The demolition of housing projects, diffusion of poverty and crime, and a reversal of white flight

[Ian_rd]

Two interesting articles that appear to be discussing the same phenomenon without being aware of each other. One, a WSJ article discussing a slowing and sometimes reversal of "white flight" as whites move back into the city, and another from Atlantic Monthly discussing the destruction of housing projects across the nation and the resultant spreading of poor families and crime into the suburbs.

American Murder Mystery
Why is crime rising in so many American cities? The answer implicates one of the most celebrated antipoverty programs of recent decades.

The End of White Flight
For the First Time in Decades, Cities' Black Populations Lose Ground, Stirring Clashes Over Class, Culture and Even Ice Cream

Our cities could be changing fast in a dramatic way. I found it interesting.

[Warpy]

1. The suburbs now have more poor than the inner cities do

The cities seem to be returning to their original form, enclaves of the wealthy surrounded by rings of people who serve them. The inner ring are the skilled workers and professionals while the outer ring will be the unseen poor who keep everything functioning behind the scenes.

[MedleyMisty]

2. I heard about this on NPR a while ago

Not sure how valid and accurate their report was, but it sounded like some stupid people a few decades ago thought that crime and all the other not so happy and shiny stuff that comes with poverty was inherent in the bricks or other building materials used to build the housing projects and that the problem was those darn bricks, not our whole socioeconomic system. So hey, get people away from those bricks and further away from social services located in the city, and somehow they'll magically become rich and only commit white collar crimes! That's ever so much easier than universal health care and education and living wages and labor rights and regulating corporations and turning a corporatist state into a socialist democracy.

Sounds more to me like someone saw a way to make some money by moving poor minorities out of the city and dressed it up all nice and pretty for stupid people whose hearts were probably in the right place.

[mopinko]

10. in chicago, it was the land that they wanted.

there was once a ring of "housing projects" around downtown chicago. they are almost gone now, their residents dispersed throughout the city, mostly to the poorer neighborhoods, and to the "approved" far out suburbs. high end condos have replaced them.
i never did get the whole idea that it was the bricks, myself. (although, the construction of these buildings did suck) we have plenty of tall buildings full of rich people, some of the tallest in the world. and somehow they got along. how was that? somehow everything they needed was there in the first few floors. need a little grocery store? poof- have a treasure island, with high priced wine and imported cheese. got some mental health issues? poof- take your pick of a half dozen phd's on the third floor. fill your prescriptions at the first floor pharmacy. need your suits cleaned? poof- alterations and same day service. don't have time to walk that cute little puppy dog? poof- how many times a day does the little sweetie need to go out.
but a highrise full of poor people? need child care? poof- a nice polluted playground, with no equipment, no shade, no benches for you to sit, and you sure can't watch the kids out the window from your apartment. got a big family? poof- 3 bedrooms is the best you can get. buy some bunk beds. got mental health issues? take 3 buses to the free clinic, sit in the waiting room all day. then take 2 more buses to get your prescription filled, if you can. got a substance abuse problem? pull yourself up by your bootstraps, unless you would rather go to jail. that we have- a police station right in tower 6.
i could go on and on. but you get the point. if those towers were meant as a place to help people get their lives together and move on, we would have put the services in place that so many need. people don't fall to the bottom for no reason, and the problems and their answers have been out there for decades. its as obvious as the rich people needing a dog walker.
and now let's blame it all on the bricks. we want condos with views of the lake. y'all just disperse peacefully, now.

[enid602]

3. gas

It´s the end of cheap gasoline.

[Ian_rd]

6. Great point.

And the gas price aspect of these geographic shifts will make it even harder for the poor families now in suburbia to climb out of poverty. When before they might have found a job they could get to by bus, they will now need to buy a car, maintain it, and fill it with gas.

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. Besides, they have already raped the suburbs.

They demolished all the community development plans to develop every inch of space and the burbs are now nothing more than reflections of the urban world, minus the corporate tax.

[mopinko]

9. no, this started years ago. nt

[BrklynLiberal]

4. Very interesting food for thought....

[bobbolink]

5. Thanks so much for posting this--K&R!!

:applause:

We ALL need to be thinking and acting about this issue!

A good related book is Streets Of Hope...much important in-depth info.

Thanks!

[ulysses]

7. happening big in Atlanta.

Posted this a year ago February:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x233848

The neighborhood is gentrifying now.

The city is in the final stages of closing and razing its public housing units. Along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, in the same neighborhood where Coretta Scott King lived until her death last year, they're tearing down whole blocks of largely derelict storefronts, revealing $250,000 condos springing up behind. And the people who have been here are leaving, to be replaced, one imagines, with people who can afford condos.

[flashl]

11. Gobbermint went on roadshow w/seminars to Mayors and city planners to "recapture" downtowns.