What do suburbanites think of Pittsburgh city? (McMurray, St. Clair: 2014, attorneys)

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by lifepgh2op

I saw this and had to share. OG is coming to the big city tomorrow to pass out them sammiches. Better get on 279 extra early so yins get one... Olive Garden's Breadstick Nation food truck rolls into Pittsburgh | Local News - WTAE Home

I'll happily pay for one as I'm sure "yins" will be lined up a long way for them.

[Merge]

Originally Posted by Tallysmom

Oh, well... sorry. I was only living there, and my father was a township supervisor. I guess I don't know what I am talking about...

Yes. But it's understandable that you didn't know that. If you took a poll, I believe that you'd find that very few would know when the plan for I-279 was approved... INCLUDING people like you who actually lived above that corridor and had a close relative in local government! It shows just how little folks actually know about local government and their own region.

[Merge]

Originally Posted by analog808

To answer the OP's question: We live in Cranberry Twp, but we love the city and try to make it out there at least once a month. I used to work in Oakland and loved working there. The city has a lot of things that Cranberry Twp pales in comparison (food choices, music/art festivals, museums, concerts, architecture, central gathering areas, a lively vibe), however we chose to live in Cranberry because we are a family of 5, and economically it made sense.

It's like this:

When I am in the city, I look around and think "wow, this is just a really neat place to spend time at".
When I am at home sitting on the deck, I look around and think "wow this is a really nice place to relax and live". I'd be happy at either place. Just in the current life situation, Cranberry Twp makes more sense.

Plus the schools are very good!

[bluecarebear]

Originally Posted by Moby Hick

I'm just saying we should discuss it. It's hardly a settled question. If it ended a short of Pittsburgh, the T could run out there to a Park and Ride off Mt. Nebo or something.

Or take the T up past Bellevue to Beaver County. There are a ton of rentals there. Maybe even cross the river to connect with the airport. The area could capitalize on who is moving here, singles for school and work.

[eschaton]

This thread has gotten quite silly.

Honestly, I think the city/suburb division is far less than I've seen in many other metros. This is because Pittsburgh is, as core cities go, pretty mixed both economically and ethnically. It's not one of those cities almost entirely comprised of lower-income minority neighborhoods. Even the most sheltered suburbanites know that neighborhoods like Squirrel Hill and Shadyside exist, and thus aren't wont to engage in broad stereotypes about the city as being nothing but a cesspool of crime and bad schools. Indeed, while in part it is because of the averaging together of many disparate areas, Pittsburgh is neither the highest crime municipality in the county, nor does it have the worst schools.

At the same time, Pittsburgh's "suburbs" are pretty mixed. Some of them, like Millvale or Homestead, are more urban in built structure than over half of the city. Many of the Mon Valley towns are significantly poorer than the city. Even classic suburbs to the east of the city are in much worse shape now by some social metrics than the city at large. Penn Hills and Woodland Hills, for example, are now significantly worse school districts than Pittsburgh Public Schools.

The bottom line is you can almost look at the City of Pittsburgh as being an arbitrary chunk of the core of Allegheny County. Yes it has older building stock, and more "urban" issues than average for the county at large, but it's not like all the problems are concentrated there. Honestly I feel like there is more inter-suburban rivalries (North Hills people talking smack on South Hills and the like) than there is any animosity towards the City.

[WhoIsStanwix?]

Originally Posted by eschaton

This thread has gotten quite silly.

Honestly, I think the city/suburb division is far less than I've seen in many other metros. This is because Pittsburgh is, as core cities go, pretty mixed both economically and ethnically. It's not one of those cities almost entirely comprised of lower-income minority neighborhoods. Even the most sheltered suburbanites know that neighborhoods like Squirrel Hill and Shadyside exist, and thus aren't wont to engage in broad stereotypes about the city as being nothing but a cesspool of crime and bad schools. Indeed, while in part it is because of the averaging together of many disparate areas, Pittsburgh is neither the highest crime municipality in the county, nor does it have the worst schools.

At the same time, Pittsburgh's "suburbs" are pretty mixed. Some of them, like Millvale or Homestead, are more urban in built structure than over half of the city. Many of the Mon Valley towns are significantly poorer than the city. Even classic suburbs to the east of the city are in much worse shape now by some social metrics than the city at large. Penn Hills and Woodland Hills, for example, are now significantly worse school districts than Pittsburgh Public Schools.

The bottom line is you can almost look at the City of Pittsburgh as being an arbitrary chunk of the core of Allegheny County. Yes it has older building stock, and more "urban" issues than average for the county at large, but it's not like all the problems are concentrated there. Honestly I feel like there is more inter-suburban rivalries (North Hills people talking smack on South Hills and the like) than there is any animosity towards the City.

Agree. I will add that the division and rivalry between city-dwellers and suburbanites on Pittsburgh's C-D forum is not at all representative of my experience in real life.

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by WhoIsStanwix?

Agree. I will add that the division and rivalry between city-dwellers and suburbanites on Pittsburgh's C-D forum is not at all representative of my experience in real life.

Word. Never heard of any disdain towards the burbs, and especially Cranberry except here.

[ronin3]

Originally Posted by lifepgh2op

I have to say that the suburbs vs. city thing on this forum is really weird. I do not visit other forums to know if this exists elsewhere, but in person I have never witnessed a debate anywhere on this. It's a world-wide, understood concept that where major cities exist, suburbs do, as well. I don't see that disappearing anytime soon.

This my experience too. Outside of this forum and maybe the Pittsburgh subreddit (which I'm sure share some of the same users) no one seems to really care who lives where. Quite simply I can count on one hand the number of times I've heard someone insisting the suburbs or the city are better offline.

It's really not a big deal to the majority of the population.

[Geeo]

Not a big deal for me. Having grown up in the suburbs and living in the city for several decades, I am able to float seamlessly between both worlds. Why, I can even go to the mall without anyone realizing where I really came from. I regularly visit friends in the North Hills if I know the path. But I do tend to get lost if I'm going somewhere new, since the suburbs' street grid (or lack thereof) is just as confusing as the city's.

[Q-tip motha]

Originally Posted by norcider

I have many suburbanite friends, some even moved upstream from the city to spawn. When we get together for the mixed (burbanites and old friends some of which still live in the city) I will get the blank, burbanite stare when I answer where my house is. Or sometimes I get the, "Wow! Are you in a safe area?" type response. As if i'm fighting off the Mongol hordes every day I leave my house. To flip it, it would be like me asking where somebody lives, only to give them an exaggerated wow response to "Ross Township". OMG, what's it like? Do you see strip malls and buffets every day? Haha! It's perception and what somebody is used to. I don't really have anything against suburbanites unless they have a chip on their shoulder.

I observe this all the time as well.

My coworkers who are primarily from beyond the burbs think I have some kind of street smarts because I live in such a "dangerous" area.

Its called "don't deal drugs or join a gang, and mind your own business". Crime is rarely random in the city. The home invasions that I hear about on the news seem to be drug related when they occur here, and are more random in the burbs.

If someone wants to live in communities like Cranberry or McMurray that is their prerogative, but it isn't for me. It isn't the homogeneous layout of the communities of the burbs that I find to be unlikable. Its the people. As a general rule they are paranoid, unfriendly, and unappreciative. That would seem counter intuitive given the money/alleged higher quality of life/lower population density, but its what I've observed in the eight years that I've lived and worked in Pittsburgh.