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I absolutely think there is a lot of truth to the perception that Pittsburgh is the "safe" yet still gritty rust belt option, and race does a play a factor in that.
At the same time, it is the safest of all of the aforementioned ones, so won't deny that safety concerns, especially in the inner city, have helped Pittsburgh transform some neighborhoods more quickly.
With that, I'll stick to what I have mentioned previously about how Pittsburgh isn't as safe, or transformed, as its city numbers make it appear. It doesn't have to carry with it nearly as many downtrodden neighborhoods as Cleveland, Detroit or St. Louis do. They all have a couple suburbs that are as rough as some of their worst city neighborhoods, but nothing like Pittsbugh.
Plus, you don't hear much about those depressed boroughs because they are all tiny (like .5 to 5 square miles in area) so individually (with the exception of Wilkinsburg) aren't really thought of as having high crime because the numerical totals are low.
But collectively, if you took the Mon Valley cities/boroughs, and grouped them together, you are talking about an area of 40 to 50 square miles and a population of roughly 150,000 that definitely has a higher poverty/unemployment rate than the city of Pittsburgh. I'm also guessing it would have a much higher crime rate as well. There are a lot of areas in the Mon Valley that would give the worst parts of Cleveland, Detroit or St. Louis in terms of blight/abandonment.
In the homicide thread, someone mentioned the city of Pittsburgh is at 47 (population 305,000). I would not be surprised if the collective Mon Valley communities are close to that number (in a population of 150,000).
Pittsburgh is a really good example of how like 4 nice central neighborhoods can warp people’s perception of a city. (With a bit of help from the media’s underdog bias). This is one reason Chicago and Philly have different reputations, the Loop is immaculate and Center City is not. But they have pretty much the exact same issues.
Pittsburgh (and New Orleans) have the most active central 4 neighborhoods of the bunch and hide their decay better (in New Orleans case quite literally behind ~25-30ft walls) but it exists non the less.
Pittsburgh is a really good example of how like 4 nice central neighborhoods can warp people’s perception of a city. (With a bit of help from the media’s underdog bias). This is one reason Chicago and Philly have different reputations, the Loop is immaculate and Center City is not. But they have pretty much the exact same issues.
Pittsburgh (and New Orleans) have the most active central 4 neighborhoods of the bunch and hide their decay better (in New Orleans case quite literally behind ~25-30ft walls) but it exists non the less.
Downtown, the Strip, Oakland are better than the other cities comparable neighborhoods. Which gives people an unrealistic expectation of how Pittsburgh measures up to Cleveland, St Louis or Cincinnati
I was not saying Greater Pittsburgh has 4 nice neighborhoods, I was saying it’s reputation as the Jewel of the Rustbelt is based off like 4 neighborhoods
Last edited by btownboss4; 10-09-2021 at 06:05 PM..
Pittsburgh is a really good example of how like 4 nice central neighborhoods can warp people’s perception of a city. (With a bit of help from the media’s underdog bias).
Accurate. So many people here think that all of Pittsburgh looks like Shadyside, Oakland, or Squirrel Hill. The gritty slightly run down Appalachia look is very present in a lot of the city.
Downtown, the Strip, Oakland are better than the other cities comparable neighborhoods. Which gives people an unrealistic expectation of how Pittsburgh measures up to Cleveland, St Louis or Cincinnati
I was not saying Greater Pittsburgh has 4 nice neighborhoods, I was saying it’s reputation as the Jewel of the Rustbelt is based off like 4 neighborhoods
I also think another big part of it is that the crime in Pittsburgh is not as bad as a lot of the other cities on this list. Again, some of that has to do with with a lot of improvised areas being outside the city limits. Also, there’s the southside flats, Mexican War Streets is a trendy area nowadays, there’s a couple of other areas. But I’d say even though the eastern chunk of the city is where most of the trendy, thriving areas are located(along with some of the worst neighborhoods towards the east of them), there are other good chunks of the city that are doing well and trendy.
Cincinnati might be on Pittsburgh’s level or even above it. The city gained like 10k in the past decade, and so many areas that were total dumps 20 years ago, have been completely transformed into thriving districts(though often at the expense of residents that have been there for a long time). OTR was as bad looking as West Baltimore back in 2000, and at least a hundred buildings have been renovated a year and now lots of new construction is popping up as well.
Downtown, the Strip, Oakland are better than the other cities comparable neighborhoods. Which gives people an unrealistic expectation of how Pittsburgh measures up to Cleveland, St Louis or Cincinnati
I was not saying Greater Pittsburgh has 4 nice neighborhoods, I was saying it’s reputation as the Jewel of the Rustbelt is based off like 4 neighborhoods
It's more than just 4 though. I'd say the Pittsburgh neighborhoods that stand out compared to it's peer cities are: Downtown, the Strip District, Lawrenceville, South side flats, Oakland (which is big, and is usually considered to be 3 neighborhoods), Shadyside, East Liberty, Squirrel Hill, and Mt. Washington . I'd probably also include the North Side because of all of it's attractions, but it does have some run down areas.
Imagine Atlanta declining to the status of Nashville or Orlando. That's how far Detroit has fallen.
Except that is hasn't. You can't look at the city population in a vacuum. The metro has grown over the decades.
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