Issue Of The Week V: The Flight To Suburbia: A Round Trip Phenomenon

I think this article is very well written, made fascinating points, and made me realize that geography does not separate us from the problems at hand. I'll be sure to take a look at that study. Moreover, the point about political officials not relating to the context of society in which they govern, was perfect. I feel this is the one flaw in politics; I am happy to see that we are finally recognizing this, and pushing for change. Great article!

What is this document trying to say? I don't understand what kind of point it is trying to make. What is wrong with people moving back into cities? Why are we stereotyping who moves back into cities. It isn’t just the rich. The article is being semi racist itself. It is basically saying, all the rich white people moved out and now they want to come back in. Now that they are coming back in, they are pushing out all of the poor minorities. It is absurd. Why don’t we want our cities revitalized and better maintained? How about we stop making it about race. Those who work hard, educate themselves, and earn decent wages, are allowed to do whatever they want. Those who live off of welfare, government housing, and federally funded health care programs don't really have much say. Do they create the jobs in the cities? The answer to that is no. So let's stop making this about race and more about what is best for our cities and suburbs. Everything does not revolve around race.

This article was hard for me to relate to because I live in a very rural area. I live 20 minutes away from Niagara Falls, NY, however, which is a very suburban area. Buffalo, NY is an hour away from where I live and that is a suburban area as well. Not a day goes by where I don't hear about some gang shooting in either city. I think that crime is going to happen wherever there is conflict- there's conflict everywhere. Therefore it is inevitable not to have crime committed in a city. This article makes a few interesting points which I've never really taken into consideration before.

This article brought forth the truth that many of us in the suburbs have been realizing. In my neighborhood there are more homes for foreclosure than occupied. Since the economic distress shopping centers that were around my housing development have shut down and now empty buildings fill the shopping center. Many houses are now occupied by several families or a group of friends. I have no issue with what is going on in my neighborhood just because I understand everyone is struggling and we are all just trying to get through this.

White flight is not a new phenomenon; since the abolition of slavery, the White culture has endeavored to remove and isolate themselves from their poor, minority counter-parts. When affordable suburbia housing was first introduced after the war, White families and investors sought to maintain its "purity" and "untaintedness" by refusing to allow Black people and other communities of color to move in. Once fair housing came into effect and the Black community was able to purchase these fine homes without discrimination, the White community fled; they fled fearing a heterogeneous neighborhood that brought the prospect of property value decrease and failure. Now, we're in a recession, and unfortunately it influences every American life; every individual is touched by this crisis, so why are we continuing White flight? Some have it worse than others, but resolution can only be reached through utter collaboration. We all have our parts to play and we must realize poor economic circumstances will only progress unless all races, ethnicities, cultures, sexes, and sexual orientations embrace one another and strive towards a better future. Equality and communication are vital aspects in recovery. Didn't unfair, unequal, and faulty housing investments and foreclosures greatly impact our recession? Isn't inequality a prime reason for our current, desperate situation? It seems we still tend to exclude ethnic and racialized groups, failing to realize their community cultural wealth and other contributions. Whites may feel that property value is a top priority and claim that they aren't moving because of racial or prejudice perspectives, but simply because they are making a purely economic decision. This may be true, but what kind of message does it send not only to communities of color but to White communities as well? Does it not radiate a negative impression? Does it not urge other Whites to do the same? Multiple, different minds are needed, thus we should take advantage of them instead heading for the hills.

A thought popped into my head regarding this article, those who are more well to do,and are usually White, do not really want anything to do with those who are of lower class and also of different races. Even though they might not be overtly “racist” they are trying to protect their assets, and if living in the city now is more profitable and to them safer, they will go there.
The article also stated that government officials have to stop governing in silos and begin to govern so that it includes everybody. “More progress can be made together than in isolation”. Which is true, the officials, cannot just focus on one part of the city to improve, and then maybe in 10, 20 years from now leave that section and move to another section to take care of because the other side now is the bad part.

I do not think suburbia is a sustainable project. I think it was invented from an ideal, an illusion that comforted post-WWII survivors who were looking for normalcy. I believe there needs to be a fundamental change from idealistic, individualistic accumulation to realistic, communal living.
There are too many homes with empty beds, and too many streets with homeless families. Our society is fixated on looking out for the self. We have lost our vision for community wellness. We drown in loan interest rates; we wrestle with impossible standards of living all because of our mindset. I think the solution lies in coming together, and realizing we can't do it alone. Suburbia was an illusion separating families from creating community; Nobody talks to their neighbors anymore. We shut out opportunities to help one another under the banner of self-sufficiency. Obviously, this banner is torn, this ideology has lost is venire. The reality is problems outnumber our citizens. We need an increase in empathy. We need to let go of selfish desires, and ask ourselves how we can help each other, our brothers, our neighbors.

