Race factor in Columbus

[Cle440]

Originally Posted by scottie

I would not worry about racism at all. Columbus is very tolerating of many people. Columbus is continuing to become more and more diverse and there is not very much segregation. I think it is by far the most diverse city in Ohio and the most diverse city in the mid-west outside of Chicagoland and maybe Detroit area

Excuse me because I havent read this until now...

But how in the world did you come to the conclusion that Columbus was the "Most diverse city in the mid-west" and "The most diverse city in Ohio by far"??? How is Columbus diverse? I dont think you know what diverse means. I think the word you were looking for was integrated or something, and even thats a stretch for Columbus.

Columbus is 67% white, 24% black, and 2% hispanic, and not much of anything else. How is that diverse compared to other midwest cities? Also basically every suburb and city around Columbus is 90%+ white, there is basically no diversity outside of the central city. Cincinnati might even be more diverse than Columbus. Just off the top I will tell you that Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, and even Minneapolis are all more diverse than Columbus. That goes for the cities and metro areas. Im not trying to argue, I just have no idea how you could come to that conclusion.

[streetcreed]

Ok i've only lived in the area for three years now, and this is my take on Columbus.

North side
Most of upper Clintonville on the far north side and the area just east of it from I71 including Sharon Woods, Woodward Park, Northland, Minerva Park, and the neighborhoods around Brookhaven and DeSales aren't exactly in the danger zone people. Yes violence does happen from time to time and there are alot of working class black folks who do share the neighborhoods with other kinds of folks. Places like Tamerack Circle and Heaton Road just to name a few, however the area is looking a little worn down and is the process of change.

Now in South Clintonville the area from the intersection of High and Weber, Arcadia, Hudson, and down to the intersection of Lane Ave and High Street. Despite South Clintonville reputation for being a seedy area, but is it far from being a ghetto. Alot of homeless people were pushed here from the short north and ohio state campuses.

Just to the east of Clintonville is Linden and Mifflin Twp. This area is known for its reputation for sporadic violence. There has been a rising number of clashes between the iraqis, somalis and the blacks. At times it can be nasty in areas like Westerville, Innis, Agler, and Cleveland Avenues. From what folks have told me, the westside of Gahanna along Stygler Road is starting to experience a wave of crime that is moving west along that area. Linden Mckinley High School is in that area along with Mifflin with the former being the worse of the two.

East side

Now on the eastside, both near and far. Old Town East is a fairly nice place live with pockets of trouble along Bryden Road and Main Street. Bexley, Berwick, and Franklin Park areas are very nice places to live. the areas along Main Street bordering from Parsons to Whittier to Lockbourne to Livingston over by places like Miller-Kelton or Champion Ave. That is an area i would most likely avoid. The area north of Bexley between Nelson and James Road is so so. Obviously the most run down places seem to be Edgehill Road and area over by Cassidy and 5th seem very run down and seedy. Going east Whitehall is melting pot of nations with about every nationality living there but i wouldn't live in Whitehall. Some folks have dubbed the town of Whitehall Blackhall for obvious reasons. After driving around Whitehall, it seems like a very rundown community and it has been long ignored. The area between Whitehall and Bexley is seedy but hardly dangerous. The area over by Reynoldsburg where it borders Columbus by Livingston, Hamilton, McNaughton and Main Street have seen better days. Back in its day Walnut Ridge High School was thee premier school in Columbus to be at. It was once in a traquil setting with two parks surrounding it but has succumbed to drug dealing, prostitution and sexual activities after dark. Another area of Columbus that has seen better days is Southeast Columbus the area from Alum Creek Dive to just past Refugee Road is also known for sporadic violence. The Eastland Mall has seen better days and looks very worn down in that area, and just try to dodge the friendly panhandling folks at the corner of Refugee and Hamilton Roads. This area isn't really dangerous but just use common sense when you are in this area. The area between Brice Road to Refugee (Chatterton and Blacklick Estates area also has seen better days. The most obvious change is in the demographics in the area, when people fled for Canal, Pickerington, Groveport, Pataskala, and Lithopolis, the minoritis followed. Like Walnut Ridge and Northland, Independence High School once a powerhouse of a high school and faces the usual challenges a columbus public school faces.

