Lies, Damn Lies, & CCC Statistics

I figured I needed to supplement the last post I did about Downtown with some data and maps. As you know, I'm not the biggest fan of downtown development, mostly because it hasn't worked like promised. It hasn't created the jobs and the increased tax revenues are being held out of reach from city government through PILOTS. Let me again clarify that downtown and the Medical District are two different things, even though the Center City Commission's fiefdom runs all the way to Midtown. The above map and the following data I hope will illustrate that.

In the map, the green area is the core of downtown. Auction to the north, EH Crump to the south, and basically 3rd street to the east. These are census tracts 22, 42, and 43. In 1990, the population of this area was about 2,400 people. It is up to 4,000 today. Here's the rest of the demographics as of last year.
MHI- $43,000
Median age-44
Unemployment-6.3%
46% White
49% Black
White Collar Employment- 75%
Blue Collar- 25%
Percent of Population with Bachelors Degree- 26%
Graduate Degree-21%
Vacancy Rate of housing Units-26% (ouch)

Next up is the Orange area. That's Census tract 1 and its primarily Mud Island. In 1990 there were 1,300 people there. Today it is close to 5,000.
MHI- $60,000
Median age-33
Unemployment-6.8%
64% White
26% Black
White Collar Employment- 89%
Blue Collar- 11%
Percent of Population with Bachelors Degree- 32%
Graduate Degree-41%

The off-white area is Uptown and whatever it is called north of Uptown. It is census tracts 2 and 21. 1990 there were 3,300 people here and it has fallen to 2,200 now.
MHI- $12,000
Median age-32
Unemployment-23.6%
3% White
94% Black
White Collar Employment- 38%
Blue Collar- 62%
Percent of Population with Bachelors Degree- 5.1%
Graduate Degree-1.8%

The pink section is census tracts 23, 41, and 44. In 1990 the population was 9,500. Today it is 6,500.
MHI- $15,700
Median age-32
Unemployment-25%
10% White
88% Black
White Collar Employment- 35%
Blue Collar- 65%
Percent of Population with Bachelors Degree- 5.7%
Graduate Degree-3.3%

I hope you have enough background data to critically assess some of the statistics thrown around about Downtown. Also want you to see how small an area and how economically polarized it is. Remember those wildcat parking lots south of the Forum. Those folks live in area (1980's Beirut as Phil Jackson likes to call it) with the median household income of $15,700. Quite nice of the CCC to call code enforcement on them. In the end, I made the core of Downtown green because I like to think of it as Memphis' own little Green Zone of exclusivity. So sheltered and so protected from the unpleasant poverty just a couple blocks away. 3rd is like a seawall on a vast ocean of 160,000 people living below the poverty line covering dozens and dozens of square miles. We should absolutely pour more money into the area to make the lifestyles of those 4,000 people even better.