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Breaking Established
Residential Patterns
Haitians in Delray have broken the traditional patterns of race, economics
and residential location that exist in most Atlantic coast Florida
towns. These patterns tend to run from south to north, like parallel
ribbons, with each ribbon a separate racial or economic group. In
most of these towns the white, economically better-off communities
extend from south to north between Route 1 and the ocean. Minority,
and more economically depressed communities tend to extend from south
to north west of Route 1 to Interstate 95.
The majority of Haitians, as described earlier, were
settled in Osceola Park, which, at the time of their arrival, was
a run-down neighborhood abutting the downtown crossing of Route1
and Atlantic Avenue (Route 806), which runs from east to west, not
north to south. Today, a large concentration of Haitians lives in
this geographically atypical neighborhood. Many Haitian businesses
have sprouted up along 2nd and 3rd Avenues SE.
As the community has expanded, some Haitian businesses
have grown up along Atlantic Avenue heading west towards I-95. In
addition, some members of the Haitian community have also begun
to move out of Osceola Park into neighborhoods. These neighborhoods
traditionally have been home to middle-class African American communities.
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