the good and the bad about Peters Township (Pittsburgh, Oakland: houses, school)

[Nearwater]

Peters TWP is ranked 62 in PA for median household income and 79th for per capita income.

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by cmac1972

My husband and I are thinking of relocating this summer. He will be working @ CMU. How far is Peters Township from there?

My wife works at CMU. First of all, your husband will love working at CMU, they are a great group of people.

Second, we, as you can tell, live on the east side of the city. I work in the South Hills near Peters Twsp, so I do the same commute your husband would. The "back way" that someone else mentioned is ridiculous, unless you don't mind driving down 25 mph roads which people obey to the mph. My wife and I have spoke about moving to the Mt Lebanon area (not far from Peters) and I just don't want her sitting in that traffic every morning. 45 minutes to go 20 miles is ridiculous in my opinion.

When I moved to Pittsburgh nearly three years ago, my HR department recommended that I start looking for homes in the Bethel Park, Upper St Clair, Castle Shannon areas, and after one day of doing so, drove home with a bad case of suburban depression. To me it makes no sense to live in an area like that where you have to drive to everything. But if you don't mind, it's ok.

CMU employees have so many benefits, including riding mass transit anywhere. Think about looking on the east side of the city, there's lots here to enjoy!

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by Nearwater

And your point is? Are you saying that 108K median income makes a family or town "wealthy"? That does not even equal the pay of a cop married to a nurse in almost any state. Do you think a cop and a nurse are "wealthy"? Do you think two teachers married to each other and make a combined income of 110k are wealthy? I don't think so. You know what it makes them? Hard working and lucky. Not wealthy.

My point is simply that it was absurd for you to act like it would be totally out of the question for someone to think of Peters Twp as wealthy.

I think Hopes hit the nail on the head. I do understand that how wealthy one feels is very subjective to past experiences as well as their current debt load and living situation, etc. Maybe a cop and a nurse making 110K in a half million dollar house in Peters Twp wouldn't feel very wealthy, but that was their choice.

[Pgher4life]

Despite the undeserving rep that MT LEBO has and I had been there myself, its not true...MT LEBO is a slice of heaven and you can buy a home that is in a modest price range. Yes the taxes are higher but you get what you pay for and I have come to love this area....its people and the walking community...I based my experiences on a few snobs who live in the high end area as that was where I first lived, I then went out and met working class folks who reside in the most of the areas in this community, and I found very nice kind and down to earth people...sometimes its our attitude we give out to others that we may or may not be noticing, or think that people hate us for whatever reason when they actually don't....Mount Lebanon is for the most part one of the safest, friendliest and cleanest areas I know of in the region and I lived all over PGH...for 40 years....There are no busses but kids walk and most I know love that! Kids pack healthy lunches or can now buy healthy meals at schools....just my two cents from my own personal experience!

[Geeo]

There was a great opinion piece about Mt. Lebanon in the Forum section of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Sunday. It is a very successful community because it was deisnged to be just that: a walkable place with different types of housing, business districts, green space, apartments buildings, etc. It was designed with cars in mind but cars do not overwhelm the design of the town. Streets are narrow, which keeps traffic slow, parking lots must be behind buildings or obscured by trees, and garages are tucked behind houses in alleys or under houses.

[Pgher4life]

Thank you Geeo for your positive post on MT LEBO, so many on here trash our community and promote their own...hate that! THANKS!

[Copanut]

I'll second the opinion about Mt. Lebo having lived there back in the 80's. But I will disagree with the taxes, they are no higher than anywhere else, and sometimes lower. A home assessed at 100K will cost you 4 thousand in Dormont, that same assessment in Mt. Lebo is 3300.

As much as I liked living in Dormont, the taxes just bugged the heck out of me.

[Pgher4life]

Taxes maintain our streets and give us a good quality of life, I grew up in a low tax community and I see the HUGE difference it makes, for my personal experience, I rather pay up and live in a nice area as you get what you pay for! Now that is not to say that lower taxes in some far county can afford a nicer bigger newer home but your not near the city or near good shopping and entertainment, if you do not care bout that stuff, then your doing what is best for you and your family, as it should be!

[Pgher4life]

Copanut...you are correct, its based on the value of your home....

[PT Student]

I have been reading some of the posts concerning Peters Township and I have to disagree with some of the statements that I saw. I am currently a student at the high school. When people judge us as the "spoiled rich kids", they are just basing that on the fact that are parents have money. And are parents have that money because they are hardworking. There are many homes in the older neighborhoods that are under 200k and no one seems to judge them based off of their house in school. If you are basing your views of Peters Township based off of the 90's, there has been a lot of changes that have been done in 10-20 years. There is very little bullying in the school district and that is backed up by the district zero-tolerance policy. Also, it seems that everybody is friends with each other. I have "nerdier" friends and also more "popular" friends. And might I add, that a lot of the "popular" kids live in small houses or in the tinier townhouses and their rich friends do not seem to mind.

But I will have to say that it can be a little difficult at first to make friends but, after a week or so the kids start to open up. Everyone grew up together so sometimes it is difficult to open up. Also, we all grew up together so we are like one big family. It is almost as if someone is marrying into the family when a new kid comes.

Oh and on the thing about all of the new cars in the parking lot, there is some expensive cars but, there are also old minivans and beaten up cars. It is like any other community, there are the more privileged. Honestly, kids are just happy to be able to drive around with their friends.

So do not judge the school system unless you have been through it yourself.