Editor's note.Older friends of mine blame integration. Before it, they recall, black bankers rived on the same blocks as mail carriers, teachers and maids. Children saw men in suits and social workers alongside plumbers and janitors. Integrated housing changed that, they tell me, prompting the flight of the black middle class. Downtown banks and other businesses peddled fear, convincing African Americans African American Multiculture A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. See Race. to abandon their neighborhood institutions and move on up. But today, it seems, we've got a different problem. Even in the communities with plentiful black middle-class populations, the communities themselves don't offer the amenities those families need or want. Fancy cars and multi-million dollar greystones aren't enough to get them what others take for granted: high-end grocery stores and major retailers, for instance. As Reporter Kimbriell Kelly discovered, public officials in these neighborhoods find themselves suspended between families tiring of traveling across town and developers who don't see opportunity when they look at black neighborhoods. At the same time, these middle-class families are making life harder for the African Americans who arrived before them. As gentrification gentrification, the rehabilitation and settlement of decaying urban areas by middle- and high-income people. Beginning in the 1970s and 80s, higher-income professionals, drawn by low-cost housing and easier access to downtown business areas, renovated deteriorating washes over our city's South and West sides, Intern intern /in·tern/ (in´tern) a medical graduate serving in a hospital preparatory to being licensed to practice medicine. in·tern or in·terne n. Frank Life found many longtime long·time adj. Having existed or persisted for a long time: a longtime friend; a longtime resident of Detroit. longtime Adjective residents wonder how long they'll be able to pay the property taxes skyrocketing along with their home values. Clearly, our city leaders are invested in attracting--and keeping--more middle-class families. But they must recognize they can only alienate To voluntarily convey or transfer title to real property by gift, disposition by will or the laws of Descent and Distribution, or by sale. For example, a seller may alienate property by transferring to a buyer a parcel of the seller's land containing a house, in the black middle-class for so long; if neighborhoods don't serve those families' needs, the suburbs will grow evermore ev·er·more adv. 1. Forever; always. 2. In a future time. evermore Adverb all time to come Adv. 1. appealing. We also need to decide if we want neighborhoods where all kinds of black people can live, which means preserving some affordable housing. In the meantime Adv. 1. in the meantime - during the intervening time; "meanwhile I will not think about the problem"; "meantime he was attentive to his other interests"; "in the meantime the police were notified" meantime, meanwhile , families like the ones Kelly profiled will just have to keep budgeting extra time to shop, as aldermen work on bringing those businesses closer to home. Hopefully, some of their lower-income neighbors will be around to enjoy it when--and if--those stores arrive. Alysia W. Tate Editor and Publisher |
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