Move to Wilkinsburg? (Pittsburgh, Penn Hills, Swissvale: real estate, property taxes, apartment)

[TRO Z]

Hey Dub--

I actually fell alot dumber after reading your post...I mean it, I think my IQ has truly dropped.

No one on here is putting ALL OF WILKINSBURG or it's people into one category...Stop trying to pull that race card crap as well....I dont care if wilkinsburg is mainly black.... if everyone there were purple or green that still wouldn't change, what that area is right now...VERY VERY SAD..

The schools have nice education...are you serious...Here's a fact

694 Public schools in Pa...Wilkinsburg # 693...But hey, at least you didn't finsih last

[Hopes]

TRO Z, I don't think he's real. I think it's the guy who was banned that comes and posts under other names all the time.

[zip95]

Originally Posted by TRO Z

Hey Dub--

I actually fell alot dumber after reading your post...I mean it, I think my IQ has truly dropped.

No one on here is putting ALL OF WILKINSBURG or it's people into one category...Stop trying to pull that race card crap as well....I dont care if wilkinsburg is mainly black.... if everyone there were purple or green that still wouldn't change, what that area is right now...VERY VERY SAD..

The schools have nice education...are you serious...Here's a fact

694 Public schools in Pa...Wilkinsburg # 693...But hey, at least you didn't finsih last

Don't be gullible Tro Z....if that post is real (which I doubt) (s)he can't be older than 14.

(Edit)
I just reread the post and I'd bet money that the post is fake.......in addition to ya'll, they used the word ALSO.

Remember undergrad spanish class where you had to write a conversational paragraph, but you skipped half of the classes and never studied. Remember how your paragraph sounded ridiculous and you got a D........I give that paragraph an F.

[barneyg]

Originally Posted by boylocke

This can be an understatement..... I personally would stay away from Wilkinsburg. Have you looked into neighboring Forest Hills, Turtle Creek, or even Edgewood?

I'm sure there are okay areas of Wilkinsburg, but truly, I wouldn't recommend the place to anyone.

There are, really. I live in the part of Wilkinsburg that most would call Regent Square, a couple of blocks from Edgewood and close to the busway. I guess that makes me biased, but I love this area. NOTHING around our home compares to what you'll find on the other side of the tracks, around Rebecca Ave, Franklin Ave, and the others.

Here's what I have to say about Wilkinsburg. I haven't lived here for a long time but I've traveled through (both on foot and by car) most of its neighborhoods. If you have school-age children and can't afford/don't want to pay for a private school, stay away. If you don't, then there may be true gems for you. I think it's a terribly stupid thing to say "I don't really know much about it, but stay away from Wilkinsburg altogether", again unless the school district is a relevant factor. I rent because my employer pays the rent, and I'm pretty sure we found better value for our needs here than we would have in many other comparable parts of the area.

Quick "neighborhood" tour (I defined them so feel free to debate):

Downtown and around - this is the area north and east of the railroad tracks/East busway (which, if you've seen it, is a pretty good divider, as someone from Edgewood pointed out a few weeks ago on this forum), and goes from perhaps Rebecca Ave to the south to Hill Ave to the north. This includes Penn Ave, Ross Ave, and Wood St, the 3 main streets of downtown. AVOID AT ALL COSTS. Some houses look nice (example)
but if you just drive through Rebecca Ave at any time of day you'll figure out it's not where you want to live.

Regent Square - West of the tracks and south of Kelly Ave is _very_ nice, especially the north/south avenues as you get closer to Braddock Ave and Edgewood to the south (example on Whitney Ave, which is still far north from that area). All the streets are tree-lined, and are filled with huge victorians that may or may not be renovated, but that are valued for around $125,000. I have no neighborhood crime statistics but I'd be very surprised if this was any different than the Pittsburgh, Swissvale and Edgewood parts of Regent Square. As for the area north of Kelly Ave, I'm not sure if it can really be called Regent Square, but it's clearly not the same thing. If you're familiar with Pittsburgh city neighborhoods I find it much closer in feel to the Mt. Washington (less Grandview Ave), or perhaps South Oakland neighborhoods: traditionally working class, with smaller brick houses, probably more crime and decay as well but doesn't compare to downtown Wilkinsburg or Homewood (which is not too far north from there).

