Saturday, April 5, 2014

How many more people can we absorb?

From the Queens Chronicle:

Queens County is growing, and the population of the borough is nearing an all-time high of 2.3 million, Census figures estimated last week.

Nearly halfway through the decade, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the borough’s population as 2,296,175, an increase of 2.9 percent from 2010, or about 65,000 people. That makes the borough larger than every city in the country except New York, Los Angeles and Chicago and more populous than 15 states.

Queens is still not as large as Brooklyn, which topped 2.5 million and was the fastest-growing borough so far this decade. Both boroughs grew by just under 1 percent in 2013 alone, and were the second and third fastest-growing counties in the state.

Queens is still the 10th most-populated county in the nation, though it may soon be surpassed by the faster-growing and geographically much larger Riverside County, Calif.

The results of the 2010 Census, which claimed the borough had only grown by a mere 1,343 people since 2000, baffled many who pointed to the spur in development and demand for real estate, especially in Western Queens and Flushing, over the previous decade as a sign the population of Queens had to have grown by a larger number. Most notable was that Astoria lost a significant number of residents according to the 2010 Census, a claim officials found questionable at the time as the neighborhood has attracted new immigrants and residents from elsewhere in the country during the past decade.

Periodic updates since the 2010 Census have shown the population of the borough growing far more rapidly. Queens grew by about 40,000 people between 2010 and 2012 and another 25,000 since.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Queens can absorb a lot more people if infrastructure is upgraded sufficiently, notably transit infrastructure - roads can't handle all the drivers currently here, never mind any more. If the IND second system had been built out, or if some of those proposed rail lines are added now, then that would go a long way towards better managing a greater population. That would of course require a forward thinking mayor willing to take on projects unlikely to bear political fruit while he's in office, and a governor willing to back him where necessary. Muscle car Cuomo and the Blaz don't cut it.

Anonymous said...

No one has every answered why another million people here is a good thing and how it improves the lives of the other 8 or so million living here.

At best, it helps only a few hundred politicians who need tons of campaign donations from developers because the politicians pretty much cannot be elected without it - we know that outside of carefully staged pointless photo ops they pretty much do squat.

Anonymous said...

Queens is already one of the ugliest places on earth. If you think that's a bit harsh let's jump in the car boys and girls and buckle up and drive over the Ed Kocharoach Bridge to QB. That was fun, now take a deep breath, we've arrived in Queens.

Wow look at all those friendly faces. Continue up QB then hang a left on Broadway in picturesque Elmhurst the poster child for Queens Crap. Broadway is a third world wonderland. Then continue until we see the historic EL train structure home to the #7 Train. That tour we can take tomorrow but you should stand to see all those lovely Queens homes. Let's continue our tour with a drive down Roosevelt Avenue, don't forget to keep your windows closed, the noise and stench can overcome sensitive human beings. This is what the backstreets of Bogota looked like before the investment from the cartel kicked in.

Wow things are looking up there's Citi Field. Not depressed enough? Ok then let's keep driving to Main Street. Let's just wander up and down side streets to get a taste of what Hong Kong must have looked like before it was revitalized after WWII.

Sorry no time to stop, we just can't find a parking space. Let's push on to picturesque Jamaica, we must get there before dusk...

Anonymous said...

It's time for mass deportation. These illegals are out of control. They have too many damn kids and are a burden on society!

Anonymous said...

I know it's ntraixst me.

Exiting the 7 train after work and trying to get up the stairs during the weekdays can take up two TWO minutes because it's so fucking packed.

Anonymous said...

Stop issuing fake driver's licenses! Stop allowing 20 people per apartment! Queens is so overcrowded and dirty. Get rid of the illegals and their anchor babies!

Anonymous said...

It's time for mass deportation. These illegals are out of control. They have too many damn kids and are a burden on society!
----
nah, the real root of most problems is the inept self indulgent inept political leadership for our generation.

Anonymous said...

post # 3 - one of the best things I read in a while:

lets clip this and dump it into the comment section after every 'vibrant diverse' article.

Notice how those articles are all pretty much a carbon copy of each other? They date probably from something that a 2nd stringer wrote back in the early 80s.

Unknown said...

my parents knew it was time to leave when starting in the late 70's, Asians were coming into fresh meadows and bayside and buying houses for cash. My friends father sold his house for cash in 1981 to an Asian who came to his door with a shopping bag full of money. when my friends father told him I cannot sell you a house like this. the Asian man asked my friends father where are you going? my friends father replied I am selling my coffee shop in Manhattan and moving to Florida. the Asian man said, I will buy that too!! true story. where all this money comes from I cannot tell you.

