Census Tract

For the assignment that we received the third week of classes, I looked at a few different towns/cities. I looked at Oak Park, Cicero, Chicago, and New Orleans. All four a very prominent places; I spend a lot of time in each place. (Less time in New Orleans for obvious reasons...) Looking at the information presented I'm just a little bit surprised how much the facts show in real life. Like, looking at the numbers, I find myself thinking "Yea, that's true." I mean, the only one that's for, I guess, is the Race/Ethnicity. I've noticed it when it comes to the vacant/occupied housing units, also.
Something that I found interesting was the connection I made (whether or not it's legitimate, we'll see) between the amount of high school graduates and the condition of the city for New Orleans. There's a good 75,000 people, age 25 and over who have not graduated high school. And only that many who have graduated college. For anyone who's been down to New Orleans, they can tell you that it's not all Bourbon Street and French Quarter. That area is strictly just that: an area. The majority of the city is very similar to Chicago's South and West Side. And ever since the hurricane, it's been slightly worse. There are a lot more abandoned houses and buildings: old schoos, storefronts, churches, etc. The condition of the city has never really been amazing. (But it is gorgeous and the people are nicer than ever.) There have always been extensive problems with some neighborhoods such as Uptown and the infamous Ninth Ward. And I can't help but make the connection that some of it is due to the only decent graduation rate.
I also did a quick comparison between Chicago and New Orleans. Ever since the hurricane, the housing occupancy in New Orleans is way lower than it used to be. It now stands at a 69.6% while Chicago is 86.4%. The two cities are so similar in so many ways, on paper and in person. I guess that's what I love being in both of them so much.