Anybody here hate the mills as much as me? (Pittsburgh: appointed, crime)

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by Stagger Lee

I am one of those people that think we should save a lot of our historic structures. However, the land I am talking about in New Ken and Homestead is abandoned aluminum mills, and other ugly industrial buildings. They should have been torn down 2 decades ago. THey just give the area a blight look. I don't know why the mills didn't do what the Waterfront did and build on these areas instead.

NOw if they were going to tear down the old buildings in downtown new ken with cool and historic architecture about 100 years old for a target then I would be upset. I just wish these areas could get something to come into them instead of being abandoned.

I am not 100% sure, but my mind is tickling with the memory of why those places have been left derelict.... the costs associated with the massive chemical clean up required to make the land safe to use again. Superfund sites? And isn't there a section of Neville Island that's chained off due to checmical dumping from long ago?

If that's the case than for a very long time it will far far cheaper to pull out forest that sit on virgin land than it will be reclaim old mill sites. I know here in CA it's only now becoming cost effective to clean up land. We've really reached the point of "there is only so much land".

For the good news, people are finally rebelling against the 2 hour commute to San Francisco for a 10 hour work day with a 2 hour commute home. Which can only be good news for Oakland.... heavens knows we need some good news.

[guylocke]

For the good news, people are finally rebelling against the 2 hour commute to San Francisco for a 10 hour work day with a 2 hour commute home.

People actually do this?? Do they work 4 days a week?

[Stagger Lee]

Originally Posted by Tallysmom

I am not 100% sure, but my mind is tickling with the memory of why those places have been left derelict.... the costs associated with the massive chemical clean up required to make the land safe to use again. Superfund sites? And isn't there a section of Neville Island that's chained off due to checmical dumping from long ago?

If that's the case than for a very long time it will far far cheaper to pull out forest that sit on virgin land than it will be reclaim old mill sites. I know here in CA it's only now becoming cost effective to clean up land. We've really reached the point of "there is only so much land".

For the good news, people are finally rebelling against the 2 hour commute to San Francisco for a 10 hour work day with a 2 hour commute home. Which can only be good news for Oakland.... heavens knows we need some good news.

I'm not sure if the areas of New Ken though require chemical clean up. I will have to look it up. I think most of it is alluminum factories that is abandoned now.

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by guylocke

People actually do this?? Do they work 4 days a week?

Nope -- 5 days a week. And it's something in the corporate culture out here.

When I was a bank teller -- A BANK TELLER!! -- the upper management started expecting us to attend functions after hours. At least one a week, preferable more. Now -- THEY weren't going to Chamber of Commerce mixers to tout how wonderful Bank of Walnut Creek was -- no, that was our job.

I was lucky enough to be in high demand -- I wasn't just a bank teller. I was their whole damn foreign exchange department, and the fill in for various parts of the bank. Anywhere they put me I could pick it up and run with it. I told them in no uncertain terms (with a sweet smile on my face) if I wasn't getting paid or comp time they shouldn't expect to see me at any of these things, as just like them, I had a life outside of the bank.

Most people aren't as forthright as I am, and most people out here have mortgages that are scary amounts. I can make my payment by working at McDonalds... so my ********* amount was always pretty low. But when you have to make a $3000 mortgage payment and HOA dues.... you smile and take it.

That where the commute comes into play -- the farther out you go the cheaper the houses get. So the house that costs you 700K in the immediate Bay Area, that's older and needs work, and isn't on much land and isn't in a good school district -- well -- 2 hours out you can get a bigger nicer newer house with a yard for 500K... and for a while it seems worth it.

But now since house prices are falling, and nothing is selling and the dream of 15-20% yearly appreciation has gone up in flames.... that commute is VERY HARD...

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by Stagger Lee

I'm not sure if the areas of New Ken though require chemical clean up. I will have to look it up. I think most of it is alluminum factories that is abandoned now.

There has to be a critical mass of people to shop there, too. And parking, parking, parking. Nobody likes to have to hunt for a parking place, or pay for one.

[Stagger Lee]

Originally Posted by pittnurse70

There has to be a critical mass of people to shop there, too. And parking, parking, parking. Nobody likes to have to hunt for a parking place, or pay for one.

Thing is though, New Ken has a huge old parking structure that is never used near the hospital. They could just allow that to be free parking. Also there is like I said, a enormous amount of industrial space there begging to be torn down. I also don't beleive this space is non-usable due to chemical problems with the area. I know most of those old buildings are in use for storage only. They do use them, but for storage.

I use to intern at a firm at New Ken. We did some work there that had proposals to do something with those buildings but it never fell through. I still think they could have made, or still make a waterfront like project there. There would be plenty of parking also. If you know the New Ken area you would understand that there is a substantial amount of land there to develop on.

[Katiana]

I am not very familiar with New Ken. I have a general idea of the place, though. I do not think Pittsburgh (or any other city) needs any more type of developments that have cutsey little shops, restaurants, etc. I am not sure how much more general shopping the area needs. People do like to shop close to home, so that is a factor.

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by guylocke

People actually do this?? Do they work 4 days a week?

They do it up here in Greater Scranton as well. The Scranton Times-Tribune newspaper recently did a major multi-day series about the massive residential growth that has been occurring in the nearby Pocono Mountains and how it will soon spill up I-380 into Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, pushing up land values and causing our already epidemic struggle with urban sprawl to worsen. Tens of thousands of people commute daily from Northeastern Pennsylvania to either New York City or Northern New Jersey to work due to the scarcity of white-collar career opportunities in my area coupled with the fact that it is now cost-prohibitive to purchase a home in many areas nearer to New York City unless you're earning six-figures. Monroe and Pike Counties are the fastest-growing counties in Pennsylvania, and now Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has just noticed its first year of estimated population growth in decades, a trend that is expected to continue in the upcoming years as the Poconos "fill up" and these commuter transplants look for more land to devour for housing developments and big-box stores. There are many instances in which people from my area might leave their homes at 5:30 AM and not return until 7:30 PM or even later depending on traffic on I-80. It's not at all healthy for families or for communities as a whole (as we've noticed with the spike in crime in recent years in the Poconos), but it will still occur as long as American culture thinks sprawl = "good" and that it is our "manifest destiny" of sorts to develop every square inch of natural habitats to house new structures when thousands are sitting abandoned in our urban cores.

[kpoeppel]

I don't know about you, but I don't want to live in an "urban core" with all of the corrupt government, crime, rundown housing, gangster culture, bad schools, etc.

Still...I can't see commuting 4 hours per day. That's insane.

[claremarie]

Four hours is still pushing the envelope, but there are plenty of folks here in the DC area who put in close to three hours a day commuting. On the northern Virginia forum, we get regular inquiries from potential transplants who want a new house in a good school district for $500K, and there will always be someone to tell them that Loudoun County has brand-new planned developments in that price range. The 90 minute commute to downtown DC gets glossed over, but the number of people who are willing to endure such commutes in order to get a new or "newer" house is astonishing. Many of them have never lived in DC or other major metro areas, and really haven't a clue how a daily commute like that can destroy your life. All they know is that they don't want to pay $500K for a 1950s rambler that needs a ton of work....