The complaints in that article mostly stem from systemic problems with abandoned city cores. In areas that have seen large-scale gentrification the schools have predictably seen similar increases in achievement. Crime tends to follow a similar trajectory.

What he's describing the headache that comes with being an urban 'pioneer'.

I'll also take exception with gems like:

Nobody lays in their bed in Plano and hears gunshots half a mile away.

Except that they do. I still own a house in Plano (in the most suburban 'safest' part), and in the year in a half that we lived there (2005-2007) we:

* had a neighbor (3 houses down) forced at gunpoint back into their house, tied up, and robbed blind. All happened in broad daylight.

* had a gun-fight in the parking lot across the street from our development

* had multiple muggings and car-jackings all within close proximity of our house.