[cbs]

The respectable "modern" variant

the "gourmet ghetto" in North Berkeley, for example.

I also spent 4 years calling <5 floor dorm buildings "BuildingName Tower". It even caught on with other people, but that didn't change the definition of a tower.

It seems like you're referring to the slang usage of the term

I certainly think so too, seeing as how it is nothing but a slang term.

which is mainly used by upper middle class youth

How rich, the guy who uses North Berkeley as a counter example is calling people out for a limited world view.

[lansing]

Hey man, no need to get personal. For what it's worth, I live in a rural, very low income area. We all have limits on our world views. I simply object to the casual usage of a neutral but racially-sensitive term as a blanket adjective for criminality and wretchedness.

Ghetto, in its appropriate usage, isn't a slang term. It's been a part of standard English for a long time.

[techiferous]

"in its appropriate usage"

Word meanings are by nature fuzzy, democratic, fluid, subjective, regional and varied. So you may be fighting a losing battle to want "ghetto" to have a fixed "proper" meaning that people should use.