relcoating to Pittsburgh and concerns (Beaver Falls, Beaver: sale, apartments, lofts)

[LiveinPA]

South side is also a great place to get assaulted or have your car vandalized by drunk college kids.

[gallacus]

South side is also a great place to get assaulted or have your car vandalized by drunk college kids.

Hmm, odd comment. I'll take that with a grain of salt I suppose. Your risk of being assaulted is slightly elevated being in a city atmosphere with increased population, and the South Side is a popular night-spot for thirsty college kids, but in my own experience living here for the past two years, I have never felt threatened once, and I walk my dog every night around 1am. When did you live in the South Side? (or did you just see it on TV?)

Sounds great, but I'm staying here. Thanks.

No need to be facetious, I wasn't recommending you move here. It is already apparent that you don't like it here (which is absolutely fine). I was merely attempting to justify someone's calling the South Side "hip"

[LiveinPA]

Originally Posted by gallacus

Hmm, odd comment. I'll take that with a grain of salt I suppose. Your risk of being assaulted is slightly elevated being in a city atmosphere with increased population, and the South Side is a popular night-spot for thirsty college kids, but in my own experience living here for the past two years, I have never felt threatened once, and I walk my dog every night around 1am. When did you live in the South Side? (or did you just see it on TV?)



No need to be facetious, I wasn't recommending you move here. It is already apparent that you don't like it here (which is absolutely fine). I was merely attempting to justify someone's calling the South Side "hip"

I've never lived in the South side although my last visit there resulted in college kids throwing beer bottles at me. Previously, 2 of my friends were assaulted there resulting in fortunately only a bad bump on the head and a black eye.

Prior to that out car was keyed there.

The only good visit I had there, I then got food poisoning from Primantis (sp?).

I think I'll pass.

[gallacus]

I've never lived in the South side although my last visit there resulted in college kids throwing beer bottles at me. Previously, 2 of my friends were assaulted there resulting in fortunately only a bad bump on the head and a black eye.

Prior to that out car was keyed there.

The only good visit I had there, I then got food poisoning from Primantis (sp?).

I think I'll pass.

Wow, given you're luck I don't blame you!!!

[JoeP]

And why is the South Side considered "hip"? I just don't get it. Houses (mostly rowhouses on the flats) that were built 100+ years ago for steelworkers before they were unionized and paid a decent wage.

I know this will be taken the wrong, but I hope not. You often write critical comments regarding Pittsburgh and that's fine, there's plenty to criticize. Every city has positives and negatives, but it made my jaw drop that you are not familiar with the South Side and possibly other neighborhoods and aspects of the city that have improved in the last 10-15 years.

If your point of view is that of Pittsburgh circa 1980's or earlier than your skewed viewpoint makes sense, but it's not accurate.



Also for urbanists, neighborhoods with 100 year old rowhouses are a good thing.

[Katarina Witt]

I do not think my viewpoint is "skewed". I am tired of presenting my credentials for having an opinion on Pittsburgh. Suffice it to say I have had plenty of exposure to Pgh since 1980.

My comment on the South Side homes was that I don't think they are such great homes. Period. They are rowhouses that were built for a working class that wasn't getting paid much at the time. These are not the stately old homes of Squirrel Hill or Shadyside, or even the old Victorians of the N. Side. They were the "cookie cutter" houses of their time.

There was a thread about urban sprawl on the "General US" forum where someone was talking about people being manipulated into thinking something was desirable when it really wasn't. That is how I feel about these homes. They probably require many thousands of dollars of work to bring them up to what most people would want to live in. They don't have yards. There is no high school nearby; South Side High School had a sign on it that said "closed". There is really nothing to buy there except restaurant food and what the stores in the SS Works sell.

I am familiar with "new urbanism". We have some "new urban" communities here. And we have a city, as well, which I have lived in, as well as having lived in Pittsburgh proper (Oakland). I have read articles about new urbanism and the new urbanists say the old urbanism wasn't all that great. I would agree in many cases. When I was a small child, we lived 2 blocks from a steel mill. Huge trucks drove up and down our residential street. We didn't have a fenced yard, so my mom would tie my brother and I to the porch so we wouldn't run out in the street and get hit by a truck. I'm sorry, I'm not interested in living like that. When I was back in Beaver Falls two weeks ago, I showed my DH where a friend of mine lived. It was about one block from a steel mill that is still there. Imagine raising kids in that environment! Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

In regards to my comment:

Sounds great, but I'm staying here. Thanks.

I was simply being a little flip. Nothing more. Sorry you didn't get it.

[5stones]

Also for urbanists, neighborhoods with 100 year old rowhouses are a good thing.

**GASP** you mean plaster walls, hardwood floors and cool moldings and neat exterior brick work are GOOD things??

SO...cheap drywall, plywood floors, crappy siding and must be "brand new" cookie cutter houses the wind blows down... are bad.

Thank the lord!

Pulte, Khov, Toll Bros... are the devil incarnate I say!

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by 5stones

**GASP** you mean plaster walls, hardwood floors and cool moldings and neat exterior brick work are GOOD things??

SO...cheap drywall, plywood floors, crappy siding and must be "brand new" cookie cutter houses the wind blows down... are bad.

Thank the lord!

Pulte, Khov, Toll Bros... are the devil incarnate I say!

We are not talking about homes with all those things. They probably have plaster walls, that need to be repaired. They probably also have softwood floors, and I know many have "insulbrick" siding, eg some type of asphalt. They probably also have one bathroom only, w/o a shower, and kitchen facilities that would make it difficult to prepare a meal, wiring that will short out if you plug in too many things at once, and plumbing that is in need of much work.

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by pittnurse70

We are not talking about homes with all those things. They probably have plaster walls, that need to be repaired. They probably also have softwood floors, and I know many have "insulbrick" siding, eg some type of asphalt. They probably also have one bathroom only, w/o a shower, and kitchen facilities that would make it difficult to prepare a meal, wiring that will short out if you plug in too many things at once, and plumbing that is in need of much work.

I didn't want to get into this, but here goes. Usually when a place like this gets trendy, what happens is that the somewhat moneyed crew goes in, takes it down to the shell and totally redoes it. It's beyond repaired -- it's gutted and rebuilt. Check realtor.com for sip 15203 -- and look at the higher end prices.

There's nothing wrong with that -- it's far better than tearing stuff down and rebuilding something wildly inappropriate -- but it does alter the character of the neighborhood. AAnd so does rampant partying and drunken college kids.

I've been giving some real hard thought to the next phase in our lives. Right now I can hear birds twittering in the trees in my teeny tiny backyard, but I am mindful that for some reason there are five cop cars parked with two officers each around a two block radius... I don't enjoy this urban life anymore.

So South Side is out for me.

I would love to have that walkable urban lifestyle, but here, urban means getting in your car and driving two blocks. Even in San Francisco, urban doesn't seem to mean walkable. And when someone talks about walking seven blocks to the grocery store, people look at them like they've grown horns.

Hmmm, I guess I'm just thinking on the board... so now that I've bored you all.. I'll stop...

[Katarina Witt]

I will check out that website, tallysmom. Thanks. I would like a walkable lifestyle, but not necessarily super-urban. Check my post on General US re: urbanism. Had enough of living near steel mills, esp working steel mills.

I hear you when you talk about gutting houses. That happens in Denver as well. Didn't see much of that on the S. Side. Maybe I wasn't in the right places. Most of what I saw looked much as it did years ago (except Carson St itself). That was my point. I guess I didn't do a very good job of communicating it.