Worst place to live (Greenville, Clarksdale: houses, neighborhoods, to buy)

[Ency]

Greenville is the worst;no taxi,no Salvation Army,few manufacturing jobs & plenty of drunks,drug heads,simple minds,tunneled visioned people that believe whatever they hear! So friggin sad!

[Listener2307]

I think most people agree.
There actually may be a worse place, but not of that size. Greenville was abandoned years ago as river commerce died down, the freeways bypassed them and farming became automated. Everyone who can leave pretty much has...

[brickpatio2018]

Actually Greenville's population is dropping by about 2% per year which means it will be half its current size in 25 years, down to about 15,000 people. In 50 years presumably they will be down to just 7,000 people, with Greenwood at 3,000. The silver lining is that the run-down parts of town will probably be torn down and ultimately cleaned up.

Most of the Delta outside of the larger towns is actually quite clean and green, being mainly rich farmland, lush forests and meandering bayous, because most of the population reduction in recent decades has been from the rural areas. Consequently there are virtually no run-down buildings in the Delta at all anymore, except inside the actual towns such as in Greenville.

If the run-down half of Greenville, Clarksdale, and others are in fact torn down and returned to trees and grass, those towns will end up being quite beautiful ironically, because the nice parts of those towns are fairly attractive. In fact in north Greenwood's residential district and Clarksdale's country club area, they are actually quite upscale and beautiful. Greenville is okay also but really it's nearby Leland, on Deer Creek, that has quite an amazing collection of mansions and pretty tree-lined streets.

Another hopeful note is that the average income in Delta counties is about half that of prosperous places like Rankin and DeSoto counties. Typically in the U.S. average incomes have doubled about every 50 years. If that pattern continues, as lower-income people continue to leave for opportunities in Texas, Florida, etc, the Delta in just a few short decades will evolve into a beautiful, green rural region dotted with very small but prosperous towns.

[Sharif662]

Originally Posted by brickpatio2018

Actually Greenville's population is dropping by about 2% per year which means it will be half its current size in 25 years, down to about 15,000 people. In 50 years presumably they will be down to just 7,000 people, with Greenwood at 3,000. The silver lining is that the run-down parts of town will probably be torn down and ultimately cleaned up.

This is incorrect summary of population growth/decline of future Greenville. Simply put it will level out around 25K population and slowly grow from there with some wishy washy years.

[ColdAilment]

Originally Posted by brickpatio2018

Actually Greenville's population is dropping by about 2% per year which means it will be half its current size in 25 years, down to about 15,000 people. In 50 years presumably they will be down to just 7,000 people, with Greenwood at 3,000. The silver lining is that the run-down parts of town will probably be torn down and ultimately cleaned up.

Most of the Delta outside of the larger towns is actually quite clean and green, being mainly rich farmland, lush forests and meandering bayous, because most of the population reduction in recent decades has been from the rural areas. Consequently there are virtually no run-down buildings in the Delta at all anymore, except inside the actual towns such as in Greenville.

If the run-down half of Greenville, Clarksdale, and others are in fact torn down and returned to trees and grass, those towns will end up being quite beautiful ironically, because the nice parts of those towns are fairly attractive. In fact in north Greenwood's residential district and Clarksdale's country club area, they are actually quite upscale and beautiful. Greenville is okay also but really it's nearby Leland, on Deer Creek, that has quite an amazing collection of mansions and pretty tree-lined streets.

Another hopeful note is that the average income in Delta counties is about half that of prosperous places like Rankin and DeSoto counties. Typically in the U.S. average incomes have doubled about every 50 years. If that pattern continues, as lower-income people continue to leave for opportunities in Texas, Florida, etc, the Delta in just a few short decades will evolve into a beautiful, green rural region dotted with very small but prosperous towns.

So the only nice parts of the cities worth saving are the parts where the rich live with mansions? You realize the rich can't stay there if there isn't a large enough pool of people willing to do menial service industry jobs right? And those people will always be dirt poor.

The Delta is never going to have small prosperous towns. It's one of the poorest regions of the country, and Mississippi has been the poorest state for quite some time now with no changes in sight.

[JacksonPanther]

Originally Posted by brickpatio2018

Actually Greenville's population is dropping by about 2% per year which means it will be half its current size in 25 years, down to about 15,000 people. In 50 years presumably they will be down to just 7,000 people, with Greenwood at 3,000. The silver lining is that the run-down parts of town will probably be torn down and ultimately cleaned up.

