Are there any neighborhoods with a significant white population anymore?

[MicrosoftFan]

While browsing on CityData this morning using their census map tool, I came across a couple of interesting observations about where the remaining white population in Detroit lives.

1) Outside of Downtown, the area with the most significant white population is the far east side [[EEV, Cornerstone Village) area, where 1/3 of the population is white. Other interesting outposts include Brightmoor [[around 30% white as a whole, but near 2/3 white majority on some blocks), Boston Edison [[wholly around 25% white but again, some blocks especially around the lodge were 50%+ white), and Warrendale [[25% white)

2) Some areas where I would’ve thought there to be a higher white population was actually lower than expected. North Rosedale Park’s days as one of Detroit’s most integrated neighborhoods must be over as 2010 census only shows around 15-20% white. Even Sherwood Forest is only 20% white and Palmer Park isn’t much more at 25%.

3) But changing the map to show the 1990 census is much more interesting. The city is barely 20% white at this point, but there are still some neighborhoods in the far fringes which are very white, which I would assume would be due to the residency requirement still in effect. The far west side [[Parkland/Copper Canyon) was near 80% white and areas on the east side around 8 Mile/Kelly and I-94/Moross were 2/3 white at this point and Rosedale Park area and the far northwest side were around 50/50 racial split.

So the general story that this shows is that the white population was concentrated in a few neighborhoods by 1990 and today traces of white populations exist on the fringes. As the white population grows in the center of Detroit, blacks continue to push out to the suburbs of Southfield, Harper Woods, Eastpointe, Oak Park etc.

[313WX]

Engler killed the residency requirement back in 1998.

The concentration of white people you're finding the on the fringe of the city or in neighborhoods like Indian Village or Boston Edison are generally elderly folks who have lived in those neighborhoods for 20-40+ years and own their homes outright.

[MicrosoftFan]

Engler killed the residency requirement back in 1998.

The concentration of white people you're finding the on the fringe of the city or in neighborhoods like Indian Village or Boston Edison are generally elderly folks who have lived in those neighborhoods for 20-40+ years and own their homes outright.

My sisters ex-husband [[ex-brother in law?) bought a house at 7 Mile and Evergreen in 1993 when he began working for the city. Never actually lived there- but kept it looking like it was occupied with light timers, dirty dishes in sinks, and a car in the driveway. I remember him telling me that the city would regularly check the house to make sure employees actually lived in the city.

[iheartthed]

2) Some areas where I would’ve thought there to be a higher white population was actually lower than expected. North Rosedale Park’s days as one of Detroit’s most integrated neighborhoods must be over as 2010 census only shows around 15-20% white. Even Sherwood Forest is only 20% white and Palmer Park isn’t much more at 25%.

I'm not sure what you were expecting here then. I doubt the racial demographics in these neighborhoods have moved much in the past 30 years. The neighborhoods that were the slowest to change over from white to black, were all of the white working class neighborhoods on the periphery of the city.

Next to Midtown and downtown, which has had a dramatic gentrification recently, the white working class neighborhoods are the ones that have had the most dramatic demographic swing in the last 20 years.

[313WX]

My sisters ex-husband [[ex-brother in law?) bought a house at 7 Mile and Evergreen in 1993 when he began working for the city. Never actually lived there- but kept it looking like it was occupied with light timers, dirty dishes in sinks, and a car in the driveway. I remember him telling me that the city would regularly check the house to make sure employees actually lived in the city.

Yep, that was pretty common.

I'm still of the belief that it was Engler's lifting of the residency requirement that played a big part in the decline of NE and NW Detroit.

[MicrosoftFan]

Yep, that was pretty common.

I'm still of the belief that it was Engler's lifting of the residency requirement that played a big part in the decline of NE and NW Detroit.

I don’t know if Chicago had a residency requirement or not, but even during the dark ages for big cities in the US [[70s-90s) Chicago did and still has neighborhoods on the far SW, NW, and East sides with large populations of firefighters, police officers, and city employees. In addition to neighborhoods with historically large Irish and Italian populations. Detroit had all of these [[Far West/East sides) but by the late 90s it was all gone.

