Where to Live Around Pittsburgh if You're Jewish (Wilkinsburg, Beaver Falls: homes, neighborhoods)

[subdivisions]

Originally Posted by Hopes

If a family experiences problems in the city schools, the only options are to hope to get into a charter school like CAPA, pay for private school or move to the suburbs. Unless a child obtains a scholarship, the average middle class family can't afford to pay for non-religious private schools. This applies to families of all religions who experience difficulties in city public schools. Even if there is only a remote chance someone find themselves in that predicament, it's best they move into the area knowing ahead of time because it's not that easy to just pick up and move. Granted, the same options exist if problems occur in a suburban school. That's why it's important to take school districts into serious consideration when choosing a home.

You could be completely right about this aspect of living in metro Pittsburgh. I fully admit that I don't know much about the school systems here (other than Shadyside Academy, because I did research there), and I don't have a kid, so my primary concerns about neighborhoods don't involve schools at all. I've heard conflicting things about Taylor Allderdice and other schools (some people claim it's a great school for academics and others say it's terrible), so I really don't know what to think about that, other than I know it's not gang ridden because I live close to it.

In any case, thanks for the civil discussion. I wasn't offended, just concerned that some of these neighborhoods were being portrayed unfairly or with excessive drama. There definitely are bad neighborhoods here - I wouldn't live in Homewood or Garfield myself. But it's a big city. One expects a certain level of crime in cities that you don't find in rural areas, and everyone's priorities are different in terms of what they will be willing to tolerate in terms of a "soulless suburban" vs. "crime-ridden urban" trade-off.

[June Cleaver's Revenge]

Originally Posted by Custom Draper

My husband and I may relocate to the Pittsburgh area, and likely near Mars. We are a mixed Christian/Jewish household but I'm raising my kids Jewish and I don't want to be the only one in town!

Can anyone suggest some diverse areas?

Don't know if you've checked it out yet or not, but Mars itself is not very diverse. We live very near there. My dad is a Torah Jew and when he visits, he doesn't get any anti-Semitism but he does get a lot of stares. No one is even sure what he is; he often gets asked if he's Amish. This has also been our experience in the Seven Fields and Bradford Woods areas while visiting friends, although they may be more diverse than Mars.

[fadein2us]

Originally Posted by Custom Draper

My husband and I may relocate to the Pittsburgh area, and likely near Mars. We are a mixed Christian/Jewish household but I'm raising my kids Jewish and I don't want to be the only one in town!

Can anyone suggest some diverse areas?

SQUIRREL HILL SQUIRREL HILL SQUIRREL HILL SQUIRREL HILL

[Drover]

Originally Posted by fadein2us

SQUIRREL HILL SQUIRREL HILL SQUIRREL HILL SQUIRREL HILL

That's been beaten to death already. Did you even read this thread?

[likepgh]

Sorry to respond to an old thread but I just noticed this and want to respond to something inaccurate and something else that may be missed if one assumes Pittsburgh is like everywhere else.

First: One of the posters here has stated as fact that there are no "Reformed" [sic] or "Reconstructionist" synagogues/temples in Pittsburgh or Squirrel Hill.
This is simply not true, and I am surprised that anyone could make this error if they have spent time in the Pittsburgh Jewish community.
in Squirrel Hill: Temple Sinai is Reform.
next door to Squirrel Hill, in Shadyside, Rodef Shalom is Reform (and actually one of the oldest and most historically significant of Reform synagogues in the US).
in Squirrel Hill: Dor Hadash is Reconstructionist.
There are Reform synagogues and one Reconstructionist synagogues in the suburbs.

[The original poster may also be interested to know that Temple Sinai has an active group of intermarried families.]

Second: I also want to make clear that Squirrel Hill is nearly unique on the American Jewish scene in 2007. You will not find another metro area with approx 50% of its Jewish population in one neighborhood that is urban and has decent public schools, and that has Jewish religious and cultural institutions serving all segments (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, secular) of the community in that one neighborhood. Mt. Lebanon is nice; Fox Chapel is nice, but if one want to live in a unique sort of Jewish community and one is moving to Pittsburgh, Squirrel Hill is the obvious choice. (I take it this is the meaning behind the previous post "SQUIRREL HILL, SQUIRREL HILL", etc.)

(Other than New York City, Jews in the US are heavily suburbanized. In some large metro areas, such as Philadelphia, you will find a good percentage of the Jewish population in the central city (but nowhere near 50%), but you will not find the degree of centralization in one neighborhood as in Pittsburgh.)

(Note that the original poster also said that diversity is desirable. I haven't looked up the census statistics, but I can't imagine Mt. Lebanon, Upper St. Clair, or Fox Chapel are more diverse than Squirrel Hill.)

[CaptainObvious]

Originally Posted by subdivisions

Please stop implying that Squirrel Hill is a bastion of rampant crime. Probably too much personal info for the internets, but I can see Taylor Allderdice from my living room window. We've never, ever, EVER had anything close to a drive-by shooting here, or any other major crime. My neighbors are primarily middle-class Jewish families, and their children safely play outside in the yard every afternoon. My other neighbors are graduate students attending CMU and Pitt. The only annoying thing that drives by my house is the city bus. The only crime I've ever experienced while living here is a dent in my front fender from one of my neighbors backing into my car on a snowy day.

