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hack89

(39,171 posts)
Thu Oct 30, 2014, 07:26 PM Oct 2014

Recent college graduates are pushing lower-income African Americans out of cities

How do we make sense of the fact that America’s most progressive cities, the ones that cherish diversity, are losing African Americans? And that the most conservative places are doing the opposite? Between 2000 and 2010, cities like Austin, Chicago, Washington D.C., San Francisco—places that vote majority Democrat, consider themselves socially and culturally progressive, and boast racial diversity—all lost unprecedented numbers of African Americans. San Francisco, for instance, saw a staggering 20.4 percent loss in its African American population between 2000 and 2010. Chicago and Washington D.C. also experienced double-digit losses.

During that same decade, the only three major cities (populations over 500,000) that voted Republican in the 2012 presidential election— Phoenix, Fort Worth, and Oklahoma City—all saw significant increases in African American numbers; their African-American populations grew by 36.1 percent, 28 percent and 11.4 percent respectively.

Her research points to how cities such as Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Washington D.C. have over the past three decades attracted ever-larger numbers of college graduates. Using Census data, Diamond shows that as college graduates occupied larger shares of these cities’ work forces (while avoiding other cities they deem less attractive) income inequality in these cities grew.

Urban industries and amenities catered to the higher-waged worker, making these cities more expensive to live in. Lower-wage workers (those with only a high school diploma) also desired the enhanced quality of life offered by these cities—better food and air quality, lower crime rates—but they couldn’t afford to live in them. Simply put, as college grads arrived, lower-waged workers were driven out.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/10/29/college-graduates-are-pushing-african-americans-out-of-cities/?tid=HP_opinion


Anyone from SF, Chicago or DC that can comment on this? I find it hard to believe.
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Ace Rothstein

(3,109 posts)
2. This isn't the case in Chicago.
Thu Oct 30, 2014, 07:46 PM
Oct 2014

A dozen or so black neighborhoods that are plagued with crime have been hemorrhaging people for decades and continue to do so. Most of the younger grads moving there are moving to Hispanic neighborhoods or inner neighborhoods seeing large increases in density.

TreasonousBastard

(43,049 posts)
3. Well, in NYC and the surrounds it's everyone without the cash...
Thu Oct 30, 2014, 07:53 PM
Oct 2014

to stay. Not just AA's, although they may be the most obvious.

dilby

(2,273 posts)
4. It's happening in Portland.
Thu Oct 30, 2014, 08:08 PM
Oct 2014

What happens is college grads are not wealthy so they move into affordable neighborhoods and when young white people move into those neighborhoods then business move into them as well. This increases property values and property taxes but also removes access to affordable amenities. The corner store is now an Organic Grocery, the laundry mat is now a hipster bar with $6 beers on tap. Small local businesses that catered to poorer neighborhoods are bought out and replaced by trendy restaurants and shops. The college Grads did not intend this, most of them liked the idea of revitalizing diverse neighborhoods but did not see the consequences would be to push out affordable housing and the people who originally lived there.

I live in a neighborhood very much like this in Portland, the neighborhood is very diverse but the bars, restaurants and shops all cater to wealthy people who can spend more on those luxuries because they are saving money on their housing. Their is only one restaurant that I would consider affordable to everyone in the neighborhood. It's one I hit every Friday for their Prime Rib dinner with a huge side of collard greens. But the place is not trendy and so you see an older generation eating there and people who can't afford to go eat a $14 burger with $6 fries and a $7 local IPA. I have never seen a hipster in this restaurant which is a shame because the food is amazing and the service is excellent, the place looks a little run down but it's been there for 40 years and has served the neighborhood for that entire time. But who knows maybe in a year the owner will sell out and the last place that served everyone in my neighborhood will be turned into another hipster bar.

jwirr

(39,215 posts)
5. If this indeed is happening then what we are doing is just continuing the problem that has
Thu Oct 30, 2014, 08:38 PM
Oct 2014

plagued us since the Civil War. Segregation in order to keep the black person in his/her own area. If we cannot find a way to live together we are never going to be at peace.

kiva

(4,373 posts)
6. Some research contridicts his conclusion.
Thu Oct 30, 2014, 09:39 PM
Oct 2014

One of the problems I have with this article is that Tang is comparing apples and oranges, that is college graduates with African Americans - which presupposes that some cannot be both.

