Help! I signed a lease in Northside........ (Erie, Fernway: relocating, houses)

[eem150]

Hello! I am from Erie, PA and am relocating to Pittsburh to work at UPMC- I signed a lease in Northside off of Perrysville Ave. The house is a huge Victorian divided into apartments- it is modern and beautiful, and I needed extremely perfect credit to get it. The problem is I keep reading posts that say this area of the city is crime ridden. I am a female, and now I'm scared to death. There seems to be a few nice houses next door with nice cars parked in front, but down the street it looks pretty bad. Is most of the crime between drug dealers, etc, or is it random? My apartment seems to be secure, but I'm sure I'll never be able to take the bus to work. I've read that there are gunshots during all hours of the day and night... ugh! Any insite would be appreciated....

[RockLobster]

Hi, Your posting certainly caught my eye. I just bought a house on Clayton which I believe is just below you. You might be able to throw a baseball down onto my street from your property. The specific area your talking about was not that great a frew years ago, and as you would travel down Perrysville and onto federal into the north side it would become even worse. Drug traffic and youth crime being the primary trouble. Over the last several years the crime has not been as bad and with rising property values in the War Streets and rising property valeus moving down from the top of the slope the squeeze is on the folks being naughty. In fact when I checked with PPD zone 1 on the Northside, they gave me crime figures that showed more crime in Shadyside then on the northside. Manchester on the northside has been the area of the most violent crimes in this area of the city, and that is not your n-hood. So use typical caution in a urban environment and enjoy the views.. This part of the city will continue to improve....

[eem150]

Hey thanks so much, I feel much better. I did notice some great houses just south of my building! I just got paranoid because of some of the postings I have been reading. Plus, a lady helping me select furniture in Robinson Town Centers eyes got big when I told her I was residing in Northside I could see how the property values could climb pretty high with the awesome view. Thanks again!

[NewBurg]

I wouldn't let her bother you. Some boring suburbanites get big eyes just at the mention of living in the city. The Northside is so large that it has some good and bad parts, of course, and it's unfortunate that all of the northside is lumped together when there's a crime in one rougher part of it. Of course some areas are rough, but others are real gems. Plus it seems to be on an upswing, with lots of development and rising property prices. I think you made a good choice.

[eem150]

Great, I think it's going to be a wonderful change for me. Plus the other tenants in my building are friendly and eager to help.

[Geeo]

I lived in the East Allegheny section of the North Side for many years and liked it very much. Very close-knit neighborhood, great houses, friendly neighbors, and I could walk or take the bus anywhere.

Don't pay attention to the horrified sub-urbanites. They are so afraid of everything that they think venturing into the city is a death sentence. They drive from their garages to their malls and never walk more than fifty feet at one time. I doubt that many know their neighbors.

[gallacus]

Enjoy to view, I have the opposite view from over on the South Side Slopes. This is a little off-topic, but I just thought I would provide a little restaurant recommendation for someone moving into the North Side: I just visited this new restaurant called Sassy Maries over on the North Side on Foreland St. The food was great, was relatively inexpensive for the quality of food you got, the building was renovated beautifully and was all I needed to keep me coming from the South Side. Enjoy the neighborhood!

Pop City - Sassy Marie's restaurant opens, prepares to add music lounge and banquet facility

[NewBurg]

Originally Posted by Geeo

Don't pay attention to the horrified sub-urbanites....They drive from their garages to their malls and never walk more than fifty feet at one time. .

Very funny, Geeo. Being new to this forum, I'm surprised by how much of the talk revolves around the 'burbs. It always surprises me how so many people's lives still revolve around the big commute, soulless McMansion car-culture, and the big box retail stores.

[Hopes]

Geeo and Newburg: You're making gross generalizations. Not everyone who lives in the suburbs fits your stereotype.

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by NewBurg

Very funny, Geeo. Being new to this forum, I'm surprised by how much of the talk revolves around the 'burbs. It always surprises me how so many people's lives still revolve around the big commute, soulless McMansion car-culture, and the big box retail stores.

You do know that not all burbs are McMansions.... Fernway and Sun Valley in Cranberry are anti-McMansions.

Not every one is cut out for the urban culture. Frankly, after living out here in my urban culture with all it's "diversity" -- the kid next door taking up the trumpet, and they make him play it OUTSIDE because he's so good; a walkable area that you can't walk in for the druggies and street people; copper choppers overhead almost daily -- and nightly; smash and grabs everywhere that don't get reported because why bother AND they don't clean up the glass -- sometimes down the whole street; cars with boom boom rap music playing so loudly that it sets of the car alarms as it goes down the street: the gang wars our street got caught up in with two suicides and one cop shoot out leading to a fatality last year -- I could go and on about all gloriousness of living in an urban culture...

Bless me, I'll take the suburbs any day! Because if that crap is what you call "soul" then I'll be an atheist.