hill district? (Pittsburgh, Liberty, Bloomfield: apartments, rent, crime rates)

[gnrpenguin]

I've heard that the hill district is a rough area, but how bad is it? is it somewhere i could reasonably live, or is it just insane, comparable to southeast DC or west Baltimore?

[Hopes]

I not personally familiar with the Hill District aside from occassionally driving coworkers home after work.

Of course it would be easier to live there if you had a connection to the society like friends and relatives who lived there also.

However, I suspect that it's possible for anyone to live in the Hill District if they lived on the very edge of it, close to the civic arena.

It's still VERY dangerous and it's not a good idea to travel through there at night---no driving, walking, biking or anything at night.

Is there a particular reason you're interested in the Hill District?

Perhaps I can recommend some alternative city neighborhoods that might meet your needs.

[gnrpenguin]

i wanted to be able to walk into downtown, probably living close to mellon arena. i dont want to be the only white guy in an all black bad ghetto tho

[Hopes]

You might want to check out this report on violence in Pittsburgh.

It has detailed information about city neighborhoods along with maps depicting exactly where drive by shootings occurred and other violent crimes.

http://www.county.allegheny.pa.us/dh...sburgh2006.pdf

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by gnrpenguin

i wanted to be able to walk into downtown, probably living close to mellon arena. i dont want to be the only white guy in an all black bad ghetto tho

You would be almost the only white guy in the ghetto though. The population is like 99% black.

Plus, the Mellon Arena will be torn down and the area will be under construction soon.

Most neighborhoods immediately surrounding the city aren't safe enough to walk at night regardless of the predominant race of the neighborhood.

Let me think of some ideas.

Can you afford to live immediately in the city? The Train Station?

I wonder about apartments/houses in the strip district area, but I don't have any personal knowledge of that area.

What about Southside? You can walk there.

There's a lot of diversity in the Mexican War Streets, but I still don't recommend walking at night there.

[gnrpenguin]

the south side would be okay, or what about the area around the football staduim? i could also manage little italy i guess

[Drover]

You don't want to live in the Hill District. Period. There's just no sugar-coating it. If you need to get to downtown, live elsewhere and take a bus or the T.

The area immediately around the football stadium is OK, but still a bit creepy at night and even around the edges during the day. A lot of money has been invested in that area, both public and private. And like someone said, Mexican War Streets (just north of the stadium area) has a lot of diveristy, basically meaning whites are gentrifying the area but hoodlums are still lurking around. Completely renovated gorgeous 3500sqft rowhouses and abandoned, boarded up rowhouses literally sit side-by-side. It's kind of weird. If you want to walk around your own neighborhood at night, I would second the caution to stay away from the North Side, even the "gentrified" parts of it.

Finally, Hopes wondered about housing in the Strip District. There isn't much, and what little there is, is kind of scruffy. Once all the restaurants and bars shut down and all the revelers have left, it's a bit seedy there. Not Hill District seedy, but still more creepy than not.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by gnrpenguin

the south side would be okay.

The violent crime maps on the link I provided shows Southside to have relatively high violent crime. I would still feel safe walking around there while it's busy. I guess things change when everything closes down.

Point Breeze and Regent Square appear to be the areas with the lowest violent crime. You can find affordable housing in those areas too. A bonus is that there are great parks near both areas. Regent Square has a little shopping district and Point Breeze is within walking distance to Shadyside and Squirrel Hill.

Polish Hill and Morningside are both very low violent crime rates, but neither has a shopping district. Morningside is a little neighborhood next to the zoo and housing is extremely affordable. It's a little Italian neighborhood. Polish Hill is a safe little neighborhood between Lawrenceville and the Strip District. I suspec that housing is affordable there too.

Originally Posted by gnrpenguin

.......or what about the area around the football staduim?

Do you mean the new apartment and housing developments right around the stadiums? I suspect they would be safe because you would be most likely driving your car into a secure area for parking. Keep in mind that Pittsburgh isn't a 24 hour city. It's not even an 18 hour city. Everything pretty much closes down in the early evening, except the bars and clubs but you don't want to be walking home drunk. So you'd be living somewhere you could really only enjoy walking during the daytime. There would be few places to go on foot at night except just to take a walk and I don't recommend it. Of course, there's always cultural events, but you're not going to attend

Originally Posted by gnrpenguin

.......i could also manage little italy i guess

You'll have more options regarding stores. At least there are convenience stores and grocery stores within walking distance. There are also restaurants, bars, random shopping, and hospitals.

If you check out the link I provided you above, Friendship (which is right next to Bloomfield), has lower violent crime than Bloomfield. It's between Bloomfield and Shadyside so you can enjoy the lower rent compared to pricier Shadyside but still be able enjoy Shadyside and Bloomfield by foot. There's no real park in the Friendship area, but if you like to walk you can always go to the parks on 5th Avenue.

[Drover]

Bear in mind Friendship also borders East Liberty. Last time I was in the area there were some huge changes going on in East Liberty but it's not exactly "home free" yet. Last time I was in Friendship (admittedly several years ago) it was evident that some of East Liberty's issues were spilling over into the eastern edge of Friendship.

All things said, for some reason East Liberty just never scared me much when I lived in Pittsburgh. It's probably the quietest "hood" in the city. I'd still live in Friendship without much pause.

[subdivisions]

What they said. The Hill District is not a good place to live.

Also, thanks for the link, Hopes. That was an interesting document.