Changing faces — As West Valley City diversifies, some white residents think of moving out
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   Published: Sunday, Feb. 13, 2011 9:31 p.m. MST
   By Elizabeth Stuart, Deseret News

   WEST VALLEY CITY — In 1978, the people who lived in the split-entry
   tract homes that line West Valley City's Woodledge Drive were just as
   cookie cutter as the architecture: young, white and Mormon.

   Aside from a few renovations, some bangs and stains, the homes haven't
   changed much over the years. The residents, though, now hail from more
   than five countries, including El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Chile
   and Russia.

   "There aren't many of us originals left," said Kent Buckner, 58, who's
   watched Woodledge Drive transform from his front porch. "Seems like
   everyone's moved on and moved out."

   When immigrants move in, native residents of a neighborhood are more
   likely to move out, according to a study released this week by the
   American Sociological Association. As a result, the residential
   segregation of Hispanics — which represent the lion's share of Utah's
   immigrants — is on the rise.

   "There's been a lot of talk about the progression of racial attitudes
   and the idea that we live in a color blind society, but people's
   behavior seems to indicate otherwise," said Kyle Crowder, the study's
   author and a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina
   at Chapel Hill. "Whites are still pretty resistant to sharing
   neighborhoods with non-whites."

   U.S. Census data indicates Salt Lake City is the fifth most integrated
   metropolitan area in the country, but because the state has relatively
   few minorities, the data is deceiving, said Pam Perlich, a senior
   research economist at the University of Utah Bureau of Economic and
   Business Research. Statisticians measure residential segregation on a
   scale from 0 to 1. A score of 0.6 or above is considered "high
   segregation." Latinos in Salt Lake City score a 0.587. African
   Americans score a 0.623. Pacific Islanders score a 0.8.

   When Buckner purchased his home, a boxy four bedroom with white
   aluminum siding, for $36,000 in 1978, his neighbors were Caucasians —
   like him — who were just starting out their families. For the first
   decade, Buckner spent summer evenings chatting it up with his baby
   boomer neighbors. "We had kids everywhere," he said. They served
   macaroni and cheese at neighborhood parties and swapped parenting
   advice.

   As the children got taller, though, people began to move. They wanted
   bigger houses, nicer yards, more upscale neighborhoods.

   "They just outgrew us, I guess," Buckner said.

   In their place came immigrants — people of all ages and colors.
   Neighborhood block parties are now played out to the tune of merengue
   music. Buckner takes his Mexican neighbors plates of cookies. They give
   him fish, rice, beans and other "colorful, flavorful, wonderful stuff"
   in return, he said.