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Professor: Staten Islanders are living in Shangri-LaPublished: Monday, March 21, 2011, 1:56 AMBy Ben JohnsonSTATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The SI350weekend conference at the College ofStaten Island was titled "Staten Island inAmerican History and 21st CenturyEducation."But a less academic title of yesterday'sevents could have been "The Future isBright."Looking forward was the final activity ofyesterday's keynote address by Kenneth T.Jackson, a Columbia University professorand author of "The Encyclopedia of NewYork City," who helped bring nearly 300academics, amateur historians and otherinterested parties to participate in theconference at CSI's Center For the Arts.Staten Island Advance/Ben JohnsonKenneth T. Jackson, a Columbia University professor and author of"The Encyclopedia of New York City," signs copies of his book atyesterday's session of "Staten Island in American History and 21stCentury Education" at CSI."The fact that people are moving to Staten Island is in some ways a sign of health," said Jackson, whoseaddress about the borough and larger city trends was generally optomistic. "While it is in some ways theforgotten borough, the city's population living here has gone from 2 percent to 6 percent."Along with that growth in population the borough will see a growth in its economy, in contrast to places likeDetroit, which has suffered an exodus in recent years, said Jackson. And while many see the expansion ofthe city's residents as a threat to their own space, the professor argued a positive view for the StatenIsland's near future as a place with access to the city's amenities with less of its blights."I cannot think of another place in the entire United States that is more like a Brigadoon or Shangri-La," saidJackson. "You have in some ways literally the best of all possible worlds."Jackson's telling of the borough's modern history was in many ways a study in contrasts. AdmittingPage 131 of 179