The perception of Morningside? (Pittsburgh, Liberty: middle-class, rentals, crime)

[gg]

I would prefer people just say what is on the top of their minds and not look into this too much. Who do you think lives in Morningside and what is it like and going to be like in a few years? I am looking for answers like, yinzers, rednecks, young professionals, poor people, up and coming, it is a slum, going down hill, moving in a good direction, stable, lots of crime, not much crime, reasonable or something like that. Just general perceptions of that place. Even if you know nothing about it, but have heard anything, what did you hear? Is it safe, dangerous or whatever. No right or wrongs, just general opinions.

[Hopes]

I know Morningside well. It's a very family oriented community---filled with old Italian families and their children who now have their own families.

It's a nice, safe, stable, working class and middle class neighborhood.

I don't see its future going downhill. The community is too tight-knit for any gangs to get away with moving into the area.

[onwardandupward]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

I would prefer people just say what is on the top of their minds and not look into this too much. Who do you think lives in Morningside and what is it like and going to be like in a few years? I am looking for answers like, yinzers, rednecks, young professionals, poor people, up and coming, it is a slum, going down hill, moving in a good direction, stable, lots of crime, not much crime, reasonable or something like that. Just general perceptions of that place. Even if you know nothing about it, but have heard anything, what did you hear? Is it safe, dangerous or whatever. No right or wrongs, just general opinions.

I think Morningside has been a hidden gem of a place, and I would not expect it to to downhill. I would guess that many Pittsburghers couldn't tell you where it is - it's off the beaten path, and unless you have a reason to go there, you probably won't. Because of that, I would think that crime is pretty low.

It seems to me like a stable, family-oriented place, with young families who may be priced out of the rest of the East End, and young professionals who can buy a single family home in a safe area at a reasonable price. It could use a few more shops, but it's close enough to Highland Park, East Liberty and Shadyside to use those shopping and dining areas. The houses always look neat and taken care of. I'd say thumbs up on Morningside.

[Uptown kid]

My perception (after canvasing there for Obama in the 2008 Presidential Election) is that its safe, infact the most dangerous factor of the neighborhood would be people's large dogs! But I've heard that early in the decade Mourningside was so inclusive that the residents kept houses off the market for black folks. Maybe they might still do that./?
Conclusion from what liltle I know of: Mourningside is a safe, lower middle-class, tight knit, predominately European/white community, and it's gonna stay that way...

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by Uptown kid

But I've heard that early in the decade Mourningside was so inclusive that the residents kept houses off the market for black folks. Maybe they might still do that.?

Rentals are often advertised in the Sunday bulletin at St. Raphael church. I don't believe the intention is to exclude blacks. They do it that way because that's where advertisements were always published. It's a neighborhood of strong traditions in that regard. It's not a neighborhood that's so inclusive that it excludes outsiders. Anyone who moves into Morningside will learn that the residents are very neighborly.

[gg]

Thanks for the thoughts. I welcome perceptions from those that have never been there and could care less about Morningside because it is a general perception.

I know a few people from there. I would say the people I know are total opposites. Two are white collar city workers and a few are hard working laborers in some sort of construction. They also view Morningside very differently. The laborers feel the closer to the river the better because the other side of Morningside is too close to a bad area. The white collar people don't see it that way and tend to gravitate to the other side because the homes are more interesting.

State Rep. Dom Costa lives and works there, which probably is a good thing for the community. He has a nice new office there in the tiny downtown section.

[Hopes]

It's definitely a white/blue collar mixed neighborhood.

Most of the people I know live in the middle or the end away from the river. I've never heard anyone be concerned about safety.

I think you'll be hard pressed to find anyone who has an overly negative impression of Morningside.

[jay5835]

I remember reading a mystery novel, one in a series, that took place in Morningside. One of the characters had "too nice" a kitchen for the neighborhood, i.e., something she probably wouldn't get her money back on when she sold the house, and I thought that was so sad, that there could be too nice a kitchen for any particular house or neighborhood.

Does anyone else remember such a book? I can't remember the author. The crimesolver was a psychologist who taught at Pitt. The author is originally from here, but now lives in S. Cal.

[squarian]

Straight from the hip? I think of it as one of the "solid bluecollar neighborhoods". My second instant reaction is "I've heard people say it's a good value". Beyond that, I don't know very much about Morningside.

[squarian]

Originally Posted by Uptown kid

I've heard that early in the decade Mourningside was so inclusive that the residents kept houses off the market for black folks. Maybe they might still do that./?

It's an interesting point, UK. Pittsburghers have long memories and strong neighborhoods, as we all know. I think maybe one of the things that explains the highly polarized attitudes about racism and black-white in Pgh (some insisting it's a racist place, others insisting it isn't) is this inherited sense that certain neighborhoods are off-limits to one or the other race. I've heard native black Pghers say almost the same thing about several mostly Euro-Am working class areas, Polish Hill, South Side, etc. Almost always, these views are expressed the same way: "I've heard", "everyone knows", "grandpa told me".

A young black friend of mine, native Pgh, university-educated, white collar, once became agitated - to the point where she insisted we leave - when, on the way home from the strip, I noticed that Polish Hill was having its festival. Since I like checking out these neighborhood things, and I didn't know very much about PH, I wanted to stop and walk around, explore a bit. She came along, but eventually it got to be too much for her. As far as I could tell, there was no hostility towards her, but her family go back a long time in the Hill, and I think it was stories or things she'd been told of "how it used to be". Certainly it can't have been direct personal experience, because she'd never actually set foot in Polish Hill before that day.

I don't doubt that districts like Polish Hill or Morningside may have been distinctly unwelcoming to black folks in the 1940s or 1970s. There may even be some lingering animosity, just as the opposite attitudes linger in her family. But I wonder if some of the sense that Pgh is a "racist city" (which as you know crops up here on CD from time to time) isn't traceable to that hereditary memory of what Pgh was like in the 40s: European ethnic working class neighborhoods not wanting the Great Migration on their streets.

As far as I can tell, that animosity exists now more in family folklore (on both sides) than in practice, but that's just my experience, which I'll freely admit is limited outside my own little parish in the East End.