Austin Ghetto

[UTHORNS96]

First you have to make a distinction between "ghetto" and "dangerous". While there is usually a lot of dangerous activity that goes on in ghettos, there are also many characteristics and behaviors that are associated with " being ghetto" that aren't necessarily dangerous. Some of the most ghetto people I know are actually pretty nice and quite harmless as long as you treat them with respect.

Therefore, I would say that Austin has "ghetto areas" but none of these areas are particularly dangerous. There isn't one single area in Austin where I would be afraid to live if push came to shove.

Now many liberal whites in Austin, who are perfectly fine with a few token blacks and latinos in the crowd for "diversity's sake", will immediately label an area as "dangerous" when they start seeing themselves outnumbered by blacks and mexicans (they especially appear to be afraid of blacks). But there is no place in Austin where you need to fear for you life anymore than anywhere else. Remember, the folks in little old suburban Columbine, Colorado probably felt that no harm could reach them there.

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by riaelise

For some people, a place becomes a "ghetto" the minute they see a few folks move in who do not mow their lawns,

We have a neighbor family down the street like that....we call them The Clampetts.

[squirellydee]

We are relocating and I have heard so much positive/negative about the little sections of Kyle.. it doesn't appear to have a lot of crime, and the attitudes of residents seem positive, but what is the consensus of the area there?

[eileenkeeney]

I would hesitate to live in a neighborhood where most of the businesses and several of the houses had bars on the windows.

[chuck_steak]

Originally Posted by eileenkeeney

I would hesitate to live in a neighborhood where most of the businesses and several of the houses had bars on the windows.

Yeah, that's usually how one can tell if the are is "ghetto" or not. If there are bars on most of the windows it's a high crime area.

[buffettjr]

Originally Posted by jamesia

What? No. There are no ghettos in Austin. Some pretend white liberals have a problem with the areas with high concentrations of Latinos (east of 35, parts of North Lamar) but there are no ghettos here.

I've seen some pretty crazy things written on this board in my time, but I think this has to be the top of the craziness mountain. Drive down Rundberg at any time of the day or night and you will see men attempting to sell you crack and men walking directly behind the women they have for sale.

With all due respect sir, the people who say there are no ghettos here sound very ignorant. It isn't Watts, true, but Rundberg is easily bad enough to be called a ghetto.

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by buffettjr

I've seen some pretty crazy things written on this board in my time, but I think this has to be the top of the craziness mountain. Drive down Rundberg at any time of the day or night and you will see men attempting to sell you crack and men walking directly behind the women they have for sale.

With all due respect sir, the people who say there are no ghettos here sound very ignorant. It isn't Watts, true, but Rundberg is easily bad enough to be called a ghetto.

Rundberg Lane itself is hooker/crackmarket central along with some of the apartment complexes there, but the Wiindsor Hills neighborhood is not a ghetto.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

You can see the number of crimes listed by zip code here on the City Police website.

http://malford.ci.austin.tx.us/polic...e/zip_2008.pdf (broken link)

Updating that broken link.

Austin Police Department - annual crime data listed by zip code.

Crime Information Listed by Zip Code | AustinTexas.gov - The Official Website of the City of Austin

[zakas80]

Originally Posted by gpurcell

There are no ghettos in Austin. There are some working class neighborhoods with elevated crime rates but nothing like the decrepit areas you see in many older cities.

Yep, this sums it up best, I would say! I have lived near and worked in some real ghettos before and nothing I have seen here so far comes remotely close to that yet!