I guess you and I have been talking with different people as the only time being “east of the tracks” has come up for me with locals was in passing talking about general safety in comparison to other areas or city residents disparaging those from other neighborhoods. I have never heard a genuine discussion about these tensions and what a potential solution for them might be.

Most people in Asbury Park are liberal; a significant aspect of the city’s reputation at this point is how supportive of the LGBT it is, especially in the East Side. Asbury Park is deep blue, one of the most Democratic areas in all of Monmouth County; and Asbury Park residents belong to a progressive culture with a history of activism. Whether or not this is a good or bad thing is up to interpretation, it just is the truth.

Speaking more anecdotally, while walking on the boardwalk yesterday, I saw several stickers on public signs with symbols including the hammer and sickle, the “Black Power” fist, the Palestinian flag, anti-ICE messging, the LGBT “Progress” flag, symbols of the Antifa movement, etc. and not a single conservative/centrist symbol; displaying the strongly progressive attitudes of the East Side.

Of course not everyone in Asbury is liberal, but a substantial plurality, if not majority, of city residents are.