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Old 08-25-2012, 02:48 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, PA (Morningside)
14,362 posts, read 16,949,095 times
Reputation: 12400

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Outofthematrix View Post
Ty. Can u name off some areas or give zipcodes so I can do home searches. And on a level of things to do what is there to do there?
Give some more background on what you're looking for (rowhouse, Victorian, contemporary?), and what kind of neighborhood you'd like (urban, suburban, etc). Also your age and a bit of background about yourself would be helpful.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pitt Chick View Post
There are PLENTY of immigrants and their offspring here that are eastern-European. Yes, they are white, but they are immigrants none the less!
I've met one or two actual first-generation Eastern European immigrants. All of them were elderly. I don't think it's what he means.
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Old 08-25-2012, 02:56 PM
 
7,380 posts, read 15,649,331 times
Reputation: 4975
Quote:
Originally Posted by squarian View Post
I thought "clean" was a euphemism for non-ethnic, when applied to real estate. Isn't that what the OP is asking?
i think when someone is explicitly looking for an area that is "a melting pot of different cultures" that this is not their definition of "clean". i'd never heard that definition before and ew.
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Old 08-25-2012, 03:03 PM
 
7,380 posts, read 15,649,331 times
Reputation: 4975
also regarding philly's affordability, it's affordable compared to nyc, boston and probably dc. maybe not the suburbs, but the city itself.
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Old 08-25-2012, 03:21 PM
 
353 posts, read 812,250 times
Reputation: 213
Single family home in the suburbs....yes I know most suburbs have white people lol but some do have working class blacks.....I got nothing against anyone I'm just asking....most of all a quite peaceful non violent pace with many things near by...example..parks,malls,supermarkets.
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Old 08-25-2012, 03:25 PM
 
10 posts, read 15,104 times
Reputation: 17
Hi,

We live in Pittsburgh (suburb) and have lived here about 5 years. "America's Best Kept Secret" <--- Not sure about that one. I would say NO!!! Or how about according to whom!!!

Pros of living in Pittsburgh or surrounding communities/burbs
- Housing market is affordable..very nice houses for under $250,000 if you have more to spend you could afford a mini mansion of sorts.
- Cost of living is less here than other major cites.
- Winters are mild compared to other Midwestern cities
- Some of the architecture is great, many, many interesting bridges etc.
- Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh
- There is an area here were the view is breath-taking however, the homes are run down. The area is called Mount Washington and if the city would invest in it, then this area could be really nice.
- Some of the suburbs are only 30 to 45 minutes away from the downtown area.
  • Depending on what time you leave the commute really isn't the worse I have seen and we have lived in almost every major city.
    - Some of the burbs have working farms, so if that's your thing you'll love it here. You can actually see horses and cows on the farm land as you drive down main roadways.


    Cons of living in Pittsburgh and or surrounding communities/burbs
    - You have to live away from the city in the suburbs to get away from crime ( but that's most cities)
    - You have to live in suburbs to find great schools for your kids ( again that is most cities)
    - You have to live in burbs to find GREAT, affordable and nice homes.
    - The city and especially the suburbs lacks diversity.
    - The city is not cosmopolitan like L.A., N.Y., Chicago or The D.C. Metro Area.
    - People are friendly up to a point. Most of the people in the Pittsburgh and suburbs are very click-ish and most have lived in these areas forever. So they are not very outgoing in the way of welcoming new comers. There are not may Asians or Latino's here.
    - People here are very much into there sports teams which is fantastic but they really don't have much else going on here. There is a small cultural following here with theater and such but it is very small.
    - There isn't much to do here if you are not a super sports fan. Because after visiting all of the museums, the zoo etc., and such there is really nothing to do but eat. There are a lot of over weight people here and they do not seem to mind being over weight.
    - The summer weather is fine not too bad as far as heat goes, but it's usually overcast or cloudy, and not many people venture out of there homes in the burbs. The streets are quite and dull!!!
  • - Some say the weather quality is very bad.
    - There is no underground subway system. Buses do run in some areas but that is very limited.
    - There are not many sidewalks in the burbs, making cycling or just walking on the side of the road risky behavior

    When we moved here (it was work related), people actually laughed at us and said, "People don't move to Pittsburgh they move away from it". I thought they were being mean and insensitive but as it has turned out, they were right. Over half of Pittsburgh's population is over 55 years old so that should really tell you something.

