The St. Augustine branch of the American Association of University Women will host Mary Gatta and Molly Vollman Makris at its March 11 meeting.
They will discuss their recently published book “Gentrification Down the Shore,” an ethnographic investigation of Asbury Park, New Jersey, to better understand the connection between jobs and seasonal gentrification and the experiences of longtime residents in this beach-community city.
Asbury Park and St. Augustine have much in common as both were developed as seasonal seaside resort towns for the wealthy to escape to during hot weather in the case of Asbury Park or cold weather in the case of St. Augustine. The study documents the tragic consequences of this kind of redevelopment, which bypasses longtime residents in favor of seasonal visitors and deprives them of access to nature, culture and civic life. In both cities, their Black communities have been left behind.