To follow up on our last post, it appears that Detroit may be the worst case of urban decay, but it isn’t the only one. Today’s New York Times reports (in another front-page article) that other North and Northeast cities are experiencing an ongoing decline in population, and this time it isn’t any “white flight.” It turns out that more affluent and better educated blacks are following their [former] white neighbors and leaving those cities en masse. And why not? Who wants to endure the harsh northern winters and life in the rubble of formerly first-rate cities, when for less money one can move to the South where life is easier, housing is less expensive, and employment and business opportunities are no worse? Go to Sabrina Tavernisse and Robert Gebeloff, Many U.S. Blacks Moving to South, Reversing Trend, N.Y. Times, March 25,m 2011, at p,. A1. For the complete Times story go to http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/us/25south.html?_r=1&hpw
The city with the greatest black out-migration is New York, and the biggest gainer is Atlanta. What that means to urban redevelopment remains to be seen. But if we continue getting both a white and a black out-migration from cities, that does not bode well for their future.