What's the most underrated suburb? (Pittsburgh, Wilkinsburg: credit, new house, neighborhoods)

[mattjd]

Talking about the whole deal here: housing prices, taxes, schools, crime, location to highways, commute time to downtown, nearby shopping, etc. What's some underrated suburbs that have these things, yet still doesn't get the credit it deserves?


My choice would be Hempfield.

Pros:
Lots of new housing developments
Fair housing prices
Great school district
Lots of shopping close on rt.30
Lower taxes compared to Allegheny County
Full of Obama-haters

Cons:
Commuting to downtown sucks
Too far from the airport
Hs football team sucks
I don't live there

[Pitt Chick]

I don't consider Hempfield to be a suburb of Pittsburgh.

Politics there are terrible; school board always squabbling; etc.
Plenty of people there voted for Obama.

[highway29south]

I don't know about underrated, but Robinson and the other west suburbs barely get a mention around Pittsburgh, that I notice. Everything in Pittsburgh seems to be east, then south, then north. The only thing people seem to notice is that IKEA is out here. Boy, are they missing a lot!

Being unoticed, we don't have the traffic the east does or the crowds the south and north areas have. And the country is only 10 minutes away, and downtown is only 20 minutes away, with very easy access to the highways. Nice family neighborhoods and plenty of newer shopping areas including the mall and the new specialty shoppes going in off Campbells Run. Housing is about the same as anywhere else in Pittsburgh in terms of cost.

Come to think of it, I like it this way and don't want to get noticed. Forget I said anything!

[Copanut]

Thornburg
Rosslynn Farms

[ddietrich]

Originally Posted by highway29south

Being unoticed, we don't have the traffic the east does or the crowds the south and north areas have.

I agree with you on a lot of points, but not the traffic. Traffic to/from downtown to the Robinson area can be absolutely ridiculous. Traffic is bad enough from downtown to 79 to the Bridgeville exit (South Fayette, where I live), but it is even worse if you stay on 22/30 and have to head out towards Robinson. And this goes for both the morning and afternoon commute, in both directions.

After several after-work shopping trips where we went from downtown straight out to Robinson, my husband and I declined to look at developments out that way because of the addition on to our commute.

Otherwise, I love the area, pretty decent schools, great access to just about any shopping you need, close to the airport. Just the commute downtown stinks.

[Awesomo.2000]

My favorites are Edgewood, North Swissvale, and South Wilkinsburg.

I am just going to post one post in this thread. If this is really the direction of this forum....................then Jesus. Also, lets keep politics out of it.

New Housing plans suck. They are the least desirable things to many people, especially of the younger generation. People of my parents generation loved living in these treeless Maronda subdivisions with no sidewalks, all the houses looked the same, and you have to drive everywhere for everything. Yay! Growing up in one of those beige boxes that resembled every neighbor's house down the street was the most god awful feeling of mediocrity. It is no wonder so some of these white suburban kids grow up crazy or addicted to heroin.

But Hey, Lets turn this into suburbinite-data.com! Lets talk about how god awful scary the city is, and how you need a carry a taser around with you, and where we should build our new crappy Maronda/Ryan subdivisions in Cranberry or Hempfield Townships!

Bash me all you want.

[ddietrich]

Originally Posted by Awesomo.2000

New Housing plans suck.

You seem to take new housing plans pretty personally. It is really that serious? Geez.

[Awesomo.2000]

Originally Posted by ddietrich

You seem to take new housing plans pretty personally. It is really that serious? Geez.

I am anti sprawl, and pro "smart development". Is that wrong? Oh, I forgot, this is suburbinite-data.com.

Jesus, I am already past my one post, I said that I would stop. But people on this forum really don't like me to voice my opinion.

Geez.

And for the recond:

I am NOT anti-suburb, Like everybody on here has me made out to be. I love many suburbs around the Pittsburgh area. I am anti sprawl. I am against the ideology of people who feel their only option is to build a new house with a 50 year life span in a new exurban subdivision, instead of staying in an existing town. Why is it, the American ideology is, let the old unique towns rot, and build newer cheaper crap in a forest 15 miles even further out. I just will never get it.

[Mugatu]

Originally Posted by Awesomo.2000

I am anti sprawl, and pro "smart development". Is that wrong? Oh, I forgot, this is suburbinite-data.com.

Jesus, I am already past my one post, I said that I would stop. But people on this forum really don't like me to voice my opinion.

Geez.

It's the attitude you post with that turns people off, not just "voicing your opinion."

[raynist]

Originally Posted by Awesomo.2000

My favorites are Edgewood, North Swissvale, and South Wilkinsburg.

I am just going to post one post in this thread. If this is really the direction of this forum....................then Jesus. Also, lets keep politics out of it.

New Housing plans suck. They are the least desirable things to many people, especially of the younger generation. People of my parents generation loved living in these treeless Maronda subdivisions with no sidewalks, all the houses looked the same, and you have to drive everywhere for everything. Yay! Growing up in one of those beige boxes that resembled every neighbor's house down the street was the most god awful feeling of mediocrity. It is no wonder so many of these white suburban kids grow up crazy or addicted to heroin.

But Hey, Lets turn this into suburbinite-data.com! Lets talk about how god awful scary the city is, and how you need a carry a taser around with you, and where we should build our new crappy Maronda/Ryan subdivisions in Cranberry or Hempfield Townships!

Bash me all you want.

Ok, I'll start.

There is nothing wrong with living in the suburbs, and there is nothing wrong with living in the City.

I grew up in a city neighborhood (Brookline) and lived there for 26 years.
I wanted a house with a yard I could actually use. My yard in Brookline was barely big enough to turn a lawnmower around in so we played in the street every day. It wasn't all that safe and more than one of us was hit by a car (minor). I wanted a house where my daughter could play in the yard and be able to run more than 20 feet without running into a fence. I wanted a quieter neighborhood where I was more than 10 feet from my neighbor. In Brookline I could hear my neighbors yelling at their kids from in my house (and they were in theirs) and everyone had at least 2 dogs that barked non-stop. My parents spent many thousands of dollars sending us to private schools so we didn't have to be bused to the hill district. I wanted a house in an area with a great school district.

If I didn't have kids I would consider City living, but based on my experience growing up in the city she will have a much safer childhood where we live now.

The services out here are much better also (garbage pickup, snow removal, street repair). Another benefit is I don't have to fight with neighbors for parking spaces.

By the way, I purchased a 40 year old house in Upper Saint Clair, I did not build a new one. It was actually quite a bit cheaper than comparable houses within the city at the time we purchased it.


--Ray