Middle class white flight in NW burbs- why is it still so prevalent? (Chicago: real estate, crime)

[cdc3217]

Consider Mundelein. It seems on the surface to be sitauted in a good location, but from what I have inferred over the past few years, people don't recommend moving there because its got more of a hispanic and maybe other ethnic groups living there. It seems to be to be a bastion of affordability in the genereal area - so why wouldn't people who have that price point be more interested?

Maybe they are - this is not my general zone of expertise - and maybe there are other problems, but this is vibe I've picked up.

[ajolotl]

I think it's just an instance of the Prisoner's Dilemma seeded by the observation that mostly white neighborhoods tend to be nicer by common metrics (crime, property values, etc.).

[UrbanQuest]

It's numbers and culture. I think nowadays people equate more white people with a more "American" culture. They want to be able to be friends with their neighbors who they would share a similiar upbringing with. Asians and Hispanics in white neighborhoods tend to keep to themselves for reasons of cultural isolation and fear of being rejected.

[promis1]

Or maybe its just becaues white areas in general are much safer with better schools. Minority areas are often equated with violence.

[Venom]

Originally Posted by promis1

Or maybe its just becaues white areas in general are much safer with better schools. Minority areas are often equated with violence.

Switch white with rich and switch minority with poor.

Remember back in the days when whites where lower to middle class?
They had violence too... mostly cus' they where immigrants.
They all propsered and after a generation or two made enough money to go to better neighborhoods.
Minorities are now starting to do the same.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by Huckleberry3911948

LOL best post of the day. you defended black flight for of course the same reasons everybody else leaves.
i love it.

Yup, it's only wrong when whites do it. Semantics which originated during the Civil Rights movement have become so common, people don't even blink at the hypocrisy anymore, and may even be insulted when you point it out. When whites leave a declining area, it's "white flight" and "disinvestment." When blacks or Latinos leave such an area, they're making great personal and financial sacrifice for the betterment of their children and future generations. When whites move into an urban area, they're gentrifiers and "urban pioneers" who will cause the poor to be priced out and empty storefonts to be filled with souless chain retail. When Latinos do the same thing, they're forming a cute little ethnic enclave that's unique, interesting, and diverse (even though the restaurants and stores are generally a lot more homogeneous than in Lincoln Park or Lakeview).

[Lookout Kid]

As a guy who graduated from high school in the early 90's, it's interesting to me to note that many of the towns my suburban white friends were from are now less desirable than they were when we were kids. Part of it is aging housing stock. People are still willing to move further out to get newer houses with all of the bells and whistles. But at some point this will have played itself out, and people are going to just have to learn to live with one another.

[Opkl]

Originally Posted by UrbanQuest

It's numbers and culture. I think nowadays people equate more white people with a more "American" culture. They want to be able to be friends with their neighbors who they would share a similiar upbringing with. Asians and Hispanics in white neighborhoods tend to keep to themselves for reasons of cultural isolation and fear of being rejected.

That's what I was thinking.

[oldhousegirl]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

But at some point this will have played itself out, and people are going to just have to learn to live with one another.

Hopefully sooner than later. Values, dreams, and hope for the future really have no color. It is when people are entrenched in an ongoing cycle of poverty, and bring their poverty thinking and actions to a community that causes the problems as well as fear from some whites who equate the negative actions of some minorities to all when that is not so. Color not so much, class and money yes.

[NorCal Dude]

Originally Posted by promis1

Or maybe its just becaues white areas in general are much safer with better schools. Minority areas are often equated with violence.

I try not to make generalizations like this, you get a different perspective when you move to a different part of the country and once and while see the opposite being the case.