According to the article, they are moving elsewhere in the state, so that is not a factor. Municipal taxes were not mentioned in the article as being a major factor in their decision. Many are sending their children to private schools in the city.
That is a matter of policy, not of demographics.
It is a chicken or egg proposition. What policies caused the flight of the middle class from the city? "Ask any young urban parent, and you'll get an earful on why: skyrocketing housing prices, lackluster city schools, and a rising rate of violence."
From the article:
Boston ranks sixth from the bottom of the hundred largest American cities in its percentage of children, with just 19.8 percent of its population under 18 in 2000, down more than 10 percent from its high point of 31.9 percent in 1970/
Boston has reversed decades of population loss to draw middle-class and affluent residents back to the city for luxury condos, restaurants, and upscale boutiques that have sprouted like mushrooms after rain. But there is one thing these newcomers have not brought with them: children.
The public schools are of poor quality because of forced busing (a policy intiative) and enormous waste of taxpayer money on programs run by employees who have no accountability (another policy matter).
The school system's demographics have changed dramatically since the 1970s, with blacks, Latinos and Asians comprising about 86 percent of the city's 62,000 public school students, up from 48 percent in the mid-1970s. Busing is no longer a factor. What is going on in Boston is happening in other major US cities where busing was never an issue. It has to do with housing patterns and where people feel comfortable living regardless of economic class.
The ethnic makeup and the economic makeup of Boston are not the source of the problems: the destructive policies of Boston politicians are the source of the problems.
We will agree to disagree. Have you read the Barone article? This country is undergoing a major demographic change that began in 1965. One in every eight residents of this country is foreign born, the highest it has been in over eight decades, and in a few years it will be one in seven, the highest in our history. And our population has increased 100 million since 1970. Living patterns are changing as a result. Look at Miami, LA, San Francisco, etc. To blame what is happening on the policies of local politicians is nonsense. The are just reacting to what is happening.
To blame what is happening on the policies of local politicians is nonsense. They are just reacting to what is happening.
That is total BS, It has everything to do with local politicians. I don’t know about your area, but in my area, Los Angeles, they don’t check your I.D. when voting. Since 1980 where I live has turned from white to brown. Back in the ‘70s they were closing down schools because they didn’t need them, since the year 2000 there is something like 30 new schools in the works. There is no denying that the majority of students are illegal aliens, only the number is disputed. Most of these kids live in small houses with multiple families and few of their parents speak English or have more than a 3rd grade education. 60 percent of the children are born to single mothers. The mothers are on welfare and work under the table. While the mother is working there is nobody to watch over the kids and they end up joining gangs as a surrogate family. The police and the schools are not allowed to ask anybody if they are here legally, city policy. The city helps them pay rent in apartment buildings that become breeding grounds for illegals and gangs, city policy. Americans have been forced out of Los Angeles and have moved inland into the deserts. Manufacturing Businesses moved out. Nobody wants to live in a desert where the temperatures have wide temperature swings between day and night. People don’t want to drive 2 or 3 hours to work a day, but they do just to allow their kids to go to decent schools. The reason the housing situation is so bad is because there are as many as 6 families in one house, a normal family can not compete with this.