Why is the east side of most cities the ghetto part and the west side the nice part?

I agree with Odin's Lied it's probably more about proximity to water because in Chicago it is the reverse and the city faces east towards the Great Lakes. It's all about location. In the Bronx save for coop city and the North side there isn't much for scenery. There fore property values are lower and poorer people can afford the South Bronx as opposed to Midtown Manhattan where there is a lot to do and a lot to see and more well to do people live there. If property values in the bad parts of the cities you named ever increase chances are they won't be ghettos for long.