[313WX]

I don’t know if Chicago had a residency requirement or not, but even during the dark ages for big cities in the US [[70s-90s) Chicago did and still has neighborhoods on the far SW, NW, and East sides with large populations of firefighters, police officers, and city employees. In addition to neighborhoods with historically large Irish and Italian populations. Detroit had all of these [[Far West/East sides) but by the late 90s it was all gone.

I'm 98% sure Chicago still has a residency requirement.

[Bham1982]

I'm 98% sure Chicago still has a residency requirement.

Yes, Chicago has a strict residency requirement; much stricter and broader than Detroit back in the day. Even all Chicago public and charter school teachers have to live within city limits.

All that said, Chicago has had pretty severe population decline in recent years, and the "cop neighborhoods" on the fringes appear to be getting less white. The neighborhoods are probably diversifying as municipal employee rosters diversify, plus younger municipal employees probably don't want to be bungalow dwellers in lower middle class fringe areas. Might as well buy in/near the core.

Re. Detroit, the loss of white population on the fringes probably has less to do with white flight or residency requirements, than just old folks passing on. There were a ton of old white ethnics living in Detroit's fringe neighborhoods in the 80's and 90's, and they've since passed on.

In 2017, the non-core Detroit neighborhood with the biggest white presence is probably SW. Even though Mexicans are the clear majority, the neighborhood still appears pretty white and you don't see many blacks.

[DetroitNightLights]

Black flight to Southfield and the suburbs and white gentrification into Downtown and Midtown is discussed here. What about higher income millennial black gentrification from other areas of the city, Southfield, and the suburbs? Is that a thing?

The place with the most diversity in the entire metro has to be the Riverwalk. You see everyone and everything down there. I never would have thought in a million years something so simple as a riverfront park would bridge the chasms of age, race, class, and lifestyle.

[iheartthed]

Re. Detroit, the loss of white population on the fringes probably has less to do with white flight or residency requirements, than just old folks passing on. There were a ton of old white ethnics living in Detroit's fringe neighborhoods in the 80's and 90's, and they've since passed on.

The catalyst was definitely due to residency requirements. The neighborhoods I'm thinking of along the western border with Dearborn and Redford Township were largely made up of white Baby Boomer city workers. Warrendale might be an outlier. It seems that neighborhood took a little longer to change over than others. It might be due to its perceived hostility to black residents. Does anyone else remember back in the 1990s when those bomb threats were made to the elementary school over there named for Malcolm X?

[313WX]

The catalyst was definitely due to residency requirements. The neighborhoods I'm thinking of along the western border with Dearborn and Redford Township were largely made up of white Baby Boomer city workers. Warrendale might be an outlier. It seems that neighborhood took a little longer to change over than others. It might be due to its perceived hostility to black residents. Does anyone else remember back in the 1990s when those bomb threats were made to the elementary school over there named for Malcolm X?

On the east side, it was primarily the 8 Mile and Gratiot area.

[Bham1982]

Black flight to Southfield and the suburbs and white gentrification into Downtown and Midtown is discussed here. What about higher income millennial black gentrification from other areas of the city, Southfield, and the suburbs? Is that a thing?

You're saying high income millennial blacks are gentrifying Detroit?

Probably some, but there have probably never been fewer high income blacks within city limits at any time in the last 50 years.

Keep in mind that Metro Detroit is one of the whiter major metros in the U.S. There probably isn't a huge cohort of high income + millennial + black.

[MicrosoftFan]

Black flight to Southfield and the suburbs and white gentrification into Downtown and Midtown is discussed here. What about higher income millennial black gentrification from other areas of the city, Southfield, and the suburbs? Is that a thing?

The place with the most diversity in the entire metro has to be the Riverwalk. You see everyone and everything down there. I never would have thought in a million years something so simple as a riverfront park would bridge the chasms of age, race, class, and lifestyle.

