I'd live to see the day!

[Martinman]

I can't believe Atlanta is just 54% black already. I thought it might be around 50% by 2010. Man this city is changing daily!

[LizellaJacket]

I think one day int he next 10-15 years, you're gonna see the city being around 50% white, 40% black, 10% other. While Cobb is going to shift to around 60-40 white and Gwinnett will probably be 40% Mexican, 30% white and 30% black. Things they are a changing.

[Andrea]

I can't believe Atlanta is just 54% black already.

This article makes me wonder if somebody at the New York Times is reading this forum. On December 7 of last year I posted:

It's interesting to note how the demographics of the city are changing. Between 2000 and 2004, the percentage of African Americans residents dropped from 61% to 54%, while whites increased from 33% to 39%. That's narrowing the black/white gap from 28 percentage points to 15 points in just 4 years.

I certainly don't suggest that people vote strictly along racial lines because they obviously don't. Nonetheless, it doesn't seem impossible that the racial balance in the city's population might continue to narrow, or even that whites become the majority in the relatively near future. If that happens, would it have any bearing on mayoral or council politics?

[SBrown]

Don't forget Clayton county: That is where many african-americans from the city of Atlanta are moving. It could easily be 85% black, 10% hispanic and 5% white within ten years. You also forgot the growing Hispanic population in good ol' CornCobb county: Cobb will probably even out to 40% black, 15% hispanic and 45% white within 10 years. By then it will be completely built out. There are already run-down slummy areas in Smyrna being torn down to make room for McMansions and townhouses. You also have to throw Asians into the mix in Gwinnett county, I know they are colonizing Duluth and Suwanee in droves.

[Newnan]

Those demographic changes are pretty drastic. I think that could happen to those counties, but not so soon

[SBrown]

10 years seems like long enough to me. Think about where we were in 1996!

[Newnan]

where were we in 96?

[charlotte_bon_vivant]

The change in demographics in Atlanta metro had long since been predicted. When white residents began moving intown in the late 80s, I think people didn't forsee any great changes. However by the 90s, when we began to see the popularity of those gentrified neighborhoods (with gentrification spreading to other areas) it became clear the demographics were going to change. Couple that with the housing authority's public/private partnership with developers causing poor and black residents to practically be ousted from the city, you're going to see a whiter Atlanta. Not only are racial demographics changing, but economic demographics as well. More and more of the black populace are upper middle class and above. I do believe those changes are key to Atlanta's stagnant growth. Atlanta isn't so much losing residents as it is exchanging them...