Eastside communities more diverse than stereotype suggests

By DEBERA CARLTON HARRELL
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

With all the wealth around them, Newport Hills and Newcastle citizens are determined to remember the less fortunate. One resident, for example, charters a boat for disabled kids and their families every Christmas.

While both communities are often stereotyped as white, upper-middle class neighborhoods, those who work in the community attest to a rise in poverty and the need for lower-income housing.

There is also increasing diversity, as seen in everything from schools to ethnic restaurants.

Joan Abel, manager of St. Margaret's Thrift Shop, says "people from every walk of life" come to the shop. "The community is not all white and middle class."