6 murders in 6 days - Does L'ville have a gang problem? (Louisville: high crime, homes)

[tomocox]

Originally Posted by stx12499

I understood quite well what you said. You wanted to look at ratios,. and I am here to tell you the west end has a much higher ratio than the central part of the city. As the city was broken down, I am guessing the ratio is 28/50,000 for the west end and 10/100,000 for the downtown and vast swath of the central city defined in that last post. The last 100,000 or so people of the old urban city live in the old "east end" that is the baxter/bardstown and frankfort ave corridors inside the watterson and outside the St Matthews and small river road city districts.

Ya see, STX, the difference between you and me, is you see things as you want them to be. As a professional obligated by law to ask questions, I needed to be certain of the specifics as laid out by Censusdata. One must be very careful in assuming. In this case, unless Census specifically outlines the boundaries of his report, all of us are assuming.

[censusdata]

Yes the area btw 15th Street and 7th Street is probably 80% industrial and probably has the same murder RATE as Dixie Hwy @ 22nd Street. Having lived in Old Louisville (and 80% likely to move somewhere near U of L again) I can tell you I'd rather live next to a mostly industrial area with 5 murders than a more populated area with 20 murders but a lower rate. Old Louisville would probably have 15 murders a year if it wasn't seperated by those industrial areas from the Dixie Hwy corridor.

(BEST SOLUTION - LEAST DOABLE) As for a way to make the West End as safe as Frankfort Ave.... I see only one way that could happen -> the forced displacement of all the WE's low income residents spread out as thinnly as possible in the suburbs WITH a simultaneous movement of higher income/ young college grads into the area.

(MOST DOABLE SOLUTION) The old city of Louisville, now the Urban Service District, has taxed out all middle class home owners from w/i its borders. Whether its a middle class Black family moving to Shively or a Soccer mom and busnimas man White family moving to J-town, most home owners and middle class two parent families have exited the USD.

Today there are basically 2 classes of people still living in the USD - low income/ young professional renters (who pay no property taxes, are childless or too hard strung to care about school quality) and high income home owners who live in places like Douglass Loop or Crescent Hill to get an urban experience not available in the burbs. (These people make enough to not care about the higher taxes and can afford private school if they have children)

If the USD lowered its taxes to comparable rates to the suburbs population loss would slow and more investment/ redevelopment would occur

[vette-dude]

Originally Posted by tomocox

Ya see, STX, the difference between you and me, is you see things as you want them to be. As a professional obligated by law to ask questions, I needed to be certain of the specifics as laid out by Censusdata. One must be very careful in assuming. In this case, unless Census specifically outlines the boundaries of his report, all of us are assuming.

So L'ville is not a place to visit, got it...G'banging....Police sleeping ......unemployment, lack of education....maybe obama will have a "new" committee created to fight crime in America, grow up to be a good citizen or go to prison......

[kingcopper]

Originally Posted by vette-dude

So L'ville is not a place to visit, got it...G'banging....Police sleeping ......unemployment, lack of education....maybe obama will have a "new" committee created to fight crime in America, grow up to be a good citizen or go to prison......

Funny thing but a street hustla I know just explained how he will reform once Obama becomes the "man"

[stx12499]

Originally Posted by vette-dude

So L'ville is not a place to visit, got it...G'banging....Police sleeping ......unemployment, lack of education....maybe obama will have a "new" committee created to fight crime in America, grow up to be a good citizen or go to prison......

haha. Look up the STATISTICS on the city and get back to me. Louisville is one of America's safest large cities

Crime in the United States 2006

Morgan Quitno - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

with an economy outperforming the national average.


Unemployment Rate: Louisville-Jefferson County, KY-IN Metropolitan Statistical Area, Kentucky; Percent; NSA

Louisville's unemployment is substantially less than states with such "great" economies like California:

California unemployment jumps to 8.2%, third-highest in the U.S. - Los Angeles Times



Louisville's weakest point is the percentage of people's with bachelor's which lags comparative cities by a few percentage points.

