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There has been some nomadic gangs too. From the rocks to california for example. Crestas was never too bad from what I am told, maybe they arte getting some immigrants from braddock and or duquesne
There has been some nomadic gangs too. From the rocks to california for example. Crestas was never too bad from what I am told, maybe they arte getting some immigrants from braddock and or duquesne
Yeah there are no more nomadic gangs, however gang members branch of to sell drugs all over the city/suburbs. I know there was "Detroit to Pittsburgh" back in the day though... Crestas Terrace/Rolling Woods was more gang active in the 90's when people from Braddock moved and they were affiated with the 187 Dubble Deucce Crips... Now it's just upstarts (similar to how SugarTop was legit and now they're just upstarts like the ones opperating in Lincoln Park/Eastwood, Penn Hills)...
This is why I don't think East Liberty is ready to be recommended as a place to live to anyone but urban pioneers .
It's a visit during the daytime sort of place for most people at this point.
It pains my heart to see these areas displayed on maps like the OP posted, because these used to be very nice neighborhoods a long time ago, and the overall infrastructure is still intact (although in need of repair). I don't particularly care for the word "gentrification", though I champion it's implications.
If people want to move into these neighborhoods and truly "gentrify" them, then P.C. apathy....in the name of being P.C., and reliance on the police in these places to curb the current roadblocks just aren't going to cut it. Buying a beautiful early 20th century home in Wilkinsburg, Penn Hills, or anywhere else in these areas, fixing it up, and then poo-pooing and minimizing the stark reality of the violence and crime surrounding you makes for a long way to your aspirations for the community you just invested in coming to real fruition.
Regardless of someone's best intentions, investing in these areas means that you're basically on your own. The police aren't going to be of assistance to you or anyone else in the gentrification process. You need an alliance of like-minded, progressive individuals to enforce your vision of what you want your community to become. You need to organize and take to the streets....literally....and clean up the "mess" yourselves.
Regardless of someone's best intentions, investing in these areas means that you're basically on your own. The police aren't going to be of assistance to you or anyone else in the gentrification process. You need an alliance of like-minded, progressive individuals to enforce your vision of what you want your community to become. You need to organize and take to the streets....literally....and clean up the "mess" yourselves.
Blatant in your face racism. You want the prices of the ghetto but you want the current residents who create those prices gone.
Regardless of someone's best intentions, investing in these areas means that you're basically on your own. The police aren't going to be of assistance to you or anyone else in the gentrification process. You need an alliance of like-minded, progressive individuals to enforce your vision of what you want your community to become. You need to organize and take to the streets....literally....and clean up the "mess" yourselves.
This is true and not true. For an area like East Liberty, there are beat cops, paid for by real estate development groups (just as a bar owner would), that walk the neighborhood to make sure things are cool. This is mostly during the warmer weather months. This happened after the 2 neighborhood homicides. Both were inner-personal.
Unfortunately, the police were supposed to be at the Pee Wee football game at Peabody and they weren't. Neighbors banded together and they likely have the games canceled from that location in the future. Most of the people involved in this football league aren't from the neighborhood and they come in from outside and treat it like Heinz Field parking lot. A guy from Wilkinsburg shot another guy from Wilkinsburg after getting into an argument and hit two innocent people in the cross fire.
As far as "taking to the streets" there are regular garbage and litter clean ups. The last one encompassed Garfield and East Liberty and had dozens of volunteers. There are also tree plantings twice a year and there are 40-50 people who participate and hundreds of street trees are planted.
Now there's a group working on getting a playground in the neighborhood.
There's also a very large community garden that started just a year or so ago.
As far as "taking to the streets" there are regular garbage and litter clean ups. The last one encompassed Garfield and East Liberty and had dozens of volunteers.
I have seen them out there cleaning the mess. They didn't look like they were from the neighborhood, which was interesting. I thanked them as I rode by on my bike and told them it looked great. Sadly, a week later it looks similar to before they started. East Liberty has been litter filled for one heck of a lot of time.
This is true and not true. For an area like East Liberty, there are beat cops, paid for by real estate development groups (just as a bar owner would), that walk the neighborhood to make sure things are cool. This is mostly during the warmer weather months. This happened after the 2 neighborhood homicides. Both were inner-personal.
Unfortunately, the police were supposed to be at the Pee Wee football game at Peabody and they weren't. Neighbors banded together and they likely have the games canceled from that location in the future. Most of the people involved in this football league aren't from the neighborhood and they come in from outside and treat it like Heinz Field parking lot. A guy from Wilkinsburg shot another guy from Wilkinsburg after getting into an argument and hit two innocent people in the cross fire.
As far as "taking to the streets" there are regular garbage and litter clean ups. The last one encompassed Garfield and East Liberty and had dozens of volunteers. There are also tree plantings twice a year and there are 40-50 people who participate and hundreds of street trees are planted.
Now there's a group working on getting a playground in the neighborhood.
There's also a very large community garden that started just a year or so ago.
I personally just can't envision how these thugs can't have consciences. It's one thing to pull a gun and kill a rival gang member while feeling no semblance of remorse due to years of conditioning to feel as if your target was "the enemy" instead of a human being loved and cherished by a mother, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends, etc. However, if you shoot, miss, and instead fatally wound a smiling grandmother, who was just watching her grandchild play football, sitting nearby, then how could you just shrug your shoulders and think "collateral damage"? How would they feel if one of their friends accidentally shot their own grandmother while trying to shoot a rival gang member?
I guess being a white person I just don't know if I'll ever be able to comprehend how things go down in the 'hood. Not that I condone gang-related violence, but I'm apathetic towards thugs killing each other as long as they are squarely focused on one another and work to keep innocent civilians out of it. I just want to live in Pittsburgh without fear of being randomly shot in the back of the head as a Blood and a Crip try to intimidate one another. Recently, though, there seems to be an alarming trend here of these thugs not caring if they kill bystanders in the process as long as they prove a point or something. Is this a "new breed" of thug? If I so much as step on a caterpillar by accident while running on the North Shore Trail I nearly cry. I couldn't imagine blowing an old lady away at a kids' football game by accident and not losing any sleep over it.
Were they wearing traditional Inca costume? Sporting Cleveland Browns gear? Looking at GPS units like they were lost?
Well, in h_curtis's defense if I saw a group of white yuppies cleaning litter along Bedford Avenue in the Middle Hill I'd also presume they "weren't from the neighborhood". Likewise if I saw a group of African-Americans cleaning litter in Brentwood I'd presume the same thing. Politically correct East Enders like to pretend they're "color blind", but many of our neighborhoods DO remain largely segregated along racial lines. The map someone posted in another thread that showed colored dots to represent the racial distribution throughout our city was shocking. In many cases ONE STREET makes the difference between nearly all white and nearly all black.
Politically correct East Enders like to pretend they're "color blind", but many of our neighborhoods DO remain largely segregated along racial lines.
And East Liberty is one of those neighborhoods that is not largely segregated, at least at the level of the neighborhood.
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