Trying to figure out how things work around here. (Pittsburgh: appointed, rent)

[lvoevge]

I moved here from a city where you can walk/train to everything. Now I'm not sure what to do with myself as it seems like I'm always contending with traffic and parking headaches. At some point it feels like it isn't even worth it to try and go do anything. I'd like to get some advice from people who have found "home" here.
What do you do for fun on the weekends or the evenings?

How do you deal with the parking problem? For example, I love going rock climbing in the south side, but if I don't leave work two hours early to get there before everyone else, there's a strong chance that I won't get a parking spot and will have just wasted all that time in traffic.

When you go do something in a different neighborhood than which you live, do you literally contend with the gridlock and then deal with the parking shortages each time? For example, a recent attempt to visit the strip left me saying "forget it" because I couldn't find parking anywhere.

At what point does it become just not worth it to leave the house? I'm married, and my wife and I are stressed and bored because we haven't found anything consistently convenient to do together outside of the house.

[Merge]

Originally Posted by lvoevge

I moved here from a city where you can walk/train to everything. Now I'm not sure what to do with myself as it seems like I'm always contending with traffic and parking headaches. At some point it feels like it isn't even worth it to try and go do anything. I'd like to get some advice from people who have found "home" here.
What do you do for fun on the weekends or the evenings?

How do you deal with the parking problem? For example, I love going rock climbing in the south side, but if I don't leave work two hours early to get there before everyone else, there's a strong chance that I won't get a parking spot and will have just wasted all that time in traffic.

When you go do something in a different neighborhood than which you live, do you literally contend with the gridlock and then deal with the parking shortages each time? For example, a recent attempt to visit the strip left me saying "forget it" because I couldn't find parking anywhere.

At what point does it become just not worth it to leave the house? I'm married, and my wife and I are stressed and bored because we haven't found anything consistently convenient to do together outside of the house.

It can be difficult sometimes to get to an activity you enjoy. The best thing you can do is explore the alternatives.

For instance, if getting to the South Side is too much of a hassle, perhaps this would be easier:

Welcome

[szug-bot]

wait...what? you walked or used a train in your previous city. now you are relying SOLELY on a car?

where did you move from, for a benchmark reference?

where are you coming FROM to get to the South Side? Chances are, you do not know your options! After 6PM, you can park for free Downtown. THen you can take a quick bus ride over, run it, or bike it. You might be able to take convenient advantage of the bike share to get to rock climbing (I assume that is at REI).

You cannot expect to get somewhere easily during a rush hour. Thousands of others demand use of the road.

You can get to the S. Side relatively easily by going up fifth avenue, then taking the Birmingham Bridge (that option may be limited at the moment because of construction).

For the Strip District, there is always ample parking - if you shop at Penn. Mac, you can use their Liberty Avenue spaces. The Strip is flat - it is not too bad to walk several blocks where you can find a lot of street parking (say, 24th onward).

I think you just aren't aware of how to get around things. But you make it sound like its gridlock hell. I refer you to northern VA for that!

Welcome to Pgh, though! Peruse this forum for information - you will find some good stuff here.

[charisb]

Funny--one of the things I like best about living in Pittsburgh is that I never have to drive anywhere. I feel like I can walk or bus almost everywhere. Where are you living and working that requires driving?
Szug-bot has some great suggestions.

[lvoevge]

Originally Posted by szug-bot

wait...what? you walked or used a train in your previous city. now you are relying SOLELY on a car?

where did you move from, for a benchmark reference?

where are you coming FROM to get to the South Side? Chances are, you do not know your options! After 6PM, you can park for free Downtown. THen you can take a quick bus ride over, run it, or bike it. You might be able to take convenient advantage of the bike share to get to rock climbing (I assume that is at REI).

You cannot expect to get somewhere easily during a rush hour. Thousands of others demand use of the road.

You can get to the S. Side relatively easily by going up fifth avenue, then taking the Birmingham Bridge (that option may be limited at the moment because of construction).

For the Strip District, there is always ample parking - if you shop at Penn. Mac, you can use their Liberty Avenue spaces. The Strip is flat - it is not too bad to walk several blocks where you can find a lot of street parking (say, 24th onward).

I think you just aren't aware of how to get around things. But you make it sound like its gridlock hell. I refer you to northern VA for that!

Welcome to Pgh, though! Peruse this forum for information - you will find some good stuff here.

I moved here from Boston. I lived in both downtown and the suburbs there, and had easy train access to just about anywhere in the city. It didn't matter if it was Sunday afternoon or rush hour, getting from place to place was a breeze.