    Unless you are a Republican, white, uncultured (meaning you really don't need to have theater, ballet, opera, nice restaurants, cafe's bookshops, a plethora of different kinds of friends from different back grounds and social statuses). Also unless you are happy living in communities were everyone thinks the same and if they don't they are too afraid of being different to say otherwise, you will not be happy here. If you are young, adventurous, happy and a go-getter this is really not the place for you.

    If you don't mind living in areas where people don't really venture out of there own communities (so when you ask a person who has probably lived in the area for 50 years for directions they are literally clueless to give them to you because they rarely venture out of their little neighborhoods. People don't cross bridges here, literally to go across the bridge to another area. Sad but actually quite true.


Now to be fair there are areas like Bloomfield (little Italy), where you might find 2 restaurants that serve good food. But it's like three block long, that's it!!! And how man times are you expected to travel there for only 2 places to choose from. Also there is Schiller Park next to the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Melon which has it's own flavor, (college students) And it's in Oakland which is about a mile long and has some really interesting homes if you follow the path up near Carnegie University. The homes are more than 30 to 40 years old and mostly occupied with middle to upper middle class people who send there kids to great Jewish schools or private schools. Also there is the water front (which can be dangerous after hours), Homestead, Shadyside (which is near the 1 of only 2 Whole Foods in the entire Pittsburgh area). There is also Squirrel Hill, Oakland and the Strip District which has cool restaurants, farmers markets/flea markets and such but if you have elementary age children you will need to send them to private schools because the inner city schools are simply a joke when it comes to academics. On the scale of 0 to 100% Pittsburgh inner city schools rank somewhere around 25% to 37% in math and reading, that's deplorable!!! But these neighborhoods I just mentioned are more diverse, more interesting and fun to visit but they are small, usually disserted after the evening hours some of them are NOT SAFE after dark and far from the nicer areas (burbs).


Just my two sense.



Good luck.
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Old 08-25-2012, 03:44 PM
 
716 posts, read 762,614 times
Reputation: 1013
Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry Talbot View Post

When we moved here (it was work related), people actually laughed at us and said, "People don't move to Pittsburgh they move away from it". I thought they were being mean and insensitive but as it has turned out, they were right. Over half of Pittsburgh's population is over 55 years old so that should really tell you something.

Unless you are a Republican, white, uncultured (meaning you really don't need to have theater, ballet, opera, nice restaurants, cafe's bookshops, a plethora of different kinds of friends from different back grounds and social statuses). Also unless you are happy living in communities were everyone thinks the same and if they don't they are too afraid of being different to say otherwise, you will not be happy here. If you are young, adventurous, happy and a go-getter this is really not the place for you.

If you don't mind living in areas where people don't really venture out of there own communities (so when you ask a person who has probably lived in the area for 50 years for directions they are literally clueless to give them to you because they rarely venture out of their little neighborhoods. People don't cross bridges here, literally to go across the bridge to another area. Sad but actually quite true. [/list]

Now to be fair there are areas like Bloomfield (little Italy), where you might find 2 restaurants that serve good food. But it's like three block long, that's it!!! And how man times are you expected to travel there for only 2 places to choose from. Also there is Schiller Park next to the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Melon which has it's own flavor, (college students) And it's in Oakland which is about a mile long and has some really interesting homes if you follow the path up near Carnegie University. The homes are more than 30 to 40 years old and mostly occupied with middle to upper middle class people who send there kids to great Jewish schools or private schools. Also there is the water front (which can be dangerous after hours), Homestead, Shadyside (which is near the 1 of only 2 Whole Foods in the entire Pittsburgh area). There is also Squirrel Hill, Oakland and the Strip District which has cool restaurants, farmers markets/flea markets and such but if you have elementary age children you will need to send them to private schools because the inner city schools are simply a joke when it comes to academics. On the scale of 0 to 100% Pittsburgh inner city schools rank somewhere around 25% to 37% in math and reading, that's deplorable!!! But these neighborhoods I just mentioned are more diverse, more interesting and fun to visit but they are small, usually disserted after the evening hours some of them are NOT SAFE after dark and far from the nicer areas (burbs).


Just my two sense.



Good luck.
To the OP- just beware there is a lot of crazy in the above post. I've lived in New York and Philly and now live in Pittsburgh and I don't agree with much of what this poster has said. Pittsburgh is culturally different than Philadelphia but I really don't feel that it lacks many of the amenities that Philly has with the exceptions of you can't get to the Jersey shore as easily in the summer, and septa is way better than our port authority. Geographically it's very different and the core neighborhoods are divided by rivers, hills, etc so you won't find one expansive all-encompassing neighborhood like center city Philly, rather you'll have to travel to different neighborhoods to soak up the culture here. And btw, Bloomfield is a cool neighborhood, but not one that I'd think of to go out to eat, so I'm not sure why the other poster mentioned that, but I'm sure you can search other food threads on the forum to see what we have to offer.

