Rich White Kids Explode in Manhattan!

OK, the number of rich white kids explodes, not the kids themselves.

Since 2000, according to census figures released last year, the number of children under age 5 living in Manhattan mushroomed by more than 32 percent. And though their ranks have been growing for several years, a new analysis for The New York Times makes clear for the first time who has been driving that growth: wealthy white families.

The analysis shows that Manhattan’s 35,000 or so white non-Hispanic toddlers are being raised by parents whose median income was $284,208 a year in 2005, which means they are growing up in wealthier households than similar youngsters in any other large county in the country.

Some of the parents like the "diversity" that Manhattan offers:

“I like them to see the variety of what’s in New York and have interactions with different kinds of people,” Ms. Lustig said. “If we lived in the suburbs, I don’t think my daughter would know much about the Trinidadian way of life or the Muslim holidays that are celebrated. She accepts that like it’s water or air.”

Yes, I suppose it's easier to find a Trinidadian or Muslim nanny in Manhattan than in Connecticut. Now Manhattan can be as boring as Westchester or Westport, accelerating a trend that has been going on for a while.

The reporter sought out a couple of academics for quotes on this phenomenon as well:

Some advocates of affordable housing say the trend toward Manhattan becoming more wealthy and white is another troubling sign that longtime lower-income and minority communities will inevitably be displaced by gentrification.

But Fred Siegel, a history professor at Cooper Union, said a growing population of upper-middle-class residents was an asset. “How different it makes Manhattan from other cities,” Mr. Siegel said.

Kenneth T. Jackson, a Columbia University historian, said: “Imagine the reverse — that nobody with money wants to live here, and then you have Detroit. I don’t see how anybody benefits in that circumstance.”

It's kind of sad that even the historians define everything now strictly in terms of money and what benefits the wealthy. Those two probably secured housing here before the bubble started. Future historians won't be able to live in Manhattan on academic salaries, only the people who devote their lives to pushing money around (and who let the hired help raise their kids).