White flight in Jackson (Clarksdale, Houston: 2013, apartments, crimes)

[TylerJAX]

Mouldy, thank you for your extremely informative reply.

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

I remember going to the Jackson Mall back in the mid 1970s. I think it was built in 1969. Unfortunately, its heyday was brief and came to an end when the MetroCenter opened in 1978-9. I think white flight caused the premature decline of both of these malls.

[cyall]

No it was black crime that caused the "white flight", as far as metro center closing, the merchants are unable to make profits when the merchandise is being stolen and the continued auto break ins by the local black crack heads. But I'm sure you would blame the whites for that too.

[Jardine8]

Originally Posted by cyall

No it was black crime that caused the "white flight", as far as metro center closing, the merchants are unable to make profits when the merchandise is being stolen and the continued auto break ins by the local black crack heads. But I'm sure you would blame the whites for that too.

I would argue that shifting demographics as well as the opening of competition in the suburbs contributed to Metrocenter's demise. If Metrocenter was the only real game in town like it probably was in the late 70s, then it would likely be doing okay right now. However, rather than competing with just the mall that is now the Jackson Medical Mall, it now competes with Renaissance, Northpark Mall, Dogwood Festival and the Outlets of Mississippi in Pearl. That is way more competition than it ever had in the 70s or 80s and it realistically will not survive against them.

[Jardine8]

I decided to compare Jackson and Memphis from a demographic perspective. According to the 2010 census, 79.4 percent of Jackson is African American and 18.4 percent of the city is white. In Memphis, 63.3 percent of the city is African American and 29.39 percent of the city is white, according to the 2010 census. Still, a huge gap but not quite as big as Jackson's gap. I wasn't born until the 1980s, so I wasn't around to observe it. Was there anything in particular that made the flight to the suburbs worse in Jackson?

[brickpatio]

The difference compared to Memphis is only because Memphis continued to annex areas in the county that had grown as families moved to the county for the well-regarded county schools. Some of those areas (e.g. Cordova) have had their schools go down since being annexed by Memphis, yet... probably due to location (between two nice suburbs Germantown and Bartlett)... it has remained a fairly safe, middle class area. In comparison Jackson was not able to annex into Rankin and Madison Counties where families and moved for safer schools and neighborhoods. All that to say, there was really no difference between Jackson and Memphis' families moving to other school districts for safer government schools.

[Jardine8]

Originally Posted by brickpatio

The difference compared to Memphis is only because Memphis continued to annex areas in the county that had grown as families moved to the county for the well-regarded county schools. Some of those areas (e.g. Cordova) have had their schools go down since being annexed by Memphis, yet... probably due to location (between two nice suburbs Germantown and Bartlett)... it has remained a fairly safe, middle class area. In comparison Jackson was not able to annex into Rankin and Madison Counties where families and moved for safer schools and neighborhoods. All that to say, there was really no difference between Jackson and Memphis' families moving to other school districts for safer government schools.

I had thought that might be true. I knew that Memphis had been aggressive in annexing, as I believe it annexed Cordova in the 90s and Hickory Hill in the early 2000s and I imagine that helped prop up the overall population numbers and the demographics. Jackson is basically landlocked at this point, outside of having some additional area to work with up on highway 49 north.

[sammyreynolds1977]

Gangs are becoming a major problem in Jackson along with many other places in Mississippi. Most mayors elected to turn a blind eye to the problem like Clarksdale mayor.

[madison2013]

Why are we comparing Jackson to Memphis?

[zblanton1]

Why is a 3 year old thread being revived?