rough spots/places to avoid (Pittsburgh, Allentown: crime rate, bus, safe)

[RAISEDINLP]

Originally Posted by PPG

Most of these are just rough areas, places to avoid moving to.
These neighborhoods are not as good as places like Shadyside or Squirrel Hill....etc.

PPG you must live in Squirrel Hill or Shadyside.

[RAISEDINLP]

Originally Posted by Yac

And now lets get back on topic, shall we ?
Yac.

Yac I was feeling the same way. I wonder if the person will stay in Pittsburgh.

[punkviper]

I'm just going to make an observation about the classification going on here: Why is it that predominantly Black economically depressed neighborhoods in Pittsburgh are labeled as "rough spots/places to avoid" but predominantly White economically depressed neighborhoods in Pittsburgh are simply called "Working Class?"

As someone who has lived in several Pittsburgh locations over 30+ years, i find it interesting when people immediately point to the portions of the city that are notably "Black" (Homewood, Wilkinsburg, Braddock, Hill District, North-Side, Beltzhoover, McKeesport, Hazelwood, McKees Rocks, New Kensington) when they want to raise the red flag. But if someone throws in a Millvale or a Clairton or a Crafton, then all of a sudden the tone changes and whomever brought up the idea is crossing the boundaries of 'common sense.'

Can we agree that White folks in Pittsburgh are & in many cases have always been afraid to go near neighborhoods in Pittsburgh that are deemed "Black neighborhoods?"

[ExPit]

Originally Posted by punkviper

I'm just going to make an observation about the classification going on here: Why is it that predominantly Black economically depressed neighborhoods in Pittsburgh are labeled as "rough spots/places to avoid" but predominantly White economically depressed neighborhoods in Pittsburgh are simply called "Working Class?"

As someone who has lived in several Pittsburgh locations over 30+ years, i find it interesting when people immediately point to the portions of the city that are notably "Black" (Homewood, Wilkinsburg, Braddock, Hill District, North-Side, Beltzhoover, McKeesport, Hazelwood, McKees Rocks, New Kensington) when they want to raise the red flag. But if someone throws in a Millvale or a Clairton or a Crafton, then all of a sudden the tone changes and whomever brought up the idea is crossing the boundaries of 'common sense.'

Can we agree that White folks in Pittsburgh are & in many cases have always been afraid to go near neighborhoods in Pittsburgh that are deemed "Black neighborhoods?"

I must be bored, more a case of insomnia to read back over this old thread and try to get a consensus of the posts that prompted such a critical post from you; not bad for your first. I'm hardly the old guard on this forum, I sure wasn't around when this thread was fresh, but from what I read the great majority of the posters agree with you. Seems like about four out of five of the contributors don't much avoid anywhere, black, white, or mixed. Now, I couldn't tell you what the race of the posters are, mixed would be my guess there too, so how can you make a statement that claims whites are or have always been afraid to go into black areas? I'll tell you up front I'm not black, but if I told you the mix of blood I do have running through my veins you wouldn't consider me white either. The point is I shouldn't have to tell you, and the other point is it's not the point.

I haven't lived in Pittsburgh for years, though I was raised there and in several different neighborhoods myself. A few of them made the F-list, East Liberty, Wilkinsburg for a year, Garfield for a few, we had whites and blacks living not on the same block but the next one up or down and the funny thing is nobody had to tell us that our block of Broad Street was more dangerous than one say on Shady or Highland Avenue, or just across Penn and into Friendship or over into Bloomfield we were poor, we knew it. We weren't stupid and were anything but ashamed. We didn't take it personal, we would do better when we had our chance and a helluva lot of us did.

If I'm not mistaken the general logic was that these were depressed areas; I've lived in a few American cities, and am old enough so that if I haven't learned something about the human condition I should be locked up, so I'll tell you this: there's one thing that makes an area dangerous, that makes some people within that area dangerous, and that's a concentration of the disadvantaged; their faults? their parents' faults? the fault of history or you can just fault an individual lack of initiative, but some areas on that list aren't even black.

I don't know, people are too touchy about race. Or worse, they are making a facile argument due to a surface examination. C'mon, anybody with half a brain knows that there's still segregation in this country, that one group of people gets too many passes while another is denied, but it's got so little to do with race anymore it is a futile distraction into a harmful distortion. Green baby, not black or white, that's always been the dominant color of the American way. We're not doing ourselves any good by drudging up the bones of our ugly past. It's just not true anymore, imagine if every family in Virgina Manor was African American, and every family up on the Hill was Russian or Irish or Italian, which area would still be more consistently avoided, by blacks, by whites, by whatever?

