Is "redlining" still a problem today?

In the videos shown on this blog - regarding Roseland & Englewood - about the top 10 most violent neighborhoods (or community areas) in Chicago a factor noted in those videos is redlining. So according to the Tribune redlining is still a factor in other cities around America. That is certain segments of the population still have some difficulty getting mortgages to buy a home, and that's regardless of the type of jobs they hold.

Found this article via R.A.G.E. check out this post and why they shared this link.

Against All Odds: The Fight for the Black Middle Class

[VIDEO] One of the main reasons why I started The Sixth Ward was to in some way highlight the middle-class aspects of the 6th Ward as it was drawn between 2002 to roughly 2015. Chatham isn't the only community with a solidly Black middle-class population, but it has often been considered a bastion of the Black middle-class.

This documentary was mentioned on the ig profile for the new owners of the former Seaway National Bank - Self-Help FCU - doing a quick mention of this documentary Against All Odds: The Fight for the Black Middle Class. It's available for viewing either on pbs.org or you can watch it through the PBS app available on iPhones & iPads and likely Android also.

Woodlawn Wonder: Race, Real Estate and The Bank Of America

It was in the news recently that Bank of America takes better care of foreclosed properties in white areas than they would in Black or "minority" areas. Here's a story from the Tribune:

A national fair housing group has added Chicago and two other cities to its complaint charging that Bank of America Corp. takes better care of foreclosed properties in white communities than those in predominantly minority neighborhoods.

The inclusion of Chicago, along with Milwaukee and Indianapolis, brings to 13 the number of cities included in the National Fair Housing Alliance's complaint originally filed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in September involving eight cities. Two other cities were added earlier this month.

The Washington, D.C.-based alliance, a consortium of private, nonprofit fair housing groups, alleges that the lender "has a systemic and particularized practice" of handling foreclosed properties differently depending on race and color, and the practice has occurred at least since 2011.

Meanwhile in commenting on this story the Woodlawn Wonder at her blog  - I Hate My Developer - offers her 2 cents:

Yesterday the Chicago Tribune reported that Bank of America has been accused of taking better care of foreclosed properties in predominately white neighborhoods than they do in minority neighborhoods.

Oh boy here we go.

Topics of race and racism are always incendiary.

Nonetheless, when I do discuss issues of race with people I don't know (which I rarely do), I take an emotionless position. Instead of ranting and raving about institutional and casual racism I discuss facts.

Most commenters on this story were saying that the issue was not about race but rather one of return on investment (ROI) or sound business principles.

You should read the rest of her posting, so now we go down the road of race in talking about foreclosure in "minority" communities. She had the right approach in not allowing emotion to enter into a discussion such as this. This became a racial discussion when she only noted that foreclosed properties should be properly secured, but there are those who think such properties would only be broken into in many minority areas.

All the same, many in this area have seen the effects of foreclosure. We've covered squatters although I could drive around certain neighborhoods and note all the boarded up properties that are seen on this part of town. To be sure, I'm not entirely certain if vandalism is an issue.

Still all the same, any property that doesn't have anyone living on the property - especially a foreclosure - should be properly secured. There shouldn't be an argument on whether that should occur in a "minority" community or not.

What say you?

Zipcars and I-Go racist?

Zipcars and I-Go have a system where residents can essentially "rent a car" for a day or even a few hours.

It helps the environment by not adding unnecessary cars, and saves people money by not having to maintain a vehicle (and insurance for days they aren't driving), as well as parking spaces, which in some parts of our neighborhood would be helpful.

Did you know that both companies have zip (as in zero) cars south of the 90-94 split, and east of I-57? I posted an entry on HR Block's "Best of Both Worlds", which this year, in practice was perceptually racist. Seems like a similar thing here, where the cars seem concentrated in white areas of the city.

While there are certainly some areas they should avoid, there are areas that are safer than the North Side where they have several locations! For example, my block is 4 times safer than where i used to live in Uptown!

Is there anyone out there that wants to advocate for Zipcars or I-Go?

Some potential areas include the parking lot near 87th & the Dan Ryan (many people park there anyway, to go to the El), Walgreen's at 75th & the Dan Ryan (it's fairly active, open 24 hours, and seems fairly safe)

Check the locations for Zipcars and I-Go, and let us know what you think.

Any other ideas for locations? Anyone else interested in participating?

Note: Levois wrote about this over 1 1/2 years ago, with a comment posted from I-Go

Hey there-
I handle marketing and communications for I-GO; a coworker of mine just flagged this post for me. As a matter of fact, we do maintain a car in your area, in the South Shore neighborhood, at 1809 E. 71st St. At present, it happens to be a Toyota Scion xB five-door station wagon. You can find out more about membership in I-GO and how to reserve that car (as well as any of the vehicles in our 200-car citywide fleet) by calling us at 773-278-4446 or going to our website at www.igocars.org. It's $75 to join ($25 for a credit and license check; $50 for initiation fee; $25 annually to renew), and most of our members reserve cars on a short-term hourly basis (although we do offer day rates as well that are competitive with rental agencies). (The hourly rates vary, but average around $8 or so.) I-GO pays for the gas, insurance, reserved parking, and maintenance. Our entire fleet is low-emission vehicles; about half of those are hybrids. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and urban congestion is a big part of our mission. Currently, we're in more than 30 neighborhoods in Chicago, Oak Park, and Evanston, and we've got just over 10,000 members -- a number that's been rapidly growing, in large part due to the ongoing energy crisis and rising cost of gas. The average car sharing customer saves thousands of dollars by giving up their car or by making a car-share vehicle their family's second car option. Check us out!

