Homewood (Pittsburgh, Plum, Millvale: 2009, credit, cheap house)

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Nancysdale

As with every neighborhood, you have good and bad people. I too grow weary of Homewood being labled as horrific.

And I grow weary of people whitewashing the very real problems of places like Homewood with silly equivalencies like "as with every neighborhood you have good and bad people," as if the proportions of good versus bad people has no impact whatsoever on a neighborhood's overall quality of life. As long as people are unwilling to admit that problems are far worse in some places than others, then those problems won't receive the attention and resources they deserve and they will never be addressed.

Even if you are never directly affected by crime, it still impacts people indirectly in many ways. It creates obvious quality of life issues in the neighborhoods where it's prominent. It depresses property values and development. It makes it more difficult to provide services. It destroys employment opportunities. It makes it more difficult to focus on important things like education, nutrition and health care. And a lot of the people it supposedly doesn't affect directly are heavily impacted when it happens to a son, brother, neighbor, friend, et cetera. Once crime reaches a certain threshold, it casts a degree of fatalism on many members of the community. It kills hope, even among those who are supposedly not "directly" impacted by it. Not to mention it's a lot harder for parents in high-crime areas to keep their kids on the right side of the line and keep them from being one of the 70% who's up to something and has it cost him his life or limb.

And these are all issues that Homewood is wrestling with more than any neighborhood should have to. It's long past time we were willing to honestly acknowledge that. There's a lot more at stake when assessing a neighborhood than whether you think you, personally, are going to be shot or robbed or whatever.

[Nancysdale]

[quote=Drover;8706822]And I grow weary of people whitewashing the very real problems of places like Homewood with silly equivalencies like "as with every neighborhood you have good and bad people," as if the proportions of good versus bad people has no impact whatsoever on a neighborhood's overall quality of life.

So...just bomb the neighborhood (or is it silly to call it a neigborhood?) and negate the people who live there who do fight against the drugs, crime etc. Tell them all, sorry you don't have enough money to afford to move to the more expensive parts of town so, yes, your area has problems, acknowledge that and get used to folks talking about where you live and accept the truth. Here's what we will do to help you: Tear down the new elementary school named for one of the most caring teachers/principals any town ever had. Tear down the newly remodeled library where classes are held to help people improve their reading skills. Send the wrecking ball towards the new homes that have been built and brought working people into the community. Demolish the new YMCA and the new community center! How about we stop the transportation system from running thru Homewood. It's not like anybody needs to get to work. Your byline says something about "apathy". If "good" people don't move in and maintain a stance everything will fall. I'd rather be assumed to be a whitewasher than to show myself to be foolish as you have. I am not oblivious to the problems but they won't be solved by saying in a Tarzanesq voice - HOMEWOOD BAD...DON'T GO THERE. Nobody ever said there were not problems in Homewood but I am (still) quite tired of Homewood being labeled as the worst of the worst. Crime exists to some extent in all neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, if not, the Pittsburgh police department would not have five zones situated throughtout the city. All of the officers would be camped in Homewood! I work in the field of criminal justice every day. I have been touched by crime more than you will ever know. But I would not make pointless statements that you have made. I stand by my statement that there are good people in Homewood. I am not afraid to walk or drive down streets there nor are a lot of other people.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Nancysdale

So...just bomb the neighborhood (or is it silly to call it a neigborhood?) and negate the people who live there who do fight against the drugs, crime etc. Tell them all, sorry you don't have enough money to afford to move to the more expensive parts of town so, yes, your area has problems, acknowledge that and get used to folks talking about where you live and accept the truth. Here's what we will do to help you: Tear down the new elementary school named for one of the most caring teachers/principals any town ever had. Tear down the newly remodeled library where classes are held to help people improve their reading skills. Send the wrecking ball towards the new homes that have been built and brought working people into the community. Demolish the new YMCA and the new community center! How about we stop the transportation system from running thru Homewood. It's not like anybody needs to get to work. .

Yes, I can easily see how you would infer all of this from what I said. In fact I might as well have just said "bulldoze the entire neighborhood and pave it into a giant parking lot." Gee, why didn't I think of that?

Hyperreactions like this is why it's impossible to even have a constructive dialog on the issue much less try to arrive at a consensus as to what to do about it. People like you who shut down dialog with hyperbolic rhetoric ensure that Homewood will stay what it is. So I hope you like it the way it is.

[Nancysdale]

I'll apologize for the hair trigger temper.

[captaincroaker]

This is seriously one of the most upsetting things i've ever read. I'm white. I go to homewood all the time. There are some really nice people in Homewood, and it has a lot of great community programs. There are people who commit crimes everywhere, and sure, there are more concentrated in those areas, but locking your doors when you drive through? Give me a break. That's just pure prejudice. Ho's and thugs and god knows what else lined up on the streets? Obviously if they were packing the streets, and there were barbeque's lined up, they were having a barbeque. How ignorant do all of you people have to be to judge others just because of the area that they live in. Not everyone in homewood is a "thug". Give people a chance.

Edit: Looks like Nancysdale beat me to it, and she shouldn't have to apologize for anything. It's impossible to argue with people like Drover, who have no experience whatsoever with areas like this, and base their opinions soley on things they see in the news.

[Drover]

You don't have a clue what my experiences are and are not and you don't know what my opinions are based on either, as evidenced by how you characterize my opinion on people who live in places like Homewood. So stick to speaking for yourself and don't speak for me. If you want to make the argument about me, PM me and we can discuss it there. On here, stick to the subject.

[captaincroaker]

I apologize, Drover, please enlighten me as to what your experiences were that were so horrible that you have decided that an entire neighborhood is a horrible place, and that no matter what the people who do choose to do right who live in the neighborhood try to do about it, it will continue to be a horrible place.

[Drover]

Ask me a question that isn't packed with false premises and maybe I'll bother to answer it.

[captaincroaker]

Packed with false premises? I just want to know why you think that there is no help for an entire neighborhood.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by captaincroaker

Packed with false premises? I just want to know why you think that there is no help for an entire neighborhood.

Yet another question that asks me to answer to a premise I have neither assumed nor asserted. Get back to me when you can ask a question that doesn't assume anything about me, my experiences, my assumptions, et cetera.

In fact, don't bother. I'm already tired of this.