What does Pittsburgh lack? (Reading, Bethel Park: lenders, how much, employment)

[wpipkins2]

Originally Posted by krogerDisco

Last time I was there, the week bus pass was set at Sun->Sat. No matter what. The system should be from when you buy your pass and lasts till the same time 7 days later. No matter what day it is bought. I bought a day pass in Boston and it lasted 24 hours from the time it was bought.

As of January 1 you can buy weekend and day passes with your connect card. You also have the option to load cash instead of purchasing a bus pass.

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by wpipkins2

You missed school desegregation and civil rights. Those were the main reasons for white flight.

Or more accurately it was a if you build it they will come cause & effect. The traits of the suburbs: new construction; land plots; new infrastructure; opportunities, etc were desirable elements to that generation of people & finally became an affordable possibility during this period & thus it attracted moving. Now you could rightfully argue that various governmental & private policies put roadblocks on African Americans who would have liked to enjoy this same opportunity & kept them from moving as well but to say that the primary motivation for suburbanization was racist is incorrect.

This is not just a topic in the US either. Here's a more contemporary U.K. study on the matter http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpo...ht-in-england/

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by wpipkins2

You missed school desegregation and civil rights. Those were the main reasons for white flight.

Yes and no. After 1960 or so, it was definitely mostly white people running away from black people which caused urban population decline. But in the late 1940s and 1950s, it was a different dynamic. The cities were not seen as dangerous, but they were incredibly overcrowded because so little housing was built from 1929 to 1945. As a result there was huge pent-up demand. The problem was that lenders set up credit systems which effectively barred black people from moving into the suburbs (which mostly remained in place until around 1980 actually). So white people weren't leaving the cities because they were personally bigoted during that period - but racist structures within the housing system ensured that nonwhites couldn't follow whites into suburbia.

[wpipkins2]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Yes and no. After 1960 or so, it was definitely mostly white people running away from black people which caused urban population decline. But in the late 1940s and 1950s, it was a different dynamic. The cities were not seen as dangerous, but they were incredibly overcrowded because so little housing was built from 1929 to 1945. As a result there was huge pent-up demand. The problem was that lenders set up credit systems which effectively barred black people from moving into the suburbs (which mostly remained in place until around 1980 actually). So white people weren't leaving the cities because they were personally bigoted during that period - but racist structures within the housing system ensured that nonwhites couldn't follow whites into suburbia.

The great migration began in the 1910's and diversified northern cities. This coupled with European immigration led to the over crowding of northern cities. Cities were just as segregated in 40s an 50s as they are today. Polices were put in place by the fed for suburban expansion. I'm not saying that all white suburbanites were racist or running away from scary cities but the suburbs were designed as a safe haven for white people. Black veterans that served in WW1 and WW2 could not move to the suburbs and could not get loans to update or modernize the homes in cities. The "numbers" man was the go to resource for home loans and mortgages for the black middle class. White privilege and bigotry played a major role in the suburban expansion of US cities.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by wpipkins2

The great migration began in the 1910's and diversified northern cities. This coupled with European immigration led to the over crowding of northern cities. Cities were just as segregated in 40s an 50s as they are today. Polices were put in place by the fed for suburban expansion. I'm not saying that all white suburbanites were racist or running away from scary cities but the suburbs were designed as a safe haven for white people. Black veterans that served in WW1 and WW2 could not move to the suburbs and could not get loans to update or modernize the homes in cities. The "numbers" man was the go to resource for home loans and mortgages for the black middle class. White privilege and bigotry played a major role in the suburban expansion of US cities.

Of course there was segregation in prewar cities. Up until 1948 restrictive covenants based upon race were legal - they could insert into your deed a clause that you could not sell to a black person (or a Jew, or a Latino, or whatever). Still, while cities were roughly as segregated in the 1940s as today, but segregation got much worse in many cities in the period from 1940 to 1970. You can look at historic maps of race in Social Explorer if you wish. In 1940 virtually every Pittsburgh neighborhood had a black population - even if it was only a few percent. By 1970 segregation had gotten much worse, with some city neighborhoods literally having zero black people.

