File this under the costs of big blue: over at Center for Opportunity Urbanism, Joel Kotkin and Wendell Cox have published a report arguing that those cities which claim to be most progressive, diverse, and tolerant actually create an environment with high costs of living and few economic opportunities. This dynamic drives ethnic minority populations to greener pastures in the south and west, where low costs of living mingle with flourishing job prospects:
African Americans appear to be moving once again, but this time primarily to cities, many in the south, the very region they exited in huge numbers during the last century. Increasingly, they, as well as Latino and Asian households seeking a better future, are moving to opportunity cities. Between 2000 and 2013, the African American population of Atlanta, Charlotte, Orlando, Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Raleigh, Tampa-St. Petersburg and San Antonio all experienced growth of close to 40 percent or higher, well above the average of 27 percent for the 52 metropolitan areas […]
Once again, I am unclear why you all see this as progress. What its saying is that blue cities are creating jobs that require people to be educated with good job skills. Ergo, many of the minorities moving to the South are those that are the least educated and without job skills. Not all.........educated minorities are drawn to the South for the same reason whites are.......to escape cold winters. Nonetheless, its been noted that the South continually produces low paying jobs that don't require much education and job skills. This is not something of which to be proud. I repeat.........this is not something of which to be proud.
For Latinos, now the nation’s largest ethnic minority, nine of the top 13 places are held by cities wholly or partially in the old Confederacy, led by #1 Jacksonville, Florida. Current state projections in Texas indicate that Latinos will outnumber Anglos by 2025. The majority of newcomers to the South, notes a recent Pew study, are classic first-wave immigrants: young, 57 percent foreign born and not well educated; but they see the South as their land of opportunity.
Blue cities have a long tradition of progress and expansion. Blue cities like Chicago and Detroit are the exception; not the rule. Much more typical are cities like MPLS, St Paul, Madison, SFO, Grand Rapids, San Jose, Columbus, Portland, Seattle, Boston etc. They keep getting better and better.....more dynamic, cleaner, attractive, economic powerhouses, etc. Unfortunately, most southern cities simply grow their populations and that's just about it. There are exceptions of course.........Nashville, Charlotte, Austin, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas and Raleigh Durham.....are pretty dynamic. But way too many southern cities keep their populations barefoot and toothless........and its even worse in the rural areas of southern states. Its why the Rs are able to keep their stranglehold on the South........another fact of which not to be proud.
As for Detroit and some of the other rust belt cities, slowly but surely, they are starting to improve. It will be decades before they are viable again........but the worst is definitely over for them.
BTW you mentioned that pubic schools in blue cities, esp those minority neighborhoods, are bad. I think again you are using Chicago and Detroit a your model and that may be true in those cities. However, in other blue cities that's not the case.......for an example, one of the best high schools in Seattle is Garfield High.........a minority school that's so good white kids from 10 miles away take city buses to get to school. |
