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Two of the three working-class white households I referenced lived in this neighborhood for decades prior to gentrification forcing them out.
Also, in regards to Penn Plaza, how many of those tenants lived in that building their entire lives? Why the racial double-standard with not only people on this sub-forum but also the mayor stepping in to smooth their gentrification-related transition while working-class whites in my neighborhood and adjacent ones are being told "thems the breaks"?
So as a poorer working-class white person I'm somehow complicit in my own impending gentrification-related demise for not being socioeconomically advantaged as other whites? Is that honestly what you're trying to say here? As a working-class white person I'm automatically more socioeconomically advantaged than an upper-middle-class black household? Please explain to me how I'm better off as a poorer white than a wealthier black in regards to the local rental market.
Sure. Anything that paints Pittsburgh in the light of anything other than "the nation's most affordable city" is dubious to those on this sub-forum who bought homes years ago and haven't been following the rapid inflation of the local rental market during that same timeframe.
You do realize it's no longer 2006, right? This city hasn't been cheap for the typical working-class renter (relative to the prevailing paltry wages of those renters who haven't seen any real wage growth in the "new and improved" economy President Obama has delivered us) for close to a decade now.
I'm talking about perceptions because that's what you are asking about. As I said, I'm not saying it is "fair" or applies specifically to you. Social Darwinism doesn't care about those things. "Work harder" is the common refrain (and that's coming from the Right, btw). If you are among the most fit you will rise to the top. If you were born white, you are seen as having gotten a fairer shot than a black person in this society. You can debate that all you want, but you won't be doing it with me.
Rents in the region are crazy in general, particularly compared to the paltry and stagnating wages of this region, but they have gone absolutely insane in the City itself - as has the cost of buying a home. There are still some true bargains available on the fringes (I have a 1k ft^2 home in Etna that was move-in ready with no major issues that I bought two years ago - my mortgage/insurance/taxes are $386/month. You and I are of similar ages/backgrounds/income). Prices are only appreciating though, and it may be time for you to settle for something now and grab something in Troy Hill, Millvale, or Etna before those prices accelerate out of your reach too. Best of luck in whatever direction you decide to go!
I DO happen to find housing prices overall in this city to remain reasonable. I have hope that us both now working two jobs to chip away at debt we'll be able to buy a home in a neighborhood like Allentown, Elliott, Troy Hill, or Brighton Heights, in three years.
Rents have appreciated more rapidly than the median wages have for the working-class during the same timeframe, though, and the fact that nobody on here finds that concerning concerns me. Some people (mostly the working poor) are never going to be in the position to buy. If their real wages remain stagnant much longer while median rents in the city continue to increase steadily, then what is going to happen to them? Why doesn't anyone on here think about that?
For as much as people on here love to tell me to check my white privilege, I can also ask THEM to check THEIR socioeconomic privilege (regardless of race as I know at least two of our regular African-American contributors here earn more than I do) if they earn enough money to have no concern about the escalating city rental market.
I'm talking about perceptions because that's what you are asking about. As I said, I'm not saying it is "fair" or applies specifically to you. Social Darwinism doesn't care about those things. "Work harder" is the common refrain (and that's coming from the Right, btw). If you are among the most fit you will rise to the top. If you were born white, you are seen as having gotten a fairer shot than a black person in this society. You can debate that all you want, but you won't be doing it with me.
I don't look at a black person and feel sorry for them, presuming they are somehow at a disadvantage to me or have no hope of being socioeconomically successful, especially when many blacks I know ARE more socioeconomically successful than I am. I'm happy they are.
Likewise I wouldn't want a black person to look at ME and feel envy, presuming they are somehow at a socioeconomic disadvantage to me or have no hope of being socioeconomically successful when, in many cases, they already ARE.
Looking at the white color of my skin and assuming I'm entitled/rich/yuppie/gentrifier (insert classist label of choice here) is just as reprehensible in my eyes as looking at the black color of someone else's skin and assuming poor/lazy/uneducated/disadvantaged (insert classist label of choice here).
I don't walk around Downtown and assume I'm better than any black person I pass just because I happen to be white. That's awful. I also don't want blacks to look at me and assume I'm socioeconomically privileged just for being white. Who's more socioeconomically privileged---me or Willow Smith? Tyovan4 or Malia Obama?
I love people indiscriminate of race, and I hope we can someday live in a society where the pendulum swings back a bit towards the middle so I'm not the one scapegoated as being responsible for all of life's ailments because I happen to be a white guy.
I really can't and don't want to get into this, but as far as we are talking about real estate there is a lot of evidence concerning racial bias when it comes to getting a mortgage. Setting aside everything else, one factor in the outcry over working class black people getting priced out of the city is the accompanying fact that they have had, over generations, less access to good mortgage options than white people with comparable incomes. Add that to the particular history of the lower Hill District, and you arrive at a feeling in Pittsburgh that yes, the particular events in East Liberty strike a nerve in a way that the inevitable changes in Polish Hill don't.
I realize I am also speaking as a transplant here, so I will back away slowly now and let others take over...
Poor black people on average also make less than poor whites. This also narrows options for where to live. Honestly some of yinz definitions of poor are kind of whack, as well.
Anyway, Pittsburgh does need more affordable housing--pretty much every major city in the country does--but I am calling shens on this particular figure.
