Avoid Greenville at all costs (real estate, purchase, to live)

[sohappyIleft]

I was born in Gville and lived there most of my life. Finally we have escaped. There have been a lot of truths stated in these posts. Good places to eat, rich history, racisum,poor government,great fishing,good people,bad people. All of these things sum up the Mississippi Delta and most of all Greenville. Everyone I either grew up with or knew has left there. Some one said Gville sucks but it will suck you back in. Not this time. Not for anyone's money. After being gone for almost a year you realize that there are probably worse places then the delta and Greenville but not many. It's downward spiral over the past 20 years has been horrible. I see it falling into the ghost-town that many of the smaller delta towns have become. More rumors have even surfaced of more major industries in that area are going to close. Then what will be left?

If you're young get out. If you're old get out. Experience life somewhere better.

[jlrich]

I grew up in Greenville but I escaped in 1986. My Dad and a sister still live there and I only visit about every two years. When I'm driving there (I'm about 11 hours away) I get really anxious but then I'm ready to go after about two days, its all I can stand. Greenville is really a depressed area. To me it just always looks run down especially at each entrance into town which everyone that travels through Greenville gets to look at. But just about every town seems to be like that.
Its definitely not a place to raise a family or live a quality life.

[greenvilleguy]

Originally Posted by MississippiMoonDog

I concur.

I lived there from 1945 to 1982.

Greenville has indeed been around for a long time and has persevered through depression, yellow fever, a huge flood and numerous mill closings. It long flourished with factories, a big Air Force Base, towboat companies (I believe at one time there were 27 in the Million Dollar Mile along the east bank of Lake Ferguson), manufacturing plants, sawmills...was a POE (Port of Entry) for a short while and hosted railroad companies.

True, a lot of that is gone now...leaving the people with little to do other than pawn their goods for gambling stock. I'm certain too that there are plenty of lawyers to take whatever money is available....and Greenville is surrounded on three sides by fertile farm land and on all sides by good hunting and fishing.

Fault can be found with likely any city. Some appear to take a bad experience and turn it into a hatred of where they were when it happened. Even I hate the parking deck here in Atlanta wherein my window was smashed and a cheap, portable CB stolen. It's human nature to blame it on the locale.

The best thing about Greenville is the mass of good people who live there. The rest merely give it a bad name.

Public schools suck everywhere! Crime exists everywhere! Racism and bigotry exist everywhere!

In 1982, Greenville was a very nice place to live and raise a family. Since about 1997 or so, the town has been on a STEEP decline. The industrial park is all but gone along with nearly every other major employer in the area. The drug trade and all that goes with it moved up from there. This town has always had crime, but the rate is rising exponentially (carjackings and murders on the levee in the middle of the day for example). The racial tension is a little less since the majority of the caucasion population has moved away. MississippiMoonDog, I implore you to keep your memories of this once nice town intact and stay far away. As much as it pains me to leave my home town, I'll be leaving here also.

[DoIStayOrDoIGo]

I live in S.W. MS and yesterday was entertaining a couple who was visiting from another state. We patronized a convenience store, where upon purchasing a beverage, I tossed a $5 bill onto the counter. The cashier, who was African American looked at me in disgust. When I asked her if there was a problem, a African American male in line with me said, "she is pissed off with you 'cause you didn't put the money in her hand". GOOD GRIEF!!!! Have we become so sensitive????? It's not like I took it and threw it at her. I am colorblind when it comes to people, and will give my shirt off my back to someone who needs it.... YES, reverse discrimination is alive and well in Mississippi.... I also encounter this quite frequently at our local discount stores and fast food restaurants........ Can people just try to get a long, and not show partiallity to their own race? Thanks for allowing me to vent...Time for me to move as well, but this kind of "crap" goes on everywhere, just seems more so here...........