1) I would say that Detroit’s black millenials might be one of the biggest beneficiaries of Detroit’s turnaround. A lot of them are getting professional jobs downtown and living in the neighborhoods nearby. To sum it up it’s basically 35+ black folks heading to the inner ring suburbs, 35+ white folks moving to the second ring or exurbs, and everybody’s -35 kids are heading downtown. Where they go when they have kids is another story.

2) The riverwalk’s diversity is striking. On a Saturday afternoon it seems people from the whole metro area are down there. You’ve got everyone from Hijab-wearing moms pushing strollers, white senior citizens from Lincoln Park, GM Workers on lunch break, and scared white families venturing into the city for the first time sans tigers game.

[313WX]

Most native Detroiters who are young, black and upwardly mobile have moved or are moving south to cities such as Dallas, Houston, Atlanta and Charlotte [[where a ton of good-paying jobs are actually being created and there's a ton of growth / capital investment occurring).

Unless you're well-connected in the Auto Industry, you're basically going to hit a glass ceiling pretty early in your career or pursuit for growth in Detroit.

[O3H]

CENTERLINE is "almost" exclusively white, inside the Warren Fortress, on the other side of the borderline. It's like 94% pure white.

The city is only 1.74 square miles , a god damn island !!!!

[Ray1936]

CENTERLINE is "almost" exclusively white, inside the Warren Fortress, on the other side of the borderline. It's like 94% pure white.

The city is only 1.74 square miles , a god damn island !!!!

I've always thought that the tri-county area should be one great big city. But I'm simple. Forgive me.

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

I wish no government entity kept statistics on race. I don't care if my neighbors, customers, employees, or fellow voting citizens are black, white, brown or any combination thereof. The US Census should count people, not types of people.

[K-slice]

I strongly believe that for Millennials class, or socioeconomic status will be the new divider of people. I see many my age group much more based on how well off or educated we are rather than our race.

This is just my observation and not based off any hard evidence though. Only time will tell if skin color continues to be a big wedge as the baby boomer generation begins to shrink.

[dookie joe]

I wish no government entity kept statistics on race. I don't care if my neighbors, customers, employees, or fellow voting citizens are black, white, brown or any combination thereof. The US Census should count people, not types of people.

Amen. People don't realize they're being played. The media constantly hammers home all the things that divide us. It's not a new concept; every competent ruler in history has known the value of divide-and-conquer. It worked for Crassus, and it works even better now.

[dookie joe]

People act like forcing cops to live in the city will lead to better policing. It won't. Because it didn't.

The residency rule was in place during the years leading up to the consent judgment. So everyone in the department was supposed to live in the city during the 1980s-1990s -- while they were covering up officer-involved shootings, violating homicide witnesses' civil rights as a matter of routine, and running lockups that were as filthy as the men's room in a Brazilian prison.

Say what you will about the current DPD, which certainly has many flaws, but even the worst critics would have to admit the record on civil rights issues has vastly improved since the bad old days. And with all them damn suburbanite cops, no less.

[313WX]

People act like forcing cops to live in the city will lead to better policing. It won't. Because it didn't.

No one in this thread suggested such.

[313WX]

I wish no government entity kept statistics on race. I don't care if my neighbors, customers, employees, or fellow voting citizens are black, white, brown or any combination thereof. The US Census should count people, not types of people.

Sorry, but until we're all Goobacks in this utopia you're dreaming of, race will very much be an important factor to track.

[Bham1982]

I think residency requirements, generally speaking, don't make sense. If you have to force your workers to live in your city, the problem is the city, not the workers. And it almost never makes sense to artificially restrict the potential applicant pool.

[Meddle]

Is this really the kind of question [[and thread) that promotes the unity so many claim to be looking for?

[MrMichigan]

Sorry, but until we're all Goobacks in this utopia you're dreaming of, race will very much be an important factor to track.

Race is not, and should not be considered, a factor similar in importance to income and educational attainment.