In the south end of Columbus, Groveport is a nice village with a terrible school system. The village known as Obetz or Obetzabama is a little village with lots of rednecks and is a nice little speed trap if your traveling down Alum Creek, Groveport or Williams Road. There is alot of commercial activity here with a lot trucks zooming down Alum Creek, Watkins, or Williams Road. The area on Watkins between Lockbourne and Fairwood Ave isn't too bad of a place and is primarily a blue collar low income area. Also Marion-Franklin High School is in this area and the school is so so. North of 104 expressway the area from Fairwood to Whittier to High Street south of Merion Village to 104 isn't too bad. There are some pockets of trouble in some Neighborhoods, however everybody seems to coexist here and has a large population of mexicans along with blacks, Hillbillies and other blue collar middle class folks. I should know i have two friends who live at the corner of Gilbert and Thurman and they are pretty safe most of the time. South of 104 and the two rail yards things change drastically. The area where extreme south columbus runs into Hamilton Twp is like a different world. Most of the people who live in the area of High Street, Williams Road and the Southland Shopping Center might as well be mutants. Alot of trailer trash element going on here. Also where Greenlawn, intersects with Harmon over by the cemetery by that area is pretty seedy with rednecks.
Southwest/West Columbus

Over by the hilltop, the area that borders Broad, Hague, Sullivant, Mound and Harrisburg Pike with a mix of homeless people, rednecks, blacks, latinos and other low income folks. West of Hague is the island of Westgate Park, which is a nice neighborhood. Again there are pockets of trouble areas here and there along sullivant and Broad and Fisher Roads. South of Sullivant and over to Franklin Hts and Briggsdale aren't too bad either. Briggs High School is a decent academic high school and see its shares of struggles and does West High School on Powell Ave just north of Westgate. The southwestern area going towards Grove City Franklin Hts and Georgesville Road one will have no difficulty experiencing hardly any trouble. In the Westland and Valleyview areas there is large latino and redneck population in places by the Westland Mall and Lincoln Village. The town of Galloway southwest of this area is primarily blue collar and middle class mix of folks and is home to Westland High School, and it is considered a good and safe school. In Northwest Columbus, the area over around Bethel, Henderson, Sawmill, Reed Roads etc..
is a very nice area with little if any crime. Two schools in the area Centennial and Whetstone High School are known for their academics.

WHEW! Who is this poster?! This guy (or gal) that wrote this long post describing almost every area of Columbus is a genius. I thought that I knew every corner of this 232sq mile city, but this person blew me out of the water.

Redside20, it sounds as though you have been in Columbus for much more than a few years. How did you come to know the city so well?

The only fault I can find with your description: you focus on the areas in Columbus with a bad reputation, maybe, too often. You write paragraphs describing the bad areas and moderate crime areas with sentence after sentence, but then you generalize a large "nice" area, like the whole NW side of the city, and just says its "nice with little crime!"

I do feel you gave very accurate descriptions of every single area of Columbus that I would never want to live in. So one reading that post, not from the city, should realize that there are many nice areas of Columbus to balance off the many sections of Columbus that mix middle class/immigrant/poor people into one neighborhood.

*Streecreed*

[ChicagoRon]

Great post. Columbus is a very progressive city in terms of race relations. It has it's problems but what city does not.

Originally Posted by LancasterNative

Howdy Renay2001,

Come on over! Welcome to Ohio...

From my experience, Columbus and its general metro area is the least racist, most integrated, most accepting of racial differences, of all Ohio's major cities!

The black population here includes a strong, educated middle class...and more than a few influential, professional "movers and shakers" in town.

