Joe Mangiamelli has
posted a response to my 1/17/07 post, "
Yes, Geography Matters." He seems at once please and alarmed that I have raised this as an issue. Below is an excerpt from his post.
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From The Village Square, 1/19/07"But Steve, why do you raise these dangerous issues. Of the 12 elected official in Shorewood, all of them are from the east side of the “tracks.” And we did have tracks on Oakland, street car tracks. Steve, thanks for bringing this up. Now we have something else to worry about. What shall we make of this?
It's the conventional belief that those living on the east side of Oakland Avenue earn higher incomes than on the other side. I suppose this is self-explanatory. There are more rentals and many less expensive homes there on the west side. Does this mean that our diversity is generally more a matter of geography than of an diversified mix? Are the upper income residents better represented than those of lesser incomes? Now we've let the cat out of the bag.
Steve, the implication raises some interesting and unsettling questions. You often do this, you know"
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This type of post gets at the heart of why I write this blog. In my view, this is the type of issue for which blogs are ideal. No mainstream press outlet would ever make this a story or spend any ink on it. But it is one that impacts us on a day to day basis, whether we realize it or not. By hiding from it, we neither increase understanding of the issue, nor give ourselves the capacity to address it.
Did I know the geography question would make some residents uncomfortable? Of course I did. But I believe it is an issue worth mentioning. Readers of this blog get to decide if it is an issue worth discussing. The voters in future Village elections get to decide if it is an issue worth addressing.
As long as we are on the topic, here is a map from the 2000 Census of how income is distributed in Shorewood.