This article makes the reader visualize the reality of social demeanor. People always want to escape or run away from their problems. Although they may not be the person creating the social issues they still have responsibility to do their part to fix the presented dilemma. White people post WW II ran away from urban social problems such as crime, poor adequate housing, social services,and many other problems when they decided to move away from the cities to the suburbs. After the FHA loans in 1934 were accessible to people of color they began to move to the suburbs as well...

Problems of a city or county are problems that should be faced by all the citizens in that geographical area, living in the suburbs should not dismiss anyone from their responsibility to make a change. People must realize that the only way to combat these social issues is by uniting together as a county or a city instead of community. Citizens of that area will quickly recognize that that was the only way to escape these social issues discussed in the article.

I agree with you, that poverty has everything to do with success: The main road to success in American culture is education. The educational system is in crisis. 1) Educational distribution in the country isn’t distributed fairly and equally. 2) People who live in low income area don’t have the same resources and access as a higher income area. 3) If the schools don’t meet the expectations the system took harsh action from taking away funds to closing out the schools. These contributed to the growing number of poverty and welfare dependency. If we see who are poor in the country, there is no denial that most minority groups, especially African American and Mexicans are poor and also affected badly in every economic structure.

Anything is only as strong as it's weakest link. I use the term weakest link as an extremely loose analogy in referring to the areas of the cities, communities that need the most assistance/government aid. What good is it if "suburbia" is content and getting by just fine in housing, education, safety etc. if just down the road is a child sitting in a house in an unsafe neighborhood on his way to a school with little to no resources? We need to start with those kids first otherwise things are never gonna change.

I really enjoy the idea of having communities within urban areas that attract and house minority families. Though we still have areas in California that predominantly are centered around white families, I do see a trend throughout the past 8 years that minorities are moving into exclusive communities usually known as being white. I guess that means the concept of redlining has been diminished from our contemporary society. What I find interesting is the idea of how “nice” and “rich” neighborhoods have pleasant social gatherings that are fun for the entire family. In ghettos and barrios the only social gathering around is a city park, usually ran by a gang or multiple gangs. The largest issues I have with good and bad neighborhoods are the schools performance within that neighborhood. A school is part of a community and if a community is deemed bad, then the school ultimately is bad as well. That means families won’t want to move into that neighborhood because of that low testing school. It’s a vicious cycle that I don’t see breaking anytime soon. Rich neighborhoods will stay the same, but ghettos and barrios will be doing worse.

It seems as though, during these economic times, we have a role reversal of whites from suburbia going to more urban environments to settle. Obviously urban areas have their advantages as stated in this article, such as being closer to places of business and various savings that may occur from purchasing once cheaper property and making it "nicer" with the white perspective. However, this is a very new concept when compared to the more traditional "whites in suburbia" model. Typically, as seen in the 50's up until the very late 20th century, minorities were often pushed towards urban areas so that the white dominant groups could keep their suburban environments to themselves, but now that minorities are moving outwards, it seems as though there's a significant switch occurring, putting the whites in the typically seen "minority areas" and the minorities in the suburban areas. What benefits this may have on the economy..i'm not completely sure, nor am I convinced that this white flight will result in complete segregation which some people may seem to desire, but I imagine that this could eventually stimulate urban economies while slowly bringing down the suburban environment, which is the opposite of what has happened in the past. The question is, what's the next move for both dominant whites and minorities?

“and realize more progress can be made together than in isolation”
It has been said that the individual mindset is what one needs to achieve greatness, but it too can be argued that this individual mindset can hinder a cultures ability to stick together. Cultural Capital has helped many races to endure what would have otherwise lead them into a state of potential homelessness and suffering. This reoccurrence of what has for years been known as white flight, can be a viewed as a lack of wealth of populations of people being moved around by those who hold the power to move them out of where they want to be. This location is often backed with public policies, restraining of funding to certain locations for a period of time, and a language of power that not everyone these policies affect are attuned to.
“closely bound to the center by employment or commerce.” How would the outcome differ if the center were the people instead of the job market? The needs of human rights and overall health over the focus of capital growth can be a positive way to address this déjà vu of restructuring the look and functioning of our cities since these changes have realities related to them.

