Barnes and Noble closing. (Pittsburgh, Wilkinsburg: for sale, house, new construction)

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Geeo

More fun geography: years ago, South Highland Avenue and Ellsworth Avenue were part of East Liberty, not Shadyside. . . .

Well there you go. You can see how if you ignore the dividing line supplied by the Busway, this makes ample sense of the local street grids.

[dugdogmaster]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Well there you go. You can see how if you ignore the dividing line supplied by the Busway, this makes ample sense of the local street grids.

Street grid, Pittsburgh?

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Drover

Maybe I'm not cynical enough but this doesn't look to me like an attempt to dissociate itself from East Liberty.

I honestly think you aren't cynical enough in this case. I might have given a pass to the original Eastside development for a rather uninspired name, but when they then picked it up for the strip mall and Bakery Square, I think they were obviously trying to rebrand the whole area, and that only makes sense if you don't like the current branding.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by ditchdigger

As I said, the borders moved with the fortunes of the neighborhoods. Shadyside's stock went up, and Sliberty's went down, and those blocks essentially defected.

Did they defect, or was the boundry redrawn to coincide with census tracts?

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by dugdogmaster

Street grid, Pittsburgh?

It is a bit of a misconception that Pittsburgh has no street grid. The problem is actually that we have like 60 of them, which don't line up with each other when they intersect (including two in just our small Downtown). Among other things, that creates the fun situation in which a given street can be north-south in one local grid and east-west in another local grid, which in turn makes the imposition of an intuitive street numbering system effectively impossible,

But street grids? We've got plenty!

[Drover]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

I honestly think you aren't cynical enough in this case. I might have given a pass to the original Eastside development for a rather uninspired name, but when they then picked it up for the strip mall and Bakery Square, I think they were obviously trying to rebrand the whole area, and that only makes sense if you don't like the current branding.

I guess I'm not cynical enough then, because I remain unconvinced. If they're trying to eschew East Liberty, why would the Bakery Square website acknowlege it's in East Liberty? Why not just lump themselves with Shadyside since ost of the "Eastside" developments fall within the Shadyside borders anyway.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Drover

Did they defect, or was the boundry redrawn to coincide with census tracts?

It isn't an obvious Census Tract issue. Here is a 1990 Census Tract map:

Wards & Census Tracts

You can see several Census Tracts that fall within the disputed territory that could have been included in East Liberty, but were apparently put in Shadyside instead.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Drover

I guess I'm not cynical enough then, because I remain unconvinced.

Give me subpoena power and I'll get you proof. Well, OK, maybe that isn't such a great idea.

If they're trying to eschew East Liberty, why not just lump themselves with Shadyside? Most of the "Eastside" developments fall within the Shadyside borders anyway.

Not the strip mall or Bakery Square, which I view as the smoking guns. And they couldn't rebrand them "Village at Shadyside" and "Bakery Square at Shadyside" because that would be too obviously wrong to most locals.

[Drover]

OK, I looked at the map and the border not only coincides with census tracts but ward boundaries. So I ask again if these blocks "defected" on their own or if there was an actual purpose to putting the border where it is. I suppose once again that I'm just not being adequately cynical.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Not the strip mall or Bakery Square, which I view as the smoking guns. And they couldn't rebrand them "Village at Shadyside" and "Bakery Square at Shadyside" because that would be too obviously wrong to most locals.

What you view as "smoking guns" I view as an attempt to tie together multiple developments along a single corridor into one marketable package. And apparently whole blocks can just "defect" into adjacent neighborhoods, so why not just call themselves "Village at Shadyside" and defect?

I remain unconvinced.