Carnegie or Millvale (home, area, business)

[Copanut]

But the good paying blue collar jobs are gone. Now it's under educated kids working for 5 bucks an hour running the Slurpy machine.

[otters21]

Originally Posted by Copanut

But the good paying blue collar jobs are gone. Now it's under educated kids working for 5 bucks an hour running the Slurpy machine.

That is true thanks to NAFTA and all the outsourcing. Taking our jobs and shipping them to places like China , India and Mexico has really hit the blue collar Joe communities very hard. That is more money in the wallets of the rich company owners and those fat cats IMHO are destroying the backbone of America.

[Hopes]

We don't need high paying manufacturing jobs to retain a significant blue collar population in an area like Millvale.

There are still many blue collar trades and small business owners for plumbing, electrical, landscaping, etc.

As a matter of fact, Pittsburgh's unions are desperate for apprentices. Used to be you couldn't get into the union, but now nobody wants to work hard for a living.

So there are blue collar opportunities in Pittsburgh and thriving blue collar neighbhorhoods.

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by Hopes

We don't need high paying manufacturing jobs to retain a significant blue collar population in an area like Millvale.

OK< so now Millvale will be very low blue collar. Are you trying to tell me that losing manufacturing jobs that paid very, very, well are adequately being replaced?

Show me some stats.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by Copanut

OK< so now Millvale will be very low blue collar. Are you trying to tell me that losing manufacturing jobs that paid very, very, well are adequately being replaced?

No. I'm telling you that Millvale wasn't changed by those losses.

Most high blue collar never lived in Millvale, not even in the 60s and 70s.

Throughout my entire life, Millvale has always been what Millvale is today.

Are you completely unaware that many steel workers lived in the suburbs along side educated professionals?

They made 60k to 80k depending on how much overtime they worked.

For the 70s, that was a fortune --- executive earnings range.

And that's why the steel industry in the United States collapsed.

For the record, many small business owners and people in the trades can make a good living today in Pittsburgh.

All of the union carptenters I know live in the suburbs.

[Hopes]

I'm seeing red over this.

I wish the Allegheny County Real Estate website still allowed you to search by name. You could look up the houses of some small business owners as proof.

I know someone who owns a small landscaping business. He makes between 2500k to 350k+ depending on the year.

I was volunteering after a flood, a guy who lost his small window cleaning business. He made 100k cleaning windows. I saw his tax returns.

Alternately, you can judge a book by its cover in Southwestern PA.

I have a dear friend who lives in a very modest home, drives used cars, and has worked his life in a hourly food service job.

He has a portfolio worth over 4 million, and that's after he took a hit in the stock market.

But my MAIN POINT is that Millvale has been the same low blue collar workers for the 60 years---maybe longer but I haven't been alive to personally attest to that.

Are you not even from Pittsburgh your entire life? How could you not know these things about Pittsburghers?

[javajive711]

Since no one's come to Carnegie's defense, I figured I might as well. We bought a nice house in a nice neighborhood there (near Carnegie Park), and have found everyone to be friendly and the neighborhood to be safe. Carnegie Towers (the section 8 high rise) has its problems, but judging from the police blotter those problems almost always stay within the Towers. Carnegie has a cute main street and has one of the original Carnegie Libraries (complete with music hall and concerts). It's really convenient to everything (being on the Parkway, I-79, and the West Busway), is really close to the airport, Robinson, Mt. Lebanon, and Downtown (and really only 10-15 minutes away from Oakland). You're also 20 minutes away from Canonsburg or Cranberry. As for the person who said people ignored her when she asked them directions--there's a larger proportion of immigrants in Carnegie than one would think, many of whom don't speak English well. Of course I can't be sure that that's the case in this situation, but I've never seen anyone be treated like that in Carnegie. Carlynton's a very small school district, and it's average--neither Mt. Lebanon nor Wilkinsburg. The "ghetto" parts of Carnegie aren't actually in Carnegie--they're in East Carnegie (City of Pgh), Heidelberg and parts of Scott Twp--all in different school districts. Gotta say, I'm surprised in the whole Millvale vs Carnegie arguement that no one mentioned how awful Rt. 28 is...

[tranceFusion]

I just moved right between Millvale and Etna. There's definitely some trashy looking folks hanging around in Millvale, but overall I find it to be very charming. Pamelas, the french bakery, cool used music store, Yetters candies, the pharmacy, Mr Smalls, are all really neat and give it some character. Also, the Millvale Riverfront Park is great. A nice pavillion, you can put a kayak in, or ride a walk/ride a bike to downtown events. Etna might appear a little less trashy, but it doesn't have any of this stuff.

Like many Pittsburgh neighborhoods, a facade lift would do wonders.

[jay5835]

I don't know either neighborhood, but I know Millvale floods. I've seen the damage at a nice second-hand music store, and saw other stores that may not have opened again.

I knew a guy some people would consider "snooty" (he drives a Porsche and corrects you if you don't pronounce both syllables), and he just loves living in Carnegie.

That's all I know.

[PreservationPioneer]

Not all of Millvale floods -- just check to see if the house you are buying is in the flood zone or not.