pf08-014 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

��I11�7(C�lCll�l`C ��CI�_'h�1UUC�1;1;��.tilll�!!C'�: �11�I1�_l�_'!�_. ,r," �l ��,-� � neighbourhood as it was cut in half by the highway. The sections of Judkins Park near the construction had experienced a signi�cant decline in the quality of the housing stock and escalation of the vacant land and abandoned housing rates by the time the tunnel was completed in 1991. While Judkins Park was known for drive-by shootings, open-air drug markets and prostitution, the neighbourhood became even more unattractive by the effects of the I-90 construction work (ibid.). Highway improvements also played a substantial role in the decline of Houston's Fifth Ward, once a thriving neighbourhood and the birthplace of many of Houston's most prominent citizens. The neighbourhood is a few miles from Houston's downtown. The development of Route 59 separated the centre of Fifth Ward's commercial district from the rest of the community. Both parts of the neighbourhood subsequently declined, and increase in crime and poverty rates followed. The neighbourhood also suffered from very low homeownership rates and housing values. Its main commercial comdor, Lyons Avenue, had �nly a few healthy� businesses. Higgins reports: In 1979, Texas Montltly described the Fifth Ward as "Texas' baddest ghetto," and it has long been known as "the Bloody Fifth" because of its high rates of violent crime. By 1990, the nine census tracts that make up the heart of the Fifth Ward had a poverty rate of over 60 percent (ibid.). 2.2.7. Kalamazoo: Public Image Problems Higgins examined two neighbourhoods in the southwest Michigan City of Kalamazoo: Northside and Edison (ibid.). In Northside 85 per cent of the population was African-American compared to 18.8 per cent citywide. Edison was more diverse than the rest of the city in its racial distribution but had a large portion of the city's Hispanic population. In 1990, the two neighbourhoods had lower income levels than the city overall. Northside also had a much higher poverty rate than the city as a whole, and its median housing value was less than half that of the overall city. As Higgins documents, Edison was seen as a neighbourhood hampered by public image problems. The presence of "adult" businesses along Portage Road, Edison's main commercial corridor, as well as the neighbourhood's relatively high crime rate, have had a negative effect on further commercial development there. 2.2.8. Atlanta: Regional as Oppose to an Inner-City Focus While the common pattern of urban development for the majority of cities in the second half of the 20`h century has resulted in disparities between inner cities and suburbs, it has not always been the case. The Centre on Urban and Metropolitan Policy (2000) documents that Atlanta's urban decline can't be seen as a division between inner city and suburbs. Here there is a divide between northern, affluent parts of the region and poorer, slow-growing southern areas. The study categorises the county and sub-county areas by their dominant socio-economic characteristics: • Job-Residential Hubs have rapid job and population growth, high average household incomes, and are majority white. E:3