Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
This thread appears to be the general outlook in America. Our society is stratified and couldn't be more deeply divided. It's not a racial barrier but more of an economic one. Those that are poor are looked down on by the majority of wealthy hypocrites who have had everything handed to them. Others are simply more capable of achieving a particular standard than others. Any way you slice it people are people. Humans have struggled to co-exist since the beginning of time. Until we change out attitudes about people who are less fortunate we will forever remain in our ignorant states.
Just remember this...WE ARE ALL ONE PAYCHECK AWAY from tragedy. If you don't have family and resources you just may end up pushing that shopping cart next to the people you mocked in your perpetual state of grandeur.
This thread appears to be the general outlook in America. Our society is stratified and couldn't be more deeply divided. It's not a racial barrier but more of an economic one. Those that are poor are looked down on by the majority of wealthy hypocrites who have had everything handed to them. Others are simply more capable of achieving a particular standard than others. Any way you slice it people are people. Humans have struggled to co-exist since the beginning of time. Until we change out attitudes about people who are less fortunate we will forever remain in our ignorant states.
Just remember this...WE ARE ALL ONE PAYCHECK AWAY from tragedy. If you don't have family and resources you just may end up pushing that shopping cart next to the people you mocked in your perpetual state of grandeur.
I love diversity and we have people from just about every group in our neighborhood. The thing we have in common is that we all work hard enough to make good money and keep our properties up. We don't tolerate those who don't behave (mostly who can't afford to live here, anyway) I want to live near people who know how to beahve (and make their children behave)
SUPERNOVA 7; SOME of us have actually worked for what we own. And NOTHING was handed to us. And, no, my wife and I aren't one paycheck away from tragedy, because we planned ahead for tragedy. If you'd like to sit on your butt and whine and blame OTHERS for your shortcomings, that's your choice. After all this is America. FWIW, I get frustrated about the way things are in this country. But the difference is that I do something about it by making educated decisions at the ballot box in every election (even if the ONLY question on the ballot is "SHOULD WE PASS A LEVY TO IMPROVE THE ROADS IN THE TOWNSHIP?"). It's my money, I'm going to have my say. Sure wish EVERY American was that way...
Status:
"Moldy Tater Gangrene, even before Moscow Marge."
(set 2 days ago)
Location: Dallas, TX
5,790 posts, read 3,599,675 times
Reputation: 5697
Is it good for suburbs to have increases in low income people? That depends on the perspective.
Strictly economic/fiscal answers, disregarding any and all moral/ethical issues: it's a bad thing because it forces the suburb to allocate money for social services, police protection, and lowers the property values of the premises near the areas getting heaviest upsurge of poor residents.
HOWEVER, there's ALWAYS more to the issue than mere dollars and cents! I am definitely not so cold-blooded as to make it a mere economic issue. Ultimately, the long-term community cohesion is more important - especially with opportunities for day-to-day one-on-one personal interaction across the classes (even more important for metro areas whose class distinctions fall heavily along racial lines). In the short term, it may be aggrivating and even painful at times to have to interact with "the other", but in the long run, it'll force us to question our own opinions about what's really important in life - which, in turn, stimulates individual creativity.
For better or worse, ALL of us are part of the same community. If our society isn't willing to confront difference (of whatever sort) on a day-to-day basis, then that can only spell trouble for our nation (picture Yugoslavia or Iraq as case studies on the consequenses of emphasizing differences instead of common humanity. Surely no sane person wants that to happen to the United States of America).
Was that last part hysterical? Perhaps so if you're thinking about short timelines (i.e. within our own lifetimes). But a century or two? Well, history tends to take very unexpected turns, for better and for worse. I leave it up to you to decide where you're gonna place your bets (i.e. imagine betting your entire life's income on this question - no, your grandchildren's and great-great-grandchildren's future)
For the record a bit of diversity is a very good thing imo regardless of city or suburb.
That being said I'm not really buying into your premise of "the new diverse suburbs"- at least thats not the case in the suburbs of the Philly region,
I agree with this completely, and I think that's the case in most older metropolitan regions. There's this sort of institutional racism that dates back a couple hundred years in which minorities were restricted to living in certain parts of cities. Suburban living is still largely unattainble for most minorities, being that the economic/racial divide is much more pronounced in the areas surrounding cities such as Philly, New York, Boston, Baltimore (DC has a unique situation where there are lots of impoverished minorities in the city, but there is a substantial amount of affluent minorities in the suburbs, as well) than it is in younger metro areas surrounding cities like Atlanta, Houston, Charlotte, or Phoenix.
What do you think of the new suburbs in America? Should poor people be moved into every community, or should they live in another town that you will never see?
I'm guessing that you have no problem with them being brought in to wash your car, serve your food, take care of your kids, clean your house and mow your lawn. You just don't want to be around them THE REST OF THE TIME.
In the past the suburbs were a place to live if you were upper middle class, white and college educated and wanted to live next to people like yourself. They also were places with big lots, many trees and significant open space. This is not the case anymore.
Sure there are still some wealthy low density suburbs left... but most of them are older communities that are built out. The new suburb is mixed income, economically and ethnically diverse and full of apartments, high density, and more concrete and asphalt than ever before. The suburbs have all the social problems people use to escape in the city.
Local governments feel like they have to have economic and ethnic diversity in their towns or they would not be PC and the workers who do the dirty low paid jobs will not have anyplace to live. I see some logic to this but those people who use to move to the suburbs to escape the effects of poverty are not happy.
What do you think of the new suburbs in America? Should poor people be moved into every community, or should they live in another town that you will never see?
Why not let people live where they want? If I were to move to your suburb, would you leave upon my entrance or have a problem with me there?
Suburbs were for the upper middle class with big lots and open space? I guess I missed that memo. My suburb was built up around lower middle class blue collar persons. The lots for the most part are pretty small and the area is dense.
While the old, pre-WW2 suburbs (in places like Westchester County, New York or The Main Line outside Philly) were built for the rich, later suburbs were built for the lower-middle and working classes. They were designed to create the illusion of being Greenwich, CT or Brookline, MA, but had a density that made the comparatively affordable.
This thread presupposes that suburbs were created for the rich ("were a place to live if you were upper middle class, white and college educated and wanted to live next to people like yourself"). Instead, most were created for the comparatively poor to pretend that they were rich, or at least upper-middle class. They have become more ethnically diverse, but the economics is similar.
New York City and Boston are now like Paris and other European cities: beautiful, urban streetscapes manicured for the rich and tourists with the poor pushed to the margins and the suburbs.
florida city,miami-dade county, florida is the perfect answer for your question.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
