Tell Me About the Troy Hill Section

[Q-tip motha]

Originally Posted by steindle

It's no use -- the OP made up their mind when they found out that Troy Hill is in the dreaded Pittsburgh Public School District, a Bermuda Triangle of education from which no one emerges unscathed.

lol Oh well...her loss I guess.

If only I knew that my future children would automatically get bad grades, deal drugs, join a gang, and eventually die in a hail of gun fire or overdose before they turn 18 I would've never moved here. Its too bad that all of the problematic students here aren't sent to some special school that attempts to reform them. If only we have some kind of..oh I don't know..Academy where students who are on probation from the Allegheny County Juvenile Court were sent to learn and be reformed.

I guess the only place someone can successfully raise children, who aren't future residents of the penal system, is in the suburbs with 'good' school districts. Good upper middle class neighborhoods where the white kids with plenty of money and workaholic parents never get into trouble.

[Shenandoah]

Originally Posted by Q-tip motha

lol Oh well...her loss I guess.

If only I knew that my future children would automatically get bad grades, deal drugs, join a gang, and eventually die in a hail of gun fire or overdose before they turn 18 I would've never moved here. Its too bad that all of the problematic students here aren't sent to some special school that attempts to reform them. If only we have some kind of..oh I don't know..Academy where students who are on probation from the Allegheny County Juvenile Court were sent to learn and be reformed.

I guess the only place someone can successfully raise children, who aren't future residents of the penal system, is in the suburbs with 'good' school districts. Good upper middle class neighborhoods where the white kids with plenty of money and workaholic parents never get into trouble.

Interesting reply. LOL -- and that's as far as I'm going with replying to that.

The Pittsburgh Public School System is dreaded. And I'm not going to go into a discussion on sinking more and more tax dollars into bad schools to fix the problem vs, say.... school vouchers.
I, my daughter and her husband want to raise their kids in a nice family friendly neighborhood. The poster who lives there, made it sound nice. Perfect, in fact, for my daughter & family. If it weren't in the city school district, there'd be no problem. And paying for private or church schools at this point in time is out of the question. Right now, they live in Mon City (Monongahela). That's a bit far of a commute for my son in law, who wants to move closer to his job in Pittsburgh, and closer to friends. The school district doesn't have to be top notch - it'd be nice, but neither of us have hit the Powerball ..... yet.
Troy Hill sounds nice. It'd be perfect for them. I'll send this discussion to my daughter & go on from there. It's their decision.

blessings, Shen

[Shenandoah]

Originally Posted by Q-tip motha

The neighborhood is very family friendly. On our street alone it is not uncommon to see 5 or 6 kids riding their bikes or playing at any one time.

The terrain is mostly flat as we sit atop a ridge, and it is very walkable.

Real estate prices are fairly cheap compared to the rest of the city, as are rental rates.

There isn't much in the way of shopping, although we're within walking distance of the strip district. The neighborhood does have a few practical businesses though. There are two pizza shops, a diner, a little cafe, convenience store, pharmacy, gas station/service center, several mechanics, and of course the penn brewery as you're coming up the hill. There are also a few dive bars in the neighborhood, but I haven't noticed too much of a disturbance from their patrons.

It takes about 20 minutes to walk to the strip district, and 40 minutes to walk downtown (if you cross the 16th street bridge).

Do you have school age children? Tell me about the school they go to, please?

blessings, Shen

[Q-tip motha]

Originally Posted by Shenandoah

Interesting reply. LOL -- and that's as far as I'm going with replying to that.

