When Paul Alexander returned to Greater Cincinnati from London six weeks ago, he could have lived in any town or neighborhood.

        The Harvard graduate and Procter & Gamble employee chose to move his family to North Avondale.

        ''We looked at Mason, Wyoming and Hyde Park, but our first choice was North Avondale,'' Mr. Alexander says. ''We thought it offers a great combination -- an integrated community that is close to town.''

        Mr. Alexander, who is black, will live down the street from Buffy Barton, who is white. She, too, wanted a racially mixed neighborhood, finally settling on Spring House Estates, where homes average $300,000 each. So far, seven African-Americans and three whites have bought homes.

        ''We'll have one of the more modest homes on that block,'' Mrs. Barton says. ''That's fine. It will show our children it's not the stereotype of poor black people.''

        North Avondale has worked hard to attract both blacks and whites of all income levels. There are grand Victorian mansions but also modest homes and apartments.

        Part of the neighborhood's success has been a vigilant North Avondale Neighborhood Association, whose motto is ''A successfully integrated neighborhood.''

        The neighborhood group was founded 41 years ago to combat the practice of ''blockbusting'' that stoked whites' fears about a large influx of blacks.

        Real estate agents would move a black family to an all-white block and warn neighbors that other blacks would soon follow. Whites would typically sell their property at below-market value and leave for the suburbs.

        ''The neighborhood association was formed to stop that,'' says Charlene Morse, the North Avondale group's coordinator. ''It was a conscious choice we made. We wanted to be integrated.''

        Today, people of different races join in block parties, socialize at swim clubs and cheer on children at soccer matches.

        ''Word of mouth'' helps advertise the diverse membership of Clinton Hills Swim Club, manager Scott Norman says. ''The founding members sought that out in the beginning.''

        About half of whites and a quarter of blacks say in a new Enquirer poll that neighborhoods' becoming diverse causes property values to drop. That hasn't happened in North Avondale.

        But everything isn't perfect.

        Many parts of North Avondale are segregated. Homes west of Reading Road near Xavier University are mostly occupied by black families.

        Jim King, director of the Avondale Redevelopment Corp., recalls a young, white University of Cincinnati couple who wanted to buy their first home in the predominantly black Cedar Meadows subdivision.

        ''She loved the unit,'' Mr. King says. ''She brought her father down. He was going to give the down payment.''

        But instead of writing a check, the man asked Mr. King all kinds of questions. Who are you marketing to? Who will move to the neighborhood? The man never mentioned race, but Mr. King believes that was the deciding factor.

        ''He knew it was a good deal with the tax abatement,'' Mr. King says. ''But he just couldn't sign off.''

ONLINE EXTRA: Complete poll results and PDF of the report

Good intentions, but not next door
Race forum tonight
About this series
North Avondale works to keep racial balance
Racial separation slows other progress
Tell us what you think
How this poll was done