Did Your Town Make the Snobbiest City List?

[Bonny]

We had some near misses...

www.azcentral.com/story/money/business/2014/09/05/scottsdale-ranks-no-4-on-list-of-10-snobbiest-cities-in-america/15125855/

The small town where our AZ house is located is pretty snobby. And the neighborhood where our condo is located is VERY snobby.

I'm surprised they let us in!

[The Captain]

Oh hell no.  I'm pretty sure they wouldn't let me in either. 

I'm the one the parents didn't want their son to bring home...

[Opti]

Using 2010 U.S. Census data, Movoto compiled a list of the top 100 largest cities, then used the following criteria to rank them:

- Median home price (the higher the better)

-Median household income (the higher the better)

-Percent of population with a college degree (the higher the better)

-Private schools per capita (the more the better)

-Performing arts per capita (the more the better)

-Art galleries per capita (the more the better)

-Fast food restaurants per capita (the fewer the better)
This measures snobby? Damn no wonder I don't understand regular people sometimes.To me, snobby means actively excluding people. Not having nice stuff, etc.

[alabamagal]

I live in the South, we are not snobby.  Well Atlanta is on the list, but I live in a completely different world than that.

We have
- cheap homes
- low income and high poverty
- probably low on college educated
- 3 private schools that have more than 500 students in a city of ~80k, because the public schools are crappy
- a symphony
- one small art gallery
- a TON of fast food restaurants

[jeep108]

We moved to Mesa,AZ when I was 4 from Ohio.  as long as I can remember, people have always called Scottsdale, Snobsdale.

[Bonny]

Opti said:

This measures snobby? Damn no wonder I don't understand regular people sometimes.To me, snobby means actively excluding people. Not having nice stuff, etc

Well those things on the list generally cost a lot of money. That generally excludes a lot of people.

[Bonny]

I like to describe the neighborhood that I grew up is located on the other side of the railroad tracks from La Jolla (one of the priciest zip codes in San Diego). It's literally true although it really isn't a bad neighborhood, just a step down.

One of the little known facts about La Jolla (besides the fact that it is only a neighborhood in San Diego and has never been its own incorporated town) is that the original "village" was founded partially to exclude Jews. I thought it was ironic since it (and my former neighborhood) currently has one of highest Jewish populations in San Diego. Last year one of the little local museums did an exhibit about these old "blue" laws and how Roger Revelle, the first chancellor of UCSD actively pushed to make the neighborhood more inclusive by stating that San Diego could not have a world class University if the neighborhood excluded Jews. His timing couldn't have been better as this was in 1959 and the passage of Civil Rights laws regarding fair housing were just around the corner. The exhibit went into great detail about the "codes" the owners and the real estate agents went through in order to indicate whether the owner would sell to Jews. Since I didn't grow up with that kind of nonsense it's hard for me to imagine a world when this was SOP.

It's still pretty creepy though to read through the old title docs for the condo and see references to having only "Whites" occupants and that their non-white help. Thank goodness that kind of reference can now be redacted and is not just "unenforceable.

[Opti]

Sept 8, 2014 16:16:53 GMT -5 Bonny said:

Opti said:

This measures snobby? Damn no wonder I don't understand regular people sometimes.To me, snobby means actively excluding people. Not having nice stuff, etc

Well those things on the list generally cost a lot of money. That generally excludes a lot of people.

Generally being the operative word.

Princeton, NJ is very expensive and home to the wealthiest private university according

to my temporary boss. Yet, I know from my XBF, there are lots of free art type events in

Princeton proper that are open to everyone.

Yes if you don't have $$$, you probably aren't living in Scottsdale, Manhattan or Princeton.

However, really lucky or resilient folks pull that off too. My Bagua Sifu is probably still

living/squatting in a building in Manhattan. While he definitely pays utilities, he wasn't

paying rent. And as another example my temp boss told me her current domicile is in

Princeton formerly Manhattan. She and her DH lucked into a rent stabilized apartment.

They left went it went to market rate of $7000/mo.

Tri-state area people will be amazed at what they did pay!

$1500/mo for a 3 bedroom apartment in Manhattan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Opti]

Oh and today for free at my temporary job I had-

homemade chocolate cake made with cocoa and zucchini

tasted a bourbon chocolate from Kentucky

and had sesame sticks and raw almonds (with my lunch yogurt)

plus made coffee from a 'Small World coffee' blend in their coffee machine.

The rest of the week I plan to take advantage of the opportunity

to sample interesting teas and coffees in the employee break room.

[swamp]

Sept 8, 2014 16:36:57 GMT -5 Bonny said:

I like to describe the neighborhood that I grew up is located on the other side of the railroad tracks from La Jolla (one of the priciest zip codes in San Diego). It's literally true although it really isn't a bad neighborhood, just a step down.

One of the little known facts about La Jolla (besides the fact that it is only a neighborhood in San Diego and has never been its own incorporated town) is that the original "village" was founded partially to exclude Jews. I thought it was ironic since it (and my former neighborhood) currently has one of highest Jewish populations in San Diego. Last year one of the little local museums did an exhibit about these old "blue" laws and how Roger Revelle, the first chancellor of UCSD actively pushed to make the neighborhood more inclusive by stating that San Diego could not have a world class University if the neighborhood excluded Jews. His timing couldn't have been better as this was in 1959 and the passage of Civil Rights laws regarding fair housing were just around the corner. The exhibit went into great detail about the "codes" the owners and the real estate agents went through in order to indicate whether the owner would sell to Jews. Since I didn't grow up with that kind of nonsense it's hard for me to imagine a world when this was SOP.