The crime rate in this neighborhood is one of the lowest in metro Pittsburgh. Further, the neighborhood between here and Homewood, Point Breeze, also has an extremely low crime rate, implying that wherever Homewood gang members go, it isn't in this direction. If you don't believe me, check the stats I've posted several times already. Wherever gang members from Homewood hang out, it is not within a 6 block radius of Taylor Allderdice high school. My guess: they hang out in Homewood. Those 10 blocks between here and Homewood equate to almost 2 miles in real terms, and a massive gulf in socio-economic terms. Please, please stop implying that Squirrel Hill is filled with cruising vicious gang members. It's simply not true. Squirrel Hill is a very nice neighborhood.

Wow! Even I, who post after post complain that "somewhere nice" is too close to "somewhere bad", can't say that Homewood is too close to a Squirrel Hill. I guarantee most people would agree that Squirrel Hill is a "nice" area and doesn't even belong in the same sentence as Homewood.

There, Hopes...can you believe that just came out of my mouth? I am little shocked myself.

Captain

[claremarie]

Second: I also want to make clear that Squirrel Hill is nearly unique on the American Jewish scene in 2007. You will not find another metro area with approx 50% of its Jewish population in one neighborhood that is urban and has decent public schools, and that has Jewish religious and cultural institutions serving all segments (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, secular) of the community in that one neighborhood.



I graduated from North Hills HS in the 1970s. In our class of nearly 800, there was ONE Jewish student. One of my first college roommates was Jewish, and she was stunned to discover that she was the first Jewish person I had ever really spoken with. She asked whether there were any Jewish people in Pittsburgh at all, and my answer was "They all live in Squirrel Hill." Coming from NYC, she simply could not believe that -- she assumed that Squirrel Hill was some kind of ghetto...

[Katarina Witt]

I graduated from North Hills HS in the 1970s. In our class of nearly 800, there was ONE Jewish student. One of my first college roommates was Jewish, and she was stunned to discover that she was the first Jewish person I had ever really spoken with. She asked whether there were any Jewish people in Pittsburgh at all, and my answer was "They all live in Squirrel Hill." Coming from NYC, she simply could not believe that -- she assumed that Squirrel Hill was some kind of ghetto...

That is truly amazing. In my class of 450+ at Beaver Falls High School in 1967, there were perhaps a dozen Jewish kids. I guess the Jewish community of Beaver Falls is/was bigger than that of the N. Hills!

[eastofdurango]

[quote=subdivisions;325161]You could be completely right about this aspect of living in metro Pittsburgh. I fully admit that I don't know much about the school systems here (other than Shadyside Academy, because I did research there), and I don't have a kid, so my primary concerns about neighborhoods don't involve schools at all. I've heard conflicting things about Taylor Allderdice and other schools (some people claim it's a great school for academics and others say it's terrible), so I really don't know what to think about that, other than I know it's not gang ridden because I live close to it.

---

Hi ya. I am moving with my husband and 14 yr old daughter to Squirrel Hill this summer -- i have done a lot of research. I live in Tx now but was born and rasied in upstate NY and lived in Chicago 6 years.
Do you feel Squirrel Hill is going to stay the way it is with the "invisble lines" or the gangs and such are moving in closer to these types of areas.
We have been in the suburbs 20 years now and I HATE it and my daughter is couped up all the time - i want her and us out walking, mingling and getting to know our neighbors - do you feel Squirrel Hill would be that place?
Thanks in advance

[ainulinale]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Allderdice ranks at 318 out of 693 high schools in Pennsylvania. That's not in the top 1/3.

Mount Lebanon ranks 6th (which, by the way, has a large Jewish population)

Hampton ranks 40th

Bethel Park ranks 52nd

North Hills ranks 55th

Fox Chapel ranks 75th

Pine Richland ranks 80th

North Allegheny ranks 100th

And Mars area, where the OP is interested in moving, ranks 189th

Diversity isn't always good if it comes with a higher violent crime rate. Let's face it, Squirrel Hill is a stone's throw away from Homewood where drive by shootings are common. Allderdice is just 10 blocks away from Homewood. Plus, Allderdice is just the high school. They'll still have to worry about where to send their children from K-12. The Allderdice students who are from relatively affluent families generally attend Winchester or Shadyside from K-8 prior to their transfer to Allderdice for 9-12.




(2001 data) Ranking of High Schools in Pennsylvania

I don't think these rankings are legit. I've seen other rankings that put North Allegheny much, much higher than that...I had 3.5 at NA and was ranked in the 400s or 500s in my class; and the courses were not easy. I knew many people who were going to the Ivy League. I think these particular rankings are based on state test scores that absolutely no one took seriously; in fact, I knew people who just scribbled on their test workbook and handed that in. Take a look at SAT scores, AP test scores, and what colleges the kids are going to and I guarentee North Allegheny and Taylor-Allderdice will be very close to the top along with Mt. Lebanon. Bottom line: don't give a shread of creedence to these rankings.