Central District oporation crackdown

[Ez-Roo]

Here is another fun fact for everyone:

Seattle is the 2nd whitest large city in the US...second ONLY to Portland. The NW is officially the whitest region in the country.

Read this article in the Washintgon Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/18/AR2006061800605.html

Ya when all the blacks cant afford to live in Seattle and instead are in renton kent tacoma federal way des moines burien seatac ect ect........................
.......................................................................................................
...................................... shit niggas is heading to everett???? so ya now seattles core is lacking diversity but its around the corner spread out!

 

[Ez-Roo]

shit and we even trying ta help portland out we gave em Roy-martell- & Nate

 

[CEEOHELAY]

I use to Live on 26th & Yesler Right there where all this went down.....REAL SPEAK everytime i went to the Mini Mart I use to say to myself how long before these niggas get they door smashed in cuzz they were way overboard BLATANT wit it.....And Honestly 26th St wasnt the nicest block in the central..BUT IT stood out way too much.... I Still live in the Central...and I agree It is sad to See All the Black owned Businesses either Str8 going Broke and Shutting Down or Moving locations cuzz of rent being raised.....Recently CCs Burger Joint Shut down....I LOVED THAT SPOT....

 

[MR.VILLAIN]

nott really I got many white people I got mad love for some i die for! But the fact the CD is fading bothers the fuck outa me. Im black and samoan my auntie still stays on Alder by Garfield and when im there its just not the same ya it makes me angry?

I understand, gentrification can be a bitch. But with the CD being so close to downtown it's inevitable. You know, the white yuppies have the money to give the boot to the blacks in the CD by simpley compensating them 2 times what they would get for their homes. Neighborhoods change, it's really just the way things are. The CD has too much worth to yuppies right now because of location, so like I said, it'll just happen.

 

[Fucky McFuckerson]

I understand, gentrification can be a bitch. But with the CD being so close to downtown it's inevitable. You know, the white yuppies have the money to give the boot to the blacks in the CD by simpley compensating them 2 times what they would get for their homes. Neighborhoods change, it's really just the way things are. The CD has too much worth to yuppies right now because of location, so like I said, it'll just happen.

But what about neighborhoods lilke Queen Anne, which is closer to donwtown than the CD, that is BOOMING with condos and is continuing to grow? Why would the city need to empty out the CD of all its diversity to make way for upscale condos when another area, which is already developed and HAS been for 10 years???

I just dont get it and in some ways, sickens me. Its as if Seattle is trying to get rid of all people that live below the $50,000 a year line. It just so happens that most of those people are of ethnic backgrounds OTHER than European.

 

[MR.VILLAIN]

But what about neighborhoods lilke Queen Anne, which is closer to donwtown than the CD, that is BOOMING with condos and is continuing to grow? Why would the city need to empty out the CD of all its diversity to make way for upscale condos when another area, which is already developed and HAS been for 10 years???

I just dont get it and in some ways, sickens me. Its as if Seattle is trying to get rid of all people that live below the $50,000 a year line. It just so happens that most of those people are of ethnic backgrounds OTHER than European.

Queen Anne will eventually reach full capacity, probably even quicker than the CD would. I agree, it does seem like seattle is trying to rid itself of people making less than 50 geez a year. That's why I live in Tacoma and not Seattle, even though Seattle is my hometown and Tacoma is boring in comp-arison, it's just a hell of alot more affordable.

 

[Young E.A.S.T]

You are correct.

Drive through that neighborhood these days at dusk on a weekend night and you're liable to see white women out alone walking their dogs.

to whatever your implying tha district is still the district........come through late night and you might see some young hardheads on every other corner.....we aint goin nowhere fam

 

[Fucky McFuckerson]

to whatever your implying tha district is still the district........come through late night and you might see some young hardheads on every other corner.....we aint goin nowhere fam

I think what he is saying is that the CD aint what it used to be. Yes, there are still knuclehads on the block..but there is also a young, white couple walking the dog coming oout of Starbucks as well.

As mush as people want to make out Seattle as a "hard and shitty" place to live, the reality is...that its NOT. 70.1% of Seattle is Caucasian and the highest percentage of minority is of Asian background, however those of Latin background are catching up fast.. Only 8% of Seattle is African-American.

 

[Ez-Roo]

are you a census buero worker?