It's still pretty creepy though to read through the old title docs for the condo and see references to having only "Whites" occupants and that their non-white help. Thank goodness that kind of reference can now be redacted and is not just "unenforceable.

exclusion of jews is also why Saranac Lake, NY exists as a resort community.  The WASP's in Lake Placid did not want the Jews dirtying up their summer playground in the Adirondacks.   The Guggenheim family had extensive real estate holdings in Saranac Lake. 

[Opti]

Sept 8, 2014 16:36:57 GMT -5 Bonny said:

I like to describe the neighborhood that I grew up is located on the other side of the railroad tracks from La Jolla (one of the priciest zip codes in San Diego). It's literally true although it really isn't a bad neighborhood, just a step down.

One of the little known facts about La Jolla (besides the fact that it is only a neighborhood in San Diego and has never been its own incorporated town) is that the original "village" was founded partially to exclude Jews. I thought it was ironic since it (and my former neighborhood) currently has one of highest Jewish populations in San Diego. Last year one of the little local museums did an exhibit about these old "blue" laws and how Roger Revelle, the first chancellor of UCSD actively pushed to make the neighborhood more inclusive by stating that San Diego could not have a world class University if the neighborhood excluded Jews. His timing couldn't have been better as this was in 1959 and the passage of Civil Rights laws regarding fair housing were just around the corner. The exhibit went into great detail about the "codes" the owners and the real estate agents went through in order to indicate whether the owner would sell to Jews. Since I didn't grow up with that kind of nonsense it's hard for me to imagine a world when this was SOP.

It's still pretty creepy though to read through the old title docs for the condo and see references to having only "Whites" occupants and that their non-white help. Thank goodness that kind of reference can now be redacted and is not just "unenforceable.

FWIW, this Sunday, i.e yesterday morning I just had a discussion with the lay Catholic minister

that volunteers at our facility. He used to work for Bell Labs and was telling me stories about

going down south and the shock he had about the black/white thing there that he didn't

experience in NJ.

Two bits stick out the most. One was when he went into the closer, but wrong door at

the airport or bus terminal in Tenesee I think. He walked into the Blacks only door and

didn't really figure it out right away because lots of black people wasn't a big deal to him.

The other was getting what the term white trash meant. He told me about driving down

with colleagues to troubleshoot telecom issues and seeing nice towns get disparaged because

it was black or the jokes about now town X as 12 white people in it, 12 being the number

of people in the vehicle(s).

very enlightening.

Very,

[giramomma]

Apparently, I am a snob.

[Cookies Galore]

I'm a snob, but apparently my area has to up its game!

[zibazinski]

I'm surprised about Atlanta. Clearly, I have only been in the bad areas.

[busymom]

I think every community has a neighborhood of snobs. Even certain suburbs near the major city I grew up in thought they were better than their neighbors.  

[skubikky]

We don't live in a neighborhood and our "town" won't even show up on the map.
This is farm country.....very minute amount of affluence.

[giramomma]

Sept 9, 2014 5:50:37 GMT -5 skubikky said:

We don't live in a neighborhood and our "town" won't even show up on the map.
This is farm country.....very minute amount of affluence.

My city doesn't have much affluence, for the most part, like I typically think of. We have a crapton of nontraditional restaurants and lots of government to prop up the economy. I think that's why we ended up on the list. Plus, we have a pretty vital arts scene, that is mostly accessible for folks who have more money. We also are home to the state's flagship university. Many are like DH and I. Got our degrees and settled here. We also have a ton of Catholic elementary schools. There's 6, plus two catholic high schools. That's only Catholic Folks. There's a bunch of other private Christian schools..I know the Lutherans have at least one, and there's at least two plain christian schools.

Half of all our school kids in the district that attend public school (27,000) qualify for reduced or free lunch. Reduced lunch is living at 185% of the federal poverty line. For a family my size, 50K would do it. It looks like about 15-17% of the population sits at or below 100% of the federal poverty line.

We only have a handful of neighborhoods/area with half million dollar to million dollar homes. Maybe 3? I just looked at the numbers our city puts out. In 2009, less than 20% of the households make more than 100K. The median household income in 2009 was 50K. It hasn't gone up all that much.

African Americans don't stand a chance in our city.

[zibazinski]

I read the documents when I bought my first home. Besides excluding blacks and Jews, it also excluded Catholics, which cracked me up so I showed it to my neighbor next door, who was catholic, who bought in my neighborhood because of the parish!! Amazing what was legal and was actually in writing. House was built in 1948.

[Bonny]

Sept 9, 2014 8:45:19 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

I read the documents when I bought my first home. Besides excluding blacks and Jews, it also excluded Catholics, which cracked me up so I showed it to my neighbor next door, who was catholic, who bought in my neighborhood because of the parish!! Amazing what was legal and was actually in writing. House was built in 1948.

It's amazing that with all the restrictions that there was anyone left to buy!

My condo with the restrictive racial references was built in 1959.

[zibazinski]

Just WASPS, which was what they wanted.

[whoisjohngalt]

No, but it's considered VERY snobby among the local population.

I had no idea when we bought the house here.  I was just looking for a town with decent schools.

Now,  I don't want to tell people where I live

[Bonny]

Sept 9, 2014 9:56:15 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

Just WASPS, which was what they wanted.

I understand but what a limited (and diminishing!) market.  Seriously, if most fortunes are lost by the 3rd generation then you have to keep looking for new prospects.

From a practical point of view I never understood business people advocating limiting their market.

[zibazinski]

It's diminishing now but in the 40s and 50s not so much.

[tallguy]

...as long as I can remember, people have always called Scottsdale, Snobsdale.

WE beat Scottsdale.  THEY were only FOURTH.