White flight from SW side (Chicago, Washington: fit in, renting, townhouse)

[snoylekim]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

I still think the person borrowing the money shares blame. This is why we need to be careful about "bailing out homeowners". I got a 30-year fixed mortgage on my condo, but could have had a much better rate on a 5/1 ARM. If some joker who got the ARM and has been paying lower interest rates than me for the last four years gets some kind of bailout, I'm going to be hopping mad. People are still responsible for their own financial decisions.

Not to nitpick, but 5/1 ARMs weren't and aren't considered 'subprime'..in fact, if the joker you referred to had a reset this year, he'd be doing OK ... The instruments that caused the problems were 1/1 ARMs, Interest Only ( effectively balloon loans), and the double mortgage 100% no down financing. Many of these had harsh prepayment penalties... add those to no income verification, and that's the recipe for the disaster that occurred .. There's culpability on the part of many borrowers, but many , many lenders have unclean hands in this mess as well ..

[DecaturDog]

Hi, my parents moved to Hometown and we lived in the apartments on W 88th street from 1956 to 1960. I have often thought about moving back to that area - Hometown Elementary was very cute and I would walk past Our Lady of Loretto to get to the school yard. Would you recommend not looking in this area? Thank you so much.

[latikeriii]

Originally Posted by dcisive

Having come from the Jeffrey Manor area back in 1967 (yeah I know I'm old) I remember all too well that it had to do more with concerns over the fact that those of color moving in were possibly not intending to maintain a safe clean neighborhood as was present for the prior years. I agree this is quite a bit of presumption, however consider the neighborhoods around it on the South Side that had gone before. They typically brought with them increased crime rates and lower quaility schools along with the moves.

The riots down 87th street during the period right after MLK was assassinated only further supported such thoughts. It is indeed sad as I've had a number of African American friends and they were great folks. It is even more sad that the communication between those communities is nearly non existent. We are all people, but when you deal with such deep rooted beliefs that are hard to dispel the lies become reality. So it is entirely possible, that in time, the greatest portion of the City of Chicago will be African American with the exceptions of pockets where that so called "gentrification" has existed.

I read a touching note from an African American woman in a forum for the Bowen High School students that lived in the South Side neighborhoods from the 50's through the 70's. It was from a gal that stated she hoped she wasn't intruding upon the forum, but that she wanted to express how much she enjoyed living in the neighborhood we had left behind. She went into great depth and detail of her raising her 2 kids and living next to her parents there as well. It just brought home the fact that here was an example of someone I wish was MY neighbor.....regardless of WHAT neighborhood I lived in. Sad reality is you can't pick your neighbors nor eliminate the bad ones that spoil the greater area. This I fear is the fate of the City as we know it.

I lived in Jeffery Manor as a pre-teen albeit in the early 90s and the neighborhood was still pretty decent. Most of my neighbors were older blacks who were the first blacks to move in the neighborhood. They were middle class and kept immaculate yards. There was a sense of community but there were signs of decline like the children of the older residents began joining gangs(GD's,etc). I remember that my neighbor behind us was the first black in the entire section of that neighborhood and told me that after they moved in, her son was socializing with a white teenaged girl next door. Literally, that family moved overnight. So much fear back then and the blockbuster realtors were the main reason why that neighborhood changed from white to black within 3 years. The schools is the area sucked however(I was there from 90-92). I heard now that it is a section 8 haven filled with crime and gangs.

[Chi-town Native]

interesting discussion. what seems to be missing is the perspective that the Irish, Italians, Jews, Slavs, etc. were the original cause of "white flight" in Chicago.

You don't see any English or French neighborhoods, now do you?

My dad told me that the first time he met my mom's family one of them literally told him "you know, I remember when we had all the 'No Irish Need Apply' signs up in America - that's no really ancient history, you're talking about the late 1800s.

As for rioting, the first major riots in Chicago were nativist vs. Catholics and Germans - do some reading on the Lager Beer Riot, they were shooting people in the street.

[otters21]

Originally Posted by latikeriii

I lived in Jeffery Manor as a pre-teen albeit in the early 90s and the neighborhood was still pretty decent. Most of my neighbors were older blacks who were the first blacks to move in the neighborhood. They were middle class and kept immaculate yards. There was a sense of community but there were signs of decline like the children of the older residents began joining gangs(GD's,etc). I remember that my neighbor behind us was the first black in the entire section of that neighborhood and told me that after they moved in, her son was socializing with a white teenaged girl next door. Literally, that family moved overnight. So much fear back then and the blockbuster realtors were the main reason why that neighborhood changed from white to black within 3 years. The schools is the area sucked however(I was there from 90-92). I heard now that it is a section 8 haven filled with crime and gangs.

Very sad.

[Sleepy09]

Wow. I'm moving from the Deep South to Chicago in a few months, and I guess I should've expected that the attitudes of the Whites that I've grown up with wouldn't be much different than the attitudes of many Whites in Chicago as evidenced by this discussion.

I guess rednecks are a universal phenomenon. It's just that some wear country wifebeaters & live in trailer parks and others wear city suits & post on this forum.

Are there any affluent, majority African American neighborhoods in Chicago?

[Drover]

Yep, just a bunch of suited hicks here. Might as well stay where you are.

[surlycue]

Originally Posted by Sleepy09

Are there any affluent, majority African American neighborhoods in Chicago?

Plenty, Olympia Fields comes to mind as a very affluent black 'burb. Many of the inner burbs on the SW side are 50% or more African American. I don't know that race however has much to do with the problem of most affluent 'burbs, black, white, latino, etc, succumbing to the same fate of being terribly dull, driven by keeping up with the Jones's and cookie cutterly sterile.

[coldwine]

Originally Posted by Drover

Yep, just a bunch of suited hicks here. Might as well stay where you are.

If only we had specified that in the terms of victory post-Civil War.

[Sleepy09]

^Did your ancestors even fight in the Civil War?

Originally Posted by Drover

Yep, just a bunch of suited hicks here. Might as well stay where you are.

No thanks. I want to drive down your property values and scare your children.