I think that this article is very well written and brought up some strong points. What has society become? Why are some areas nicer to live in than others. This american we should all be living in the same conditions, however there are cities out there with bad roads, poor educators and public transportation. Unfortunately, those areas are all minorities, when you have these white communities that are nothing like that. This whole suburbia idea first started around WW2 I want to say. When society wanted to get out the cities and into homes to create this perfect life while we were in war. However, over the years we have seen that these areas have gone down in value, what used to nice places to live are no diminishing. After reading this article it looks like we are finally realizing that there is problem and that solution needs to be made. Poverty should not have to with race like it is clearly shown now. Poverty should just be poverty and everyone should have fair chance to acquire what the "white" man is getting

I feel that this article has made very good points discussing situations through economic times. What really struck me as important was in the article it discussed how central cities and suburbs are facing the same challenges such as adequate housing, increasing crime, homelessness, racial and ethnic conflict, education, and etc. I find this to be very true because no matter where you live nothing is that perfect or as safe as it may seem. Problems are always occurring and is something that has to be adjusted to no matter where you live. Whether it be the suburbs or central cities.

It is weird to think that when you're trying to get out of your bad living conditions whether its from the crime rate, the cost of living, or you should just want to get away, is that you run into if not the same, but worst condition than you bargained for. My family and I moved from the poor side of San Diego, living from one bedroom apartment to another, until my parents were able enough to move us out to Murrieta, into a six bedroom house. To us that was like a haven cause where we once were living was pretty bad, from the crimes that we saw daily, to our living situation, a five member family living in a one bedroom apartment, so it was like we were moving to a better place. But although most people think that Murrieta is a safe place, I mean so far it has been alright, but there is the reputation that it is the home to most pedophiles and child molesters. So it does feel unsafe to go out alone like to go jogging and stuff like that. And where this is getting at, is that you think that leaving a place that to you is the worst to a place where you hear is good to raise a family turns out to be just as bad makes you wonder where in this world could you really live if everything turns out to be the same or worst?

This article brought up some great points describing suburban and urban areas. I completely agree that things such as inadequate housing, crime, and racial and ethnic issues are both seen in both environments. People tend to just focus on these issues in urban environments. The issues might even be more prevalent in suburban areas than they are in urban. This article came up with many good points to give me a better understanding of how these two areas have many of the same challenges

This article was good and raised a few good points. I think that urban neighborhoods bringing crime, drugs, gangs into suburban neighborhoods is because of two problems, our education system and the people living the suburban lifestyle. People living in a suburban neighborhood forget about the poorer neighborhoods over run with drug attics and crime. They don't seem to care about making changes to the problem but instead they run away to their safe, suburban lifestyle. Running away/ignoring the problem doesn't solve anything which is why the suburban community isn't the safe place it has always been anymore.

As more privileged whites move back from Suburbia to the bustling cities, I think there is a great opportunity for growth, revival, renewal and greater economic viability. Unfortunately, this article points out the fact that lower-income individuals are finding themselves in the suburbs with poor educational facilities and services. I definitely agree that the politicians of each district, and city, need to collaborate in order to work as a team for the "shaper of our contemporary society"--for our cities. This looming task appears to be daunting, but there is hope in the future politicians. Personally, I grew up in a suburb that was predominantly white. However, my school was zoned in order that whites would be the minority. From my experiences, I can understand the difficulties that stem from increased crime, lack of adequate housing, deficient social services or public transportation, as I was able to see a glimpse into the lives of many underprivileged classmates. It is imperative that the city/county/suburban officials work as a team, instead of competing with numbers. I see the white-flight to the urban core as an opportunity for eyes to be opened, hearts to be touched, and changes to take place as a result.

We can see that problems (poor education, inadequate housing, crime, etc) will be faced anywhere, suburb, city, where ever. It's pretty obvious that no one community will be the perfect, gated, problem-free place. Crimes are going to happen, teachers aren't always going to be great, and housing might deteriorate; these are facts of life.

Is it great to see that rural and urban communities are having the same problems? Sure, but why does it matter where the problems are? The fact is, problems are happening and they shouldn't be. The real question everyone should be asking is: How do we prevent these problems or remedy them? City or suburb, it doesn't matter. A problem is a problem and needs to be fixed either way.

This is the million dollar question to live in the Suburbs or not? We are seeing a turn around of the suburbs to the money pit of the Metroplex. With all the drug and crime problems, everyone that is in the suburbs are wanting out. Little do they know that they are part of the problem. We all big and small, black and white, rich and poor need to work together to find peace and harmony.