Northwest from downtown, towards Homewood - I said Homewood, I guess.

Laketon/McNary/Montier St (east of downtown) - almost as rundown as downtown/Rebecca Ave but probably not as dangerous, although I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

around Graham Blvd - feels a lot more suburban (in a Mt. Lebanon or Churchill kind of way), with nicer houses, more trees, and less decay. I guess the school district hurts property values a lot around there. I would imagine crime there to be, if not inexistent, much much lower than downtown.

In a nutshell, I think Wilkinsburg could be a poster child for the "decay and crime in the inner ring, wealth in the outer ring" phenomenon that hit many cities in the Northeast in the past few generations, if it weren't for the obvious exception that it's not a central city (Pittsburgh is, of course).

[Drover]

Originally Posted by barneyg

In a nutshell, I think Wilkinsburg could be a poster child for the "decay and crime in the inner ring, wealth in the outer ring" phenomenon that hit many cities in the Northeast in the past few generations, if it weren't for the obvious exception that it's not a central city (Pittsburgh is, of course).

That's a really strange phenomenon though to have happen to a suburb of Wilkinsburg's size, both geographically and in terms of population....

[barneyg]

Originally Posted by Drover

That's a really strange phenomenon though to have happen to a suburb of Wilkinsburg's size, both geographically and in terms of population....

I don't know the history of Wilkinsburg well enough to make reasonable conjectures, but here's one anyway. Downtown Wilkinsburg's decay (in housing stock, commercial district, etc.) is not so different from many other towns in or near the Mon Valley, and perhaps also Beaver Valley: McKeesport, Braddock, Brownsville, Homestead (and Beaver Falls perhaps) are examples. What's different is that the proximity to both much wealthier (Squirrel Hill, Point Breeze, Churchill) and much poorer (Homewood) areas have led to perhaps more extreme levels of discrepancy than elsewhere.

If you take Homestead for example, there isn't as much wealth and decay around (Munhall's a fine middle class suburb, Duquesne isn't in great shape but isn't as terrible as Homewood), so there isn't such a big difference between its neighborhoods (except perhaps for the couple of blocks around the library).

[zip95]

Originally Posted by barneyg

I don't know the history of Wilkinsburg well enough to make reasonable conjectures, but here's one anyway. Downtown Wilkinsburg's decay (in housing stock, commercial district, etc.) is not so different from many other towns in or near the Mon Valley, and perhaps also Beaver Valley: McKeesport, Braddock, Brownsville, Homestead (and Beaver Falls perhaps) are examples. What's different is that the proximity to both much wealthier (Squirrel Hill, Point Breeze, Churchill) and much poorer (Homewood) areas have led to perhaps more extreme levels of discrepancy than elsewhere.

If you take Homestead for example, there isn't as much wealth and decay around (Munhall's a fine middle class suburb, Duquesne isn't in great shape but isn't as terrible as Homewood), so there isn't such a big difference between its neighborhoods (except perhaps for the couple of blocks around the library).

I would call that a highly convincing conjecture.

[guylocke]

There are, really. I live in the part of Wilkinsburg that most would call Regent Square

You're quite right, Regent Square is kind of all in it's own little niche. I just posted an interesting article about Regent Square in the thread "Happenings in Pittsburgh" Check it out.

[jdrn]

Regent Square is a unique neighborhood. We recently moved from there after 10 years - our home was on Frick Park, technically Swissvale. Part of our street was City of Pgh, part was Swissvale - we were fortunate that our home sold in only 10 days. You must choose where you purchase very carefully. I am afraid a home in Wilkinsburg will be very difficulty to sell should you decide to relocate. The Wilkinsburg taxes are also very high I believe. While there are some beautiful homes there, in my opinion it is not as attractive an area to purchase in as the bordering areas. See a recent article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about the area below for more info. If we ever return to PA we will definitely return to Regent Square!


Regent Square an example in neighborhood vitality

[DUBshawtie412]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Nobody from Pittsburgh says "Ya'll."

ACTUALLY everybody i know in pittsburgh and from pittsburgh says yall so yea thank u very much smart 1