Redux: Brooklyn Is Dying

Talent is fleeing US alpha global cities. The rent is too damn high. Immigrants are also leaving in droves, pushing up the population in struggling cities such as Reading and Allentown. The streets aren't safe and the schools are broken. Via Aaron Renn, Joel Kotkin tells Brooklyn's dirty little secret:

Immigration and new births have supported Brooklyn’s population numbers, up 40,000 over the past decade, but as rapid outflow of Brooklynites has continued: over 460,000 more residents left than other New Yorkers or Americans moved in between 2001 and 2009, the largest loss of any borough.

For many metros, removing natural increase and immigration from the equation reveals large net outmigration. People of all classes want out. What's driving this? Globalization.

In global cities, spectacular wealth is juxtaposed with grave poverty. The rent isn't too damn high if you are willing to live in the wrong neighborhood. For many, the costs outweigh the benefits. The result is a larger scale gentrification of Rust Belt cities such as Cleveland. Hipster moms are giving up New York City for Philadelphia. Brooklyn is dying.