Craig Keller,
ckeller@igocars.org

It's been over 18 months, and still nothing south of the I-90-94 split! There ar eplenty of places to house them, most notably the malls at 87th & the Dan Ryan, but also elsewhere in the community.

Maybe i-Go and/or Zipcar can sponsor a table at the 6th ward picnic this summer, and take some surveys as to where a truly local placement could be made.

HR Block unintentionally racist...?

Sorry this post is coming just a couple of days before taxes are. I just wanted to make sure we received our tax refund in our account before we anything happened.

Just a disclaimer: this is not a post to try and destroy HR Block or slander them. In fact, everyone I talked to from HR Block was very professional (though none had the power to fix things to my ultimate satisfaction). But the actions of the company as a whole("corporate") this particular year with "Best of Both Worlds" --perceptually -- seemed racist, specifically for South Side residents.

So here's the story:

We have been going to our local HR Block office for a couple of years, and feel comfortable that they know our particular tax situation.

This year, HR Block offered "Best of Both Worlds", which allows customers to input their own tax information, but then submit it to an HR Block professional for review. The price for this service is at least 1/3 the regular price of just submitting it to a professional and having that one-on-one time with them. My particular package included unlimited questions to HR professionals from around the country as well.

This particular year, I had more time but less money, so this made perfect sense. On their website, they even state (though with a disclaimer):

We'll match you with a tax professional best suited for you based on your tax
needs or you can choose a tax pro you've worked with in the past

It wasn't a guarantee, but why wouldn't a office within a few minutes of me not participate, especially my local one?

After spending some hours inputting info and reviewing it, I was ready to submit it to a professional for review. My local professional, according to the website, was not available. However, after submitting my zip code, the recommendations did not make sense. Out of 9 pages of recommendations, not one was within 6 miles of my home. Again, this is 79th & king Drive, with HR Block professionals every 1/2 - 1 mile.

On the first page, I got one recommendation for someone in Peoria. Other ones that popped up included Bloomington and even Springfield, which is 200 miles / 3 hours away!

I called the phone number, and the operator said that was likely due to the closest professionals being busy.

That didn't sit right with me (why would everyone be busy from here to Springfield?), so I went to my local office anyway. They let me know that they were trained specifically by HR Block to do this, and were "certified" and were doing these type of reviews at the beginning of the tax season, but then was suddenly taken off the list. They also let me know no one in that district (which covers a good portion of Black South Side of Chicago) was allowed to do the Bets of Both Worlds professional review.

My local office tried their best to work it out (making calls, trying to get something worked out), so I could use the Best of Both Worlds service as intended. But they were unsuccessful, and I had to wind up driving a long distance out of our community to an area I am rarely near to drop off my material. (And they weren't allowed to send that material back in the mail, so I have to go out of my way again). What should have been a couple of days turned into several weeks.

Concerns i would have for HR Block & this Best of Both Worlds program

• Why is it that NO tax professional on the South Side, east of I-94 has the ability to review "Best of Both Worlds?



• Why is there no option to sort recommendations by distance?



• Why release this service when major kinks like the above have not been worked out?

Action item: If anyone else felt that HR Block, or any other corporation, is slighting the South Side in favor of other communities, let that corporation know. Your one voice might not change company policy. But if they start hearing from hundreds, or even dozens of people, things might change.

Note the people you'll talk to probably are not the people with the power, so don't blame them for the problem, but strongly though politely & respectfully let them know that their company needs to step up their service in a particular area.

You may ask -- don't the workers notice this possible racism? Probably, but unless they have solid proof, they can't really do much, or else endanger their own livelihood. So it's up to us, the customers, to help leverage our power ($$$) and make positive change for our community.

HR Block's phone number is 1-800-HRBLOCK (1-800-472-5625) and their website is hrblock.com

A second thought on negative comments.

My own personal comment on Saturday's blog. It was an anonymous commenter with some racist statements.

Now it's one thing to not agree with what's posted. But we ask you to not resort to attacks . Also, not being anonymous also shows some conviction to your community, that you're a real person who can stand behind their comments.

Those aforementioned comments are the real views of a FEW people in our community. I heard similar statements in meeting of the WIM (Wabash Indiana Michigan) Block Club. HOWEVER, they are clearly not the thoughts of the MAJORITY of the community. (A WIM officer, after the comments were made, was visibly agnry, and went to address that commenter after the meeting). I have met too many people in the ward to know such comments are out of place here.

Other communities might thrive on anonymous commenters attacking a certain point of view, but we'd like to show Chicago how intelligent & reasonable the people of the 6th Ward are.

Chatham had a community of people who were "haters"(and in that case, left the community entirely). That's one part of our community's history we don't need to re-live.

We DO need to talk about the future...the WIM meeting empasized in their advertising that Chatham is a middle-class neighborhood, implying that Wal-Mart is low class....maybe they had the option of not having it before. But in today's economy? They might want to re-think that theory. Are all the Dollar stores & convenience stores in the neighborhood that much better than a Wal Mart?

Let's discuss, and have differing opinions if we must, but let's also respect each other, and hear each other's heart.

I'm disappointed!

A lovely comment I just rejected...

Wal-Mart attracts lowlife and Mexicans, neither of which we need in Chatham.

This is an ignorant comment! And this blog has gotten some ignorant comments before.

I want you to know, stupid comments like these will not be published and expect them to be even less publicized since now it's been verified that these attitudes do exist!

Thanks in advance!