Anonymous said...

asia, including japan is pretty corrupt with high taxes

unlike a lot of people here going out to eat every meal, people in other countries save every penny they can and then buy a house instead of spending all their money on rent in some hipster neighborhood

Anonymous said...

@ crappy or any of the commenters who keep asking 'why does queens need more people?' or 'do we want all these new people?'

What do you think happens to housing prices if you don't expand the housing stock? Many municipalities limit the number of housing units that are added, some even limit the number of bedrooms that can be added in a given year. That has two results: one, housing prices in the core municipality skyrocket. Is this a good thing? Why? And two, because cities tend to have arbitrary borders that don't end at the cities' natural border, growth just outside it is incentivized. This is a problem because this growth is more spread out, making public transit and walking/biking to get around less feasible, increasing the number of people who have to drive day to day, making traffic in the city proper worse than it would be if more people lived there, which would allow properly built out mass transit to move many of them instead. Is this desirable?

Queens Crapper said...

That's all nice theory, but we know that failure to limit growth until infrastructure is upgraded leads to things like blackouts, flooding, overburdening of emergency services and lack of school seats. We desperately need major subway expansion, yet all we get are bike lanes. Furthermore, if half the units in the city weren't rent regulated, we'd have a larger supply and more competitive rents.

Anonymous said...

Do you have any subway alignments in mind?

Queens Crapper said...

Well for one, reactivating the Rockaway Line. But instead we have $500,000 to go toward a study to make it a bike path.

Anonymous said...

That would help, and not just along the currently abandoned ROW. It would allow for increased frequency on the local tracks on QB, express are at capacity during peak however. Would you support upzoning along the line too? Part of it as low density single family homes, even to support 8-10 tph you'd want to up the density somewhat. You've got a lot of locals opposed to the whole thing though. Do you just ignore them or what ? Extending the Astoria EL to LGA was pushed a few years back but locals killed it.

Where's the push from Queens reps to get the Metronorth NH line to Penn station to come with a transfer station in Sunnyside connecting with LIRR as well?

A lot of lines are at capacity already and spurs or extensions won't work there. Anything else? There are a lot of people moving to the city, where could they go?

Also, muslce car Cuomo gave them 500k.

Queens Crapper said...

I don't support upzoning along the line as Rockaway is already slated to add thousands of housing units. The transportation infrastructure isn't adequate for the population NOW. Adding more transit will just satisfy a current need, it wouldn't give carte blanche to develop the hell out of low density neighborhoods.

Anonymous said...

I bet that the number of 'shadow people' in NYC is greater than the number of illegals.

A shadow person lives and works in NYC but maintains a legal address elsewhere with friends and family or a vacation house.

This will avoid NYC resident income tax and car registration and insurance fees.

Then we have tourists, again probably more than illegals.

Then we have business travelers many of whom are on long term assignments in NYC.

Anonymous said...

Is there some other corridor where you would place a subway and assent to development, and replacing low density single family homes with high density buildings?

Anonymous said...

Wait until those 18 two family row houses and 2 hotels open up in fresh meadows, then you will be in for even more overcrowding by more third worlders. As if Francis Lewis high school doesn't have enough students as it is now?

Anonymous said...

There is 12000 high school students between Cardozo, bayside and Francis Lewis hs..... we don't need any more people.

Anonymous said...

Why is it so beneficial to jam all these people into this city? If someone can explain it I would appreciate it, because I really don't understand why this city needs any more people.

Anonymous said...

Glad I live only 3 blocks from the Broadway LIRR station. Sigh...I don't have to rub elbows...or have my nose up someone's ass...while attempting to board an overcrowded # 7 train.

Half of Taiwan is crammed on the rush hour platform...pushing and shoving...diving for a seat.

It's a miracle than no one has been pushed onto the tracks in the path of an oncoming train.

Anonymous said...

If I'm forced to live in a people crammed, overbuilt concrete jungle, then I'd prefer Manhattan.

Queens has got nothing to offer the eyes, ears, brain, soul, except a bed to sleep in cheaper than one can usually find Manhattan.

C'mon you wage slaves, enjoy your commute!

Anonymous said...

Where is the growth in private sector jobs in Queens to support the population growth?

When did anyone last read of an employer arriving in Queens to create 1,000 new jobs? A casino?

Is the attraction of Queens how much money and other benefits you can get from the government?

Anonymous said...

"Is the attraction of Queens how much money and other benefits you can get from the government?"
--------------------------------------------
Yes. Remember when Bloomberg said:

if you are poor and homeless, you’d be better off in New York City than anyplace else

Anonymous said...

Looking at the data released it seems that the majority of the growth is natural growth(total births less deaths). In the past New York had a strong net outward domestic migration, and a strong inward immigrant migration. Yet the outward migration of people from the city has now slowed. http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/census/popcur.shtml