ACS: Ranking Table -- Percent of People 25 Years and Over Who Have Completed a Bachelor's Degree

Now there are several problems with this ranking. First, it uses Louisville's old city limits, not its current ones. Second, smaller in geographic area old cities like Louisville and Saint Louis appear to have lower educational rates because they are being compared agaisnt cities which include much more wealthy subruban population (aka Indianapolis, Nashville, Jacksonville or the new merged Louisville). So, in 2010, Louisville will likely be in the top 20 of that educational table simply because of merger! What many people posting here have failed to understand is that the demographics of every major city are eerily similar. Those that live within urban boundaries are one of two types: the young professional/college student/ wealthy homeowner who wants urban amenities, and the poor.

[censusdata]

Originally Posted by stx12499

What many people posting here have failed to understand is that the demographics of every major city are eerily similar. Those that live within urban boundaries are one of two types: the young professional/college student/ wealthy homeowner who wants urban amenities, and the poor.

It's because cities have much higher taxes which forces out middle class home owners, especially ones with children who can't afford private school. If you make $40,000 a year and have a $1,000 a month house payment those extra thousands of dollars in taxes make a huge difference.

[1908WAGY]

Originally Posted by tomocox

Wagy, I believe that before the sons and daughters of slavery can get to truly equal socio-economic status several things must change. I hope they can because no one needs to be considered anything but equal in today's America. I beg your tolerance as I am doing everything I can to be genuinely caring, and in no way condemning or inappropriately discriminatory. I just think so many lives are at stake and the 50 years since Little Rock has not truly improved the overall educational status of Black or Hispanics, yet the Asians seem to have advanced and what hatred there was of that group even in the 1950's and 60's.

1st: The term African-American must go. Every hyphenated-American must go. To use such a term automatically segregates and therefore makes discrimination easier. The only time race should be used is in the Dr's office and then only as a diagnostic tool.

2nd: Slavery is history. Yes, Africans were wrongly imported and owned and the suffering that went with it was terrible, but then so too was the suffering my ancestors endured as they braved the frontiers to come to America and the many frontiers America itself offered. Yes, they were free to make the choices while most African descendants were not free to make such choices. I honor both groups sufferings.

3rd: Barack Obama is not the son of a slave by any manner, yet the sale job was that he equaled those whose ancestors had been. Obama is not "one of us" should have been recognized. This fact has absolutely nothing to do with whether he will be a good president or not. I only point out how political spin can make what is false or untrue seem real. All American's of every color, race, creed, etc, should have voted for the best presidential candidate, not the one whose demographical statistics most closely match theirs.

4th: Because of # 3, our educational system must revise its socialistic attitudes which fail to allow all people to achieve or fail at their own accord and not at the fault of others.

Hey Tomocox,

I hear you loud and clear, and I totally agree. Unfortunately, education is not regarded as a tenet in the hearts and minds of the many disenfranchised. There has been so much lost, it's almost as if a lot of us are operating with a hand tied behind our back...too deep and convoluted to go into detail on this here board, but I agree with most of your points and opinions. It was received in the spririt in which it was written.

[stx12499]

Originally Posted by censusdata

It's because cities have much higher taxes which forces out middle class home owners, especially ones with children who can't afford private school. If you make $40,000 a year and have a $1,000 a month house payment those extra thousands of dollars in taxes make a huge difference.

This, in general, is true. However, there are lots of dynamics that cause cities to be this way that is a WHOLE other discussion.

[censusdata]

Originally Posted by stx12499

This, in general, is true. However, there are lots of dynamics that cause cities to be this way that is a WHOLE other discussion.

I think the higher taxes is what initially caused the white middle class to begin leaving cities (a fact typically & IMO falsed blamed on racism/ integration) and once they left the city schools fell down the drain.

5+ decades into most city's decline the problems do go well beyond taxes. For one thing, redevelopment requires expensive enironmental decontamination (old buildings on the site probably had asbestist siding and lead paint). The only people/ organizations who can afford that are universities, governments, and large corperations.

[censusdata]

I was looking at a murder map of Houston - West Louisville is probably safer than the "good" side of Houston, where ever that is

Houston Crime Map