Is white flight from Jackson ending? (Ridgeland, Madison: for sale, neighborhood, subdivisions)

[brickpatio]

Well I think is a fascinating topic. Thank you, Mouldy!

Statistically I don't know that we've seen this yet. One question is where the "white return" (and middle and upper class black return also, to be certain!) would occur. I would think the options might be younger people renting out homes in Northeast Jackson along Old Canton Rd (e.g. Riverwood, Rollingwood, Briarwood, and near McLeod School)...or...young people, gays, singles, divorcees, widows, and retirees moving into new apartment buildings in Fondren and downtown. (And, I suspect, near Highland Village across I-55 one day due to ultra-convenient location...).

Since the economy has been dead since around 2009, there has been no way to test this theory, since virtually no new building has been occurring.

However, with upcoming federal income tax cuts for people who own and invest in expansion of companies/employers, I'm guessing/hoping that this will soon trigger a huge wave of growth in our local employers and thus more income, more jobs, more people and thus... more buildings.

I've read the the historic Deposit Guaranty skyscraper downtown along with several modern former office buildings along Capitol Street are all awaiting conversion to apartments. And Fondren is already busy adding hotels and apartments. And soon (maybe) the Pearl River Lake project will occur, bringing thousands of new residents into the city.

Hopefully in my lifetime we will see the fruits of these trends. I'm not sure the city will be dazzling 30 years from now, but I bet it will be 75 years from now. How lucky people will be who are born into that period (assuming we haven't all been nuked by then, but that's another story, ha...)

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

One way to tell white flight is to observe the churches that once had white congregations but were sold to black congregations. St. Mary's Catholic Church in west Jackson off of Robinson Road was closed a couple of years ago because most of the congregation departed the area over the years.

[jdacus53]

Personally, I think the city's population may continue to decline, but you never know. I will always have hope. I have lived close to Jackson my whole life and it seems to be doing better now than anytime this century! There is new development and there are new opportunities. White flight may not be ending as fast as I'd like, but there are more popular dominantly white areas (residences, businesses, shopping, etc.) in the city proper than there used to be. People also tend to separate themselves.

[Jardine8]

Did Jackson perform any annexation in the 70s or 80s that might have propped up the total population and masked any losses in certain parts of the city?

[Phil75230]

Easy to write a book or a hundred about this topic, though there are other books about it in a national context.

White flight across the nation happened due to MANY factors, some not even related to race (same with Jackson as with non-Southern cities). Still, there's no question race played a role nationwide, even in Boston (school integration riots of the 1970s).

There's also federal tax policies and other financial incentives favoring suburbanization. I know next to nothing about this, but I understand that the feds offered developers many incentives to develop in the suburbs. I think, but not sure, banks and other financial institutions also tended to more readily loan money for new homes in the suburbs. Part of this was due to "redlining" (drawing 'red lines' on a map around economically depressed and mostly majority-minority neighborhoods, inside which territories banks would either not lend at all or charge a much higher interest rate).

Another part is the very nature of urban living itself. Higher densities mean more regulations in order to keep some semblance of quality of life, because there are more people affected by any one person's personal decisions. Plus, cities have higher tax rates and more expensive property simply because the demand for the property is so high.

Also, central cities tend to be more supportive (or at least less scornful) of people who hold social and political positions that are highly controversial and unpopular with mainstream society. The closer you are to downtown, the more "liberal" the neighborhood's socio-cultural values. This seems especially true with majority white middle-to-upper-middle class areas.

Last but not least, there's the people who choose to live in the city vs those in the suburbs. Each strongly tend to have certain kinds of mentalities, which creates certain neighborhood cultures (as noted above in the last paragraph).

So suburbanization / urban abandonment has to do with housing needs, availability and quality of services, the best government services for the tax dollar, property tax rates themselves, access to cultural and lifestyle amenities, good schools, and....like it or not...local area race relations.

[viverlibre]

To get white and black professionals to move back to Jackson, there has to be draws. Unfortunately, there aren't many in Jackson, traffic/commute times are not an issue, plus many professional firms have moved out of downtown. There isn't a large concentration of restaurants, bars or shopping. Public schools are horrible and the few private schools in the city aren't much to write home about. There are few entertainment options, no movie theaters, few concerts, etc. Not to mention, crime, the worst streets I've ever seen, higher taxes and incompetent/corrupt city leadership.

[Jeff Steele]

I have no idea.

[GrandviewGloria]

Originally Posted by viverlibre

To get white and black professionals to move back to Jackson, there has to be draws. Unfortunately, there aren't many in Jackson, traffic/commute times are not an issue, plus many professional firms have moved out of downtown. There isn't a large concentration of restaurants, bars or shopping. Public schools are horrible and the few private schools in the city aren't much to write home about. There are few entertainment options, no movie theaters, few concerts, etc. Not to mention, crime, the worst streets I've ever seen, higher taxes and incompetent/corrupt city leadership.

True, and with the persecution of THIS GUY (Jackson Jambalaya: Parish's son accuses D.A. of "grandstanding"), and THIS GUY (Jackson Jambalaya: DA posts Ben Allen's SSN online), the "leadership" seems to have moved beyond 'corrupt' and 'incompetent' - even past being simply 'hostile' - and can now be viewed as being overtly and aggressively MALICIOUS.

Unless I had no other viable options, I cannot imagine choosing to move to a place where those in positions of power over me, were vindictive toward persons like myself, and intended to do harm to me, should it become convenient for them to do so.

The fact is that there are a great many viable options, besides moving to Jackson, taking a job in Jackson, building in Jackson, or starting a business in Jackson. So, I salute those who've decided to nobly offer themselves up, to live there, work there, build there, and be entrepreneurs there. I appreciate their sacrifice.

[Kalen Kane]

Why would anyone choose moving to Jackson Mississippi if they didn't have to? I don't get it. The only area of MS I would remotely choose to live near would be areas around Ocean Springs -*maybe*, but Jackson? never

[Rock Climber]

Just looked up the 2010 Census statistics for Jackson. It shows the city has a white population of 18%.