Are you crazy? (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Lancaster: crime, big house, safe neighborhood)

[PPG]

I've been reading thru some of these pittsburgh threads and I am convinced that most of you have absolutly no idea what you are talking about. For instance The Mexican War Streets! Are you f-n crazy?? Sure the houses are great and the hood isnt as hood as it used to be but it is still the hood. Why would any white family want to move there? I live down the street from central northside and we have whites moving in too but I think they are up to something(gentrification urban planners maybe) because there's no way they like hearing gun shots everynight. Would you? The Mexican War Streets are surrounded by North ave, Federal st., and Brighton rd. All places to be if you want to see pimps, gangsters and hustlers. There are whites there but they dont come out after dark. To my understanding they love the big old houses which I can respect because this is where the millionaires used to live and the houses are beutiful, but even I don't wanna live there, big house or not. So If you move to the northside prepare to see(hear) drug deals, drug dealers with tricked out cars with deafining bass, cops racing and arresting gang members and criminals, gunshshots all times of day, and alot of homeless bums on the street and in the park. Also the new development charges outrages rates just to live in the "getto". Gentrification I guess? Maybe in ten years or so but I just can't see it.

Another thing that is crazy is living in Pittsburgh, well most of it anyways. I figure that when most white people want to find a safe place to live they really want to live away from blacks (due to our situation). Pittsburgh is a segregated city. Black neighborhoods in Pittsburgh for the most part are ghettos. When whites want to move to a safe neighborhood they are thinking of places like Bethel Park, Fox chapel, Sewickly, north hills etc., in other words the suburbs. If you want to live in the city proper there are a few nice places but Pittsburgh is divided into pockets so where it is nice just over the hill or just down the road is the ghetto. For instance squirrel hill is the nicest "jewish" community but it is surrounded by Homewood, Wilkinsburg, Hazelwood and so on. This is one reason why people stay in their own little community. I know people who have never been to the east side and others who think going downtown is a vacation. My point is that if you want something safe and quiet look to the suburbs. Living in the city might be ok if your were in Columbus OH but Pittsburgh is a little more grittier than alot of other places. On the other hand if you were coming from a place like NYC you might fit right in. I had to write this because I am sick of the rose colored view that people have of this city. Peace.

[Drover]

You almost paint it out as if the whole city is dangerous. Certainly it's true that some of the nice parts of the city are surrounded by some of the not-so-nice parts of the city. But like most urban centers, the crime tends to be concentrated in specific pockets while other pockets are just fine. I lived less than a mile from Homewood and about a mile from Wilkinsburg for two years, and in all that time I don't remember even a single crime of opportunity, much less violence, in my neighborhood. Not even a stolen radio from a car parked on the street.

Everyone has their reasons for living where they live. I like living in city centers rather than suburbia because I like having convenient access to the city's amenities and nightlife, much better people-watching, less conformity, better diversity of businesses, and shorter commute times for those of us who work in the city (or in my case, who go to school in the city). I realize that even though I live in a safe part of Chicago, it's still not as safe as the suburbs. But that's a tradeoff I'm willing to make to have the convenience of all the city has to offer right at my doorstep and to have a shorter commute to work (well, school actually, but same difference).

Oh, and some of us aren't afraid to live near Black people.

[PPG]

I'm not saying its dangerous, just not as safe as the suburbs. I'm just judging by the posts I have read and it seems that a professional white family with young children are really looking for suburbian neighborhoods. When they say "safe" and "good schools" I don't imagine Pittsburgh or any other declining city. I'm just saying why bring your kids up in Oakland when you can do better in Mt. lebo. The PGH school district is not good and shootings can and do happen in every neighborhood. Remember the east end rapist? Pittsburgh is a great city but why start a family here when it's alot better outside the core. I think this is true of most cities nowadays. Oh, and this city is dangerous if you are young and black.