If you're looking for a main line type suburb, the closest we have here would probably be Mt Lebanon
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Old 08-25-2012, 03:47 PM
 
441 posts, read 764,120 times
Reputation: 540
Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry Talbot View Post
Hi,

We live in Pittsburgh (suburb) and have lived here about 5 years. "America's Best Kept Secret" <--- Not sure about that one. I would say NO!!! Or how about according to whom!!!

Pros of living in Pittsburgh or surrounding communities/burbs
- Housing market is affordable..very nice houses for under $250,000 if you have more to spend you could afford a mini mansion of sorts.
- Cost of living is less here than other major cites.
- Winters are mild compared to other Midwestern cities
- Some of the architecture is great, many, many interesting bridges etc.
- Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh
- There is an area here were the view is breath-taking however, the homes are run down. The area is called Mount Washington and if the city would invest in it, then this area could be really nice.
- Some of the suburbs are only 30 to 45 minutes away from the downtown area.
  • Depending on what time you leave the commute really isn't the worse I have seen and we have lived in almost every major city.
    - Some of the burbs have working farms, so if that's your thing you'll love it here. You can actually see horses and cows on the farm land as you drive down main roadways.


    Cons of living in Pittsburgh and or surrounding communities/burbs
    - You have to live away from the city in the suburbs to get away from crime ( but that's most cities)
    - You have to live in suburbs to find great schools for your kids ( again that is most cities)
    - You have to live in burbs to find GREAT, affordable and nice homes.
    - The city and especially the suburbs lacks diversity.
    - The city is not cosmopolitan like L.A., N.Y., Chicago or The D.C. Metro Area.
    - People are friendly up to a point. Most of the people in the Pittsburgh and suburbs are very click-ish and most have lived in these areas forever. So they are not very outgoing in the way of welcoming new comers. There are not may Asians or Latino's here.
    - People here are very much into there sports teams which is fantastic but they really don't have much else going on here. There is a small cultural following here with theater and such but it is very small.
    - There isn't much to do here if you are not a super sports fan. Because after visiting all of the museums, the zoo etc., and such there is really nothing to do but eat. There are a lot of over weight people here and they do not seem to mind being over weight.
    - The summer weather is fine not too bad as far as heat goes, but it's usually overcast or cloudy, and not many people venture out of there homes in the burbs. The streets are quite and dull!!!
  • - Some say the weather quality is very bad.
    - There is no underground subway system. Buses do run in some areas but that is very limited.
    - There are not many sidewalks in the burbs, making cycling or just walking on the side of the road risky behavior

    When we moved here (it was work related), people actually laughed at us and said, "People don't move to Pittsburgh they move away from it". I thought they were being mean and insensitive but as it has turned out, they were right. Over half of Pittsburgh's population is over 55 years old so that should really tell you something.

    Unless you are a Republican, white, uncultured (meaning you really don't need to have theater, ballet, opera, nice restaurants, cafe's bookshops, a plethora of different kinds of friends from different back grounds and social statuses). Also unless you are happy living in communities were everyone thinks the same and if they don't they are too afraid of being different to say otherwise, you will not be happy here. If you are young, adventurous, happy and a go-getter this is really not the place for you.

    If you don't mind living in areas where people don't really venture out of there own communities (so when you ask a person who has probably lived in the area for 50 years for directions they are literally clueless to give them to you because they rarely venture out of their little neighborhoods. People don't cross bridges here, literally to go across the bridge to another area. Sad but actually quite true.


Now to be fair there are areas like Bloomfield (little Italy), where you might find 2 restaurants that serve good food. But it's like three block long, that's it!!! And how man times are you expected to travel there for only 2 places to choose from. Also there is Schiller Park next to the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Melon which has it's own flavor, (college students) And it's in Oakland which is about a mile long and has some really interesting homes if you follow the path up near Carnegie University. The homes are more than 30 to 40 years old and mostly occupied with middle to upper middle class people who send there kids to great Jewish schools or private schools. Also there is the water front (which can be dangerous after hours), Homestead, Shadyside (which is near the 1 of only 2 Whole Foods in the entire Pittsburgh area). There is also Squirrel Hill, Oakland and the Strip District which has cool restaurants, farmers markets/flea markets and such but if you have elementary age children you will need to send them to private schools because the inner city schools are simply a joke when it comes to academics. On the scale of 0 to 100% Pittsburgh inner city schools rank somewhere around 25% to 37% in math and reading, that's deplorable!!! But these neighborhoods I just mentioned are more diverse, more interesting and fun to visit but they are small, usually disserted after the evening hours some of them are NOT SAFE after dark and far from the nicer areas (burbs).


