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Old 01-03-2018, 09:08 AM
 
Location: Pennsylvania/Maine
3,704 posts, read 2,636,756 times
Reputation: 6197

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Quote:
Originally Posted by PreservationPioneer View Post
Here's one of my McKeesport sets:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4WgGYCW0HLY

Also, this is worth watching to see how vibrant McKeesport was in the '60s:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ChIcLUGCU5s
Love these videos. Very good work.
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Old 01-03-2018, 11:36 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh(Mt Washington)
325 posts, read 320,095 times
Reputation: 218
They are getting medical marijuana I hear, also they are opening a drug and alcohol detox, inpatient at upmc McKeesport
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Old 01-03-2018, 08:50 PM
 
Location: Southwest Pa
1,440 posts, read 4,398,840 times
Reputation: 1705
PreservationPioneer, very nice. What was and what is.

I'd like to say it saddens me some as I do remember when every valley town was, maybe not in full swing as my parents would have remembered, but still swinging on some levels, but it doesn't. Most of these towns and small cities were run like little kingdoms by those who'd been in power far too long and were only too happy to stop looking into the future beyond the end of their noses and the city limits signs.
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Old 01-04-2018, 12:13 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh's North Side
1,701 posts, read 1,587,748 times
Reputation: 1849
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldbay1 View Post
I see more jobs becoming work remotely. It will give more people freedom to choose where they live. You may not need all of the office space in downtown Pittsburgh 20 years from now. I can see half of those office jobs becoming work remote. Cities will have a challenge with changing office space to other uses. And all of you wanting light rail and public transportation won’t happen. Too much money and jobs tied to automotive manufacturing. You won’t need public transportation with amazon, working remote or having groceries delivered to your door.

See, I have a guess that as more opportunities arise for people to work remotely, some people will *want* to move to something like a McKeesport. You pointed out several times that *jobs* won't come back to McKeesport, and that's more or less true, but people who work remotely might choose to live there, and I can see it being an attractive option for some people. Not everyone, mind you, but there's a particular sort of person that wants to live in a "historic" architectural environment, walk to shops and restaurants, and live in an old Victorian that they bought for a fraction of the price it would cost in Shadyside.

I also wonder if some of the money and jobs tied to automotive manufacturing might eventually be invested in other modes of transportation. I come from a particular demographic that is pretty similar to Preservation Pioneer and SCR in some ways, though I'm a bit older and have kids etc. I know people who already work remotely, and *choose* to rent their own office spaces at Allegheny Center because they *like* working in an office in a city environment.

Anyway, I don't think it will happen overnight, but in a world in which cities are gentrifying rapidly, and many larger cities are becoming very expensive, it's not all that hard to imagine some of the smaller historic cities in PA becoming desirable again.

[I'm sure there's a joke in here somewhere about Amazon coming to McKeesport, but too many people on here would think I was serious...I don't imagine people flocking to McKeesport in tremendous numbers, by the way; it's just that I could imagine it improving again over the next few decades.]
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Old 01-04-2018, 06:11 AM
 
Location: Southwest Pa
1,440 posts, read 4,398,840 times
Reputation: 1705
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldbay1 View Post
Places like McKeesport have been on the decline for 80 years now. It isn’t like this is something new or just happened. The 1930s was the last decade of growth. Unless you are 90 or 100 years old you won’t have a memory of a 55,000 busting at the seams town.

There is a reason McKeesport and most of Western PA is still declining. It was a one trick pony region. Once the industry left that was it. There will never be enough new jobs to make up what once existed. Places like McKeesport may have a rich history, but it no longer serves the purpose for why it was originally created.
Yes, the 1930's for most of these towns was it. My former hometown of little California was flying high in the 30's, and then the mine shut down. A video taken in 1938 shows just how busy it was. Only thing holding it together now is the university.

Yes also, they were built and grew for a reason. That reason doesn't exist anymore. There's no shortage of people in the region. They just don't want to move to the valley. In ten years in real estate I found that existing valley people may move around the valley, investors will buy cheap and rent out, outsiders would not move in.
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Old 01-04-2018, 08:19 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh's North Side
1,701 posts, read 1,587,748 times
Reputation: 1849
Some people like living in exurbs and rural areas; other people really, truly don't. I can imagine people wanting to live in McKeesport because it's the sort of thing my friends and I would do if we could. I am not pretending that we are the vast majority of people, but we do exist and we're not the only ones. If I could live anywhere I probably would choose PA; I wouldn't want to be much further than this from the East Coast, and I like living in places with historic architecture, four seasons, and plenty of rainfall to make it nice and green. Again I don't think *everyone* is like me, but I don't know why others think *nobody* is like me.
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Old 01-04-2018, 08:28 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, PA (Morningside)
14,361 posts, read 16,879,345 times
Reputation: 12390
Again, the problem here is there are so many other places close to McKeesport to also pick from. If I wanted to have a cheap home in the Mon Valley personally speaking, I could pick the Homestead area (nice homes, business district still has a few amenities, close to shopping), southern Swissvale (relatively safe, solid housing stock, on East Busway) or somewhere further from the city like Monongahela (a cute and largely intact town, which as far as I know doesn't have major crime isssues).
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Old 01-04-2018, 08:41 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh's North Side
1,701 posts, read 1,587,748 times
Reputation: 1849
Quote:
Originally Posted by eschaton View Post
Again, the problem here is there are so many other places close to McKeesport to also pick from. If I wanted to have a cheap home in the Mon Valley personally speaking, I could pick the Homestead area (nice homes, business district still has a few amenities, close to shopping), southern Swissvale (relatively safe, solid housing stock, on East Busway) or somewhere further from the city like Monongahela (a cute and largely intact town, which as far as I know doesn't have major crime isssues).
Sure, I can see that. All I am trying to say is that a fair number of people these days would rather be part of revitalizing an old town than build a new one. It seems incomprehensible to people who don't prefer this, but it does exist, and McKeesport has a certain charm to it that might be even more attractive in a few decades.
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Old 01-04-2018, 08:45 AM
 
Location: Pennsylvania/Maine
3,704 posts, read 2,636,756 times
Reputation: 6197
I'm of the belief that the Amazon craze will fade and people will WANT to interact with small business owners and reconnect. It's human nature. To be holed up in your home, ordering everything online and rarely interacting with other human beings will hopefully be a thing of the past in the near future.
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Old 01-04-2018, 09:26 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh's North Side
1,701 posts, read 1,587,748 times
Reputation: 1849
Quote:
Originally Posted by zalewskimm View Post
I'm of the belief that the Amazon craze will fade and people will WANT to interact with small business owners and reconnect. It's human nature. To be holed up in your home, ordering everything online and rarely interacting with other human beings will hopefully be a thing of the past in the near future.
I think things will settle into a healthy equilibrium -- some will want to go back to neighborhood shopping, but for people without access to transportation, for certain locations, and for certain kinds of goods, online shopping is probably here to stay. I mean, I don't especially want to have groceries delivered to my home, but I am glad I will have that option when I am 50 years older than I am now.
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