Someone told me that Richardson was "Too Hood" (Dallas: apartment complexes, houses)

[MckinneyOwnr]

Originally Posted by BigDGeek

Richardson doesn't really have "ghetto" parts. There are some ghetto parts of Dallas that border Richardson, but you'll find that the ghetto is definitely coming from Dallas, not from here.

And while we're on the subject...ahem...McKinney has its share of crappy neighborhoods too.

Never said we didn't. We have Sugar Hill after all.

Originally Posted by Double-G

Precisely.

I think McKinneyOwnr has no idea of what a ghetto really is - it ain't East Plano or the cheap seats in Richardson. If you're just talking about working class neighborhoods and lower median incomes, well McKinney has both in spades. Still not ghetto!

I take it you don't know what Cabrini Green is/was, do you? I've lived in Plano for over 20 years. Things are better now in East Plano than they were say, a decade ago. That was a time where there were DEFINITELY parts of East Plano you wouldn't walk to be walking in at night by yourself. West Plano (and by my example, Willow Bend Country) has NEVER been like that. (Unless you're black and PPD decides to harass you for walking around there at night.)

[MckinneyOwnr]

Originally Posted by Double-G

Richardson doesn't have any bad neighborhoods.

Ah this makes sense now... You must live/ have lived in Richardson and can't stand anyone not singing praises of the place. Got it.

[elan]

Originally Posted by Squirl

I hear the same kinds of comments about Irving .... which actually DOES have a couple of sketchy areas I do admit, but they are very limited .... and it gets under my skin. It seems any area that's outside of the "inner ring" with homes over 20 years old and less than 1800 sq feet is looked down on. Same people who make those comments are the people I keep far away from in daily life because they choose to live in an artificial world of pretentious opinions that result in denying themselves a rich, value filled life.

Yes, yes, yes - ^ this. Btw, my parents were close friends with a couple that lived in University Hills Irving. I can't remember the name of the street, but the rear of the house was on a cliff. It was a Frank Lloyd Wright "style" house with a drop dead view. I don't know when it was built (1960's maybe?), but it will never be "old".

[Lakewooder]

It's the malady of the worship of newness. We used to laugh about this and call them, "the big, new and modern people". This sort of took off at the same time as white flight in the 70s and 80s. Newness was also associted with whiteness ("hood" and "ghetto" can be racially charged perjoratives). I remember people in real estate in the 80s saying that old tall trees made a property look old, whereas a newly planted tree made it look "new" - the ultimate accolade. Crazy!

Unfortunately this way of thinking leads to a scorched earth sprawl monster.

[10-23]

I'm a former Richardson police officer (though it was many years ago). The only area remotely resembling "a 'hood" is Spring Valley between 75 and Coit. I stay in touch with some of my former co-workers, and while the homes have aged, the neighborhoods have not deteriorated to the extent that they are 'hoods.

[Double-G]

Originally Posted by MckinneyOwnr

Ah this makes sense now... You must live/ have lived in Richardson and can't stand anyone not singing praises of the place. Got it.

Cabrini Green - the projects in Chicago are not germane to this discussion.

I lived in Richardson for a little while. And I've lived in Plano for a while longer.

I've also lived in real hoods. Places where it's normal to go to sleep at night to the sound of gunfire, sirens, and wake up to signs appearing for witnesses and cops canvassing the entire block. Places with hookers on street corners, drugs everywhere, and worse.

There's simply no comparison.

When people talk about the Hood around Plano, Richardson etc. they sound deluded to me. Check out the violent crime rate in these areas and then we can talk hoods.

What you probably mean is not hood in the context of Plano and Richardson. You probably mean working class hispanics with older houses and trucks who perhaps are not legal.

[Grainraiser]

The fact of the matter is all of the older burbs have great, average and below average neighborhoods. Richardson is no exception. The vast majority of the city is just fine. I would not define any burb simply by it's worst neighborhood. I see this all the time on this forum. Old and working class does not equal hood in my opinion.

[synchronicity]

Originally Posted by Grainraiser

The fact of the matter is all of the older burbs have great, average and below average neighborhoods. Richardson is no exception. The vast majority of the city is just fine. I would not define any burb simply by it's worst neighborhood. I see this all the time on this forum. Old and working class does not equal hood in my opinion.

Yes it does! Working Class includes blue collar types like plumbers, electricians, and welders! And Welders DEFINITELY equals hood!
Welders Direct: Welding Hoods





Er, I'm gonna pretend that someone out there found that funny.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by Chaser199

I'm a former Richardson police officer (though it was many years ago). The only area remotely resembling "a 'hood" is Spring Valley between 75 and Coit. I stay in touch with some of my former co-workers, and while the homes have aged, the neighborhoods have not deteriorated to the extent that they are 'hoods.

I probably don't have to tell you then that one of DPD's most active spots is the intersection of Spring Valley and Maham...I hear most (as in 80-90%) of the trouble in that corridor happens or at least starts on the Dallas side. Dallas seems to love putting its low-income housing on suburban borders.

[elan]

I've been defending your town, so fair is fair, BigDGeek. Sorry, but it's a typical cop out to blame everything on Dallas. Why does Richardson put it's low-income housing on Dallas' border? Whose apartments were there first, hmmm.