Which Northeast city would be best for a black middle class family? (live, better)
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Some (occasionally personal but always) impressionistic comments on the Philadelphia-area communities you sampled here:
Coatesville is the only city (as opposed to borough or township) in Chester County — it's an old steel town that has seen better days, but as the view of its downtown you chose shows, it looks neither rundown nor beat-up. A friend of mine drives a bus on a Rover bus route (local Chester County bus service) that runs through downtown Coatesville.
I've never seen South Coatesville before. Some interesting contrasts between the boulevard you picked and some other nearby streets.
Coatesville was also the site of an infamous lynching of a Black steelworker in 1911. In the "Red Summer" of 1919, Black Coatesvillians took up arms in order to prevent another rumored lynching (the rumor turned out to be false).
Drexel Hill (ZIP code 19026) is the toniest community in the state's largest township, generally middle-middle/lower-middle-class Upper Darby, but oddly enough, your street view picks missed Drexel Hill's toniest section. UD outdoes Cheltenham by a nose on the racial/ethnic diversity scale, and its high school — there's only one public high school in the 82,000-person township — ditto. The school district, however, is lower-ranked than Cheltenham's (which I don't hold against it), and Upper Darby is known for having high property taxes.
Lansdowne is one of the loveliest communities in Delaware County and has a rich stock of grand old turn-of-the-20th-century homes. Its downtown has a historic theater that is being restored, slowly but surely, and the borough recently voted to drop its ban on liquor by the drink in hopes of stimulating a restaurant scene in the downtown. Everyone I've ever talked to who lives or has lived in Lansdowne loves it, but families tend to avoid it because of the reputation of its school district: the William Penn School District, which Lansdowne shares with Black middle-class Yeadon (also in the ZIP code, as one of your picks shows) and poorer Darby Borough, Darby Township and Colwyn Borough, is the second-lowest-ranked school district in the county, ahead of only troubled Chester-Upland. But Lansdowne teens can at least walk to its high school. (I don't know whether East Lansdowne students are also in the William Penn district or the Upper Darby district; UD surrounds East Lansdowne, and a thin strip of UD separates East Lansdowne (Fernwood and Pembroke) from Lansdowne.
Before the highways and the malls ate away its business, Central Germantown was the second-busiest shopping district in the city after Center City itself; the building with the Walgreens in the second view you picked housed the C.A. Rowell department store, Germantown's ritziest; the Library of Congress' Gottscho-Schleisner Collection includes a bunch of photographs the architectural photography company took of the store after it enlarged and remodeled itself in 1950. Central Germantown had two homegrown department stores (this one and George Allen Inc., one block to the west on Chelten; Allen's 1927 building now houses the downsized and relocated Walgreens on its street floor) and two chains (Sears and JCPenney; Penney's was still in business when I moved here in 1983, but all the other stores had closed by then).
The first of your views lies two blocks south of the second one. It's sandwiched between two great local coffee shops, the Germantown Espresso Bar on Maplewood Mall (one block south of Germantown and Chelten) and Uncle Bobbie's Coffee and Books, Marc Lamont Hill's dope coffee house/bookstore at the south edge of Market Square, Germantown's historic town center. (Here's what I wrote about the place when it opened in November 2017.) Both survived the pandemic and are returning to full service. The atmosphere is cooler at UB's, but they're more serious about the coffee at the Espresso Bar. Both businesses regard each other as complementary and contributing to Germantown's slow revival.
You might want to consider finding a street north of Chelten Avenue and west of Germantown Avenue (5900 block or above) to include. The west sides of the three neighborhoods that comprised colonial Germantown Township — Germantown (19144), Mount Airy (19119) and Chestnut Hill (19118) — are all more affluent than their east sides, though your block of East Washington Lane in the northeast quadrant is pretty nice too.
East Falls is a little more diverse than outsiders think it is and a good bit more affluent than either the city as a whole or than outsiders think it is. But most Philadelphians know that the neighborhood is, or was, home to several notables: oarsman Jack Kelly, father of Princess Grace of Monaco; Mayor, and later Governor, Ed Rendell, the first Philadelphian to serve as Governor of Pennsylvania since 1913; and U.S. Senator Arlen Spector, who shares hometowns with the late U.S. Senator Bob Dole (R-Kan.): Russell, Kan. (Spector being Jewish, I think that says something about western Kansas.) My landlord lives in a handsome turn-of-the-century Colonial Revival home right next to the rear entrance to William Penn Charter School (a private Quaker school dating to 1689) in East Falls' tonier north side. It's neither as busy nor as precious as Chestnut Hill, which recommends it to some affluent families.
