Austin Ghetto (Houston, Dallas, San Antonio: neighborhood, gated, to live in)

[makeyes]

There are pockets of high rates of crime and in those same pockets, close down schools instead of saving them,etc. Prostitution, illegal immigrant smuggling from Mexico and drugs run through the veins of the neighborhoods. This city has a long history of segregation and Austin bused kids until the 1980's. Ghetto is a loaded word-so that may be why the comments are laced with denial. The pockets addressed by the posters are segregated by race, class and income and that's the Real Austin. On the bright side if you live in an affluent urban neighborhood such as Clarksville you probably never deal with crime. Sad-but 100-percent honest and from the heart. Newcomers sometimes like to make the city out to be a perfect society. I won't even talk about local lawyers, govt. corruption and the lobbyists-I will leave that for another post.

[veloman777]

Question on this area; East Austin on Poquito and East 12th Street to Springdale.

Is it a bad idea to ride (cycle) my expensive bike through there?

I've been on Poquito near Manor and it didn't seem like a bad area, just run down.

[verybadgnome]

I cycle north on Chicon past 12th somewhat frequently. It is not the best section of town so I try to time that particular light. Looks like Poquito street is just one block east of there near Sam's BBQ (very good Mutton by the way) so I would be a bit on guard in that area. I've never had an incident, people stare me down but there is usually some "activity" in the area and quite often police cars.

[veloman777]

Nice bike lanes in that area. I didn't have any problems riding it today. Although I did start to wonder if I was wearing the "wrong color".

[Travieso]

NO THERE ARE NO GHETTOS in Austin. Yes, there are predominately latino areas for Austin, but actually they have taken some horrible parts of town and have done well at revitalizing those neighborhoods - with their own style of decor. A good point is the Dove Springs area that was, and still is, ravaged by crack. Many recent immigrants have bought those homes, fixed them up, painted them in pastel colors, and planted gardens. I think this is a good thing. I lived in East Austin off 10th and Chicon for 12 years before it has the chic place to live. Nothing bad ever happened to me. I did just fine. Though I speak spanish I look very white and no one really cared

[eepstein]

Just don't go east of I-35, and you'll be fine.

Originally Posted by balps

Are there any "ghettos" in Austin (unsafe areas) that I should avoid if I was looking for an area to live around Austin?

[llkltk]

There really aren't ghettos. There are areas where there is more crime, etc. But, being born near Chicago, Austin doesn't even come close to having a ghetto.

[gpurcell]

Originally Posted by Travieso

NO THERE ARE NO GHETTOS in Austin. Yes, there are predominately latino areas for Austin, but actually they have taken some horrible parts of town and have done well at revitalizing those neighborhoods - with their own style of decor. A good point is the Dove Springs area that was, and still is, ravaged by crack. Many recent immigrants have bought those homes, fixed them up, painted them in pastel colors, and planted gardens. I think this is a good thing. I lived in East Austin off 10th and Chicon for 12 years before it has the chic place to live. Nothing bad ever happened to me. I did just fine. Though I speak spanish I look very white and no one really cared

For emphasis. I worked for years in central city Kansas City. THAT'S a ghetto; Austin has nothing even close to approaching it.

[centralaustinite]

I agree. I grew up in Saint Louis Missouri! There are no ghettos here.

[riaelise]

I've come to realize that people like to bandy the term "ghetto" freely when they really should not. For some people, a place becomes a "ghetto" the minute they see a few folks move in who do not mow their lawns, or are perceived as not making much money, or happen to be of a particular race, or a proliferation of 99 cent stores or ..what have you. For those people I say to you, go walk 174th Street in the South Bronx, or enter South Central. Austin has its unsavory areas, as all cities. But at least kids don't feel compelled to join the Bloods/Crips in order to have protection.