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?Diversity? Here, There, Everywhere...

A week or so ago Helene and I were visiting friends in South Carolina, and while there I ran across this story that discussed here and linked here.

Now we?re in White Plains, New York, visiting daughter Jessie on her 24th birthday (!). Sitting in a coffee shop this morning and browsing through a copy of Westchester magazine that someone had left on our table, I learned that the cover article in the October issue ranked the best places to live in Westchester County. And I also learned, from a spate of letters in the November issue, that many residents were displeased as much about the criteria as the results that led to a No. 2 ranking for Ossining. A few examples:

Wow. I guess suburban utopian bliss means diversity. I must have missed that memo. When my wife and I got married, we lived in affordable Port Chester. My favorite part was getting off the train from work at night watching the day laborers puke after spending all their wages on malt beer. But it was diverse! Now, we live in crappy ol? un-diverse Armonk. Yeah, I know?great schools, wide open spaces for kids, nice homes, whatever ... what it apparently needs is diversity, so it can rank higher for next year?s issue.
RIDDYD

I must be missing something. Why does the racial mix of a town weigh into what makes it a better or worse place to live? What happened to judging people on the content of their character rather than the color of their skin?
SINGSINGTOWN

Ossining No. 2?is this a joke? All there is are two good pizza places, a nice library, and an old prison. In terms of property taxes, $12K a year is affordable? In terms of crime, there are many drunks, a lot of whom are illegals. I had my car broken into twice in my own driveway. In some areas, most of the homeowners rent to undocumented immigrants. I am looking forward to moving out of this town and out
of Westchester.
ANGRYCITIZEN

Ossining? Are you kidding me? Try taking a stroll down Broad Avenue, State Street, or Spring Street late at night! Ossining is a perfect example of redevelopment failure. Most of the homes in the downtown area are occupied by illegals, and houses in many areas are in such poor condition they are borderline uninhabitable. You must have been thinking of the Ossining that existed in the late ?40s to ?50s.
YENKO CAMARO

Ossining and its ?diversity? did, of course, have its defenders, such as:

I?m a student at Ossining High School and it has one of the best science programs in the state. It has great diversity and you get to learn from each other. I want my kids to grow up here.

Good for Ossining! Presumably the students in less ?diverse? enclaves such as Armonk are deprived of the opportunity to learn physics and chemistry from each other....

Full post as published by Discriminations on October 29, 2010 (boomark / email).