How Has Your Street Changed Over The Last Ten Years (Pittsburgh: crime, new house)

[Caladium]

For those of you who have lived on the same street for ten or more years--what changes have you seen since 2001 (if any)?

Just a few changes (maybe 2-3 houses painted a different color, or a fence put up). Or, something bigger like sidewalks being added, new stores arriving, or maybe a new house being built? Or.... something dramatically different?

[Azeez]

Two drug related deaths, good neighbors moving away. It's getting worse.

[gg]

It is getting better, which is good in many ways, but taxes are going to be amazingly high due to all the wildly high teacher pay and then they will have these amazingly high pensions to pay for. I suspect my street will be paying an average of $1K a month in tax in the next 10 years. Right now it is about $5K. Oh well, welcome to the Pittsburgh area!

[BrianTH]

I'm not on the same street but only moved 2.5 blocks away--can I answer?

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

I'm not on the same street but only moved 2.5 blocks away--can I answer?

Hmmmm... ok, if you send me some chocolate....

On the other hand I don't really need any more chocolate so go ahead! And while we're at it, let's make it "how has your neighborhood changed". Then you can note something new going up at the end of the street. Or even two streets over.

[BrianTH]

Ah, that makes it much easier to contribute.

My residential blocks have seen a lot of turnover from older singles and couples to younger couples and families (us being part of that in fact). A good number of houses have been renovated.

The local food options have been expanding and improving. In fact today I learned that the ill-fated Calli's is being replaced by Alma, by the same group that did Abay, which is going to be a Pan-Latin restaurant featuring homestyle recipes. I also learned The Map Room has a new chef and menu which sounds quite good. And Cibo's, the new upscale Italian place, is opening this week.

[Hopes]

Ten years is a long time. Hmmmmmm. I've been here for 18 years. Hubby has been here for 30. He could sure tell you about changes. In the past ten years, not much has happened.

This is all on my immediate street:

One new house was built. One house burned to the ground and wasn't rebuilt so a neighbor bought the lot to expand his property. Five houses were painted different colors, nothing dramatic, just different shades of beige IMO. One house was re-sided THREE TIMES, talk about being indecisive! One house did major landscaping with hardscapes. Two houses added monster decks. Four houses were completely renovated inside by new owners, one of which ran out of money and the exterior is in worse shape than before he bought it, but we all have faith he'll improve the exterior based on the fantastic work done on the inside. A handful of others remodeled their kitchens, others installed new windows and/or new roofs. One neighbor tore down a fence. No new fences on the immediate street, but two or three on nearby streets.

Only one death, old age. Zero crime in 10 years. The roads were repaved, around 10 years ago. Same old transformer not supplying enough electricity in the summer.

All pretty boring stuff, IMO, except for the house burning down. That's why I say not much happened. Turnover-wise, I'd say 85% of my current neighbors were living here 10 years ago

[PeterRabbit]

They changed the name from RD3 and paved it a little.

[gbpriv]

Property values in a slow but steady climb, neighbors now have too may vehicles for their garages, fewer kids, quieter, somewhat less friendly.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by gbpriv

neighbors now have too may vehicles for their garages

Glad you thought to mention that! It's a big change I have noticed too. One of my neighbors widened his driveway to three-lanes for a two car garage to create additional off-street parking. Other neighbors are parking extra cars on the streets because they don't want to move cars parked in the driveway to get cars out of the garages. It's odd because there were never cars parked in the streets previously. We're guilty too. We own three vehicles ourselves. Although we own our third vehicle for recreational purposes, I suspect most people own additional cars because they don't want to be inconvenienced by teenagers borrowing the car. But we keep the car we use less often in the garage so we're not constantly having to move cars around.