There's a great book I read years back called Sundown Towns - it basically covers the history of blacks in the northern U.S. from Reconstruction until the Great Migration started. It makes the point that in the period initially after the Civil War, lots of black people moved up north. Because most blacks at the time were from rural areas, they moved to small northern towns which were overwhelmingly white. During this period virtually every small town in some states, like Ohio, had a few black families. But as race relations got worse (due to the efforts of white people) during the Gilded Age, black people were forced out of the communities they settled into by mobs at gunpoint. They ended up being forced into the big cities because nowhere else would have them. These communities of northern blacks ended up being the nexus which the later Great Migration followed - which is why the northern black communities ended up being urban.

[wpipkins2]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Of course there was segregation in prewar cities. Up until 1948 restrictive covenants based upon race were legal - they could insert into your deed a clause that you could not sell to a black person (or a Jew, or a Latino, or whatever). Still, while cities were roughly as segregated in the 1940s as today, but segregation got much worse in many cities in the period from 1940 to 1970. You can look at historic maps of race in Social Explorer if you wish. In 1940 virtually every Pittsburgh neighborhood had a black population - even if it was only a few percent. By 1970 segregation had gotten much worse, with some city neighborhoods literally having zero black people.

There's a great book I read years back called Sundown Towns - it basically covers the history of blacks in the northern U.S. from Reconstruction until the Great Migration started. It makes the point that in the period initially after the Civil War, lots of black people moved up north. Because most blacks at the time were from rural areas, they moved to small northern towns which were overwhelmingly white. During this period virtually every small town in some states, like Ohio, had a few black families. But as race relations got worse (due to the efforts of white people) during the Gilded Age, black people were forced out of the communities they settled into by mobs at gunpoint. They ended up being forced into the big cities because nowhere else would have them. These communities of northern blacks ended up being the nexus which the later Great Migration followed - which is why the northern black communities ended up being urban.

My great grandmother migrated from Pittsylvania County VA to Scottdale PA. Her brothers financed her education at the Pennsylvania Normal School for Colored Women (Cal State U). Other black families followed then dispersed throughout the Mon valley and city proper. Pictures from the 1920s show black, serian, and asian men who mainly migrated there to work in the coal mines. My great grandfather worked in the coal mines but also had a farm with a boarding house on the property. My families life mirrors your post.

[krogerDisco]

Originally Posted by wpipkins2

As of January 1 you can buy weekend and day passes with your connect card. You also have the option to load cash instead of purchasing a bus pass.

That's an improvement, but still falls a bit short. I like passes so you don't even have to think if you have enough money, or have to decide if the cost of a ride is worth it. I'd also have monthly passes, prorated to when in the month it was bought.

[krogerDisco]

It's not so much Pittsburgh lacking. But as an idea for say Station Square. Pittsburgh should have its own version of Disney's Soarin'. Fantastic ride. Pittsburgh should use Minneapolis's version but with its flyover being Pittsburgh and the region.

https://www.mallofamerica.com/shoppi...lyover-america

It could simulate flying down the rivers, over the UPMC building and over downtown. Maybe for regional sights, do a flyover Erie and over its lake, and flyover Niagara Falls.

[szug-bot]

Originally Posted by krogerDisco

It's not so much Pittsburgh lacking. But as an idea for say Station Square. Pittsburgh should have its own version of Disney's Soarin'. Fantastic ride. Pittsburgh should use Minneapolis's version but with its flyover being Pittsburgh and the region.

https://www.mallofamerica.com/shoppi...lyover-america

It could simulate flying down the rivers, over the UPMC building and over downtown. Maybe for regional sights, do a flyover Erie and over its lake, and flyover Niagara Falls.

I like how you think!

[g500]

Im surprised there wasnt an underground subway system installed downtown. Probably a little late for that now, and also maybe cost-prohibitive for geographic reasons. Wonder if something like that is / was ever considered...