Lawrenceville... help! (Pittsburgh, Tioga: neighborhoods, live in, price)

[Elder18]

I don't think you should be too worried about that article.

Don't take heroin and stay out of dive bars (like other posters mentioned) and it seems like you'll be okay.

I guess there is some worry about getting robbed and shot, but that seems like a pretty rare occurance.

Like others said, watch where and when you are.

And this is coming from someone who worries hard-core about crime.

[CaptainObvious]

Originally Posted by Hopes

But I won't lie---there are drug dealers and prostitutes (they're generally not obvious---they look like they're low lifes waiting for a bus at the bus stop) in Lawrenceville.

I spend quite a bit of time in Lawrenceville, and I will second this notion. One of the first things that struck me about Lawrenceville when I first moved here was that it was one of the only places in the city where I saw blatant prostitution. So, I guess to that extent, I would say it is fairly obvious. The good news, as posted several other times, is that Lawrenceville is seeing a trend toward the better- at least the main area of Lawrenceville on Butler Street. Heading up the hill toward Bloomfield, Lawrenceville is a bit dicey and hasn't caught on that it is supposed to be a new hip artsy place. As far as safety goes, I'd agree with others that it is middle of the road...when you compare it to other city neighborhoods. If you compare it to average middle-class suburbs in West Virginia you may think it is on the unsafe side. Like Hopes, I too have street smarts and get around all parts of the city- I have ZERO problem with Lawrenceville...but I know what I am doing too. It gets a 4.5 on the infamous CaptainO Scale of PA Neighborhoods. (1 is Homewood and 10 is Fox Chapel).

Cap

[lancaihe]

Hi! I've lived in Lawrenceville for 1 yr. now. I purchased a house because I work at Children's Hospital which is moving there in 2009. In Oakland I am hassled by beggers and nuts everytime I walk out of the hospital, but I have not been hassled by anyone in Lawrenceville as of yet. My suggestions for living in Lawrencville are these: Don't live past 50th Street & Butler. Don't live close to the river, stay close to Butler or up on the hill by the hospital. Of course I don't walk around late at night and frequent drinking establishments. I know that there is a drug/crime element to the area, but it will be even more diminished as we get closer to the hospital moving. I'm sure landlords will be more attracted by docs & nurses wanting to rent and will up the rents pushing the riff-raff out of the area. There are also various block watches that are on the look out, and things are getting better and better.

Originally Posted by birdandb

I cannot get a clear answer on the safety of lawrenceville. my boyfriend and i signed a lease under the impression that lawrenceville is safe... were we naive?
we are moving there in two weeks from west virginia. we are very used to safety and freedom. all answers will be a great help.

[Elder18]

It doesn't sound like random violence, but it's violence nonetheless...

Woman killed, man wounded in Lawrenceville attack

[barneyg]

Originally Posted by birdandb

that's the article that first put the fear of lawrenceville in me. oh boy.

well we aren't backing out of the lease... no money for that and the place is everything we wanted and then some.
i'm not worried about someone breaking into the house, it's very secure.
i am worried about waiting on the bus as well as my boyfriend biking from work in the evening. i guess i'm worried about random violence.
so...

(also do you live in lawrenceville?)

My wife and I lived in Lawrenceville for two years, and moved to Regent Square in June. There's plenty of crime in Lawrenceville (mostly drug dealing and prostitution but I've also heard of property theft), but I've never felt unsafe either on main streets (Butler or Penn) or on residential streets in Central Lawrenceville (40th, Fisk, Main, 42nd..). Upper Lawrenceville (past Stanton Ave) seemed more blighted than Central Lawrenceville, but I haven't heard of random crime there either. Overall we moved because we wanted a bigger house in a greener neighborhood (Lawrenceville has very few tree-lined streets), not because it wasn't safe.

[tommygoat]

What do you think of the 16:62 design district and its impact the area? Are people embracing it?

[Drover]

Originally Posted by lancaihe

Hi! I've lived in Lawrenceville for 1 yr. now. I purchased a house because I work at Children's Hospital which is moving there in 2009. In Oakland I am hassled by beggers and nuts everytime I walk out of the hospital, but I have not been hassled by anyone in Lawrenceville as of yet. My suggestions for living in Lawrencville are these: Don't live past 50th Street & Butler. Don't live close to the river, stay close to Butler or up on the hill by the hospital. Of course I don't walk around late at night and frequent drinking establishments. I know that there is a drug/crime element to the area, but it will be even more diminished as we get closer to the hospital moving. I'm sure landlords will be more attracted by docs & nurses wanting to rent and will up the rents pushing the riff-raff out of the area. There are also various block watches that are on the look out, and things are getting better and better.

Damn -- does this mean I have to stop going to The Church Brew Works?

[barneyg]

Originally Posted by tommygoat

What do you think of the 16:62 design district and its impact the area? Are people embracing it?

I guess the people most involved in the community, who participate to stuff like Art All Night and the December Cookie Tour, feel more like they're a part of it than most people. Like any neighborhood that's trying to redefine itself, there are very different types of people living in Lawrenceville; to me it seemed that everybody coexisted peacefully, without many tensions between blue-collar people who've lived there for 50 years of artists and architects who've been there for 2-3 years.

However I think the 16:62 design district has mostly had an impact on Butler St, which looks nicer than it did a few years ago and will continue to improve as a shopping district. However it won't be Shadyside and probably won't be the Southside either. Once you get off Butler St I don't think you can make any link between Lawrenceville and 16:62.

[suzeeq521]

I think it is important to remember that Lawrenceville is a neighborhood of 15,000 people. If you have a small town of that size, it has good and bad parts - a neighborhood that size is the same way.

It is funny - in my immediate area there are both hookers and the offices of my elected representatives. Very mixed.

This is my second place in Lawrenceville and I will admit that I broke the lease on the first. But I made the mistake of getting mix-ed up with a landlord who turned out to be a slumlord.

I've had no more trouble in Lawrenceville than I did in Bloomfield and probable less than what I had in Greenfield.

[lancaihe]

Gee, maybe you should go up to one of the bars past 50th St. and Butler and just hang out there until 2:00 am. I'm sure it's lot's of fun! And it's a known fact that people are always on their best behavior when using alcohol.

Originally Posted by Drover

Damn -- does this mean I have to stop going to The Church Brew Works?