 

[MR.VILLAIN]

are you a census buero worker?

EZ, I feel you, especially since the CD is an area that you've grown up in and shit. Your roots are in the central. But accept the fact that it will become more and more white and move on. Those streets don't belong to you.

 

[Fucky McFuckerson]

are you a census buero worker?

Who are you asking and why is it relevant?

EZ, I feel you, especially since the CD is an area that you've grown up in and shit. Your roots are in the central. But accept the fact that it will become more and more white and move on. Those streets don't belong to you.

Here is the kicker. NONE of the streets than ANY gang claims is theirs....the street is owned by the city. I find that amusing.

 

[MR.VILLAIN]

Who are you asking and why is it relevant?



Here is the kicker. NONE of the streets than ANY gang claims is theirs....the street is owned by the city. I find that amusing.

I don't think it's about gangs to people like EZ, I think it's 'bout memories for people like him. Could be wrong, but I seriously doubt it's bout gang shit as much as it's about sentimental things.

 

[xpanther206]

This Jesse Dude is making sense.

I've been saying these types of things for years about the demographic patterns in our city and making the connection between that and the way that rap music (the reason we're all gathered here) is perceived. It's why gangster rap from Seattle will probably never be embraced by a larger audience. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[xpanther206]

to whatever your implying tha district is still the district........come through late night and you might see some young hardheads on every other corner.....we aint goin nowhere fam

I know, I understand what you're saying. But the point is like Jesse said, those young hardheads aren't ALL I see, they're a piece of the puzzle but not the whole puzzle.

I'll put it like this. I was roaming the Central District buying rap music at Music Galore, eating at Ezell's on lunch breaks from my private school basically spending a lot of time exploring that neighborhood in the car and on foot from the time I was 16 years old till the time I graduated from high school. Now I'm 23 years old with 2 more inches and 25 more lbs and an even greater love for urban geography/demography and exploration, but in my new city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin there are places where I absolutely won't get out of my car, and to be perfectly honest, I'd feel a little nervous just sitting in traffic.

So I honestly feel bad for the hardheads in Northwest hoods like the CD who want to claim a geographic space that will be respected, but in Seattle that place doesn't really exist (and if it does, it's in the South End somewhere, not the CD). So I guess in Seattle, individuals have to get that general respect by virtue of survival for themselves, they can't really get it through geography like they can in other areas. You can't just yell out a neighborhood in Seattle b/c some white dude is liable to be like "Oh yeah, my .... lives there" whereas in other cities people just hear a neighborhood or an address (In Milwaukee, it's anything w/ a "N .... Ave" as opposed to a "E ..... Ave" = GHETTO) and have nothing to relate to other than the fear of going there. So if you tell me you are a black male from the North side of Milwaukee and you've lived to see 25, I'll think in my head 'now that's a fuckin accomplishment, way to go man' but I wouldn't necessarily think the same thing if somebody of the same description (as a guy did to me at the ATL airport when he saw my 206 hat) told me he was from "The Central" in Seattle.

But the question Norm Rice raises is a good one. Are the larger ramifications of this good or bad?

 

[xpanther206]

Why would the city need to empty out the CD of all its diversity

I do actually have some issues with that statement b/c the whole pro-gentrification argument is precisely diversity.

The Central District IS a diverse neighborhood right now, far more diverse than it has been since WWII. The neighborhood today runs roughly 40-30-15-15 White-Black-Asian-Latino.

^^^Does that sound more or less diverse than the 75-20-5 Black-White-Asian that was the old CD???

Really the issue here is that we have diversity in a place that is not used to diversity and doesn't necessarily want it.

 

[Fucky McFuckerson]

I do actually have some issues with that statement b/c the whole pro-gentrification argument is precisely diversity.

I knew this would come up and it seems to me that all this is doing is bringing in Caucasians and fluching African Americans down to Renton, Kent, and Auburn.

The Central District IS a diverse neighborhood right now, far more diverse than it has been since WWII. The neighborhood today runs roughly 40-30-15-15 White-Black-Asian-Latino.

Actually, it runs 42% (Caucasian), 36% (African American) 8% (Asian), 7% (Latino), 2% (Other), and 5% mixed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_District,_Seattle,_WA

^^^Does that sound more or less diverse than the 75-20-5 Black-White-Asian that was the old CD???