Most of the Delta outside of the larger towns is actually quite clean and green, being mainly rich farmland, lush forests and meandering bayous, because most of the population reduction in recent decades has been from the rural areas. Consequently there are virtually no run-down buildings in the Delta at all anymore, except inside the actual towns such as in Greenville.

If the run-down half of Greenville, Clarksdale, and others are in fact torn down and returned to trees and grass, those towns will end up being quite beautiful ironically, because the nice parts of those towns are fairly attractive. In fact in north Greenwood's residential district and Clarksdale's country club area, they are actually quite upscale and beautiful. Greenville is okay also but really it's nearby Leland, on Deer Creek, that has quite an amazing collection of mansions and pretty tree-lined streets.

Another hopeful note is that the average income in Delta counties is about half that of prosperous places like Rankin and DeSoto counties. Typically in the U.S. average incomes have doubled about every 50 years. If that pattern continues, as lower-income people continue to leave for opportunities in Texas, Florida, etc, the Delta in just a few short decades will evolve into a beautiful, green rural region dotted with very small but prosperous towns.

You must work for the Delta Chamber of Commerce.

First thing, demolition costs money. Everyone has pipe dreams about tearing down houses and returning lots to the wild, but it never happens because no one wants to pay for demolition and cleanup. So the abandoned houses are left to rot, which takes decades. And is not pretty.

And if you're imagining small but property towns in the Delta in a few decades, again you're insane. The Delta will just depopulate, as even the rich will tire of swatting mosquitoes while their friends move to Charleston and Savannah.

[brickpatio2018]

You may be right about the tear-downs inside the towns. I'm going by what I see in the countryside. The Delta used to be full of houses all throughout the region, but when jobs were mechanized and workers moved away, those houses were torn down. Now by and large you only see miles of agriculture and hardwood forests and hardly any people. My thinking was that the same would apply to the run-down houses in the towns if no one is living in the houses as low-income workers move away to Texas, Florida, etc.

I do think the nice parts of Greenwood, Clarksdale, Cleveland, Indianola, Tunica, Leland, et al are all very pretty and the downtown areas are cute with lots of character, with the exception maybe of Clarksdale which has character but isn't charming to me in the same way. In Greenwood for example, if those same beautiful neighborhoods were transposed in say Atlanta, they would be million dollar homes. Same definitely for Clarksale's country club area, Leland's Deer Creek and even Indianola where pleasant neighborhoods built mostly in the 60s and 70s line a pretty bayou that meanders through town. Tunica also is surprisingly cute with a grid of tree-lined streets and elegant homes and a cute downtown.

So if those towns' populations do in fact shrink in half or more, logically those empty houses in the run-down parts of town could be torn down and returned back to trees over time, just as has been done in the countryside.

[gvillesux]

Originally Posted by Sharif662

This is incorrect summary of population growth/decline of future Greenville. Simply put it will level out around 25K population and slowly grow from there with some wishy washy years.

the big study the city had done several years back says it HAS to level out at 25k or the city is doomed. not that it will level out there. I have lived here all my life and the decline is actually speeding up.


DRMC, the only hospital in town and owner of most medical clinics, is in such sad shape that they regularly send not just nonclinical but staff from ALL departments home early without the option to use PLT. If an area with a population in such poor health can't staff a hospital full time, what makes you think there is a chance it will grow again? They can't even get new doctors to move in to the area, last year they informed staff that even offering DOUBLE what UMMC pays they cannot find docs that want to come here.


USG and Mars do have expansions every few years to get new tax breaks, but the number of jobs they "create" is less than half the number of those they eliminate in the years between. Drive by during any shift and the employee lots are less than half full on a week day when office staff are there as well.


The hwy 82 corridor is already dead with empty buildings/lots everywhere. IF the bypass is ever completed the rest will quickly follow. Now that Fred's has closed the only place to buy any type of groceries in the eastern quadrant is what little Dollar General and Family Dollar carry.


Currently untold millions are being spent to repair the long neglected sewer system. and the ONLY reason why is because the EPA stepped in and said you will do this. Sinkholes in streets are everywhere due to leaking/collapsed sewer lines, the city just puts out cones and gets to it when it gets to it. Or worse they go patch one spot and cause 3 others to fail. The City Council did wise up on that recently and say from now on they will replace entire sections when they do repairs, but mark my words this will mean fewer repairs are made because each will cost so much.

[Listener2307]

You can kind of see the problem. A giant infrastructure, left over from the days when Greenville was much bigger, now has to be maintained by a smaller staff and a smaller budget and all while the infrastructure is aging!

Looks like Greenville population peaked out in 1990 at 45,000. About 30,000 now.