I live next to Asbury Park in Ocean Township and feel that social tensions between residents of the “East Side” and “West Side” areas of the city are a serious problem that is not openly talked about enough.
The West Side is approximately ~70% lower-class African-Americans and Hispanics while the East Side is approximately ~80% upper-class whites (with a plurality being openly LGBT). In personal experience regarding discussions with locals, whenever the subject of the "other side of town" comes up, many West Side residents and East Side residents respectively become more hateful in their rhetoric concerning those outside their neighborhood. However, people from both sides nonetheless generally claim to be a unified city with strongly progressive and inclusive values in spite of this clear division.
Crime in the West Side area is significantly worse than in the East Side area, and walking through, I’ve been targeted more than a few times as a white teenager. I’ve been called slurs, had people threaten to kill me, and been yelled at incoherently. In many cases, I have been accused of being from "the wrong side of town" (i.e. the East Side) by these individuals for my appearance; which I feel further displays the high degree of social and racial division that can be seen in many neighborhoods. Additionally, there is a high degree of gang-affiliated activity in the area, and many I’ve met claim to be members of the Bloods and Crips.
Much of this information is admittedly anecdotal on my part, but data and articles from the city show similar patterns: for example, Asbury Park High School has metal detectors at its entrance after an incident where a student from the West Side brought in a loaded gun. Drive-by shootings and indiscriminate killing in general is more common in the area per capita, which has given it the reputation of being “gritty” at best and “""ghetto""” at worst among residents of surrounding towns; the region's crime rates have led to Asbury Park being consistently ranked as one of New Jersey's least safe cities for years.
In the East Side, buildings are a lot better taken care of and people are substantially less violent. The neighborhoods feel a lot safer and more suburban overall; Neighborhood Watch is more present in much of the East Side, and the general area is typically much quieter. The East Side is heavily focused on luxury redevelopment of Asbury, with high-end beach front living being heavily prioritized in the area.
Due to the area’s prioritization of social justice, some anti-gentrification movements have gained traction among East Side residents; with controversy around which “flavor” of development is ideal. Additionally, East Side residents generally claim to be strongly supportive of progressivism and racial equality, but will often avoid walking in predominantly African-American neighborhoods, believing such areas to be “ghetto” as previously stated.
The two sides of the city self-segregate, and this leads to modern-day Asbury being heavily divided, with almost all of its current evolution and development taking place in the city’s East Side.
This leads me to a few questions. Firstly, considering Asbury Park's tradition of activism, are there any groups specifically focused on bettering conditions in the West Side? If not, why not?
Secondly, why are attitudes towards the West Side from East Side Asbury residents so bizarre? If Asbury Park residents seek further racial/social equity being a highly progressive area, why look down on or disregard West Side residents?