Homewood's "Killing Fields" are being demolished (Pittsburgh, Manor: low income, sale)

[sparrowmint]

No reason why they can't just live in other houses in Homewood itself. It's not like the whole area is being razed. There are plenty of places to live.

[Uptown kid]

Different places in Homewood South aka DownTown Homewood such as other section 8 townhouses/slum lord row-houses on Kelly Street, Hamilton Avenue, and Susquehanna Street.
Edit: Also I meant 7300-7500 block Formosa Way
Here's an equally important video shot on Formosa Way...
http://youtu.be/4IVjFNINeFk

[ryanm3685]

Originally Posted by Herodotus

Agree, it was like a slice of West Philadelphia, in Pittsburgh.

The pic you posted reminded me a lot of some houses in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, not too far from the Please Touch Museum, if I remember correctly.

Originally Posted by Goinback2011

So if they're razing the housing, where are the killers moving to?

Those houses, the Sterret-Collier Apartments, were boarded up in 1995. Anyway, since the former residents were already displaced, at least tearing down the housing won't have the effect of pushing trouble into a new area. This makes me optimistic about redevelopment in places such as Larimer and Homewood- since they are a lot of prairie these days, people can come in and revitalize them without having to push people out.

Originally Posted by Uptown kid

Here's a video of the 7500 (not 456) Formosa Way Crips (former set of DownTown Homewood Crips gang) posted up on Formosa Way during some time from 2006-2008. FORMOSA WAY CRIP HOMEWOOD PITTSBURGH PA - YouTube
The main person who gave the tour was killed this February and almost every other gang member on video is dead too. At this time the set ceased to exist, but members and former members of the DownTown Homewood Crips who grew up on the street were present for the documentary. It really starts at 8:17.
Also, even though the buildings are razed if you want to see how bad the plight and graffiti really was before its gone, go to google maps street view of 7500-7600Formosa Way, Homewood, Pittsburgh 15208; as the images are from the late 2000's. They use the letter C to replace the letter K, X out O's, turn A's up side-down to look almost like V's, "KC" stands for "Killa Crip", and "RWG" & "CIP" stands for Rest With G's and Crip in Peace...

Thanks for the video and the Google Map tip, Uptown. I went through street view, and it's a chilling reminder of what happened.

[dprice412]

Originally Posted by Goinback2011

So if they're razing the housing, where are the killers moving to?

all over east end and burbs

[dprice412]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Wow, I can't believe that Google Map driver would go through there. He is lucky to get out alive. That looks really bad. Imagine all the needles on the ground. Of course many might be picked up and reused. It always amazes me how bad places in Pittsburgh actually are. I don't know how people can go through life like that. It is such a gift, yet people sure seem to want to waste it. No pride at all I guess.

where you from?

[Uptown kid]

all over east end and burbs

Not in this case... Not in Homewood, when areas like this get closed residents relocate typically within their side of Homewood (so in the case of Formosa Way streets like: Hamilton, Kelly, Susquehanna, Tioga, Bennett, etc)... Though in other cases your right; for example about 1000 former residents of Elmore Square, Pennly Park & Garfield Heights moved out to Swissvale, Penn Hills, and different mix-income apartments or section 8 rentals scattered throughout the East End (including gentrifying areas East Liberty and Upper Larwanceville).

[MathmanMathman]

Really, places like Homewood look like a great spot for gentrification. Good location, relatively flat, prized real estate values in a hilly place like Pittsburgh. To be perfectly blunt, there are better uses for the area.

[eschaton]

If you're going to demolish anything in a blighted neighborhood, alley housing causes the least damage.

Really, even if the neighborhood eventually came roaring back, people who live on the main streets are going to want to have small backyards or parking, and density will never, ever be as high again as it was a century ago.

Plus the thinning out of a neighborhood by demolishing alley housing is invisible in terms of the street presence - you don't notice the neighborhood having missing teeth, because most neighborhoods do not have huge housing blocks facing their alleys.

[PreservationPioneer]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Wow, I can't believe that Google Map driver would go through there. He is lucky to get out alive. That looks really bad. Imagine all the needles on the ground. Of course many might be picked up and reused. It always amazes me how bad places in Pittsburgh actually are.

Oh, I have been through there a few times. Not scary at all. It's really an abandoned place, no one around. Maybe it was different ten or twenty years ago.

[PreservationPioneer]

Originally Posted by eschaton

If you're going to demolish anything in a blighted neighborhood, alley housing causes the least damage.

Really, even if the neighborhood eventually came roaring back, people who live on the main streets are going to want to have small backyards or parking, and density will never, ever be as high again as it was a century ago.

Plus the thinning out of a neighborhood by demolishing alley housing is invisible in terms of the street presence - you don't notice the neighborhood having missing teeth, because most neighborhoods do not have huge housing blocks facing their alleys.

Alley houses are awesome. I don't see the point in demolishing them. If you're going to demolish anything, start with the new vinyl sided junk they are putting up in places like Garfield.