I disagree. First, you are forgetting the normals are moving back into the vicinity through the wonder of gentrification and the sweet lies about a walkable neighborhood, convenient location to business centers, etc.
Second, after the LA Riots, food and liquor stores bailed out of the area to the point where until very recently there wasn’t a single store from a major food chain there. This was what Michelle Obama used as her prop for her infamous ‘food deserts’ claims.
Third, they have cars and can actually drive. They would be even more inclined to do so should they have no working stores in their areas. Parts of Beverly Hills were looted and burned in the LA Riots too, and they’re nowhere near K-town or South Central. They literally *did* drive all over the place, past the armed Asian storeholders when they proved too hard a nut to crack. I have seen nothing to tell me that this wouldn’t happen again.
That gentrification isn’t happening much on the East Coast (see Baltimore’s failed attempt to re-settle the Inner Harbor). The kosher deli shooting in Jersey City was a response to perceived “gentrification”; I was surprised the store even operated there.
Newark NJ didn’t have a major supermarket for many years also (there are one or two now); Michelle Obama didn’t say they had no stores - just that they were bodegas and convenience stores (which don’t offer much in terms of fresh produce).
The ferals drive here as well, but they stand out like sore thumbs when they leave the ‘hood. There is some crime, but too much vigilance.