The Pittsburgh Public School System is dreaded. And I'm not going to go into a discussion on sinking more and more tax dollars into bad schools to fix the problem vs, say.... school vouchers.
I, my daughter and her husband want to raise their kids in a nice family friendly neighborhood. The poster who lives there, made it sound nice. Perfect, in fact, for my daughter & family. If it weren't in the city school district, there'd be no problem. And paying for private or church schools at this point in time is out of the question. Right now, they live in Mon City (Monongahela). That's a bit far of a commute for my son in law, who wants to move closer to his job in Pittsburgh, and closer to friends. The school district doesn't have to be top notch - it'd be nice, but neither of us have hit the Powerball ..... yet.
Troy Hill sounds nice. It'd be perfect for them. I'll send this discussion to my daughter & go on from there. It's their decision.

blessings, Shen

I can't really comment on the schools other than to say that I feel that its the personal initiative of the kid and the family that causes them to succeed or fail.

I'm 27, so the wife and I are working on our first right now. He/she should be here around February of next year. I'm not worried about the school district our child will eventually be enrolled in having attended "dangerous inner city schools" myself back in WV. Granted Pittsburgh isn't WV in terms of crime, but I've noticed a similar trend in the locals allowing themselves to be deluded into believing in the infamous reputation of certain locations or entities without investigating it for themselves. I've actually found that the kids from the rougher areas growing up were nicer and better to be in class with than the caudled children in the suburbs later on, but I digress.

Troy Hill is nice. Not as 'nice' as Squirrel Hill, Shadyside, or Sewickly. Its a working/lower middle class neighborhood with older homes that might need a little work. If you can get a home on the ridge overlooking the river, the views are spectacular. I feel safe walking around the neighborhood at night, but then I feel safe walking around the Hill District or the North Side as well (disclaimer: Troy Hill is not remotely similar to either of those neighborhoods in terms of how actually dangerous they are), I suppose its just the kind of person I am. When the majority of crime in these places involves something other than drug or gang related crime I'll start to worry. My neighbors are all very friendly and nice. The neighborhood stays fairly quiet, and I don't feel as if I have too much to worry about in terms of crime. When my neighbor with garages across the street has trouble pulling out or parking in them due to the position of our cars in front of our house we do what we can to accomodate him and his family. When we pass the neighborhood kids outside playing and their parents down the block as we're heading somewhere we say hello. Its just one of those places where everyone is pretty relaxed and friendly. You can find similar people in just about any Pittsburgh neighborhood honestly. There's a much better sense of community here than there is in any small town I've ever lived in. I could probably leave my car unlocked for a week and not have anything stolen from it. If your ceiling on real estate is less than $100k you could do a lot worse than Troy Hill.

My advice to you is that if you feel that the neighborhood interests you, just come up here, take an hour or so walk, and imagine what it would be like to live there (parking, commute, noise, etc). Do that anywhere and you should be able to gain some perspective on whether it would be a good fit for your family.

[Shenandoah]

Hi - well, I'm back - my daughter & son in law decided against Troy Hill.

Anyone have knowledge of Etna (Maplewood Road area) & the Shaler school district?

[4thGenerationPGH]

Originally Posted by Shenandoah

Hi - well, I'm back - my daughter & son in law decided against Troy Hill.

Smart choice. My great grandparents lived in Troy Hill, my grandparents, my parents and I spent some time there. My family owned the house for 100 years. While I have a lot of great memories and know the history inside and out, the current status for living there is pretty bad in my opinion. There are much better places to live in Pittsburgh close to the city for the same amount of money.

[otters21]

Troy Hill is still okay. There are still plenty of people there who have pride and take care of their properties and it is becoming more attractive to the younger people who want to live in the city. It is certainly not without it's problems ( then again what urban neighborhood is?) but it is one of the better working class areas in the city. If I had to choose between there or a faceless carcentric McMansion cookie cutter outer suburb/exurb where you can't walk to anywhere and there is no access to mass transit, I would certainly choose an area like TH.

[Q-tip motha]

Originally Posted by 4thGenerationPGH

Smart choice. My great grandparents lived in Troy Hill, my grandparents, my parents and I spent some time there. My family owned the house for 100 years. While I have a lot of great memories and know the history inside and out, the current status for living there is pretty bad in my opinion. There are much better places to live in Pittsburgh close to the city for the same amount of money.

Your opinion would be misinformed and overtly negative in nature.