Quote:
Originally Posted by Randomguy34
I agree with you LVDW that we should avoid generalizing their concerns for developments to be the same as North Side NIMBYs. I do though want to bring up that Auburn Gresham doesn't have much dedicated affordable housing. The affordable housing in the new development will be at 60% AMI, so it will be more expensive than what already exists. The reason why the area is poor is because many middle-class Black families have become poorer over a single generation, relative to inflation and wages. That's why homeownership rates are high, despite the median income being at the poverty line. Despite this, West 79th St has been able to sustain more small-scale retail and new businesses compared to other South Side neighborhoods such as Bronzeville & Woodlawn. The concentration of poverty is a part of the equation, but not the entire picture.
For instance, The Bronx is the poorest congressional district in the US, but has miles of retail districts that are far more vibrant than on the South & West Sides, and even most American cities. This isn't just because NYC is denser, cause South Bronx, and East Brooklyn were truly emptied out in the 70s. With the burned-out buildings, toxic vacant lots, trash overflowing the streets, the situation was much more dire than what Chicago experienced at the time. However, The Bronx & East Brooklyn recovered far more quickly than our South & West Sides, in large part because NYC's abundance of public housing were some of the only forms of stable housing.
Unlike Chicago, NYC's public housing is interwoven into the neighborhood fabric, some even having retail on the 1st floor, and provided a stable base for the last remaining businesses in the area. Despite their reputations, crime levels around the projects were comparable to the neighborhood average, and although maintenance was atrocious, poor residents were overed larger rooms, more greenspace, and more sunlight than their rowhome & tenements beighbors. As the local economy improved, the remaining retail strips provided a seed for new homes and business to be developed and cater a growing population, even if new residents were also as poor as many public housing residents.
Some of Chicago initial public/low-income housing, such as Lathrop, Marshall Field, and Rosenwald are still standing because they followed the NYC model. Even Parkway Gardens, which gets a very bad rep, has more infill, retail, and groceries immediately surrounding it than other parts of East & West Woodlawn. Intuitively, it does make sense that a requires more businesses and decreased likelihood of vacant lots. Poor, dense, communities across the world have also historically been some of the most vibrant. However, because of urban renewal & white flight, US urban planners ended up associating poor people living together being the problem rather than the problem being government interjecting and destroying existing communities. This is why some Libertarian Urbanists argue for supporting poor communities with equitable resources rather than relocating residents as a faster & long-term way to end poverty.
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I appreciate this response. After having lived in NYC for awhile, it truly blows my mind how some of the not-so-well off areas still have really vibrant commercial/retail strips whereas in Chicago, there's not as many in similar types of circumstances. I'm not going to pretend to know all the nuances of when to and when to not place business in an area. I have driven thru 79th street in Auburn Gresham more than 5 times though (last time was 5 years ago) and had noticed there were definitely businesses there.
Now as far as the data goes, I think we should look at some numbers of Auburn Gresham and some surrounding community areas. Of course there was the pandemic, so these numbers could very well be off, but it's anyone's guess right now as to those numbers, so this is all we have:
2019 Households Making $50K+/year
Washington Heights: 9963 households
Ashburn: 8764
Auburn Gresham: 6058
Chatham: 5189
West Englewood: 2437
Englewood: 1767
Total: 34,178 households (39.8%)
2019 Households Making $100K+/year
Ashburn: 3964 households
Washington Heights: 3519
Auburn Gresham: 2035
Chatham: 1631
West Englewood: 692
Englewood: 384
Total: 12,225 households (14.2%)
Change in $100K+/year Households 2013-2019
Auburn Gresham: +785 households (+62.8%)
Washington Heights: +749 households (+32.3%)
Ashburn: +497 households (+14.3%)
Chatham: +464 households (+39.8%)
West Englewood: +189 households (+37.6%)
Englewood: +24 households (+8.6%)
Total: +2708 households (67.3% of the total household increase of the areas combined)
Change in $50K-$100K/year Households 2013-2019
Washington Heights: +551 households (+9.4%)
Chatham: +316 households (+9.7%)
Ashburn: +184 households (+4%)
Auburn Gresham: -67 households (-1.6%)
Englewood: -73 households (-5%)
West Englewood: -95 households (-5.2%)
Total: +816 households (+20.3% of the total household increase of the areas combined)
I am not an expert or even close in this, so you'll have to tell me but having nearly 35,000 households in the general area (not counting others semi near by) who are making at least $50K/year and of those, over 12,000 are making $100K+ seem to me that there's enough to actually support various vibrant retail/commercial in spots. My guess is that crime in certain areas is preventing it from being realized to a greater potential. At the same time, we can certainly go into topics such as getting loans from financial institutions but maybe we shouldn't go there, even though it could play a big role in a more local business trying to form..