Income in below the poverty line in Reading, PA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Income in below the poverty line in Flint, MI.

People living in poverty in Reading, PA.

People not living in poverty in Reading, PA.

People with kids living in poverty in Reading, PA.

People with out children living in poverty in Reading, PA.

 

Field Notes

On April 18th at 11:00, my group and I went to the city of Reading to do our observations. We sat at a restaurant on Penn Ave while observing.

Environment: The restaurant we were in was a very small place. It could probably fit 25 people at the most, but at the time there was around 15. The people that were in the restaurant looked to be around the ages of 20-35 and the was about 5 males and the rest were females. While the people were talking, it wasn’t a very loud environment. There was also jazz music playing over the speakers. There were 5 cameras in the building.

On Penn Street: The buildings are all connected to each other on Penn Ave. The ground level of the buildings were all businesses (shopping, restaurants, schools, medical, etc.), the levels above appear to be apartments or private offices. Penn Ave is usually a very busy street, it was mainly cars and buses driving by, not many people walking around. There are 4 bus stops in the area we observed. There were people at the bus stops the entire time we were there. All the parking spots were taken in the area we were in and the cars were mainly compact cars, only a few SUV’s. The barta buses seemed to be driving by about every 10-15 minutes. They didn’t always stop, some just drove by.

People: About 6 people came into the restaurant while we were there. Out of the six, five were women and one was a male. The people that came in were also in groups of two. Out of each of those groups, two people pulled the door that clearly said push. There weren’t too many people on the street but I noticed a pair of two women. They were older women, probably in their 60’s. One was wearing a red jacket with black pants. The other was wearing all black. They were both blonde and all they did was go into the different shops and shop around. There were also two men that were walking down the street. They did not go into any shops, businesses, or restaurants.