[Drover]

I think you'll notice that when someone does indicate that they're looking for "good schools" that respondants steer them toward specific suburbs. Otherwise, people intuitively know that the suburbs are safer than the city. That's a condition that exists in every urban area in America and everyone knows it and it's an implied context in any conversation about where to live depending on what criteria the questioning party specifies.

[ontheroad]

I'd like to approach your comment from an urban perspective: I love cities! I think Pittsburgh is potentially a good one. No, it is not a suburb, and that is exactly why I like it and recommend it as a potential place to live.

All cities have their disadvantages; all suburbs have theirs. So, we are speaking of taste, values, interests, and not good or bad. As I am a city-dweller, first, and a country dweller, second, a suburb, any suburb, totally turns me off for its sameness. I don't think I would ever recommend any suburb to a person that enjoys vitality. Cities are vibrant, vital, congested, diverse, loud, sometimes dangerous, and often exciting.

Crime is not restricted to cities; and guns are not limited to city-dwellers. I see more youth crime in suburban communities than I see or hear about in large metropolitan areas. All of the recent school incidents have been in suburban or rural America. Remember Lancaster County!

I raised my children in two cities: Amsterdam (+800,000), and NYC (~7.5m). They have graduate degrees, are successful, understand and appreciate diversity, have good values (whatever that means to them and me), have successful careers, don't see the world as "black &/or white" and thrive. They also thrived in urban cities and learned how to cope with adversity, but reaped the rewards of exposure, choice and culture.

Probably one of the most limited qualities of the suburbs in this country is the lack of culture. What good is an edge on education if you can't put that education into context?

Just my 5c worth of opinions, and thank you for your point of view.

[Shoegal]

Originally Posted by pimpsgangtasandhustlas

I'm not saying its dangerous, just not as safe as the suburbs. I'm just judging by the posts I have read and it seems that a professional white family with young children are really looking for suburbian neighborhoods. When they say "safe" and "good schools" I don't imagine Pittsburgh or any other declining city. I'm just saying why bring your kids up in Oakland when you can do better in Mt. lebo. The PGH school district is not good and shootings can and do happen in every neighborhood. Remember the east end rapist? Pittsburgh is a great city but why start a family here when it's alot better outside the core. I think this is true of most cities nowadays. Oh, and this city is dangerous if you are young and black.

I appreciate your honesty and get what your saying most Families do want suburbia I think people are just shocked by the way you put it out there on blast, I love it when people are straight out!!!!!

[PROJECT PAT]

pittsburgh was ranked as the #1 most dangerous place to live if you are a young black male

[mach]

pittsburgh was ranked as the #1 most dangerous place to live if you are a young black male

Were did you get that information?

[stevo6]

To Ontheroad: I agree with just about everything you wrote above. However I would like to put in a plug for the 'burbs, since I grew up there and now live there and don't consider myself uncultured or myopic. I have also lived in several cities including Denver, Philadelphia, New York, Florence and Paris for a short time. The ideal of the surburb is that you can have your cake and eat it too- by that I mean you have many of the benefits of an urban lifestyle and many of the benefits of a rural lifestyle, if not day to day then at least via proximity. That is a reality for some people and falsehood for others. It works for me however. What does seem to be consistant throughout the 'burbs is an emphasis on family life. By that I mean that one's day, outside of work, is consumed by family activities such as : church activities, school programs, all kinds of sports for the kids but also for the adults, barbeques, working in the yard together, and yes- driving here and there. It sounds mundane, but it is actually intense. I realize this happens in cities too, but I think its probably different, if only that so many people in the city do not have kids. But also because all of the diversions, be they positive or negative, distract from a simple style of family interraction. I hear what you say about adversity (and diversity) and I only hope that my kids will be open to this sort of learning as they get older, and that in any case they are getting something valuable in return. 'Just my unscientific view....

[Hopes]

Pimps isn't some ra-ra suburbanite.

He grew up in the hood.

He knows the city.

He knows the real deal.

Pimp's perspective is one of someone who grew up in Manchester.

I think his opinion deserves incredible respect.