East Liberty becoming a mixed-income success story (Pittsburgh, East Side: sale, crime)

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by wpipkins

Same can be said about the "Village of East Side".

Yep. I'm not all thrilled about it as a marketing term to begin with, which is why I am even less thrilled to see it creeping into "official" language (in this case, from the PPS).

Of course I get the fact that the name "East Liberty" still strikes fear into the hearts of certain people. Fortunately, I think East Liberty's brand image is rapidly changing, and so I hope these "official" endorsements of the "East Side" marketing concept are only a passing fad.

[wpipkins]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Yep. I'm not all thrilled about it as a marketing term to begin with, which is why I am even less thrilled to see it creeping into "official" language (in this case, from the PPS).

Of course I get the fact that the name "East Liberty" still strikes fear into the hearts of certain people. Fortunately, I think East Liberty's brand image is rapidly changing, and so I hope these "official" endorsements of the "East Side" marketing concept are only a passing fad.

North Shore!

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by wpipkins

North Shore!

Ugh, exactly.

[Drover]

Thing about North Shore is that it's not just a marketing term, it's an official, city-designated neighborhood name. It would be interesting to know when it earned that designation.

[onwardandupward]

Originally Posted by wpipkins

Same can be said about the "Village of East Side". The shopping center used to be called East Liberty Station.

When the school moved from Oakland the district did not want to say we are moving to East Liberty. This would have scared off some of the white parents who are not familiar with the area. Reizenstein / Obama is in a nuetral area and has always been safe.

Not to split hairs, but Reizenstein/Obama is actually in Shadyside, as is the Shakespeare Giant Eagle. Bakery Square is in Larimer, and the Village of East Side (Trader Joe's, etc.) and Target are both in East Liberty. This may explain in part the search for a single geographical description of these areas.

[wpipkins]

Originally Posted by Drover

Thing about North Shore is that it's not just a marketing term, it's an official, city-designated neighborhood name. It would be interesting to know when it earned that designation.

After mayor Murphy started on the stadium projects.

[wpipkins]

Originally Posted by onwardandupward

Not to split hairs, but Reizenstein/Obama is actually in Shadyside, as is the Shakespeare Giant Eagle. Bakery Square is in Larimer, and the Village of East Side (Trader Joe's, etc.) and Target are both in East Liberty. This may explain part of the search for a single geographical description of these areas.

You are correct. When I attended Reizenstein we were told that we were in Shadyside not East Liberty. I attended Reizenstien when it was a science and math magnet. I remember when the gated townhouse community and east liberty station was constructed. I also remember the Nabisco plant and the smell going from sour to sweet during the course of the day.

[Scott2187]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Of course I get the fact that the name "East Liberty" still strikes fear into the hearts of certain people. Fortunately, I think East Liberty's brand image is rapidly changing, and so I hope these "official" endorsements of the "East Side" marketing concept are only a passing fad.

It's really unfortunate that 'East Liberty' is still getting such a bad wrap after all that is going on in the neighborhood. Then again, I don't think it gets enough positive publicity yet, or when it does people don't believe how much it has changed.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Drover

It would be interesting to know when it earned that designation.

I believe it happened circa 1969. Here is a link about the neighborhood so-named from the 1977 Pittsburgh Neighborhood Atlas, and it describes the process by which the neighborhoods were defined and got their names (PDF):

http://www.ucsur.pitt.edu/files/nrep...PNA%201977.pdf

The Pittsburgh Neighborhood Alliance was formed in 1969 by a number of neighborhood organizations that were concerned with improving the city's neighborhoods and their relations with city government. The members of the Alliance recognized that in order to negotiate effectively with city government about such major concerns as public service needs, capital improvements and transportation, it was necessary to obtain accurate, up-to-date information about the neighborhoods. Unfortunately, this information was not available. To remedy this situation, the Alliance developed its Pittsburgh Neighborhood Atlas project. First, the boundaries of the city's neighborhoods had to be determined. The Pittsburgh Neighborhood Atlas asked people attending community meetings to name and describe the boundaries of the neighborhoods in which they lived. This information was also provided by an Atlas-initiated survey. Responses from every voting district of the city were analyzed to assure citizen involvement at the neighborhood level. Seventy-eight neighborhoods were thus identified, each made up of one or more whole voting districts in order to comply with provisions in Pittsburgh's home rule charter relating to the election of community advisory boards.

I've found scattered references to "the north shore" of the Allegheny River from before 1969, but never a neighborhood called the North Shore.

[BettyTheHun]

Absolutely hate the East Side name, never heard an actual person call it that though.

An ex of mine worked at Whole Foods when it first opened. They were instructed to tell people that they were located in Shadyside. They probably don't do that anymore. And generally, I've noticed businesses, apartment ads, etc using the East Liberty name to their advantage.