Just my two sense.



Good luck.
You sound like you live in Cranberry.
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Old 08-25-2012, 03:52 PM
 
7,380 posts, read 15,649,331 times
Reputation: 4975
terry you are entitled to your opinion and you have some valid points but some of them are just inaccurate.

if you live outside the inner ring of suburbs, no there is not great public transportation. the system here certainly doesn't compare to places like nyc, which has a great subway system, buses and regional rail. but the buses and the t are just fine for getting around the city itself. we actually do have a subway here by the way, but it's kind of a joke - 10 or so blocks of the t that go underground downtown and were recently extended to the north shore.

secondly we do have an opera company, ballet company, symphony, many theaters, lots of artists and galleries, a thriving underground music scene. i've traveled extensively in the u.s. and know people from all over and i've never found another place with a cost of living comparable to pittsburgh that was as cosmopolitan as pittsburgh is.

i moved here from new york when i was 23, i'm not interested in sports, my social life generally revolves around music, community gardening and fiber arts, i'm an educated and cultured person who has been all over the world and i've been happy here for 11 years.

but i live (happily) in an area you probably wouldn't set foot in so that's a major issue we differ on. i've never really considered living in a suburban area - if i'm going to live somewhere where i have to drive to things i want to be way out there with several acres of land. certainly cities like chicago and new york are bigger and more cosmopolitan than pittsburgh but they are also every bit as "dangerous" as pittsburgh. i guess you are comparing suburbs to suburbs here and i do agree that those cities have more interesting standalone suburbs for the most part, although there are some nice ones around here as well.

so yeah, if you're going to move to the suburbs and be terrified of the entire city proper, you may not find pittsburgh to your liking. but if you can take the mean streets of bloomfield after dark, you may like it.
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Old 08-25-2012, 04:54 PM
 
4,684 posts, read 4,564,353 times
Reputation: 1588
Quote:
Originally Posted by groar View Post
i think when someone is explicitly looking for an area that is "a melting pot of different cultures" that this is not their definition of "clean". i'd never heard that definition before and ew.
The quality of "cleanliness" or hygiene is and has often been part of the discussion of ethnic minorities, as far back as the fin-de-siecle Progressive Era. In recent decades "clean" or similar terms have been used as a polite euphemism in the realty business, as a way of signaling the predominant ethnicity of an area without having to actually spell out what is being referred to. I take the OP at his word that this was not what he meant and that he was unaware of the usage.
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Old 08-25-2012, 05:34 PM
 
10 posts, read 15,104 times
Reputation: 17
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mtl-Cns View Post
To the OP- just beware there is a lot of crazy in the above post. I've lived in New York and Philly and now live in Pittsburgh and I don't agree with much of what this poster has said. Pittsburgh is culturally different than Philadelphia but I really don't feel that it lacks many of the amenities that Philly has with the exceptions of you can't get to the Jersey shore as easily in the summer, and septa is way better than our port authority. Geographically it's very different and the core neighborhoods are divided by rivers, hills, etc so you won't find one expansive all-encompassing neighborhood like center city Philly, rather you'll have to travel to different neighborhoods to soak up the culture here. And btw, Bloomfield is a cool neighborhood, but not one that I'd think of to go out to eat, so I'm not sure why the other poster mentioned that, but I'm sure you can search other food threads on the forum to see what we have to offer.

If you're looking for a main line type suburb, the closest we have here would probably be Mt Lebanon

What is so crazy about what I wrote?

The truth hurts LOLOL. I DID NOT say that pittsburgh DID NOT have cultural amenities, go back and re-read what I wrote. Because I must have hit a nerve with you. If you like it, fine that's awesome but don't try to get others to come to ****sburgh because you are comfortable with it.

I inferred that Pittsburgh's art and cultural scene does not compare to the other cities. With a little research anyone can see that most cities have theater, ballet and opera etc. So lighten up pal!!
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