As my name suggests, I'm from NYC. I've lived in every borough of New York and spent time at most of the local congregations until I finally decided that it was all for nothing (my recent posts on this forum explain why). During this time, I noticed an interesting pattern - the JWs only preach in poor to middle class neighborhoods. Even then, not every middle class neighborhood is contacted by them.
Consider the following research:
After noticing this pattern, I compiled a list of all the neighborhoods in NYC where the JWs are very active, and I realized that most of these neighborhoods are populated by a high percentage of minorities (mainly Hispanic, Black, Asian, West Indian etc.), representative of low to middle income households. On any given day, you can expect to see squads of JWs on every other street corner and door bells being rung on the weekends. However, if you drive through the main streets in upper-middle to high income neighborhoods (Garden City and Oyster Bay in Long Island, Park Slope and Dyker Heights in Brooklyn), you will NEVER find street witnessing or preaching of any kind.
Even in Manhattan, where you would expect to find more JW activity (after all, Manhattan is the 'capital' of Satan's world right?), street witnessing and preaching are not evident. The underground mall of the World Trade Center was a hub for JW activity, but that was as far as it got in Manhattan. As a matter of fact, the few Kingdom Halls in Manhattan preach in public by doing the following: a J-Dub will set up a table in front of the Kingdom Hall, lay out some literature and will sit quietly behind the table. Though pedestrians will walk by, the J-Dub will say and do absolutely nothing to bring attention to his reason for sitting there. I can easily name the congregations where this is taken place, and quite frankly it's insulting to J-Dubs around the world who risk life and limb to preach to people in dangerous conditions.
The Country Club area of the North Bronx is untouched by JWs, which is strange because the South Bronx is full of Kingdom Halls. As a matter of fact, for several decades, the regional district assemblies were held in Yankee Stadium; also in the South Bronx. Regardless, areas such as Riverdale and White Plains a few miles away will never hear the 'good news'.
Finally and more notably, in the Brooklyn Heights area of Brooklyn, home of the WTS headquarters you will never and I mean never find street witnessing or preaching. This is a huge contradiction on part of the WTS, because it encourages everyone to witness to their neighbors, yet Brooklyn Heights will never see a J-Dub walking up the steps of a multi million dollar brownstone to knock on a door.
This clearly shows that the WTS is not interested in 'gathering sheep' for Jesus. If anything, it's using demographics to exploit poorly educated and poorly employed neighborhoods where their 'good news' will be better appreciated. Perhaps the Society has already decided to write-off the educated and wealthy, and let God deal with them directly?