For you Pittsburgh City Residents..What signs do you see in your n-hood of being the 5th Poorest City (apartments, crime)

[RockLobster]

According to US Census figures, City residents have the fifth-lowest median household income among residents of larger cities around the country, at $32,363. Fifth place has us with the the 'cream of the crop' hot spots one would typically think as being the poorest of the poor. Detroit, Cleveland, Miami and Buffalo lead the pack followed by our burgh.

My two questions to us city residents is this. Firstly, What signs do you see in your city neighborhood of poverty? And to follow up, Have the signs of poverty gotten worse in your part of the city over the past year or two?

[RockLobster]

I'm a newbie to the Perry Hill Top area so I'm not sure about the past. Curently I do see the city removing more and more of the vacant homes that have fallen into such bad shape they have become true eye sores. ( I'm not a fan of mayor Luke, but I give his admin credit for increasing this removal action )
Further back on Perry Hill I do see a ton of single homes that have been turned into apartments, and much vacant space available. Some of these properties are pretty run down. Side walks and streets are showing signs of age. Pot holes are a continual problem. Most of the street lights do work from what I have seen.
I would guess drug activity is pretty active off Perrysville Ave, however I really havent kept my eyes open for such. I think pretty typical elements for a urban section that is economically challenged.

[Geeo]

Interesting. The same news in the Cleveland Plain Dealer did not mention Pittsburgh as being on the list. Cleveland came in as third poorest big city. Below is the ranking from the Plain Dealer:

"The top spot belongs to Detroit, where about 34 percent of the population lived in poverty last year, according to the census bureau.

Third, behind Detroit and Cleveland, are Buffalo, N.Y. (28.7 percent), El Paso, Texas (27.7 percent) and Memphis, Tenn. (26.2) percent."

Which story is the accurate one?

[Katiana]

It seems (from reading the PG article) there were several lists for different sized cities. Maybe each reporter ordered them differently. It would be helpful to get the original article.

[PeterRabbit]

Our murder rate this year is higher than last by about 1 per month. Currently there has been 44 homicides in the city and the total for last year was 57., 56 in 2006. Our murder rate per 100,000 is higher than Philly & Buffalo and nearly equal to Cleveland. (Detroit and Miami PDs don't release crime statistics to the public... neither does Pgh.)

[Katiana]

I thought the article was about poverty?

[PeterRabbit]

Crime and murder increase as poverty increases. These are changes noticed related to poverty. What don't you understand?

[zip95]

Originally Posted by PeterRabbit

Our murder rate per 100,000 is higher than Philly & Buffalo and nearly equal to Cleveland.

Thats not true.

In fact, the truth is the exact opposite, Pittsburgh has a few more murders than Cleveland, and less than Philly & Buffalo.

[ExPit]

The only thing I'd add is $32K and change is more in Pittsburgh and Detroit and Cleveland than it would be in NYC, Chicago, L.A., etc. Miami residents earning that kind of money might be in big trouble though.

[vtPGH]

Originally Posted by PeterRabbit

Crime and murder increase as poverty increases. These are changes noticed related to poverty. What don't you understand?

To tie increases in poverty to increases in crime and murder rates over a span of 2 or 3 years may be stretching it a bit. However, over the course of a decade or more it very much applicable.

Between 2003 and 2005, Pittsburgh went from 67 murders, down to 47 murders, then back up to 63. With all that fluctuation, its unlikely that rates of poverty were also that fluent, although it's interesting to look for possible correlations.