The second problem I have is that there are statistics that seem to question his conclusions about the shift within those cities:

Austin:

The City of Austin has now crossed the threshold of becoming a Majority-Minority city. Put another way, no ethnic or demographic group exists as a majority of the city’s population. The city’s Anglo share of total population has dropped below 50% (which probably occurred sometime during 2005) and will stay there for the foreseeable future.

http://www.austintexas.gov/page/top-ten-demographic-trends-austin-texas

New York City:
http://furmancenter.org/files/sotc/The_Changing_Racial_and_Ethnic_Makeup_of_New_York_City_Neighborhoods_11.pdf Table 1 shows that the percentage of blacks as a portion of of the New York City's population dropped by 1.1% between 2000 and 2010; during the same period the white population of the city dropped by 1.7%. In fact, if you look at the list of cities in this table, in four of the five cities listed both black and white population dropped in four of the five.

San Francisco...we're had plenty of articles posted here to show that vast swaths of people who do not have large incomes are being pushed out of the city.

Technically he's right, the black population of those cities is dropping, but so is the white population. I'd like to see him write an article using equivalent data, such as college educated and non-college educated people, regardless of race.

XemaSab

(60,212 posts)
7. My sense in San Francisco is that it's wealthier people pushing poor people out IN GENERAL.
Thu Oct 30, 2014, 10:42 PM
Oct 2014

Most of the areas that were dangerous back in the day are still a bit sketchy now, but even working class people can't afford a place to live there. I suppose that the poorest people have Section 8 vouchers, but even a lot of them are heading to more affordable areas.

nitpicker

(7,153 posts)
10. It's the military-industrial-political complex that keeps DC afloat.
Fri Oct 31, 2014, 02:56 AM
Oct 2014

Or historically did. The troops who had to find some place to live while stationed here, and those retiring, going through the door and getting a federal job or maybe a job on Capitol Hill. But they tended to not live in DC itself (avoiding the schools).

Add in the rise of lobbyists and high-priced law firms.

And CONTRACTORS!

And even more money into politics/getting laws passed favoring your industry, etc.

Money= more high-paying jobs. More college grads pouring into town who didn't need big houses out in suburbia.

Thus the tear-down of old rowhouses to make way for new condos and apartments complete with fancy grocery stores.

Less affordable housing in DC itself. And fewer jobs for those without a college degree. Remember the heyday of the GPO? And all the file clerks?

Similarly in Arlington VA. Targeted development over/near Metrorail transformed Ballston from "the place you change buses and maybe use the IHOP" into officeland and university branches in officeland and dorms/condos and hotels, with of course upscale shops and bars. (The IHOP somehow survived, probably via breakfast service.)

And proximity to the Pentagon and DC may have been a factor in the Columbia Pike redevelopment. There is some lip service paid to "affordable housing agreements", mainly to placate the Hispanics that came to do manual labor and remain in the surviving old brick apartments.

LostInAnomie

(14,428 posts)
12. Gentrification is an issue that really doesn't move the needle for me.
Fri Oct 31, 2014, 03:22 AM
Oct 2014

I understand the whole issue of more affluent people moving into a lower income neighborhood and driving up property values, making it unaffordable to live in an area. But, at the same time these gentrifiers bring economic development, jobs, lower crime rates, etc. Most of that stuff are things that any neighborhood would want. Also, a lot of the time, the gentrifiers come from the "creative class" of gays and lesbians that don't have children but lots of disposable income.

Personally, I think people have the right to move into wherever they please without concern for what it will do to property values.

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