Sunday, November 3, 2002

David Guralnick / The Detroit News James and Sophie Womack, with Brandi, left, and Ashley, could live anywhere. Both doctors, they chose Detroit Golf Club, where, despite their wealth, they find themselves in a segregated neighborhood -- blacks outnumber whites 11-to-1.

Wealth doesn't stop race divide
Part 2: Detroit's high costs


By Brad Heath, Oralandar Brand-Williams and Shawn D. Lewis / The Detroit News

David Guralnick / The Detroit News Jeff and Linda Hall chose their Shelby Township neighborhood, an almost all-white suburb, in search of better public schools, not, they say, because of its racial makeup. They wanted a community that shared a commitment to children. Comment on this story Send this story to a friend Get Home Delivery

   James and Sophie Womack picked their house -- a large ranch set behind black iron gates in Detroit's wealthy Golf Club neighborhood -- because it was close to their jobs. Both doctors, they earn more than enough money to buy a home almost anywhere and friends urged them to look in the wealthy neighborhoods sprouting on the fringes of Metro Detroit.
   When considering their daughter's education, the Womacks made a choice that reflects the difficulty families face in breaking the continuing cycle of separateness.
   "I didn't want (my daughter) to have to deal with being the only African-American in her class," Sophie Womack said. "I thought she needed to be in a more diverse population or, if nothing else, an African-American population."
   That choice left the Womacks in a neighborhood where, despite some integration, blacks outnumber whites 11-to-1.
   A small but slowly growing percentage of Metro Detroit's affluent blacks live scattered in the suburbs, primarily in Oakland County's booming wealthy fringes or in southern Southfield. Many times, those families earn more than the white families that surround them.
   But far more of the region's richest blacks reside in stable, family-oriented Detroit communities such as Palmer Woods and the Detroit Golf Club.
   Census figures show that blacks who made more than $100,000 in 1999 lived in areas where incomes were lower and poverty rates were far higher than the neighborhoods of well-off whites. Two-thirds of their neighbors were black.
   The affluent blacks who live in Detroit do so despite obvious costs: They generally pay more for insurance, frequently pay for private schools to avoid Detroit's troubled public system and often supplement higher city taxes by paying for private security patrols. They endure snow-packed streets in winter and longer travels for fresh groceries or to dine out. But they say their larger homes and close-knit communities are worth it.
   "Housing values are better in Detroit and I no longer want to commute long distances," said Bella Marshall, 52, who with husband Don Barden makes up one of Detroit's most affluent couples.
   While traditionally depressed, Detroit housing values escalated rapidly over the past decade, allowing residents a return on their investment that previously wasn't available.
   Marshall raises one other point often repeated by black Detroiters: "If those with upper incomes don't choose to live in the city," she asked, "what will happen to the tax base?"
   
Diversity no factor
   Diversity was the furthest thing from Jeff and Linda Hall's minds when the white couple chose their new neighborhood in Shelby Township, an almost-all-white suburb in Macomb County. There were no houses on their block the day they picked their lot, let alone neighbors to choose from.
   Instead, the Halls said they moved to Shelby Township from Warren in search of better public schools and a place where they'd find people who shared their commitment to their kids.
   "When you come to a neighborhood like this, you find a lot of people who are like-minded," said Linda Hall, who sells auto parts.
   While Shelby Township and other Macomb suburbs have seen steady increases in the number of wealthy and middle-class whites, few blacks have followed. The Hall's neighborhood is home to nearly 2,000 whites, but only 10 blacks, census figures show.
   "We just wanted to get away from the traffic and we like the schools," said Julie Rossi, whose white family moved into an expensive new subdivision in Washington Township a few years ago.
   White families said they felt similar lures pulling them to the suburbs: good schools, safe neighborhoods and big new houses in areas that don't suffer from heavy traffic. They've moved to find big back yards, access to parks and for dozens of other reasons that have nothing to do with race.
   Those choices have led them to places in which most faces are white. In 1999, Metro Detroit white households that earned $100,000 were located in neighborhoods where 90 percent of the residents were white and fewer than 4 percent were black, census figures show.
   The most affluent whites live scattered throughout Metro Detroit and concentrated most densely in southeastern Oakland County.
   The only place rich whites generally avoid is the one place that affluent blacks continue to find most attractive -- Detroit.