Miss Blacktown?

Beauties in line for the crown
07 May 08, Blacktown Advocate:

IN August more than 20 young women will strut their stuff in the hopes of being crowned Miss Africa Australia.

Most of the contestants hail from Blacktown, including Uwaila Oduware, an 18-year-old from Plumpton, and 21-year-old Effie Nkrumah, from Quakers Hill.

The young women were chosen from dozens of Sydneysiders who auditioned for a place in the pageant.

The women, seen here, were practising dance routines for a pageant fundraiser at Blacktown's Bowman Hall recently.

Organisers of the Miss Africa Australia Pageant said the girls would be positive role models for their community.

The worst places to buy a home
April 29, 2008, the Australian:

MOUNT Isa may be the worst place to buy a house, but Sydney's western suburbs dominate a list of 13 of the nation's top no-go zones for residential real estate investors.

Housing hotspot specialist Terry Ryder says Parramatta, Bankstown and Blacktown have become the home repossession capitals of Sydney.

His report says Bankstown offers "a smorgasbord" of reasons not to buy, and the Blacktown/Mt Druitt region is regularly held up as a symbol of society gone wrong. Ethnic tensions, high crime rates and aircraft noise are reasons to stay away from Bankstown, and Blacktown/Mt Druitt is no better.

"Imagine living in an area where there's an arson attack on a home every second day," Mr Ryder says ...

Only two other major capital areas - Melbourne's Lyndhurst and Brisbane's Dinmore - are on the no-go list, which Mr Ryder says is made from observations of the property market based on 26 years as a real estate researcher, writer and investor.

Mr Ryder runs a website that attempts to identify property hotspots before they happen. He says his list of worst places to invest is meant to help buyers avoid investment property where prices could fall. "Investors can make big money buying in the right places at the right time," he says. "Equally, they can lose money by buying in the wrong places."

Standing proud
8/05/2008, Blacktown Sun:

Criticism of Blacktown as a poor investment risk, with high crime rates, social disadvantage and falling land values have been angrily dismissed.

The description, by real estate commentator Terry Ryder last week, drew swift rebukes from Mayor Leo Kelly and other community figures ...

Blacktown police commander Mark Jenkins said crime rates were not high and were falling.

``There's been a 25 per cent fall in robberies over the past nine months and we're seeing fewer stealing offences,'' Superintendent Jenkins said ...

Mr Ryder said he only described Blacktown as a bad investment risk ... He also defended his comment about Blacktown's crime rate.

``The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics said Blacktown had 175 crimes of arson in the previous 12 months,'' Mr Ryder said.

``There are people in Blacktown working to improve the community and that can lift over time. But it's not a good place to invest at the moment.''

So, despite the media and politicians painting a rosy picture, the expert doesn't toe the line. Not only do we have white flight from immigrant areas, we also have investor flight. That's because when things get to critical mass, when the white folk are gone, and immigrant communities become autonomous, nobody has the confidence they will stay peaceful. All they can offer is "trust us, this time it will work, ignore all the overseas bad examples". The expert knows that diversity is a bad risk and his advice condemns politicians and diversity advocates as high risk gamblers. Despite black communities turning feral in France, UK, US, etc, the diversity junkies in Australia rock up to the casino table and say "hit me". Junkies.