The Incredible Shrinking State

Suffolk County lost 1.5 percent of
its residents between July 1, 2003, and July 1, 2004, the steepest decline
of any county
in
southern New England and the third consecutive year the county’s population
dropped, according to US Census Bureau figures released yesterday.

The county’s population has dropped 3.4 percent since the 2000 Census,
again the largest population decline among Massachusetts counties.

Massachusetts
was the only state in the nation to lose population in 2003-04.

Some state officials and others dispute the numbers,
saying they do not reflect the influx of immigrants coming to Boston
or the college student population.

”Anyone who drives around the city of Boston or its neighborhoods knows
these alleged numbers are not what’s reflected," said Seth Gitell,
spokesman for Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who has asked the Boston Redevelopment
Authority to examine the numbers.
In the latest data, the population in Suffolk County — which includes
Boston, Winthrop, Revere, and Chelsea — declined by 10,277 in the measured
year.

The population in neighboring Middlesex County, which includes Cambridge
and Lowell, dropped 0.1 percent with the loss of 1,933 residents.

Count the Dowbrigade among the Doubting Thomases. It seems
clear that there are two conflicting tendencies at work here. On the
one hand,
there are undoubtedly numbers of long-time middle-class residents who
are fleeing to greener pastures; either to retirement havens with better
weather and a lower ante for relocation, or young families dismayed by
how much of a hit in standard of living they will need to take to strike
out on their own, buy a home and raise a family in Massachusetts.

The reason is simple economics; for years, housing and real estate
prices in Eastern Mass have been ridiculous and our-of-control. When
the average house price tops half a million dollars, and a simple two-bedroom
apartment can’t be found for less than $1,500, a significant percentage
of the population will start looking to relocate.

But on the other hand, the past decade has clearly seen an influx
of new immigrants, principally from Latin America and Asia, attracted
by
the jobs, the schools, the relative lack of anti-foreign foaming-at-the-mouth
quickly becoming widespread in many other regions, and the existing welcoming
base of immigrant communities in cities and town around the area. 

Some
of these new arrivals are here legally, and others operate semi-openly with tourist
visas or fake green cards and Social Security numbers, but a LOT of them
are petrified of being discovered, arrested, and deported. They live five
or six to a room in tenements and flophouses, rarely leave their sleeping
quarters except to go to work, often in the dead of night, and avoid any
contact with the authorities which could blow the horrific lifestyle that
they still consider a good deal when compared to the hell-holes and backwaters
they have fled.

Of course they aren’t being counted.  If this means the state
is loosing out on Federal assistance, some difficult choices need to
be
made. Personally, and as hard as it is to admit it, the Dowbrigade has
finally found a policy initiative by the Bush junta that we can sort
of agree with. The concept of a "Guest worker" visa allowing these
people limited stays in the US and legal, tax-paying status could go
a long way towards solving the problem of unskilled illegal foreign workers.
If they prove to be good workers, solid citizens and stay out of trouble,
they should be allowed to stay.

article from the Boston Globe