No matter where you go nowadays, the city, the suburbs, the country, or forest, there will always be crime, drugs and poverty. The rapidly changing world that we live in today can make you a millionaire one day, but homeless the next. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer and there is nothing anyone can do. Jobs are being taken from our hard working Americans and being outsourced to China and Mexico where workers will do the same job for pennies on the dollar. The suburbs which used to be filled with only white high class men is now being filled with a mix of African Americans and other colored groups who can afford the cost of living. The suburb which used to have no trouble what so ever is now having the worst trouble of them all, not being of the people moving in, but because certain officials want to work alone and try to change places and not work together to get the job done. It is all about greed and being recognized, there is no group work in politics it seems. They would rather work alone and get nothing done than work together to get the job finished and make the place better.

Whenever and where ever we move there's always going to be something that holds it back from being perfect. When It labeling what type of home and neighborhood you live, we become a little racist and think well if there's a lot of high class white people living here it must be a nice neighborhood. Growing up my family lived on what was called the "East Side" when my family moved here it was primarily a white neighborhood, but as the economy got bad houses started selling for less and the amount of crimes had gone up by a lot. About 7 years later we ended up moving to the "west side" of my town because the crime rate was 100% better and it was known to be the safest city. When I go back to where I used to live everyone that lives in my neighborhood is either latino or African American. everybody wants to feel safe in their neighborhood, but every time something bad happens you can't just pick up and move. everyone wants to run away from things that may be new to them and might ruin certain things. There was an article in the newspaper about a certain city that wanted to put low budget apartments half a mile from million dollar estates. These people living in these estates were fighting there hardest to not have these apartments built because they thought that it would raise the crime rate and they were worried there estates would loose value.

I think that this is a very interesting article. It's always a very good thing to learn about issues that are going on around us. To me, it seems as though no matter where middle working class and lower class move to everything will follow with them. From crime, to inadequte hosing, etc. Even though there are people who are trying to move away from the crime filled communities, no matter where they move, even if it is the suburbs all of those things will be right behind them. As long as the rich keep moving to more exclusive neighborhoods they will continue to live their lavish lifestyles, free of crime and all, while even if the middle and lower class move to better communitites such as the suburbs, that does not mean that they will be having better living conditions. It's not fair, but then again, what will society do to try to make this better for everyone?

The country goes through ups and downs in neighborhoods multiple times. Social and environmental are concerns that surround suburb neighborhoods. School systems are decreasing in effectiveness in learning manly because of issues that surround the schools and other concerns that interfere with the welfare of the community. The housing developments aren’t what they once were with quality, as time passes the structure of the house decreases so new housing developments are being built everywhere it seems. Housing developments that are old are run down and that seems to be an open invitation to crime and crime is hard to get rid of when it can’t go anywhere else. Once people are stuck in a rundown suburb surrounded by crime it is very hard to get out. Not everyone can afford housing or apartments so they have to wander the streets homeless looking for food in the garbage and not working. It’s very sad but its reality, not everyone can make a living with the job they have, and others don’t even have a job. In saying that poor people create issues with people in the neighborhoods, if they don’t have much money or any money at all they find ways to get money the quickest and the answer to that are drugs. All these issues affect the neighborhoods in the suburbs, many of them cannot change, and others can change but will take time.

I enjoyed this article because it was easy for me to understand. I live in Murrieta, CA which most people can agree is a distant suburb of both Los Angeles and San Diego. Through my time living here I have met many people that are people of color that moved to Murrieta from the inner-city life of LA and San Diego. My neighbor next door moved in two years ago from the Watts district in LA. I find it funny that most of my friends who are white, moved to"the big city" to pursue they're careers. They're always saying that they are bored in Murrieta and that they want to move to the city. this could be becasue younger whites are moving back to the cities for shorter commutes to jobs and access to nightlife, culture and entertainment. I also believe that the people of color are moving out of the cities to escape violence and poverty. To me, this best explains the situation. Due to the white-flight reversal, i could definitely see cities become only accessible to the middle class and higher. Just one big metropolitan caste system

I think that as long as people can make a choice discrimnation will exist. White People choose to travel and live in different locations then people of color. This is seen in other areas of live. Schools are a good example. White people will take their kids out of schools that a predomintely occupied by people of color, and will put them in a school were people are white, or privileged. The importance of an intergrated society cannot be understated. The dominate group needs to develop this idea to develop a better human rights perspective. White people need to intergrate and give up the idea of assimilated people to whiteness, and just accept peoples cultures and identities as they are.