Like the WHOLE north shore of staten island, after the projects went up.
Italian and Irish and beautiful 50 years ago.
Now halls filled with urine and condoms and needle wrappers.
Every thing they touch, they destroy.
North Newark here in NJ had a horrible case where an Italian neighborhood just north of Route 280 was destroyed 50 years ago to make high-rise projects. The people who complained that it would destroy the neighborhood complained (and were ignored), then fled. A dozen or so years ago, the projects were demolished and replaced with low-rise projects; many of those who protested against the initial destruction were still alive to see their complaints vindicated/validated.
Now Newark is desperately seeking white taxpayers to foot the bill for its residents - unsuccessfully of course. Too many of the whites in surrounding areas either fled themselves, or are the children or grandchildren of those who did. Even the Asians we traffic here as replacement for America’s middle class know you can’t do business in a predominantly black area.
That could as easily describe New Orleans' "Lower Ninth Ward" of around the same time period. New Orleanians of my generation usually speak with a New York / New Jersey-like accent, softened a bit around the edges, with an occasional "y'all" thrown in to confuse northerners. You don't hear anyone with a "southern drawl" in New Orleans unless you encounter a transplant from Alabama, Mississippi, etc. - in Louisiana the more traditional "southern accent" is further north. Strange but true.
Some of the houses destroyed in the Lower Ninth by Katrina probably hadn't had a coat of paint applied since before the previous Irish and Italian residents moved out.