Quote:
Originally Posted by Wantingtostartover
Well I would say that each person is entitled to their opinion. By all means all of this is my opinion I'm not quoting anything from any books just my experiences of living in the city and its various suburbs. I don't like the ghetto either, but as far as Pgh goes the crime rate isn't that serious. We've had gangs in the past but I think the police have cracked down on that situation and it isn't as bad as it was in the 80's. As far as ghettos in Pgh I'll list some for you that i know of and i'll list places that are nice and far from the ghetto..........What some people may call ghetto: Clairton, Duquesne, Hill District, North Side, Homewood, Wilkinsburg, Hazelwood, East Liberty, Mount Oliver, Braddock, New Kensington, McKeesport, But there are some parts of these suburbs where its far from the ghetto and have nice white neighborhoods its based on certain streets and parts of the city that are really nice and upscale looking but there is a large part looking from the outside in that would be considered ghetto............Definite nice areas are Shadyside (really pricey but nice area), Squirrel Hill (large jewish community and really pricey), Mount Washington (really pricey and hilly but beautiful landscaping), Greentree(moderately priced but near highways), Turtle Creek(Small quaint quiet town near many outlets and major highways), Monroeville (nice area, reasonable priced near highways and turnpike), Penn Hills (moderately priced homes and apts some bad parts but mostly homes and many hills in this area), South Side (many new condos and lofts have been recently built here), Downtown Pittsburgh (pricey new lofts have been recently built in downtown and near downtown), Murrysville (near highways), Fox Chapel (near highways), Millvale(near highways), Tarentum(near highways), Homestead (near highways has some bad parts but reasonable priced homes in certain areas and a lot of new condos and apts being built here also), i hope this helps........I try to be very open but i really can't say too many positive things about Pgh.  |
Wow there are a
lot of inaccuracies in your post...especially for a newcomer reading them. I'll try to list 'some' of them.
1) I live in Clairton; I am intimately familiar with Duqusne and McKeesport (sister grew up in Duquesne, I went to high school in McKeesport). First of all, I don't know why these cities even come up in conversation about
Pittsburgh ghettos; I had to drive to downtown yesterday from Clairton during rush hour and it took me 1 1/4 hours to get to the Northside from here. These are
economically depressed cities in the Mon Valley that anyone relocating to the Pittsburgh area should not consider not because they are "ghettos" but because they are "skeleton towns" (my own term) that do not have anything going on in them - and they are
too far from most of what Pittsburgh has to offer. I can go outside now and take pictures all around Clairton and you won't see anyone outside hardly (except old people and a few losers here and there). From what I see...the younger people are a bit out of control and the young adults engage in crime.
But the populations here are so small that if you are not directly connected you never see any of it. You don't see too much of anything else either -- like grocery stores (Clairton used to have 4 when I was growing up, now we have 0) or ATMs.
McKeesport's problem is that they were a large Mon-Valley city at one time that has hemorrhaged out it's population so there are a lot of empty neighborhoods...streets...just looks all around abandoned and terrible. That's just sort of creepy...not an all out ghetto. The Projects in McKeesport and the lower parts do have crime problems. Again though...there's no one who would move there...unless you are searching for a 5K house that is on the verge of being condemned.
When these cities were booming (from the 1940s to the 1960s), if you lived in McKeesport or Clairton or Duquesne...there was no reason for you to go to Pittsburgh hardly ever. They were built around operating separately from Pittsburgh and now in 2008 people wish to lump them together with other Pittsburgh suburbs...it's very odd. From someone who was born and raised here...yeah it's very odd...no matter what the "technical definition" of a "suburb" is.
2) In Squirrel Hill and Mount Washington, there are enough places to live that are not pricey at all. I have 3 friends in Mt. Washington...two rent for less than $600/mo and one purchased their home for $165,000.00 in 2006. In Squirrel Hill, I know about 4 people who rent...no one pays more than $800/mo. Bargain prices really.
3) Homestead is along the same lines as McKeesport in many ways; it's a step up...but that's because of the Waterfront. Steel Valley schools are still
and they have their share of crime problems as well. Lots of the "problem kids" from Clairton, Duquesne & McKeesport roll with kids from Homestead (and West Mifflin too....although it's such a small share of the West Mifflin population...it doesn't give West Mifflin a bad reputation).
4) I am not familiar with Penn Hills, but I do know when McKeesport and Penn Hills kids would have a sporting event or otherwise mingle somehow...their was always talk of running into the "Penn Hills gangs" and also there was a lot of fighting (like a couple instances per year) between McKeesport and Penn Hills kids getting into it. Hmmmm....we never had that problem with Norwin
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02-07-2008, 10:59 AM
thanks!
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