Braddock PA article in Ready Made article (Pittsburgh, Penn Hills: sales, 2009)

[Hopes]

I personally would like to see the Mayor post more often. He has a good plan. Artists revitalize areas. It's the rundown, seedy areas that suit them best because of the low cost. In time, they make areas so trendy that the property values become unaffordable for artists. They have to move on somewhere else. That's already happening in Lawrenceville. That's going to work against Lawrenceville too. Housing prices have become too expensive before the area has fully reached it's potential. Lawrenceville's going to come to a standstill in that regard. The artists are going to move elsewhere. It might as well be Braddock as long as you can keep the streets reasonably safe which is PPG's concern.

[happywithbraddock]

I understand the many concerns voiced in this forum for Braddock and I'd like to offer my two cents. I moved from Portland, Oregon to Braddock with my girlfriend in April of this year and we are quite happy with Braddock. Sure it's hard at times; having come from a city overflowing with great restaurants, coffeeshops, microbreweries and bookshops. But it's also very satisfying to see real results. What the article in Readymade didn't mention was how the author worked his ass off helping us bucket-line sheets of 4x8 OSB forty feet up to rebuild a subroof, or how the garden we built in the ruined backyards of abandoned buildings not only produced amazingly sweet corn and tomatoes, but also inspired our 80 year old neighbor to work twelve hour days turning his apartment building's overgrown back yard into a beautiful garden as well. I'm sure there are parts of Braddock that would give me pause if I went looking for them, but the Braddock I've found is a quiet town where tools left out overnight are still there in the morning and where people go out of their way to show support for efforts to help Braddock. We'll miss Portland, but we're happy with Braddock.

[Gerbil]

Tallysmom: So are you looking for an grass-roots artistic community to move into in the Pittsburgh area? If so, maybe you could check out the Penn Avenue area in Garfield. Seems like a lot is going on there. Of course I see art galleries popping up all over the city, but if you want a place where it's really concentrated I'd suggest that or Lawrenceville.

[PROJECT PAT]

braddocks a very violent place and a huge ghetto, its a bad neighborhood, dont move there, i used 2 live there

[barneyg]

Originally Posted by PROJECT PAT

braddocks a very violent place and a huge ghetto, its a bad neighborhood, dont move there, i used 2 live there

What's your source? city-data has old (2002) info but it seemed to confirm my impression that Braddock is a rundown, but not so violent, kind of place.

[supersoulty]

Well, I certainly applaud what the mayor is trying to do to turn Braddock around. I'm sure I'll become quite familiar with it soon as I pursuit an education in Urban Planning at Pitt. That being said, I drove through Braddock a handful of times... it would be very hard to convince me to go back, and I would rather take poison than go there after sundown.

[supersoulty]

Originally Posted by MAyor 15104

So, you don’t think I have a snowball’s chance in hell? Hey, fair enough. To be sure, we have numerous challenges to contend with that extend beyond they pale of what construes a “distressed community.” I suppose the other option would be to let them bulldoze the town under, salt the earth, and move to Portland OR.

In the meantime, I’ll keep at it. Thanks for the support, though.

I would be happy to try to help you in any way I can. No offense, but I can't imagine you have many advisors, being in your possition. Inspite of my early comments, I think this is an exciting project. There has certainly been some progress in other areas of the Mon Valley. Refresh my memory, is US Steel acctually located in Braddock? I think it is, but I could be wrong.

[happywithbraddock]

The Edgar Thompson steel works are here in Braddock and going strong. And, not to sound snooty, but I think Mayor Fetterman has lots of advisors actually. I don't think a week goes by that he's not showing some group of people around Braddock. It's impossible to dictate what makes people feel safe or not. So, there are probably plenty of people who feel that Braddock is unsafe. However, there was a spate of gunpoint robberies in Regent Square a month or so back, and I haven't heard of people ceasing to walk around that lovely community. Perception counts for lot. Here's what I do know about the present state of affairs here in town. Braddock hosted Flux this year and had 1300 people come into town without a single mugging or killing. Not even a single recorded instance of two drunken morons doing the man-dance. The guys at Fossil Free Fuels put on a punk show in August that drew 700 out of towners to our Elks Club. Again, with the exception of one truly inebriated individual, no trouble whatsoever. The Lil Wayne afterparty held at Club 804? All those thugs and rappers, yet not a single shot fired! I'd suggest driving through Braddock one evening and seeing for yourself. I think you might be surprised. Better yet, get out of your car and take a look around. This huge guy with a shaved head, black goatee and blacker tattoos might come up and ask if he can help you out. The scariest looking cat in town is our mayor.

[supersoulty]

Originally Posted by happywithbraddock

The Edgar Thompson steel works are here in Braddock and going strong. And, not to sound snooty, but I think Mayor Fetterman has lots of advisors actually. I don't think a week goes by that he's not showing some group of people around Braddock. It's impossible to dictate what makes people feel safe or not. So, there are probably plenty of people who feel that Braddock is unsafe. However, there was a spate of gunpoint robberies in Regent Square a month or so back, and I haven't heard of people ceasing to walk around that lovely community. Perception counts for lot. Here's what I do know about the present state of affairs here in town. Braddock hosted Flux this year and had 1300 people come into town without a single mugging or killing. Not even a single recorded instance of two drunken morons doing the man-dance. The guys at Fossil Free Fuels put on a punk show in August that drew 700 out of towners to our Elks Club. Again, with the exception of one truly inebriated individual, no trouble whatsoever. The Lil Wayne afterparty held at Club 804? All those thugs and rappers, yet not a single shot fired! I'd suggest driving through Braddock one evening and seeing for yourself. I think you might be surprised. Better yet, get out of your car and take a look around. This huge guy with a shaved head, black goatee and blacker tattoos might come up and ask if he can help you out. The scariest looking cat in town is our mayor.

Okay, well, sorry if it sounded offensive. My expirience of Braddock has been pretty negative. I figured that with the place the way it is, they probably wouldn't have the money to afford much in the way of hired help.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by supersoulty

Okay, well, sorry if it sounded offensive. My expirience of Braddock has been pretty negative. I figured that with the place the way it is, they probably wouldn't have the money to afford much in the way of hired help.

Don't take happywithbraddock's word. The Mayor would be crazy to turn down anyone who wanted to volunteer their talents for the greater good of Braddock. You should still contact the Mayor and ask if there is anything you can do to help, Supersoulty.