The alarming rate is that the number of African American residents has been cut in HALF and is STILL dropping. What happens when they make rom for MORE condos that run at $250,000 a pop or $1500 a month? What happens when local shops get BOUGHT out and SHUT down, driving black owners OUT of their own demographics? To go from 75% African Americsn to just above 35% in a 10 year span down right scary.

Really the issue here is that we have diversity in a place that is not used to diversity and doesn't necessarily want it.

This is part of it, yes. But when is the cut off? When do you STOP developing an already developed area and say "OK, we are now diverse enough to let it works its course"?

 

[BAMMER]

The West Side is dead to me.Everybody had to leave the rental homes move south,cuz owners can't turn down 400,000$ from some Cali Yuppy.High Point got demolished,and Delridge will be next because it's minutes to downtown.

Queen Anne is a joke,they are packin'em in like Sardines...I got co-workers who have to park a block from their own houses.

 

[xpanther206]

I knew this would come up and it seems to me that all this is doing is bringing in Caucasians and fluching African Americans down to Renton, Kent, and Auburn.

You're absolutely right, that's exactly what's happening...but the resulting effect on the CD is that it is MORE DIVERSE than it used to be

Actually, it runs 42% (Caucasian), 36% (African American) 8% (Asian), 7% (Latino), 2% (Other), and 5% mixed.

Fact checking, I like. The result is still, MORE DIVERSITY.

The alarming rate is that the number of African American residents has been cut in HALF and is STILL dropping. What happens when they make rom for MORE condos that run at $250,000 a pop or $1500 a month? What happens when local shops get BOUGHT out and SHUT down, driving black owners OUT of their own demographics? To go from 75% African Americsn to just above 35% in a 10 year span down right scary.

Right I agree with you 100% black population cut in half is extremely alarming. Still, the result is MORE DIVERSITY.

This is part of it, yes. But when is the cut off? When do you STOP developing an already developed area and say "OK, we are now diverse enough to let it works its course"?

There you go, now you have gotten down to your point. You are arguing for what we call in urban geography "tipping point theory," the view that true demographic DIVERSITY (which on paper the CD has right now) is really a temporary state, that over time one group will eventually win out. And if the CD is an area that follows tipping point theory, than you're absolutely right, given the rates, the white folks will win out in Seattle.

In America it's pretty ironic how segregation really caused a lot of terrible things but that as a result, geographic occupation was really one way in which these oppressed groups of people did gain some power, and now in some places (sure as hell not a lot of places) these folks are losing that. It's like the land and the culture that came from living together was all they had and now if they don't have those and still don't have the $, what do they have?

My sneaking suspicion is that a lot of people both black and white would not have minded one bit a "separate but equal" society, but the black people didn't like that b/c they knew separate couldn't be equal, but now they're thinking that things will never be equal regardless, so they might as well have separate." In otherwords, we've come full circle. Anybody else feel this idea or am I crazy?

IF EVEN A TINY PART OF YOU IS INTERESTED IN THIS TOPIC, D/L THIS SONG:

"Real Estate" by C.I.

 

[Vishious]

Every time this type of shit comes up, people wanna start preachin N throwin some internet statistics out there.....Ive grown up in the CD N im 18 now, so im still young,,But i know wut goes on, N wutz been goin on..

1st,,they are pushin ALL Poor/low income familys more out south, that way they can build condos, like already started doin by deno's N shit,,,,that why when it getts all "NICE" they can call it capitol hill.
2nd,,All this bull shit bout cd aint no ghetto/hood or wut ever, call it what you want,,,but tha same shit that happens in diffrent hoods every were else,,happens here,,,just at a higher, and/or, lower level.

 

[Ez-Roo]

shit all this talk I just miss walkin out T.T. Minor to get some Now and Laters at Union grocery! or out washingtom middle school to get some momas kitchen or parnells pizza pockets and street fighter 2. knock outs in the manor and gunfire on a hot summer night or a rainy one! OSC crome family g nikes easy e, collins gold and jordans haha im clownin ^ dam nigga 18? what u know about the hood you was raised in? haha im clownin stay up. statistics bolistics???? all im sayin is I solomly swear to gos if that mothafucka turned 100% white me and my peoples still gonna make a chill spot the vizuals iz erythaaang fuck around and get arrested for playin bones on white people porches haha