Ridge Avenue is an attractive commercial district, and Roxborough is certainly affluent and well-educated, but it's only 14 percent Black, so I'm not quite sure what this is doing on this list.
Philadelphia's second-wealthiest neighborhood after Society Hill, or third-wealthiest after that and Rittenhouse Square. Its business district along Germantown Avenue is the dining destination for all of Northwest Philly above the Wissahickon. As such, it draws an eclectic clientele that makes Chestnut Hill look Blacker than it is, but it has a respectable percentage of Blacks residing there.
More later....
It was in the 12-20% list.
Thank you for the in depth information, as this gives some things for people to run with if they are looking for particular areas.
Thanks go out to AshbyQuin and massachoicesetts too. I just do it so people can actually see what people are referring to and for others to add more specific information, if necessary.
I was just also thinking about some more rural or small town areas/school districts that have a visible/decent middle class black population in the region and a few in NY that some may consider are Onondaga Central outside of Syracuse, Valley Central and Washingtonville in the Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown area. Same goes for Middle Township in southern NJ is another one and Mount Pocono in the East Stroudsburg PA area, if I'm not mistaken. These places aren't necessarily completely rural or small town, but a good portion of these SD's would be considered such.
Also, I think due to minimal information on this topic and having an interest in it, I have no problem presenting this information. Usually, such topics are only done in relation to the South or select major cities/areas.
Worcester has been said to have a lot of pull for younger black people in the state. Not so much families. I've pretty much been out of state since this begun (mostly) and its definitely a major departure from what I was used to when thinking of Worcester growing up.
This is important outside of just weed in that these businesses are cash cows generating black wealth and are essentially forced to contribute to their communities by MA law... whether that be block parties, neighborhood clean ups, educations courses (that's what this business has been doing- the owner are an MBA and a lawyer), or culturally sensitive programming/displays/lectures.
^To be honest, I didn’t think Worcester was as bad as some people from MA made it seem when I was there a couple of years ago. Isn’t it the second biggest city proper not only in MA, but New England as well? So, if that is the case, I can see how it would have some pull in the state and region.
I actually ate at this spot that is own by a native with Mississippi roots in the city(told you Sharif that MS folks went throughout the country): https://www.facebook.com/addieleessoulfood/
^To be honest, I didn’t think Worcester was as bad as some people from MA made it seem when I was there a couple of years ago. Isn’t it the second biggest city proper not only in MA, but New England as well? So, if that is the case, I can see how it would have some pull in the state and region.
I actually ate at this spot that is own by a native with Mississippi roots in the city(told you Sharif that MS folks went throughout the country): https://www.facebook.com/addieleessoulfood/
Worcester is better now than it was, but I still don't like it too much. It is coming along, though.
In the past, it was a dead mill town with lota arson, a reputation for white trash, really poor housing stock, lacking beauty. All of which it still has, but now they converted mills into lofts, redone many main thoroughfares, added a small dining scene, a new ballpark with housing planned across from it in what was an oasis of brownfield. It had become a lot more diverse since 2000 when it was a whopping 70% white as the second biggest city in NE...
It's still classic gritty New England with nice suburban areas in the city. Still too dull, still not enough diverse political representation or clout, still supremely cold snowy ad hilly and still an ugly/worn/old housing stock. But its full of Many just hardworking folks and many Ghanaians who add a lot to the community. ITs lower price point allows for some black storefronts to be in more central areas than Boston and even than in Providence.
In short this the inner city Worcester people rag on:
Isn’t it the second biggest city proper not only in MA, but New England as well?
Worcester is the Jacksonville of New England. It's technically the second biggest, but only because it has big city limits.
Providence and Hartford are decidedly bigger for intents and purposes. New Haven, Lowell, Manchester, Springfield, and Lawrence are roughly similarly sized.
Last edited by Boston Shudra; 07-22-2021 at 10:03 PM..
Worcester is the Jacksonville of New England. It's technically the second biggest, but only because it has big city limits.
Providence and Hartford are decidedly bigger for intents and purposes. New Haven, Lowell, Manchester, Springfield, and Lawrence are roughly similarly sized.
Worcester i Healthier than Hartford/Providence mostly just because it contains more suburban area do to the big city limits. This has helped with the city's financial health and public schools. if you just took the core 100-120,000 people in Worcester it would be in rough shape today. Cities like Hartford New Haven and Providence would kill to have boundaries as boog as Worcester, Brockton or even Stamford CT.
For the golfers, this is an organization that is based in the SE Queens neighborhood of Laurelton, with a Cambria Heights zip code(arguably 2 of the nicest neighborhoods/areas in SE Queens): https://ubga.org/
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