Middle Class African Americans - Where do you live?

[orrmobl]

If I were African American, I surely would not move to the Northeast in general by choice. Philly is still fairly segregated and racism still burbles under the surface except when it erupts out in an old fashioned cross burning or window smashing or some other such nonsense.

Atlanta seems like a pretty good alternative to me...

[thekish]

Originally Posted by phlinak

I was born and bred in Philly and have lived and worked in DC and Baltimore but I now call Alaska home. Believe it or not, in spite of Sarah Palin, I have found this area to be the most racially tolerant and accepting (well here and the Twin Cities). I have the opportunity to relocate back to Philly if I want to but I see that as going backwards. Between the mindless racial crap that flares up from time to time, the unjustifiably high taxes and rampant violent crime, I cannot see the positive gains of moving my biracial family back to "Hateadelphia", "Taxadelphia", or "Killadelphia".

Sorry, if I sneezed in anyone's cornflakes but like it was stated above, you will get a variety of opinions.

So there's my honest, if unpopular, "two cents".

Killadelphia?

Who do you think is committing the 400 murders per year? Why do you think the taxes are so high?

$700 million for DHS to take care of unwanted kids.
$600 million for cops.
$250 million for jails.
$65 million for 650 full time cops in the schools.



Do you have a problem being judged on the content of your character?

[killakoolaide]

Right now the best areas for middle class blacks in the region are: Olney/ Mt. Airy/West Oak Lane/East Oak Lane/Chestnut Hill/Cheltenham/Abington/. Baically "uptown" and its immediate suburbs.

The 611/263 corridor from cheltenham to Willow Grove Park is the employment center for the area's low-wage service jobs. Horsham is the industrial employment center for that area. I would say that Cheltenham ave (also Ogontz, Wadsworth Ave, and 611/263 south of the Willow Grove mall and North of Broad and Olney) is the center of gravity, IMO, for Philly's balck middle class at the moment.

[daboywonder2002]

Originally Posted by JazzyJackson

Thinking about moving to Philly. Don't know much about it. So, I was just wondering where we are?

Thanks.

im in east lansdowne. not a bad area but def wanna move in that ridley park, prospect park, springfield, media area. sure its farther from philly. but shoot, i need a change of scenery.

[BajanYankee]

Originally Posted by TVandSportsGuy

I don't know much about Chestnut Hill but I did laugh when I saw Wynnfield on the list-lol

So Mount Airy is middle class and Wynnefield's not?

Chestnut Hill is affluent.

I think East Falls is middle class. I don't know anybody who's ballin' out of control living over there. Why wouldn't it be middle class?

[FindingZen]

Originally Posted by BajanYankee

So Mount Airy is middle class and Wynnefield's not?

Chestnut Hill is affluent.

I think East Falls is middle class. I don't know anybody who's ballin' out of control living over there. Why wouldn't it be middle class?

East Falls actually has its affluent areas. If I recall, there are at least a few mansion-sized homes there, including one owned by Gov. Rendell.

And I would consider Wynnefield middle class IMO on par with East Mount Airy.

[a75206]

The OP being from Plano, and I'm from Dallas, and both of us wanting to move to Philly by choice, I'd think anywhere in or near Center City for 20 or 30-something single male. I'm Asian/Indian and in all my trips to Philly, I've not had any racial issues against me, though I suppose it's more of a black-and-white thing?

Depending on where in Plano (west Plano is quite rich, east Plano is upper middle class to middle class), it's true that Philly itself might not have large swathes of areas that are similar. Then again, I always thought Plano to be full of conservative (fiscally and socially) whites and Indians and Asians, certainly not a big African American enclave. A similar area in Philly metro might be some towns on the west side of the city, along the Main Line.

[eolicom]

I am also from the DFW area. The most equivalent to Plano/Frisco area would be the Ardmore/BrynMawr strip. In both cases, mostly upper middle class white/asian.

Center City, Chesnut Hill, Mount Airy seem the best places for educated middle-class blacks.
The rest of Black Philly is like Dallas south of I-30. There are some decent spots here and there but most are not much bigger than a few blocks on a single street (ie Germantown).

[daboywonder2002]

right now i live in lansdowne. but thinking of moving to either south jersey or drexel hill. i thought about ridley park. but if im gonna commute 35- 40 minutes. id rather commute from jersey. at least im closer to philly.

[solibs]

Originally Posted by a75206

I'm Asian/Indian and in all my trips to Philly, I've not had any racial issues against me, though I suppose it's more of a black-and-white thing?

It's not exactly a black/white thing. It's more like an ignorant white/ignorant black thing. They just don't like each other and, unfortunately, Philadelphia has too much of both groups.

I live in a pretty diverse neighborhood. I hear older whites and asians say derogatory stuff about black people and I hear black people of all ages say derogatory stuff about whites and asians.

A lot of asians (east and south) and a lot of other immigrant groups like cubans, filipinos, nigerians, etc came here as middle class families. They may have had nothing when they landed but they were middle class/entrepreneurial in their own countries and generally well educated and understand basic concepts of business and capital.

Even among the Archie Bunker types you'd be hard pressed to find one who had a problem with those immigrants.