The five communities that make up…
By Chris Fuchs
For the first time the population of Asian-Americans has exceeded that of non-Hispanic whites living in Flushing, with two out of every five people identifying themselves as Asian-American, the 2000 census figures show.
The five communities that make up Flushing — Auburndale, Bowne Park, East Flushing, Flushing and Murray Hill — have all seen decreases in the population of non-Hispanic whites, a finding that gels with a trend in which more and more whites are leaving New York City for Long Island and central New Jersey.
The total population of Flushing, stretching from the Whitestone Expressway to the Clearview Expressway, pushed past 164,000 in 2000, an increase of more than 13,000 since the census was last taken in 1990.
While non-Hispanic whites now account for only 38 percent of Flushing, the Asian-American population has soared since 1990, nearly doubling in size to nearly 66,000. The increase, in particular, is most apparent in three communities — Auburndale, Bowne Park and East Flushing — where it has doubled since 1990. In contrast, the overall non-Hispanic white population declined to 62,418 from 81,917 in the entire Flushing area, the figures show.
Projected onto the larger demographic screen, Flushing’s population in the 2000 census was the largest in Queens, with densely populated communities like Elmhurst, Jackson Heights and Long Island City approximating though not exceeding Flushing’s growth.
Furthermore, Flushing, unlike the neighboring communities of Whitestone and College Point, has had its demographic terrain aggressively reshaped by streams of new immigrants from Korea, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, according to figures from a 1999 housing survey taken by the Census.
The most significant growth in the Asian-American population occurred in Auburndale, Bowne Park and East Flushing, where their numbers nearly doubled over the last decade in each of the communities. In particular, the Asian-American population of East Flushing increased from 8,333, to 17,297, the census figures show.
Francis Duffy, who lives in northeast Flushing, said he has noticed some change in his community since 1953, the year he moved in.
“The demographics are pretty much the same,” said Duffy, 82. “It has somewhat changed but not radically.”
Although the 2000 census figures do not break down racial groups by where they were born, a housing survey compiled by the census in 1999 shows a steady flow of immigrants from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea into northern Queens, particularly Flushing, during the last decade.
According to that survey, the Chinese population nearly doubled to 32,000 since 1990, while the number of Koreans living in Flushing increased more slowly to 14,000 from roughly 8,000.
But Dai Park, the executive director of the Korean American Association of Flushing, said the Korean population was actually closer to 100,000, a figure that he contended accounts for the illegal immigrants who were missed in the official census.
The census figures also show marked increases in the Asian population east of Flushing — for instance in Bayside, Little Neck and Douglaston, where it has doubled in each neighborhood since 1990.
This movement follows a decade-old pattern, Park said, in which Asian Americans are moving farther east along Northern Boulevard to communities where they can purchase single-family homes. So, too, Korean-American stores have moved out of downtown Flushing, following the tracks of their customers.
Reach reporter Chris Fuchs by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 156.
