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Old 08-27-2012, 07:24 AM
 
7,380 posts, read 15,637,845 times
Reputation: 4975

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Quote:
Originally Posted by eschaton View Post
(Pittsburgh arguably does mostly have "bad" schools, but the crime rate isn't all that bad here)
yeah, moving here from nyc (and growing up in ct, what's up fellow nutmegger!), i have to laugh a bit at the areas people here consider "ghetto" or "dangerous". certainly there's crime, and there are some pretty sketchy areas, it's a city. but there is no comparison between the threshold for considering a place a scary neighborhood in new york (or in smaller new england cities like bridgeport, waterbury, providence, etc) and here.

and i'm talking about the views of people i know in both places, not just the often out of date hysterics that you find on c-d with some regularity.
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Old 08-27-2012, 07:36 AM
 
Location: Planet Kolob
429 posts, read 651,786 times
Reputation: 468
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.
Your incredibly asinine review of Bloomfield just shows us who were are dealing with here.

But I forgot, you traveled all rounds the country!! Me, I never went past Monroeville, so I will take your word you urban traveling genius!

There are so many people out there that don't form intelligent opinions on cities, architecture, urban history and layouts. They just blabber ignorant bs on what is suppose to be meant as cool from the masses. (Typical Austin is awesome, Pittsburgh is full of old people BS). You can always tell these types, as they are never very bright.

Anyways, Pittsburgh is now inline with the rest of the nation in age of people. Don't make yourself look so ignorant and stupid.

Last edited by SPSGuy; 08-27-2012 at 07:46 AM..
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Old 08-27-2012, 07:42 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, PA (Morningside)
14,362 posts, read 16,915,930 times
Reputation: 12390
Quote:
Originally Posted by groar View Post
yeah, moving here from nyc (and growing up in ct, what's up fellow nutmegger!), i have to laugh a bit at the areas people here consider "ghetto" or "dangerous". certainly there's crime, and there are some pretty sketchy areas, it's a city. but there is no comparison between the threshold for considering a place a scary neighborhood in new york (or in smaller new england cities like bridgeport, waterbury, providence, etc) and here.

and i'm talking about the views of people i know in both places, not just the often out of date hysterics that you find on c-d with some regularity.
Yeah, I grew up immediately north of the BPT, and my mother lived in the (non sketchy) North End of Bridgeport after I finished high school but before she retired. I spent a year living in New Haven. I've also lived in DC and Detroit. There is no comparison in terms of what's a bad neighborhood here and elsewhere in the country.

Parts of the Hill and Homewood can be a bit disturbing (although they reminded me more of backwoods West Virginia than a real ghetto), but I thought it was laughable when I first moved here that Penn Avenue in Garfield was considered bad, considering I walked back home from shows at Garfield Artworks after midnight, and there were always lots of non-sketchy people (white and black) on the streets.
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Old 08-27-2012, 07:57 AM
 
Location: Planet Kolob
429 posts, read 651,786 times
Reputation: 468
Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry Talbot View Post
It seems I hit on some nerves because people are coming out of the wood work to defend this city, (otherwise who cares and why are you on this forum) You already live here, you don't need to be convinced it's fantastic.

I'm here because I wanted to read what others thought of another city that we are thinking of relocating to, and decided to see what people thought of Pittsburgh. Truth is I do not care for the city, but I'm happy for you that you love it.

WOW!!! Go Pittsburgh!! Go Steelers!!! Go Penguins!!! Go Pirates!!!!!

Thanks for your post.
First, you are the one coming out of the woodwork. You have 12 posts all just in this thread. So you come out of the woodwork to express asinine opinions on Pittsburgh that are not even true. Such as a hurting theater and arts scene. Pittsburgh does very well compared to other mid-sized cities in this aspect.

People are going to like where they are from and take pride in their city. This is the same for almost every city. You come on here like a troll trying to rile people up by expressing pure stupidity.

If you don't care for the city why are you here? You live in the suburbs and paint a brush of a city you obviously don't even know anything about. Again, pure stupidity.
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Old 08-27-2012, 08:53 AM
 
Location: Washington County, PA
4,240 posts, read 4,894,506 times
Reputation: 2859
Quote:
Originally Posted by SPSGuy View Post
Your incredibly asinine review of Bloomfield just shows us who were are dealing with here.

But I forgot, you traveled all rounds the country!! Me, I never went past Monroeville, so I will take your word you urban traveling genius!

There are so many people out there that don't form intelligent opinions on cities, architecture, urban history and layouts. They just blabber ignorant bs on what is suppose to be meant as cool from the masses. (Typical Austin is awesome, Pittsburgh is full of old people BS). You can always tell these types, as they are never very bright.

Anyways, Pittsburgh is now inline with the rest of the nation in age of people. Don't make yourself look so ignorant and stupid.
Couldn't have said it any better. There are always going to be ignorant people that know very little of a city and bash it because they have some silly vendetta against it. Trick is not to feed it and fight with them though.
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Old 08-27-2012, 04:17 PM
 
Location: Metro - Pittsburgh
87 posts, read 140,207 times
Reputation: 96
Trying to focus on the original OP's question,
There is no better way to form an opinion or see reality than visiting Pittsburgh for yourself, its a leisurely 5 hour drive from Philly with beautiful scenery on America's First Turnpike. If driving is not your thing a bus ride could be yours for as little as a dollar if purchased early on Mega Bus or 35.00 on Greyhound. Lastly there are planes if time is a concern. Visit Pittsburgh for a week or a weekend and then give us your honest opinion. Join the over 4 million peolpe visiting Pittsburgh each and every year, but be careful, you may find yourself calling it your next home!!!

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