I really can't and don't want to get into this, but as far as we are talking about real estate there is a lot of evidence concerning racial bias when it comes to getting a mortgage. Setting aside everything else, one factor in the outcry over working class black people getting priced out of the city is the accompanying fact that they have had, over generations, less access to good mortgage options than white people with comparable incomes. Add that to the particular history of the lower Hill District, and you arrive at a feeling in Pittsburgh that yes, the particular events in East Liberty strike a nerve in a way that the inevitable changes in Polish Hill don't.
I realize I am also speaking as a transplant here, so I will back away slowly now and let others take over...
No, you're absolutely correct on most points here. No need to slowly back away whistling as you reach for the popcorn.
I suppose in my mind since I've known both blacks AND whites on a personal level who have been gentrified out of various city neighborhoods since I moved here in 2010 I just feel an EQUAL amount of sympathy (and potentially soon empathy if our landlady ever decides she wants to renovate and jack up the rent) for those friends of EITHER race.
I'm in a unique situation. I'm a somewhat intelligent college graduate who CAN associate well with fellow intellectual types but prefers the company of blue-collar/working-class people, whom I happen to find to be much more down-to-earth---browsing through what's on sale at Thriftique vs. making a pilgrimage to Tesla's new Ross Township showroom and reading the comic strips in the Post-Gazette instead of the ones in the New Yorker.
I realize what was done in this city in the name of "urban renewal" back when the Baby Boomers were still teenagers in most cases is nothing short of reprehensible. Black neighborhoods that were seen as being "in the way of progress" were razed to make way for the "greater good" (as warped as it may sound that a SPORTS VENUE was more important than the homes of black people). I maintain though that what was done WAS DONE. It's over with---for decades. White people like me born in the late-80's bear no responsibility for anything like that occurring, and we should NOT have to suffer a damaged reputation because older white Baby Boomers and THEIR parents made disastrous and racially-insensitive urban planning gaffes that we're STILL seeking Federal funding to help correct.
So this is going to be a topic we'll all just have to agree to disagree on. I'm going to continue to view the displacement of blacks by rich whites and the displacement of poor whites by rich whites to be equally saddening while the rest of you view the former to be more reprehensible than the latter based upon the mistakes made by older Baby Boomers and their parents. I'm not saying one side of this argument is "correct". If you're a white person reading this and contemplating a response, though, and know of no fellow white person displaced by gentrification in this city, then bear in mind you live quite a socioeconomically privileged life to be so insulated.
I'm in a unique situation. I'm a somewhat intelligent college graduate who CAN associate well with fellow intellectual types but prefers the company of blue-collar/working-class people, whom I happen to find to be much more down-to-earth---browsing through what's on sale at Thriftique vs. making a pilgrimage to Tesla's new Ross Township showroom and reading the comic strips in the Post-Gazette instead of the ones in the New Yorker.
Do you honestly think this is unique to you? Because in all honesty this sounds pretty normal to me, except the part where you divide the whole world into two caricatures and decide that you're the only down-to-earth person left in Pittsburgh. I bought a really nice table at Thriftique a few weeks ago, and I too have graduated from college.
.. white folks (Western Europeans, in particular) set up this system of dog-eat-dog, and poor vs. poor. It's the philosophy of Social Darwinism.
And that is the way it should be. The difference between us and, say, some places in Latin America is that we are (or, were) enlightened enough to create equalizers to keep wealth from being concentrated in the hands of too few. That screams for argument, I know, but we will see an ebbing back to that in this country.
I'm mostly white and my time in Pittsburgh has always been in black neighborhoods. The only times I have not been in majority black neighborhoods is when I've lived in places. I believe things come to a balance, an equilibrium. Many people live where they are most like others - that has been established on this board. They live where they can afford it. Neighborhoods look like they do based on the predominant values of those that live there.
I am not unsympathetic at all to this plight. But it's supply and demand. If it is "dog eat dog" what is the alternative? Have the government own all apartment units and oversee their market rates?
The city could step in to offer incentive for building more affordable (or middle class!) units or something.
Frankly, I can't believe east enders in general and Bloomfielders aren't raising a stink about what has recently been approved - humongous structures (Centre and Craig, for one, and another further down on Centre) that will likely be above market rate rents akin what the OP posted. Or, people there are oblivious to it, and will complain only when its too late.
Last edited by szug-bot; 06-11-2016 at 07:38 PM..
Reason: grammar, baby, grammar...
And that is the way it should be. The difference between us and, say, some places in Latin America is that we are (or, were) enlightened enough to create equalizers to keep wealth from being concentrated in the hands of too few. That screams for argument, I know, but we will see an ebbing back to that in this country.
I'm mostly white and my time in Pittsburgh has always been in black neighborhoods. The only times I have not been in majority black neighborhoods is when I've lived in other states and a Canadian province. I believe things come to a balance, an equilibrium. Many people live where they are most like others - that has been established on this board. They live where they can afford it - that is not accepted on this board. Neighborhoods look like they do based on the predominant values of those that live there.
I am not unsympathetic at all to this plight. But it's supply and demand - the city needs to step in to offer incentive for building more affordable (or middle class!) units or something.
Frankly, I can't believe east enders in general and Bloomfielders aren't raising a stink about what they have recently approved to build - humongous structures (Centre and Craig, for one, and another further down on Centre) that will likely be market rate rents akin what the OP posted. Or, they are oblivious to it.
There are plenty of options for people who aren't set on pristine, new-construction apartments, with all of the amenities, and in the choicest of neighborhoods. You won't find me protesting gentrification much on this board.
I feel it's a shame that the poor get priced out and uprooted, and I hope they land somewhere that their lives can improve. I don't bemoan government housing assistance either. I'm not out there with placards, commiting activism, either way.
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