Quote:
Originally Posted by aaron38
I disagree. The current built environment is mostly vacant lots and very low land values. Exactly what any developer would be looking for. Except they can't build new units and sell them for a decent price when there are 50 shootings on the street every weekend. The shootings are due to gangs, which are due to the drug trade, which is due to a government created black market. This isn't a problem that economic forces can solve.
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This is empirically not true. Each of the community areas that make up Bronzeville (Douglas, Oakland, Grand Boulevard, Kenwood) currently have violent crime rates lower than or equivalent to Lakeview, Logan Square, or Near North Side. Even if you narrow it down to homicides, this still holds true. They're not Naperville, but they are very safe by Chicago standards.
Yet... where is the gentrification in those areas? Where is the long line of developers chasing "vacant lots and very low land values"? The low land values themselves reflect the fact that nobody wants to live there, except perhaps the African-Americans who are already part of those communities.
You can explain the lack of demand either through
A) a particular kind of selective racism targeted at African-Americans (but not Latinos), or
B) the fact that African-American neighborhoods are physically and economically devastated