Suburb of the week: Braddock Hills (Pittsburgh, Bradford: apartments, school district, shopping center)

[eschaton]

I skipped this suburb last week, I should have covered it right after Braddock, but before Bradford Woods.

I did not cover Braddock Hills when I covered Braddock, as I did when I lumped Ben Avon and Ben Avon Heights together, because the two remain quite different. Braddock Hills, unlike Braddock (or North Braddock) pretty much intact, having experienced only minor population decline due to falling household size. There has not been significant white flight from Braddock Hills, with nearly 80% of the population still white (most of the black population seems to be limited to the apartments around Brinton Manor Drive).

Despite being a small municipality, at only one square mile and approximately 1,850 people, Braddock Hills isn't really a cohesive municipality. Monongahela Cemetery is located ear the middle of the borough, along with a shopping center. In addition, there is a lot of land which remained undeveloped due to steep slopes. Because of this, Braddock Hills is pretty patchwork. Some areas are classically suburban, but others seem like half-built out rural communities.

Braddock Hills has no hope of gentrification, being too far out from the core of Pittsburgh, too suburban in built form, and having housing stock which is too modest. As with the other "nice, but suburban" areas in Woodland Hills School District (Churchill, Forest Hills, and Wilkins Township) property values have been pretty stagnant over the last few decades however, as the area is no longer desirable to many young families. That said, such a wide swathe of the eastern suburbs are in slow decline that it's pretty unlikely Braddock Hills will go into a tailspin any time soon. It will just continue it's slow decline.

[guy2073]

I am normally very pro police, I deal with them alot when we have to shut down roads and send out traffic control. I have to say that every officer I have met from Braddock hills has been miserable to deal with.

That's all i got.

[grep]

From looking at a map, I would assume that Ridge Ave was once a continuous street, but now part of it has been blocked off. I'm not sure if this was due to topography, safety, or desire for decreased traffic.

BH also has several rather backwoodsy roads.