Where is the Ghetto? (Pittsburgh, Wilkinsburg: highrise, motel, homes)

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by vwscottie

I agree, simply walking around Shadyside, East Liberty and other eastern neighborhoods you see signs (grafitti) of a few gangs, one of the more prominent being the "East End Kidz". I watched a tv interview with an officer from the LAPD once and he was indicating that one thing to watch for when moving into a neighborhood is sneekers hanging from electric powerlines, which he claimed is a sign for drug activity. Turn off of Center Avenue on to Highland and head south, and that's what you'll find just past the entrance to Borders.

The sneaker thing is an extremely popular and oft quoted urban myth. It isn't true -- or if it had been true at one time, hasn't been for a long time. I know because that started happening in my neighborhood and I freaked -- I spend a lot of time at home alone, and I didn't need that among the other crap I deal with....

a little reseach calmed me right down. Urban Legends Reference Pages: Sneakers on Power Lines

[fleetiebelle]

The shoe thing was huge in the student neighborhood where I went to college--basically the shoes on the powerline meant that the students there threw good parties. I was kind of shocked to learn that powerline shoes have gang connotations to some people.

[Seaharbour]

I was kind of shocked to learn that powerline shoes have gang connotations to some people.

surely this is somewhere else and not in pgh? Pgh crime does not even begin to compare with other cities its size, it is much milder and less frequent than most other areas too.

[vwscottie]

Originally Posted by Tallysmom

The sneaker thing is an extremely popular and oft quoted urban myth. It isn't true -- or if it had been true at one time, hasn't been for a long time.

Well, if you say so....I saw this on the Today show, it was an LAPD officer who was helping do a segment on how gangs have moved into middle, and upper middle class neighborhoods. It was around a year ago that I saw it too.

[Drover]

Gangs have been moving into middle-class neighborhoods for decades. That's nothing new. It's not like Homewood was built to be a ghetto. The Wilkinsburgh city founders didn't think to themselves, "boy, we can't wait for our city to become a run-down, gang-ridden pit as soon as our work is done!" These were middle-class neighborhoods once upon a time. Some parts of Highland Park and East Liberty used to be upper-class neighborhoods (think of the many once-grand homes that have since been converted to 4-, 5- and 6-flats) but have slipped in class stature all the way down to the lower and middle-lower class.

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by Drover

Gangs have been moving into middle-class neighborhoods for decades. That's nothing new. It's not like Homewood was built to be a ghetto. The Wilkinsburgh city founders didn't think to themselves, "boy, we can't wait for our city to become a run-down, gang-ridden pit as soon as our work is done!" These were middle-class neighborhoods once upon a time. Some parts of Highland Park and East Liberty used to be upper-class neighborhoods (think of the many once-grand homes that have since been converted to 4-, 5- and 6-flats) but have slipped in class stature all the way down to the lower and middle-lower class.

I'm watching just what you are talking about in action where I work. When we moved here, San Leandro was an upper middle class enclave that has gone down to lower middle class and is now going farther down the drain. Forget sneakers on the wire -- learn your graffitti markings.

Where I work gang tagging is up -- WAY up. One fine Monday I spent an hour and half cleaning Sharpie written Nortenos tagging off my elevator walls. ALL FOUR ELEVATORS. (WD-40 is a miracle!)

As little as a year ago my building was fine, but in the past year I've seen people drinking in the hallways (condos) in the AM. It no longer shocks me. Two months ago, I stopped a break in on a second level condo balcony. And about a month ago, a guy dressed as a UPS driver got into the building, knocked on a door and robbed the family at gunpoint.

[MarinoG711]

This is one of the worst threads I have read on here... I cant believe that people are quoting what they saw on tv and relating it to real life... You cant believe everything on tv and the media.. We all know how media can blow things out of proportion... People in Western PA in general (not all people) are doing too much assuming and using stereotypes to determine things.. Boarded up house does not mean ghetto bad neighborhood... Black and Hispanic kids with baggy clothing walking down the street does not mean ghetto neighborhood... Shoes hanging on the wires does not mean gang infested neighborhood with crack houses... Grafitti does not mean gang related bad neighborhood... Kids growing up watch tv and listen to hip hop and imitate what they see in hear... I see graf and shoes hanging from wires in shadyside and small towns all over... I highly doubt it is gang related...

[Drover]

Yeah, well, most of the people who have commented in this thread aren't just quoting what they saw on TV and relating it to real life. Most of us live within very easy striking distance of ghettos. And while any one of the criteria you list, individually, may not spell ghetto, add them up and you're quite likely to have a ghetto (except for the shoes on the overhead wires thing). True enough that just because it walks like a duck doesn't necessarily mean it's a duck. But if it looks, walks, talks, sounds, acts, smells and tastes like a duck........ guess what, it's probably a duck. I'm only willing to toss so many assumptions aside before prior knowledge, experience and instinct kicks and says "those assumptions exist for a reason and I ignore them at my own peril."

[chloride1]

Actually, East Liberty is up and coming, with the new Giant Eagle, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Borders, the planned Bakery Square development, etc. Also, it is near Oakland, Shadyside, Friendship, Bloomfield, etc. Yes, there is some poverty.

[vwscottie]

Originally Posted by MarinoG711

This is one of the worst threads I have read on here... I cant believe that people are quoting what they saw on tv and relating it to real life... You cant believe everything on tv and the media.. We all know how media can blow things out of proportion... People in Western PA in general (not all people) are doing too much assuming and using stereotypes to determine things.. Boarded up house does not mean ghetto bad neighborhood... Black and Hispanic kids with baggy clothing walking down the street does not mean ghetto neighborhood... Shoes hanging on the wires does not mean gang infested neighborhood with crack houses... Grafitti does not mean gang related bad neighborhood... Kids growing up watch tv and listen to hip hop and imitate what they see in hear... I see graf and shoes hanging from wires in shadyside and small towns all over... I highly doubt it is gang related...

It must be great to know it all......

But yeah, I'll go along with you. Quoting myself from the story I saw from a current LAPD officer and Nevada State Trooper on the Today Show, I'm sure thats all not true. These people, who were all at least ten year veterans of their trade, would lie or blow things out of proportion and risk their job on the police force that they represent. But hey, if you say no, thats what it must be.

Saying that grafitti doesn't signify gang presence just proves that your motive is just to try to make someone look like they don't know what they are talking about for attentions sake. Does it ALWAYS signify gang presence? No, there are people who paint or spray it just to do so, but it is also a way for gangs to mark their territory or send cryptic messages to other gangs.

Come meet up with me someday and I'll take you through East Liberty and you can decide for yourself if the homes I speak of are just here and there boarded up old homes or the sign of a community that doesn't have a whole lot of pride in themselves. Yes, things are going up and there is a move to clean it up, but there is a LONG way to go.