I've lived in the Robinson Township area for almost a year now. The idea was that we would live here until we found a neighborhood that we liked enough to move to. Still kind of searching as we moved here for the cost savings, but if I want anything near the level of convenience/niceness I had in the northeast, I'm still going to be paying a fairly large amount.

I appreciate the tips, but driving to downtown, finding parking there, then finagling my way over to south side just to hit the gym seems immensely inconvenient. I was however, trying to confirm whether that was the reality or not, and it does seem to be.

[MamieRose]

It's not our reality. We moved (back) here 5 years ago and go to the Strip about every other week on Saturday or Sunday. We literally NEVER are unable to find parking. Now if you mean *free* parking, that is something entirely different. Ditto with the Southside, although I'm not sure where you are going rock climbing. We tend to go to the SS on weekend afternoons or for dinner (RIP Dish) and if there is no parking on Carson we can find it on the side streets. At the SS Works there are several garages.

As for neighborhoods, we live in Mt. Lebanon. Last night we walked uptown to hear a free concert, then ate at one of Pittsburgh's best Italian restaurants and had dessert at a new ice cream place. If we want to go downtown or the North Shore, we can take the T. Love it here.

[lvoevge]

Originally Posted by MamieRose

It's not our reality. We moved (back) here 5 years ago and go to the Strip about every other week on Saturday or Sunday. We literally NEVER are unable to find parking. Now if you mean *free* parking, that is something entirely different. Ditto with the Southside, although I'm not sure where you are going rock climbing. We tend to go to the SS on weekend afternoons or for dinner (RIP Dish) and if there is no parking on Carson we can find it on the side streets. At the SS Works there are several garages.

As for neighborhoods, we live in Mt. Lebanon. Last night we walked uptown to hear a free concert, then ate at one of Pittsburgh's best Italian restaurants and had dessert at a new ice cream place. If we want to go downtown or the North Shore, we can take the T. Love it here.

Glad to hear that you like it here. I find that most people I talk to about it are in that camp. I want to like it here, but getting anywhere feels incredibly inconvenient. The focus on cars to get around really bums me out.

There is a great gym called Ascend in the south side. I don't mind paying to park, but there are no garages near it as far as I know. I would love a garage in each neighborhood that charges an unreasonably high price just so I don't have to drive around in circles.

I LOVE Mt. Lebanon. It's the only neighborhood in the city that I've ever really felt connected to. It's a nice walkable area with great restaurants and a parking garage right in the middle.

[SteelCityRising]

You can find many walkable neighborhoods here, too. I believe the average rent in my neighborhood (Polish Hill) is about $1,100/month now (WAY higher than when I moved here in 2010), but you're probably paying comparable rent in Robinson Township. From here we just walked to the Three Rivers Arts Festival (Point State Park) and enjoyed the Strip District on the way back. We've walked to Bloomfield, Lawrenceville, North Oakland, North Side, and Shadyside. You can take the East Busway to East Liberty, Shadyside, or Downtown and the 54D to the North Side and South Side via Oakland.

If you live in the urban core of the city you can walk or bike to just about anything you need in under an hour.

[PenguinsFan14]

Originally Posted by lvoevge

I moved here from Boston. I lived in both downtown and the suburbs there, and had easy train access to just about anywhere in the city. It didn't matter if it was Sunday afternoon or rush hour, getting from place to place was a breeze.

I've lived in the Robinson Township area for almost a year now. The idea was that we would live here until we found a neighborhood that we liked enough to move to. Still kind of searching as we moved here for the cost savings, but if I want anything near the level of convenience/niceness I had in the northeast, I'm still going to be paying a fairly large amount.

I appreciate the tips, but driving to downtown, finding parking there, then finagling my way over to south side just to hit the gym seems immensely inconvenient. I was however, trying to confirm whether that was the reality or not, and it does seem to be.

Did you even visit Robinson before you moved? Did you ask anyone where the trains where in Robinson when you visited? Why are you driving all the way to the South Side from Robinson just to go to the gym? There's a lot about your post that is just...bizarre. You can't expect Robinson to be like downtown Boston. Perhaps if you did more research before your move here you would have settled on a different location, like Mt. Lebanon, which has access to the T. If you moved here expecting to live in an east coast city but at a fraction of the cost, then you will be disappointed.

[8YearsinPittsburgh]

Originally Posted by PenguinsFan14

Did you even visit Robinson before you moved? Did you ask anyone where the trains where in Robinson when you visited? Why are you driving all the way to the South Side from Robinson just to go to the gym? There's a lot about your post that is just...bizarre.

What's so bizarre about it? I will agree, Boston, you can take a train anywhere. I can totally see why someone would have a hard time coming from there to here, where the T service is limited compared to Boston.