Why do people say Whitehaven is bad? (Memphis, Germantown: sale, real estate)

[Jonesbury]

There are plans to redevelop whitehaven plaza, on EPB near the Piccadilly, into nice retail, restaurants, etc.
Also, some of the residential areas are seeing a lot of house getting renovated and flipped to owner occupant buyers as well as investor buyers.

[TheKernel91]

Originally Posted by Jonesbury

There are plans to redevelop whitehaven plaza, on EPB near the Piccadilly, into nice retail, restaurants, etc.
Also, some of the residential areas are seeing a lot of house getting renovated and flipped to owner occupant buyers as well as investor buyers.

Where's a link to the WP redevelopment? That's great for Whitehaven, it deserves so much more investment outside of the Graceland area.

[Memphis2Indy]

Originally Posted by Dawn10am

Growing up in Memphis over the last twenty years or so, I'd always been told that Whitehaven wasn't a place you'd ever want to visit- you know, a "bad" part of town Today I took a drive down Elvis Presley from Southaven all the way to the 55/240 interchange to see for myself and was actually pleasantly surprised! I mean, it's no Germantown, but still, definitely not what I would call a "bad" neighborhood at all. Looks like Southland Mall still has a Sears and a Macy's and I even spotted a new Walmart supercenter and a Krispy Kreme. So why do people say Whitehaven is bad? Am I missing something?

People hate, are racist and are living in the past. Yes Crime is there but is there a place with no crime? That area is frequented by Tourist and so it's not ever getting too dangereous; the City wouidn't allow it. Use common sense and have fun, just like anywhere else.

[citizenkane2]

Originally Posted by Dawn10am

Growing up in Memphis over the last twenty years or so, I'd always been told that Whitehaven wasn't a place you'd ever want to visit- you know, a "bad" part of town Today I took a drive down Elvis Presley from Southaven all the way to the 55/240 interchange to see for myself and was actually pleasantly surprised! I mean, it's no Germantown, but still, definitely not what I would call a "bad" neighborhood at all. Looks like Southland Mall still has a Sears and a Macy's and I even spotted a new Walmart supercenter and a Krispy Kreme. So why do people say Whitehaven is bad? Am I missing something?

20 years is not enough time.... You really have to have been here in the 60's 70's and 80's to see what it use to be...… Man it was really really nice ….and safe too....

[Jonesbury]

Originally Posted by TheKernel91

Where's a link to the WP redevelopment? That's great for Whitehaven, it deserves so much more investment outside of the Graceland area.

Whitehaven Plaza is first look at Memphis 3.0 in action

[sillykriss83]

Originally Posted by Senor Boogie Woogie

Whitehaven used to be an unincorporated area south of what was Memphis. It was built after WWII into the 1960's. My old house on Boeingshire was built in 1962 (just found that out recently because it is up for sale. It went for something like 85K for a 50 year old four bedroom home.

White flight started when Memphis annexed the area around 1970. Most of the whites refused to send their kids to public schools because of bussing and integration, sending them to private or church private schools. In my neighborhood in the 1970's, I would go to one private school, a kid a block away went to another private school, the Catholic kids down the street went to Catholic school and the kid across the street from them went to the public school. Four different sets of kids going to four different schools although we lived within a stone throw of each other.

The whites got tired of paying $1000 USD (which is about $3000 USD in 2010 dollars) a year to send their runt to the third grade and pulled up stakes and left. The African Americans moved in, which sped the process of more whites leaving for Mississippi, Germantown/Collierville, or Hickory Hill, which will be annexed by Memphis in the late 1980's, starting the "white flight" process all over again.

Whitehaven mirrors a lot with Raleigh. Raleigh is basically Whitehaven north. Raleigh was also annexed by Memphis. Whites (the tax base) left. Same with Hickory Hill. Now the Memphis Monster is ruining Cordova. My parents moved to Germantown, partly because it can never be annexed. As a matter of course to anyone wanting to move here, don't live in unincorporated Shelby County because Memphis will grab you too. This means higher property taxes, a crappy school system and a general decline in life.

Section 8 is starting to ghettoize sections of the city and county I never dreamed would ever go rough. The ghetto people are getting houses for cheap defaulted housing. The taxpayers and humans see this, and again...............run away. People have been pushed so far east that they are building housing in Fayette freaking County.

