Immigration

In 1950, 99.5% of Eugene’s population was white while in 2010 the racial makeup of the city was 85.8% White, 4.0% Asian, 1.4% Black or African American, 1% Native American, 0.2% Pacific Islander, and 4.7% from other races. (Eugene) Back in 2000, the racial makeup consisted of 88.15% White, 3.57% Asian, 1.25% Black or African, 0.93% Native American, 0.21% Pacific Islander, 2.18% from other races, and 3.72% from two or more races. (Eugene) The most significant demographic shift has been a decrease in the white population due a growing immigration of various ethnicities. The most prominent ethnicity immigration is Asians which I have personally witnessed the local landscape change because of it. The University of Oregon is a big player in the study abroad market and many of the students from abroad are Asian. In response to a significant percentage of UO students coming from Asian countries developers have created large apartment complexes targeting the abroad population. Like you would expect, numerous Asian’s come to Eugene knowing little to no one locally and developers realized this opportunity and built large complexes filled with one and two bedrooms, such as the The Patterson, The Hub, The Sonja, Uncommon and K14. I am currently living at the Patterson and I would estimate that half of the tenants are from abroad In addition to developers targeting students from abroad, small businesses are as well. Below my apartment building there are three businesses and two of them target Asian students. There is a sushi restaurant as well as a generic Asian restaurant. Qin, the generic Asian restaurant is a highly common place for abroad students to eat Asian cuisine as well as hang out with a small piece of their own culture. I personally tried the restaurant one time and I could hardly comprehend the items on the menu. In order to place my order I had to point at an item on the menu, and luckily I ended up satisfied. While I was in this restaurant I felt a little uncomfortable because I was the only one who wasn’t capable of speaking Mandarin. The atmosphere was extremely loud, and full of conversation, however, I understood nothing in my surroundings. Another thing I've noticed is in many clothing stores they cater to other ethnicities styles. I have seen plenty of sections/shirts with kangi or hanzi written on them as well as popular trends worn by people of Asian decent. Another thing I have seen is a boutique specifically for Muslim women who I found creative and interesting. It seems smart to have something local to fulfill the preferred styles of a culture that is very specific in what they can wear.

Moving on from abroad students at the UO, the Hispanic population in Eugene has grown rapidly. In 2000 there were 6,343 (5% of the population) Hispanic residing in Eugene while in 2010 there were 12,182 (7% of the population) (Environmental). Some of my fellow co-workers at the Eugene Country Club migrated to the US from Mexico and at one time many of them called California home. Although I do not know why they decided to come to Oregon almost all of them have family living down in California. This leads me to believe that the Hispanic population is migrating northward from Mexico to California, and then California to Oregon. I have also heard and read about this Hispanic migration trend in the news at one time.

Next, I would like to briefly discuss the overall growth and future growth of the population of Eugene and how it will change the landscape. From 1990-2000 Eugene’s population grew by 22% and from 2000-2010 the population grew by 13%. (Environmental) If the population continues on growing development will be crucial. From an Environmental Migrants and the Future of the Willamette Valley report from PDX.edu it is stated “The City of Eugene has been recognized for its stakeholder engagement in the Envision Eugene process to take a closer look about ways to use infill and redevelopment to respond to anticipated changes in population.” (Environmental) From my interpretation, Eugene plans to build within instead of expanding out into rural country. They will try to utilize empty spaces and tear down vacant and outdated property to withstand the influx in population. This is something I have seen happening in the three years I have resided here. I have seen multiple buildings near campus that were vacant or in bad shape torn down and rebuilt into housing developments, popular restaurants, and more. I believe this will continue to work great as long Eugene’s natural beauty (trees, older generation neighborhoods) is not impaired by new development. Lastly, I would like wrap things up by sharing how these immigration and migration trends have affected me personally. The change from 1950’s with a near 100% population of White people to 2010’s 86% has made me more diversified. Although 86% of one ethnicity in a city is extremely high it shows a cultural diversification that exerts some difference. I have had the pleasure of meeting many friends, coworkers, and classmates of a different ethnicity and have enjoyed getting to know more about their family, traditions, and culture alone. The differences in the way people approach situations and are open to others is something I have noticed tremendously. In my experience, I have met people from Japan, Mexico, Hawaii, Indonesia, Africa and I'm sure more. In all of these situations or even just from observation I have seen large differences in the way my typical culture acts from them, as well as the way their specific cultures act from one another. Though we are all human it is interesting to see the way our ethnicity and where we are from or by what laws or religions we were raised can affect a majority of similar people.

Environmental Migrants and the Future of the Willamette Valley (2011): n. page. Pdx.edu. USP 594: Planning in the Pacific Northwest, 1 Oct. 2011. Web. 7 July 2015.

"Eugene, Oregon." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 05 July 2015.