[SashaBlue]

Originally Posted by DoIStayOrDoIGo

I live in S.W. MS and yesterday was entertaining a couple who was visiting from another state. We patronized a convenience store, where upon purchasing a beverage, I tossed a $5 bill onto the counter. The cashier, who was African American looked at me in disgust. When I asked her if there was a problem, a African American male in line with me said, "she is pissed off with you 'cause you didn't put the money in her hand". GOOD GRIEF!!!! Have we become so sensitive????? It's not like I took it and threw it at her. I am colorblind when it comes to people, and will give my shirt off my back to someone who needs it.... YES, reverse discrimination is alive and well in Mississippi.... I also encounter this quite frequently at our local discount stores and fast food restaurants........ Can people just try to get a long, and not show partiallity to their own race? Thanks for allowing me to vent...Time for me to move as well, but this kind of "crap" goes on everywhere, just seems more so here...........

Amen! Amen! Amen! I am so glad to hear that this type of thing does not just happen to me and my family. We have had the very same experience. like you said... moving on!

[brattpowered]

Originally Posted by DoIStayOrDoIGo

I live in S.W. MS and yesterday was entertaining a couple who was visiting from another state. We patronized a convenience store, where upon purchasing a beverage, I tossed a $5 bill onto the counter. The cashier, who was African American looked at me in disgust. When I asked her if there was a problem, a African American male in line with me said, "she is pissed off with you 'cause you didn't put the money in her hand". GOOD GRIEF!!!! Have we become so sensitive????? It's not like I took it and threw it at her. I am colorblind when it comes to people, and will give my shirt off my back to someone who needs it.... YES, reverse discrimination is alive and well in Mississippi.... I also encounter this quite frequently at our local discount stores and fast food restaurants........ Can people just try to get a long, and not show partiallity to their own race? Thanks for allowing me to vent...Time for me to move as well, but this kind of "crap" goes on everywhere, just seems more so here...........

I don't see how race had anything to do with this exchange until you brought it into the equation. I think the lady was just being a jerk. Then again, I'm a Yankee and I don't interpret people's actions through the lens of race.

[Muhnay]

I am in my upper 30's, and have not had any problems with race here in Mississippi. I am Caucasian. I even have a Black Tee with a huge Saltine on the front. The Black People here all walk up and laugh and say I am the coolest white dude they ever met. Ok some White people get a little mad at me for the shirt, but so what. Its fun... and I try to take life as it comes. I don't hate anyone.. Actions of people I don't like or may even hate, but the race of someone, never. But with that said.. Racism is not color blind, it knows all the races equally... and rears its ugly head in every nationality on this planet. Its so easy these days to label someone a raciest if they don't agree with you or you dont agree with them.. kinda sad really.

[Sam I Am]

Getting back to the subject of Greenville....

Let's don't bring the race card into this one, okay? Pros and cons of Greenville, not racism. Start another thread on racism in the south in Controversies, don't hijack this thread or it will be locked.

[ComputerUser000]

Originally Posted by brattpowered

I don't see how race had anything to do with this exchange until you brought it into the equation. I think the lady was just being a jerk. Then again, I'm a Yankee and I don't interpret people's actions through the lens of race.

I'm a Yankee too, from Connecticut... I lived in the Northern part of the Delta..... and yes, it was poor there too... but I did feel safe, day or night.. and had friends in town.

But again, it could've been because I worked for the local radio station that helped me.

[moedog]

Originally Posted by DoIStayOrDoIGo

I live in S.W. MS and yesterday was entertaining a couple who was visiting from another state. We patronized a convenience store, where upon purchasing a beverage, I tossed a $5 bill onto the counter. The cashier, who was African American looked at me in disgust. When I asked her if there was a problem, a African American male in line with me said, "she is pissed off with you 'cause you didn't put the money in her hand". GOOD GRIEF!!!! Have we become so sensitive????? It's not like I took it and threw it at her. I am colorblind when it comes to people, and will give my shirt off my back to someone who needs it.... YES, reverse discrimination is alive and well in Mississippi.... I also encounter this quite frequently at our local discount stores and fast food restaurants........ Can people just try to get a long, and not show partiallity to their own race? Thanks for allowing me to vent...Time for me to move as well, but this kind of "crap" goes on everywhere, just seems more so here...........

My God---And you don't think that was rude? I don't blame the lady for being offended. And the AA dude behind you was trying to help you---maybe educate you is a better term. The fact is, some whites would not think of touching a black person, and I'm sure the lady gets tired of it. I'm not saying you were being racist, but sometimes it helps to be more sensitive to other people.