The fact that Putnam responds to the question of immigration with a positive response is refreshing to hear.  Today’s news and talk on the street is only about the negative outcomes of immigration, however I agree with Putnam and the fact that immigration is an asset to a successful and prosperous nation.  Immigration and ethnic diversity has led us to become one of the super powers of the new world.  Immigration supports the increase of funds throughout the city.  Putnam surprised me by telling me the negative connotations of ‘immigration’, for some people may have these feelings of not being able to obtain trustworthiness between the immigrant groups.  ‘The more ethnically diverse the people we live around, the less we trust them.’  This sentence really caught me off guard.  From my point of view, New York City is one of the most diverse places throughout the world, and I don’t see myself distrusting people I am around.  I think it is similar to anywhere else, we have to be cautious, but we do have the ability to walk down the street and not constantly be worrying that anyone else on the street will attack you.  There seems to be a lower confidence in the local government, leaders and news, lower political efficacy and lower frequency of registered voters.  According to recent disastrous events, such as Hurricane Sandy, the local government has helped its constituents, however one can argue that more could have been one throughout the boroughs of New York City.  However as seen with the election of President Obama for his second term shows the increased registration of voters in diverse areas, as well as faith in ones local government.

As discussed throughout the other readings, Putnam discusses the homogeneity of the ethnic groups within a city of large amounts of immigrants.  Examples of this include the Chinatowns within New York City, for example in Manhattan, and Brooklyn and other various boroughs of New York.