Pine Hill's Racial Shift (Orlando, Pine Hills: crime, houses, safe neighborhoods)

[knowledgeiskey]

How did Pine Hills go from a white suburbs to a black suburbs? When did the shift occur?

[Pete C]

People will be saying the opposite about Parramore within the next 20 years.

[boy3365]

I remember doing a search on Pine Hills a few months ago and found this article:


17 Houses In Pine Hills A Story Of Race In Orlando - Orlando Sentinel

[knowledgeiskey]

Originally Posted by boy3365

I remember doing a search on Pine Hills a few months ago and found this article:


17 Houses In Pine Hills A Story Of Race In Orlando - Orlando Sentinel

Nice article




Thanks

[David K. S&S]

Yeah my great grandparents owned a home there till the seventies when things got dangerous. My great grandfather had to stop two home break-ins in less than three months at gun point. He decided it was time to leave. They didn't have the Castle Doctrine like today so the scum's family could sue you to poor dirt unless you were huddled up in your bedroom and they were carrying weapons. Funny how after they moved to Oviedo they never once faced getting robbed ever again.

There are many factors behind "White Flight" to understand. It still surprises how often folks blame white people for fleeing crime ridden neighborhoods. Oh yes there was a good degree of unfair prejudice and racism involved as well but the academics tend to forget that folks don't want to live in crime ridden neighborhoods generally when they can afford to live in safe neighborhoods with good schools.

But there will always be shifts in the racial make-ups of neighborhoods so long as folks are breathing. What was once white, is now black, what was black is now hispanic, and so on and so on.

[g0gat0rs]

Originally Posted by David K. S&S

There are many factors behind "White Flight" to understand. It still surprises how often folks blame white people for fleeing crime ridden neighborhoods. Oh yes there was a good degree of unfair prejudice and racism involved as well but the academics tend to forget that folks don't want to live in crime ridden neighborhoods generally when they can afford to live in safe neighborhoods with good schools.

Yes, the whites are being forced out of the neighborhoods. Finally, somebody that understands that concept. A black man living in a white neighborhood would encounter the occasional stares and snickers, but a white man living in a black area, would be fighting for his life inside his home.

One of my black employees told me he saw two blacks threatening a white man with violence just for being in the area, calling him racial slurs. If you want to address the issue of racial shifts in communities, then you also have to address the hypocrisy of racism in this country.

[Granny Sue]

WE are going to keep the subject on track...the History of Pine Hills.

There are many other places on this forum to discuss race issues. Any posts that head in that direction will be either deleted or moved to the proper threads.

[connor35]

Originally Posted by boy3365

I remember doing a search on Pine Hills a few months ago and found this article:


17 Houses In Pine Hills A Story Of Race In Orlando - Orlando Sentinel

Very interesting. I dug around and found these two, the latter 2 in the 3-part series.

Blacks Move In, Move Up - Orlando Sentinel

For Immigrants, A Better Life - Orlando Sentinel

[DavieJ89]

Pine Hills is not just a poor black neighborhood. I lived there for almost two years and still have friends who live there to this day

Evans High School was always a mostly white school until about the early 1980s based on what long time residents have told me. Pine Hills was one of the neighborhoods that suffered from "white flight" but instead of it happening in the 50s and 60s, it happened in the 70s and 80s.

As places like Hunters Creek, Metrowest, Waterford Lakes among other "mostly white" areas of Orlando began to take shape in the 80s and 90s a lot of whites moved out wanting newer homes.

This caused the values of homes in Pine Hills to drop massively which like the article said, made it affordable for even single moms to buy homes. So during the 1980s, while these new "master planned" communities propsered Pine Hills suffered. Sadly cheaper housing will mean more crime, and an overall lower quality of life

During the late 80s and most of the 1990s however, a lot of nice newer homes were built both north of Silver Star and west of Hiawassee Road. Oak Landing sticks out to me in particular, that community is connected to Pine Hills via side streets and is still a nice very well kept neighborhood. If I were to move back to Orlando and had to be in Pine Hills it would be either well north of Silver Star or west of Hiawassee

There is a lot of good in that neighborhood still. There area is one of Orlando's oldest and has a lot of history. It lives up to the "Hills" part of it's name too. I actually saw it as a treat to drive the hills on Silver Star and Hiawassee Roads, it was a nice change compared to flat Hunters Creek where I lived. Pine Hills has a range of upper middle class, to lower class people and homes, very racially diverse and a lot to offer in teh way of food.

Sadly there is still a lot of crime, and big retailers have left the area

Both Publix and Kmart that once stood at Park Promenade on Silver Star and Hiawassee are gone, the Hiawassee Branch library has moved again for the second time in 11 years.

Chuck E Cheese and Mc Donalds both near West Colonial and Paul Street were robbed numerous times, that off duty Orlando Police Officer was shot and killed at the Bank of America, withdrawing from the ATM, I could go on and on

And the decline has spread into Ocoee now as well. The West Oaks Mall once did well, and is now fading away, perhaps losing business to Fowler Grove in Winter Garden?

Its sad to say, Pine Hills has seen better days, and it is definitely possible for them to come back, but I dont see that in the cards any time soon

[DavieJ89]

Originally Posted by Pete C

People will be saying the opposite about Parramore within the next 20 years.

Im all in favor of redeveloping neighborhoods, and I could be wrong here pete. Buddy's idea of the intelligent community (cant remember the exact term) in place of the now old Amway Arena may displace a lot of low class residents in the Parramore area, some of whom may be criminals

Parramore may improve in the future which will be good, but the areas of Oak Ridge, South OBT, and Pine Hills, and even Semoran may decline even further and begin to have more crime, and it could spread even further into the neighborhoods that right now are considered "good" like places in South Orlando (south of 528) and even areas east of 417 may see big declines as well. But like I said I could be wrong

Redeveloping a neighborhood doesnt stop crime if at all, it simply moves it somewhere else

Sorry to sound negative Pete, you know I normally do not have negative opinions about Orlando. Just speaking my opinion here