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I've been to that airport a few times and don't recall seeing a "war zone", and when looking at the aerials around there I also can't see what you're describing....unless you're referring to the mobile home parks.
The airport I'm most familiar with is MSP (Minneapolis-St. Paul), which is surrounded by neighborhoods and the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers. The n'hoods that surround MSP are mostly pretty nice, working-class hoods. There is one small section of apartments that's a little sketchier than the rest of the area, but it's mostly pleasant. The suburb of Richfield also borders the western edge of the airport. Those n'hoods are also working class and mostly well-kept, but I guess it'd be fair to say that this section of Richfield is probably seedier than the other areas of the city.
All in all, there isn't a strong correlation between crime/blight and proximity to the airport. However, you also aren't likely to see many million-dollar mansions lining up next to the airport either.
No...not talking about any mobile home parks. If you're coming from the east, say from 130 to the airport entrances, on the north side of 71 for about a mile it's one dilapidated structure after another, including abandoned trashy lots. If you're coming from the city to the airport, there's nothing in particular that looks bad. It's all on the north side of 71 between 130 and the airport. It's horrible.
In Jax it's pretty good. The area around the airport used to be totally undeveloped and now it's become one of the hot, middle income areas. Tons of shopping and development happening. Not a wealthy area by any stretch but it's very nice, new suburbia.
LAX is mostly nice. Inglewood (to the west) is considered sketchy by some, but it is certainly gentrifying. Both Westchester (to the north) and El Segundo (to the south) are middle class suburbs.
Albuquerque International Sunport is also Kirtland Air Force Base. On the east side is the camo-dudes. To the south is about 2000 stored nukes. To the west is all river bosque and city. But to the north is an Albuquerque neighborhood once known as the "War Zone" or the "Square".
The War Zone was a giant drug den in the '80s. At that time, the city put up gates and diagonal barriers in each intersection to turn it into a giant maze, to curb drug trafficking I guess. Those diverters, and the problems and projects that plagued that square, are long gone now. Just some old, flush, diagonal concrete in the intersections is all that's left. But it still, to this day, carries that reputation, and name, although now it is officially called the "International District".
Mix-bag in Los Angeles LAX. To the south and north are nice weathly beach community areas of Playa/Del Rey/Playa Del Rey and middle class Westchester and El Segundo which is residential closer to beach and aerospace industrial parks more inland. But nearly everything under the landing flight plan is not good like Inglewood and South Central LA. I mean I notice when planes fly miles overhead and I live nowhere near the airport, but imagine one coming every 5-10 minutes a few hundred feet above you.
Ohare is surrounded by middle class post-WW2 suburban housing and older city neighborhoods. I'd describe the area generally as working-class to middle-professional-class. The immediate vicinity is a cluster of tollways, ramps, cloverleafs and very poorly designed surface streets.
Midway is in a poorer part of Chicago and is basically embedded in the city street grid. It's not immediately connected to a freeway or tollway ramp like ohare (and many other airports I've been to). It's not uncommon to drive there for a very early morning flight and still see the women working the corners.
MSP as mentioned earlier is surrounded by the Minnesota river to the south/east and the Mississippi to the east. West of there is richfield - very middle class and lower middle class old suburb. Eagan is just south of MSP. It's an upper middle class post-1980s cul du sac suburb. Just to the north is southeast Minneapolis which, like Richfield, is working class affordable.
Ohare is surrounded by middle class post-WW2 suburban housing and older city neighborhoods. I'd describe the area generally as working-class to middle-professional-class. The immediate vicinity is a cluster of tollways, ramps, cloverleafs and very poorly designed surface streets.
Midway is in a poorer part of Chicago and is basically embedded in the city street grid. It's not immediately connected to a freeway or tollway ramp like ohare (and many other airports I've been to). It's not uncommon to drive there for a very early morning flight and still see the women working the corners.
MSP as mentioned earlier is surrounded by the Minnesota river to the south/east and the Mississippi to the east. West of there is richfield - very middle class and lower middle class old suburb. Eagan is just south of MSP. It's an upper middle class post-1980s cul du sac suburb. Just to the north is southeast Minneapolis which, like Richfield, is working class affordable.
I took the blue line from O'hare to downtown and I saw an incredible amount of poverty at a certain point. Was this the west side? Entire crumbling apartment complexes covered in gang graffiti from top to bottom, honestly looked way worse than The Bronx or anything I'd seen in major American cities before.
Flying into Newark (EWR) offers stunning views of NYC and the surrounding metropolis. EWR itself is by the Port of Newark, the city of Elizabeth, interstate, crumbling ghetto and industrial waste. That corridor of North Jersey is probably one of the ugliest stretches in the country and is what gives the rest of the state/North Jersey a bad name, undeservedly in my opinion.
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