Racism can really destroy an entire business area!

[traveller]

And as it appears, it's really messing things up in my neighborhood in Fort Myers, Florida. An insurance office on Carrell and US 41 just closed like last month, as did what I think was a doctor's office on Broadway Avenue just south of Carrell, the car wash on Earl and Cleveland is still vacant, as is the Chinese Buffet place next door to Taco Bell. Not to mention I'm still seeing vacant store fronts at that former K-Mart plaza on Winkler and US 41 just north of Edison Mall.

Now, my neighborhood is a mix of different races, some Whites, some African Americans, some Hispanics, and they live mostly side by side in my neighborhood. And it's not a bad neighborhood, either. You might occasionally see people in their front yards playing cards or dominoes at night. Hearing gunshots on any given night is very unlikely. But it looks as though business owners are packing up and fleeing as if World War III were breaking loose in the neighborhood! My neighborhood, to be exact! And nobody is even bothering to buy those vacant businesses!

[bostero]

Now, my neighborhood is a mix of different races, some Whites, some African Americans, some Hispanics

Hispanics aren't a "race".

On topic, if the neighborhood isn't increasing in crime, what do you suppose could be causing the loss of those businesses? Is something economic going on in the area that could be at play?

[desembarazarse]

Hearing gunshots on any given night is very unlikely.

"On any given night?" How about over the course of a year or several years?