Homewood's "Killing Fields" are being demolished (Wilkinsburg: suburban, place)

[Uptown kid]

Here's another place that bit the dust in 2012, Reed Roberts Manor (a section 8 complex on Reed Roberts Place off Reed Street in the Hill where Dejuan Blair is from and is still seen on google maps)... The video features the Reed Rude Boyz set if the Hill District Bloods, and despite Reed Roberts (as well as mist of the Hill) being an area for open drug dealing that group was a homegrown gang that dominated the drug sale in and different places outside the five Reed Roberts Manor buildings. Reed Rude Boys Hill District Pittsburgh PA - YouTube (really beings around 04:20 like 7500 Formisa Way Crips there's a rap video lol)

I'll try to find one of Emore Square too before its erased off of Googlemaps street view, and disregard part of my first post as East Liberty Gardens and Bentley Drive will stay up for at least a couple more years.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by alleghenyangel

Alley houses are awesome. I don't see the point in demolishing them.

I like alleys in general due the infrequency of cars driving down them makes them feel a bit more of a public space. I actually like the hominess of some of the less blighted alleys in my part of Lawrenceville (like Banner Way) for that reason. But generally speaking, the size of the houses, along with total lack of outside space, means that it's really only in the most gentrified neighborhoods they are in high desire as anything but rentals for poor people. And even in places like Lawrenceville or South Side, much of the alley housing has been turned into rentals targeting another low-income group - students.

Anyway, my only point is if you're going to have demolitions, it's better to knock down a house (or a whole row even) which sits in an alley over destroying a row in prominent sight (or a faded glory along a main thoroughfare). If I had some science fiction nanoconstructors or something, I'd demo all the Homewood alley houses, but restore the missing rows along places like Frankstown and move everyone who was in an alley house into one.

Originally Posted by alleghenyangel

If you're going to demolish anything, start with the new vinyl sided junk they are putting up in places like Garfield.

Garfield really is doing the whole infill thing terribly - particularly when compared to someplace like Manchester, where if you don't look too carefully the new construction (well, newer than the 80s anyway) blends seamlessly). I actually think the atrocious suburban-style infill is going to make it harder for the supposed inevitable gentrification of Garfield to ever happen, as it's slowly destroying the remaining charm much of the area had.

[sealie]

Don't know if this already got posted here, but Ricky Burgess walked Rachel Maddow through the area and talked about how it got that way, and what it was like for him growing up. People might find this interesting.
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26315908/vp/42939091#42939091

[SorryIMovedBack]

^ (@ the Homewood alley video) Hey, councilman dude, isn't your true problem the black community's inability to control your own people and your own culture of increasing savagery and violence and black-on-black crime? Haha @ the all of the gunplay and murders happen because the Republicans who control the state of PA pander to the gun owners and gun industry. If you don't like what you spawned, and the kind of urban blight and deserted neighborhoods you created, then how about YOU do something about it for a change! I am sick and tired of how much help and resources have already been squandered on disruptive and antisocial people.

Instead of tearing down more buildings, shouldn't we be clearing the decks of violent criminals.

[sealie]

I considered suggesting this, and decided against it, but if people are interested in the video and want to avoid the politics, he doesn't start talking about gun control until about 4:00 in. I thought it was informative. I will ignore for the moment the suggestion that "you" (i.e. the Councilman) spawned the situation, as though being a black resident of Homewood he is responsible for every action of every other black man in Pittsburgh, because it strikes me as not a particularly fruitful discussion topic.

[Uptown kid]

Originally Posted by sealie

Don't know if this already got posted here, but Ricky Burgess walked Rachel Maddow through the area and talked about how it got that way, and what it was like for him growing up. People might find this interesting.
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26315908/vp/42939091#42939091

The link below was in response to that video, though nice job I couldn't find that video...
Is Pittsburgh America's Most Livable City? Pt 2 - YouTube

[PreservationPioneer]

Originally Posted by eschaton

I actually like the hominess of some of the less blighted alleys in my part of Lawrenceville (like Banner Way) for that reason. But generally speaking, the size of the houses, along with total lack of outside space, means that it's really only in the most gentrified neighborhoods they are in high desire as anything but rentals for poor people. And even in places like Lawrenceville or South Side, much of the alley housing has been turned into rentals targeting another low-income group - students.