Race is too easy, too easy an out.

All that said, welcome.

[Chuckles1821]

As someone who has lived in several Pittsburgh locations over 30+ years, i find it interesting when people immediately point to the portions of the city that are notably "Black" (Homewood, Wilkinsburg, Braddock, Hill District, North-Side, Beltzhoover, McKeesport, Hazelwood, McKees Rocks, New Kensington) when they want to raise the red flag. But if someone throws in a Millvale or a Clairton or a Crafton, then all of a sudden the tone changes and whomever brought up the idea is crossing the boundaries of 'common sense.'

McKees Rocks is not "notably black" in my opinion, Crafton isn't "working class" or whatever you want to call it.
If someone is moving to Pittsburgh and they want to know what a neighborhood is like, you can be damn sure I will tell them to avoid the Hill (etc.)...and that's not because it's a "black" area, it's a BAD area.

[creepsinc]

Originally Posted by PPG

Here's my list:

Allentown
Arlington
Beltzhoover
Knoxville
Mt. Oliver
St. Clair village
Esplen
Elliot
West End
Sheraden
Fairywood
Mckees rocks
Sto Rocks
Crafton Heights (parts)
Greenway
Garfield
Larimer
Lincoln/Lemington
Belmar
Homewood
Wilkinsburgh
Penn hills (parts)
East lib
East hills
Braddock
Duquesne
Mckeesport
Clairton
East Pittsburgh
Rankin
Swissvale (parts)
South Oakland
Hill District
Uptown/Bluff
Manchester
Central Northside
Perry South
Brighton Heights (parts)
Spring Garden
Spring Hill
East ohio
Northveiw Heights
Stript District (penn ave)
Hazelwood
Homestead (parts)
Glen Hazel
Hays
Aliquippa
Ambrige
New Castle
Neville Island
Beaver Falls

I'm sure I forgot a few.

I avoid the Strip District like the plague. I especially hate the Vietnamese sandwich lady at 26th street (I think) and the Asian markets and the coffee shops and all the souvenir places and places that sell Stillers and Pens stuff and ...and...why would you tell somebody to avoid the Strip?

With the exception of St. Clair Village, every place on your list should have (parts) after it, if they even belong on the list.

[Pitman]

Originally Posted by punkviper

I'm just going to make an observation about the classification going on here: Why is it that predominantly Black economically depressed neighborhoods in Pittsburgh are labeled as "rough spots/places to avoid" but predominantly White economically depressed neighborhoods in Pittsburgh are simply called "Working Class?"

As someone who has lived in several Pittsburgh locations over 30+ years, i find it interesting when people immediately point to the portions of the city that are notably "Black" (Homewood, Wilkinsburg, Braddock, Hill District, North-Side, Beltzhoover, McKeesport, Hazelwood, McKees Rocks, New Kensington) when they want to raise the red flag. But if someone throws in a Millvale or a Clairton or a Crafton, then all of a sudden the tone changes and whomever brought up the idea is crossing the boundaries of 'common sense.'

Crafton?? Crafton!!

[Chuckles1821]

Originally Posted by Pitman

Crafton?? Crafton!!

Hahaha, yes I had the same reaction!

[vtPGH]

Originally Posted by creepsinc

I avoid the Strip District like the plague. I especially hate the Vietnamese sandwich lady at 26th street (I think) and the Asian markets and the coffee shops and all the souvenir places and places that sell Stillers and Pens stuff and ...and...why would you tell somebody to avoid the Strip?

As surprising as it may sound, The Strip District technically has the highest murder rate of any neighborhood in the city so far this year. Since the 2000 census population for the Strip was only 266 (it's likely grown since then), the 2 murders there equals out to a rate of roughly 750/per 100,000. Annually, the city as a whole comes in around 15-20/per 100,000.

Sort of a classic example of where numbers don't paint an accurate picture, considering at any given time thousands of people are mingling, dining, working, or shopping in the Strip...they just don't live there.

[Pitts10yrs]

Mckees Rocks is half black, half white.

BTW, I drive regularly thru Homewood, and its not as bad as people make it out. The Giant Eagle there is nice and I feel safe.