The Economic Barrier

Many neighborhoods across America are divided by economic standing. Neighborhoods are commonly separated by having a “good” and “bad” side. These sides are commonly determined by the economic standing of its residents. The divide is usually established when a town is first founded. The divides that are then established by the economic differences in different parts of a town effect many aspects of the town, such as living conditions, who lives there, the amenities a town has to offer and much more.

An example of a town being divided due to economic standing is Winter Park. Winter Park has two different sides, one understood to be the “good” side and one understood to be the “bad” side, which are divided by the train tracks. Although the train tracks are a physical boundary put in place, the people that live on each side of the tracks clearly have different economic standings. The economic standings continue to exist despite the fact that the West side of Winter Park or the “bad” side is being developed and in the eyes of most people gentrified. Evidence for the divide between both sides can be seen by looking at the incomes made by the people living in Winter Park on both sides of the tracks. The difference in salary levels of the people of Winter Park causes one side to have more luxuries. The side of Winter Park with the population that draws a higher income therefore has more luxury homes. The housing situation is quite interesting because even if the same home was on the market in Winter Park on each side of the tracks, the home on the “good” side would be sold for substantially more money. The difference in the prices of houses is obviously determined by the economic standing of it’s residents because people can only afford to pay so much from their income, but the problem is that the difference in prices of houses leads to a difference in luxuries that a neighborhood has to offer.

The divide between the sides of a town is all established on the initial first population of a town. Winter Park is an excellent example of how a wealthier side is established by the first population. The West side of the tracts is still considered to be the “bad” part of town and of course the West side was the side the was first settled by the economically less prosperous people. The same could be said for the East side of town because today the East side is still considered to be the “good” part of town and the East side of Winter Park was settled by the more economically prosperous.

The part of a town, which boasts higher housing rates will indeed have more amenities and luxuries because the population of that part of the town will be able to afford to buy more. The population that has higher salaries will attract more businesses, which are willing to develop their neighborhood. The continual development of one side of a neighborhood leads to the existence of a more evident divide between different parts of a community. The divide between the two sides is only furthered by the development of one side and lack of development of another side because the more developed side will continue to attract a wealthier population.

The divide between neighborhoods throughout America is established by economic standing of its population. The population that first settle’s a town is commonly able to display what the economic standing of a part of town will be in the future. However, a town can obviously be gentrified and developed over a long period of time, which begins to destroy the economic barrier between parts of a town. Commonly the destruction of an economic barrier between parts of a town is more similar to the population that has a lower income having to relocate.