What's wrong with having housing for low income groups? That's what small houses are intended for. Destroying houses that are affordable to working class people means you are changing the character of the neighborhood to support only a high income lifestyle -- not good. Also, alley houses are distinctive and urban, which is the character that neighborhoods like Lawrenceville, Manchester, etc. need to embrace if they want young people to find them appealing. Young people don't always have big bucks, and they probably don't care about yards or having a particularly big house, so alley houses would seem an ideal way to attract young people, or older empty nesters, who want an urban home.

Garfield really is doing the whole infill thing terribly - particularly when compared to someplace like Manchester, where if you don't look too carefully the new construction (well, newer than the 80s anyway) blends seamlessly). I actually think the atrocious suburban-style infill is going to make it harder for the supposed inevitable gentrification of Garfield to ever happen, as it's slowly destroying the remaining charm much of the area had.

I totally agree. You have early 20th century row houses on one corner, and right next to it you have a suburban style vinyl McRanch with a setback from the street. It looks awful and totally out of place. There is no consistency.

[sealie]

Some of the people asking for the demolition of those houses were the people living in Homewood, who said that they were blighted and unsafe and abandoned and a place where illegal and unsafe activities were being conducted. I can understand mourning the piece of history you lose when a building gets leveled, I can even understand mourning the lack of housing, but when people who live there say that this is what they want, this is what will make their neighborhood safer, and that there is way more housing in the area than people who want to live there, I think it's more defensible.

[sherilyns]

Originally Posted by SorryIMovedBack

^ (@ the Homewood alley video) Hey, councilman dude, isn't your true problem the black community's inability to control your own people and your own culture of increasing savagery and violence and black-on-black crime? Haha @ the all of the gunplay and murders happen because the Republicans who control the state of PA pander to the gun owners and gun industry. If you don't like what you spawned, and the kind of urban blight and deserted neighborhoods you created, then how about YOU do something about it for a change! I am sick and tired of how much help and resources have already been squandered on disruptive and antisocial people.

Instead of tearing down more buildings, shouldn't we be clearing the decks of violent criminals.

Did you seriously just call black people savages?

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by alleghenyangel

What's wrong with having housing for low income groups? That's what small houses are intended for. Destroying houses that are affordable to working class people means you are changing the character of the neighborhood to support only a high income lifestyle -- not good. Also, alley houses are distinctive and urban, which is the character that neighborhoods like Lawrenceville, Manchester, etc. need to embrace if they want young people to find them appealing. Young people don't always have big bucks, and they probably don't care about yards or having a particularly big house, so alley houses would seem an ideal way to attract young people, or older empty nesters, who want an urban home.

All I'm saying is in a distressed neighborhood like Homewood if you have to raze some buildings, and save others, it's best to save the buildings on the primary/secondary streets, and raze the buildings in the alleys. This is because:

1. In non-gentrified neighborhoods, it will be much harder to keep alley houses occupied.
2. Allowing the street-facing housing to have access to full backyards (allowing for rear parking or just more private space) improves the desirability of those locations.
3. You can demolish alley housing without wrecking the streetscape of a neighborhood. A good example of this is in Hazelwood on Blair Street. There is a completely intact row on the west-facing side of the street which is 25 houses. The alley behind this row originally had a full row of housing as well, but only one rowhouse is still standing. Unless you went down the alley, you'd never notice it. It's great for that owner that the rowhouse is still standing, but all things considered, if it could have been demolished and a now-missing gap elsewhere (like nearby W Elizabeth) was retained, you'd retain the same number of units while also maintaining the historic look of a neighborhood.

Originally Posted by alleghenyangel

I totally agree. You have early 20th century row houses on one corner, and right next to it you have a suburban style vinyl McRanch with a setback from the street. It looks awful and totally out of place. There is no consistency.

I think the problem is the Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation does these jobs on the cheap, and doesn't bother hiring architects - just letting the builder come up with the design. Builder's will adjust the design a bit to meet the lot requirements, but generally don't take a neighborhood into context.

Still, while I'm not a fan of houses like this or this, I don't think any modern ranch housing is being built in Garfield now - the only ranches were from the 1950s and 1960s. They're also at least putting the parking in the rear, facing the alleys, so there is some minimal context. They are all characterless vinyl siding boxes though.