We were one of the last whites out in 1981. There were a few white families living in the old 'hood up to the 1990's and beyond. Most of these people, because of economics just could not move. Some were lucky and were bought out by the city because of the expansion of the airport. My friend's family wanted this, but they lived a bit too far away.

Southland and Southbrook are still there. Southland is and always been a dump, but Southbrook still has its two anchor stores. The last time I set foot in there was in the late 1980's. I just checked and saw that they don't have a website, so there is no way of knowing what is in there or not.

Graceland is very safe, however, I would advise people not to go to any of the businesses around it, or at very least, only buy gas on 51 (Elvis Blvd.) and leave the rest be. To "out of towners" take a tour there, get there, see the ugly house and leave the area.

Brooks Rd. in the daytime is a safe area, full of what I remember as trucking and light industry area. There is a lot of prostitution and sex shops in that area that runs at or under the radar of the vice unit of the Memphis Police Dept. I would not go to Brooks to "party" unless you want VD or a bullet in the head.

Whitehaven is far from the worst area, go to North Memphis, or Southwest Memphis, or the fringes of downtown. But, there really isn't anything else to see or do in Whitehaven. If I was black, there might be certain areas of Whitehaven which would be fine to live in. I am white and do not want to live in a black neighborhood. Crime, violence and drugs are higher in African American neighborhoods. I as a white would never be accepted or wanted in their neighborhoods, and would not have a voice there.

Concerning crime and violence, if you do not find trouble, trouble will not find you. I was once mugged not far from Graceland, but I was looking for drugs and picked up the wrong dude (I was a bit insane in the 1990's, I am much, much better now.) and was robbed. A lot of murders in the city happen either between family/friends/acquaintences or over drugs or debts.

If you want to live "on the wildside", find a club in Midtown, or go to the Tunica boats.

Even though I am 37 years of age, I have to agree with everything you wrote. I too grew up in Whitehaven (Graceland area), and as a Black woman, I would not want to move back there. Where I grew up is still nice, along with Twinkletown and the LionsGate area by WHS. But I would definitely take Whitehaven over Raleigh or Frayser. I live in the 38141 area....one street away from Olive Branch, MS. Thankfully, it is still the county, but it is "unincorporated" which means at any given time, it can change. They have been trying for years, I hope they can leave well enough alone. There are some subdivisions in Hickory Hill and I'm sure elsewhere that DO NOT accept Section 8, and I am so happy for that. It is a known fact that they do not take care of things.

[sillykriss83]

Agreed. ALL of those apartment complexes are trash.

[sillykriss83]

@citizenkane2, when my parents married in 1978, they moved to the Windsor and then to the Winchester Cabana. They both told me how nice they used to be. I still find that hard to believe (I always thought both complexes were ugly as sin). They ended up buying a house before I was born in 1983 in the Tulane area, and in 1987, they purchased a home in the Graceland area. I saw it with my own two eyes.........everyone with the exception of 3 other families were black. We moved in, and 2 years later, the whites started leaving going to Germantown or Southaven. In 1993-1994, there was a murder that happened at the end of my street. Some loser gang member killed a teenager walking home from school (Hillcrest) with the intent of murdering someone else. EVERYONE started leaving then. We left the area in 1999, but it's still a fairly nice area. And it is sad to see.

[dc1538]

Originally Posted by sillykriss83

Even though I am 37 years of age, I have to agree with everything you wrote. I too grew up in Whitehaven (Graceland area), and as a Black woman, I would not want to move back there. Where I grew up is still nice, along with Twinkletown and the LionsGate area by WHS. But I would definitely take Whitehaven over Raleigh or Frayser. I live in the 38141 area....one street away from Olive Branch, MS. Thankfully, it is still the county, but it is "unincorporated" which means at any given time, it can change. They have been trying for years, I hope they can leave well enough alone. There are some subdivisions in Hickory Hill and I'm sure elsewhere that DO NOT accept Section 8, and I am so happy for that. It is a known fact that they do not take care of things.

Memphis annexation days are over. They can't just annex an area anymore due to changes in state law. The residents have to vote on it. They've de-annexed a few areas in the last couple of years also. Personally to me unincorporated areas are a hit and miss and in my opinion seem to be semi-neglected in some areas.


For me personally. I would stay in Raleigh over Whitehaven, with Frayser being last in last place. Whitehaven,in the rare occasion I pass through, has really gone down hill even since the early 2000's.

[NoClueWho]

For the same reason that people say Memphis in general is bad: because it's predominately black and poor.