hill district? (Pittsburgh, Washington, Duquesne: apartment, lofts, crime rate)

[TRO Z]

Maybe the white people she sees up Sugartop are the cable guys or the electric man...I also frequent the Hill..

And everytime I am in the Upper Hill...They look at me like I am FIVE 0...

[JacksPgh]

The area refered to as the Bluff is actually quite charming. Obviously it is rough around trhe edges. It is being swallowed up by Duquesne University and its Hospital. The small streets have small historic townhouses right off of Fifth. (I love them). I am assuming you are familiar with inner city living and what comes with it. I am convinced that this will be a great investment and the next hot city neighborhood. The Hill has many new townhouses and many very old abandoned homes. The Hill proper can be very steep, so if biking oi!
Caution... the Mellon Arena is near and the new Arena will be going up there, and there is the Palumbo Center, so traffic will be at a stand still during events. That being said, the point of living in a place like this is to be able to walk. I am curently looking for property there

[prototypepariah]

would you take a bus through this part of town from squirrel hill?

[kiggis13]

Originally Posted by TRO Z

Maybe the white people she sees up Sugartop are the cable guys or the electric man...I also frequent the Hill..

And everytime I am in the Upper Hill...They look at me like I am FIVE 0...

I believe the white ppl. on the Upper Hill would probably live on the hill side (I believe this is still considered the Hill) on streets such as Center, Schenley Farms Terrace, Andover Terrace, and Byrn Mawr. However, I could be wrong I'm just making an assumption. The houses on that part of Center are very nice (Shadyside-like). Also, some of my college friends were considering getting a house on Brackenridge street. Are students really living up that far??

[kiggis13]

FYI ,according to the 2000 Census:

Upper Hill: 10.4% white

Bedford Dwellings: 1.7% white

Crawford Roberts (by Mellon Arena): 10.6% white

Middle Hill: 2.1% white

Terrace Village: 2.6% white

My guess that as of 2007, the "white-ness" of Crawford Roberts is increasing.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by prototypepariah

would you take a bus through this part of town from squirrel hill?

The bus doesn't technically go through The Hill when coming into Pittsburgh from Squirrel Hill. It comes down 5th Avenue through the Bluff which consists mostly of Duquesne University and Mercy Hospital. That part of 5th Avenue becomes more raw at night, but traffic breezes through because the lights are set to flashing. By raw, I just mean that a few drug dealers and prostitutes might be out on 5th, not necessarily gangsters shooting at each other with guns.

One word of advice: if the bus breaks down on 5th at night, stay in the bus. Don't get out and walk unless it's daylight. I only know to warn you because a bus did break down on my sister when she was coming in from Oakland. It was in the middle of the day. Everyone got out of the bus to walk. She was a cute petite young lady and people on the street were hooting at her. The other passengers wouldn't walk with her because they felt that she was a target that put them in danger. Nothing happened. My sister was just very frightened. Apparently, the other passengers were frightened too, or they wouldn't have behaved the way they did.

Pittsburghers go near the Hill for Hockey games and other events at the Mellon Arena during all hours of the day and night. It's different when there is an event though because there is safety in the crowds, plus lots of police are everywhere during events too.

[prototypepariah]

main interest was to take the bus for hockey. I'm sure that it goes near there and there are people on it...well I hope!

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by prototypepariah

main interest was to take the bus for hockey. I'm sure that it goes near there and there are people on it...well I hope!

If you're going for hockey, you'll be fine because there will be a huge crowd of hockey fans and lots of police.

[TRO Z]

I am still curious to see...how the revitalization of the hill goes now that the casino move didnt work..damn near every commerical property on 5th ave was in play for awhile... these property owners who had their buildings for sale at 800k and up...what are they really worth now???

I enjoy going to the hill...There are some great old timers there...And hopefully organizations like the hill house and the urban redevelopment authority dont let revitalization mean displacement for them during the next 10 years...

[Drover]

Originally Posted by TRO Z

And hopefully organizations like the hill house and the urban redevelopment authority dont let revitalization mean displacement for them during the next 10 years...

The first step the city will need to take to make sure this doesn't happen is get its property tax rates under control. I've ranted against property taxes on these boards before for this very reason and I'm gonna do it again now. If low-income homeowners in the Hill wake up one day to discover their home has doubled or tripled in value, are they going to be in a position to shell out $250 a month for property taxes?