In Search of a City: The Toll of Economic Isolation
My grandfather, Cleve Wilson Ricksecker, was a conservative Republican and mathematics professor who minced no words when discussing his views. But he was an old fashioned conservative who believed that wealth and education created a duty to help people less fortunate than he. Cleve lived in the city of Youngstown until his death in 1966, paid his city taxes, and shared his life with families of blue collar workers and the unemployed.
Times seem to have changed. Business First published on January 29 a disturbing map showing the wealthiest zip codes in central Ohio. Seventeen of the 20 wealthiest zip codes are outside I-270 and 10 are outside of Franklin County. None appear to be located in the City of Columbus.
Economic segregation takes a terrible toll on a community. Middle and upper-middle class children cannot appreciate their fortune. Poor kids have few successful role models. Concentrated poverty can make neighborhoods and schools dysfunctional. Lack of familiarity breeds stereotypes among everyone.
One of the big losses from economic isolation may be compassionate conservatism.
February 4th, 2010 at 9:00 am
I agree that there is a fair amount of economic segregation in play in central Ohio, but I am not quite sure it is the times that have brought it about. In 30 plus years of working with poor communities I have noticed that wealth brings with it the power of opportunity and the curse of delusion regardless of time or circumstance. Humankind has always experienced this power and delusion since before the lords of industry, plantation owners, benevolent despots, and medieval fiefdoms where economic segregation has reigned supreme. The dilution of wealth is the loss of compassion and the realization that giving back to community enhances opportunity, rather than limiting it.
This then begs the question; “What are the wealthy zip codes doing to affect poor areas of our community?” This is not just “giving to,” it is “investing in” distressed people and neighborhoods. This is not a liberal indictment or a loss of conservative ideology. It is simply compassionate action.
My father told me; “It’s not what happens to you, it how you handle what happens to you the makes you who you are.”
James R. Klein
CEO
Finance Fund