Salt lake is a bit different the east bench along the mountains is much more expensive. These areas are also much older. Things get cheaper the further west you go.
Why are the east of cities usually poorer?
51–60 of 101 posts
Re: Why are the east of cities usually poorer?
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
Out of interest, is that typical on both coasts? Just wondering if the river direction has anything to do with it.
On the east coast it tends to be true. As others have mentioned it might not hold on the west coast. I just wanted to give a counterexample that shows how shallow the OP's argument is. The reality is that there are many factors which make certain parts of a city more desirable to live in than another. In Australia proximity to the beach is strongly correlated with desirability. In other places the reasons will differ…
Whatever the reason, I don't believe for a second this oversimplified fairy tale about the prevailing wind.
Agreed. Here (Twin Cities of Minnesota) the location of lakes and rivers has much more to do with what areas are the wealthiest. The wealthiest towns are west or southwest of Minneapolis, terribly located for prevailing winds or for commuting without the sun in drivers' eyes.
Re: Why are the east of cities usually poorer?
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting. Applies to Boston too - to the north are the rapidly gentrifying yuppie suburbs of Cambridge, Somerville and Medford, while to the south are the more depressed areas of Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan. Same for the non-San Jose parts of Silicon Valley: Palo Alto and Mountain View are ritzier than neighboring Sunnyvale and Santa Clara. I don't know enough about San Jose itself to say, nor about San Franc…
San Francisco shows both trends -- South San Francisco is poorer, and so is Oakland to the East (although there are lots of other non-weather-related reasons for Oakland). I've never understood why South San Francisco is quite so neglected while commuter cities like Redwood City do so well. It's literally the next-closest town, why is it not super-expensive there?
The fog
Re: Why are the east of cities usually poorer?
#54This is not true for Manhattan. The upper west side has seen quite a renaissance lately, but it is nowhere near the upper east side in terms of price.
Re: Why are the east of cities usually poorer?
#55In my country => Uruguay is the other way round.. east part of the cities is the richest one.. but i believe it's related with the coast line and the ocean :)
Re: Why are the east of cities usually poorer?
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ooh! I have a question. Do you know what the situation is in Seattle? Is it so odd, with water separating cities and neighborhoods, impacting traffic, and a corporate empire in the eastern part, that it's hard to make out? Would it have been easier to see the situation you describe decades ago?
Seattle's interesting. The traditionally more-affordable and more-diverse neighborhoods have been rapidly gentrifying, and are—for the most part—pushing minorities north and south. I just found this interesting (and hideously formatted) PPT deck from the University of Washington that explores the topic further: http://faculty.washington.edu/morrill/papers/Gentrify.ppt
It makes me sad when someone does this much work but fails at the final hurdle to get the point across :(
+1.
Re: Why are the east of cities usually poorer?
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
Seattle's interesting. The traditionally more-affordable and more-diverse neighborhoods have been rapidly gentrifying, and are—for the most part—pushing minorities north and south. I just found this interesting (and hideously formatted) PPT deck from the University of Washington that explores the topic further: http://faculty.washington.edu/morrill/papers/Gentrify.ppt
It makes me sad when someone does this much work but fails at the final hurdle to get the point across :( +1.
Seeing that he's a Professor Emeritus and 76 [1], I'm willing to cut him some slack :)
He definitely compiled some very useful data. I'd argue that the tool failed; he didn't fail the tool.
[1] D.O.B. 1934 per http://faculty.washington.edu/morrill/
edit: funny, I just realized I only live about two miles from the PPT deck's author.
Re: Why are the east of cities usually poorer?
#58This effect seems to be the opposite in Austin. If I'm interpreting the map correctly, the winds blow SW, and most of the affluent/rich areas are out there. The counterpoint is that west austin has more geographical features such as hills, lakes and rivers to offset it.
The east side of Austin is the poorer side of town. That seems to support the assertion of the article.
Re: Why are the east of cities usually poorer?
#59Yep, it's similar over here in Hong Kong too, though a bit more complicated and the directions are different. When you go up north of the Kowloon Peninsula into the mountains, there's a lot of commuter towns built in valleys, where you can find surprisingly cheap housing. Now, the thing about valleys is, wind direction depends on time of day. In the daytime, the sides of the valley get hotter than the centre, so wind…
1 day out of 7 I might be able to see out my window for more than a mile here whether its winter or summer and I'm on the main island looking north. Now I'm not sure if it's the China pollution or general smog which every major city suffers from?
Re: Why are the east of cities usually poorer?
#60Yep, it's similar over here in Hong Kong too, though a bit more complicated and the directions are different. When you go up north of the Kowloon Peninsula into the mountains, there's a lot of commuter towns built in valleys, where you can find surprisingly cheap housing. Now, the thing about valleys is, wind direction depends on time of day. In the daytime, the sides of the valley get hotter than the centre, so wind…
1 day out of 7 I might be able to see out my window for more than a mile here whether its winter or summer and I'm on the main island looking north. Now I'm not sure if it's the China pollution or general smog which every major city suffers from?
Must be China.