Evidence Suggests Ghetto
Aug. 2nd, 2009 05:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebThe articles in this month's edition of my neighborhood newsletter make it look like I live in a ghetto or something.
Pages 1, 5, 6: Our middle school is closing due to poor performance for three years running.
Page 3: There is evidence that a pack of wild dogs is killing neighborhood pet cats.
Page 8: The electric substation for the neighborhood in the old airport is going to be built in our neighborhood after all. Because we have more space than a neighborhood that used to be an airport.
Page 3: Our pool apparently was slated for being fixed many years ago with money voters set aside for the purpose, but now the damage has gotten so bad that it really can't be fixed.
The weird thing about the school closing is that the whole point of closing the school is so that the students can go to a better school instead. But apparently the neighborhood thinks they'd rather have their kids keep going to the same school. And I know the other schools don't want our kids: 95% of them "are considered economically disadvantaged." I've also heard that a pretty high percentage, like 1/3, is also still learning English.
Apparently test scores improved significantly over the past three years, but not quite enough, at least in science. So maybe it makes sense that parents want to keep their kids here after all, because it seems like the school might be just about to get perfectly fine, without all the busing.
I really don't feel like I live in a ghetto, except for the part about there being a liquor store and a pawn shop and multiple check-cashing places nearby. Robin thinks that our part of the neighborhood, unlike some others, is perfectly fine. It's true that I don't see many kids on my block--we're mostly childless couples or people whose children have grown up.
I don't feel unsafe, but if I would have seen this newsletter when I was house hunting, I would have skipped this neighborhood.
Pages 1, 5, 6: Our middle school is closing due to poor performance for three years running.
Page 3: There is evidence that a pack of wild dogs is killing neighborhood pet cats.
Page 8: The electric substation for the neighborhood in the old airport is going to be built in our neighborhood after all. Because we have more space than a neighborhood that used to be an airport.
Page 3: Our pool apparently was slated for being fixed many years ago with money voters set aside for the purpose, but now the damage has gotten so bad that it really can't be fixed.
The weird thing about the school closing is that the whole point of closing the school is so that the students can go to a better school instead. But apparently the neighborhood thinks they'd rather have their kids keep going to the same school. And I know the other schools don't want our kids: 95% of them "are considered economically disadvantaged." I've also heard that a pretty high percentage, like 1/3, is also still learning English.
Apparently test scores improved significantly over the past three years, but not quite enough, at least in science. So maybe it makes sense that parents want to keep their kids here after all, because it seems like the school might be just about to get perfectly fine, without all the busing.
I really don't feel like I live in a ghetto, except for the part about there being a liquor store and a pawn shop and multiple check-cashing places nearby. Robin thinks that our part of the neighborhood, unlike some others, is perfectly fine. It's true that I don't see many kids on my block--we're mostly childless couples or people whose children have grown up.
I don't feel unsafe, but if I would have seen this newsletter when I was house hunting, I would have skipped this neighborhood.