When I think of suburban areas w/good schools and a healthy racial mix, I first think of Gahanna. Westerville is right up there too, but I don't know that much about its demographic makeup.

But as I said above, not many people in Cbus are all that concerned about race...seriously! Compared to Cleveland or Cincinnati, it's just not that big of a deal here. People are people.

For full disclosure, I'm a caucasian male (or as I prefer to think of myself, Japhethite! It's a Bible thing. We're all related, you know...)

Best of luck to you!
Lanc

[macsports2]

Originally Posted by streetcreed

WHEW! Who is this poster?! This guy (or gal) that wrote this long post describing almost every area of Columbus is a genius. I thought that I knew every corner of this 232sq mile city, but this person blew me out of the water.

Redside20, it sounds as though you have been in Columbus for much more than a few years. How did you come to know the city so well?

The only fault I can find with your description: you focus on the areas in Columbus with a bad reputation, maybe, too often. You write paragraphs describing the bad areas and moderate crime areas with sentence after sentence, but then you generalize a large "nice" area, like the whole NW side of the city, and just says its "nice with little crime!"

I do feel you gave very accurate descriptions of every single area of Columbus that I would never want to live in. So one reading that post, not from the city, should realize that there are many nice areas of Columbus to balance off the many sections of Columbus that mix middle class/immigrant/poor people into one neighborhood.

*Streecreed*

I know you know alot about Columbus streetcreed so I will ask you. The area of Demorest Rd between Clime Rd and Alkire Rd near Don Gentile Park, how is this area and what kind of people live around here that you know of?

[kevin301]

Does anyone have any opinion about a small town called West Jefferson which is about 15 miles west of Columbus? Is this a good place to live? Racial factor there? I got a job offer there and I am an Asian so just a little curious. Thanks much.

[mrb69]

Originally Posted by Cle440

Excuse me because I havent read this until now...

But how in the world did you come to the conclusion that Columbus was the "Most diverse city in the mid-west" and "The most diverse city in Ohio by far"??? How is Columbus diverse? I dont think you know what diverse means. I think the word you were looking for was integrated or something, and even thats a stretch for Columbus.

Columbus is 67% white, 24% black, and 2% hispanic, and not much of anything else. How is that diverse compared to other midwest cities? Also basically every suburb and city around Columbus is 90%+ white, there is basically no diversity outside of the central city. Cincinnati might even be more diverse than Columbus. Just off the top I will tell you that Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, and even Minneapolis are all more diverse than Columbus. That goes for the cities and metro areas. Im not trying to argue, I just have no idea how you could come to that conclusion.

Haha Columbus is not the most diverse in the mid-west nor ohio but the inner-city is like this:
The North Side is mostly black
The East Side is mostly black
The West Side is mostly white
The South Side is mixed with white and black

and yes every suburb around columbus is 90%+ white except urbancreast.

Btw Dayton is the most diverse city in the mid-west.

[fatalhashbrown]

I live in Hilliard and there is a booming population of indian and somali folks in the area.

and yes every suburb around columbus is 90%+ white except urbancreast.

This may have been true 10 years ago, but not anymore. When I was in high school in Hilliard, we maybe had 10 Black Students, 5 Hispanic Students and a few Asian students out of a class of 300+ that graduated in 2001. I'm now 25, and I still live here trying to find a teaching job, and things have changed. There is a must larger percentage of all the races listed above here. I'd say the ratio is more like 60% White, with the other 40% being made up of people from all over the world. There are tons of apartment complexes in the area with decent rental rates. From what I gather, immigrants are coming into Hilliard, and are more or less taking over the rental properties in the area so that their kids can benefit from the excellent schools in the area. You don't see this happening much in areas like Upper Arlington (practically 100% White) or Dublin (same) because it costs on average 50% more to rent in these suburbs. Hilliard is a great community, and is becoming very diverse. It's on Columbus' West/Northwest Side, and is the first suburb anyone coming from the West would encounter on I-70.