Observatory Hill: traffic, growth, etc. (Mars: foreclosures, house, unemployment)

[creepsinc]

Originally Posted by Uptown kid

Observatory Hill is nice & diverse, though one part is going through major decline...

which part?

[Uptown kid]

Originally Posted by creepsinc

which part?

East of Perrysville Ave-from Watson Blvd to Waldorf St. https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid...10494,0.026157. This is where every drug related/domestic shooting incident has taken place in over the last couple of years.
In addition, it's notably less wealthy, less taken care of, and more shady than the rest if the neighborhood. It's not unsafe or close to being ghetto, but it just not as nice as it use to be/its getting worse... Though I take back rapid decline... Its going through more or less slow decline...

[creepsinc]

I regularly walk down watson, which includes some of my favorite weird houses. Kids might say hi or what's up when you walk by.

Is it racist to say that anectdotally speaking, most black people <3 me, all the way back to kindergarten all way up to my stepfather and his family, some of whom already iiked me from the school bus. It's because I'm real, and they can pck up on it. I should probably change the color of my skin.

[selltheburgh]

The main thing I've noticed, having been in a lot of Obs Hill houses is that they weren't ruined like many houses in the East End were. I think that the sales men pushing dropped ceilings, wood paneling, aluminum awnings, aluminum siding and fake stone siding didn't know how to cross any bridges northward. Most were left to their original state 80-100 years later.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by selltheburgh

The main thing I've noticed, having been in a lot of Obs Hill houses is that they weren't ruined like many houses in the East End were. I think that the sales men pushing dropped ceilings, wood paneling, aluminum awnings, aluminum siding and fake stone siding didn't know how to cross any bridges northward. Most were left to their original state 80-100 years later.

The East End of Pittsburgh does really have some of the worst mid-century remuddling in the country. In particular, I've never been anywhere else where so many houses had windows resized so terribly. You see bad facades on some rowhouses in places like Philly or Baltimore, but they typically only messed with the window sizing if they reskinned the entire facade with new brick.

[SlurmsMcKenzie]

If I had to do it all over again when I bought my first house in 06, I would have chosen Observatory Hill or Brighton Heights. While both are lacking big business districts (which I don't care about anyways), both have (in Brighton Heights case, had) good access to Riverview Park and downtown. I've never felt that Observatory Hill bad or declining, as opposed to being a little stagnant perhaps. Hopefully it can see some real growth in the near future.

[Faerunner]

My fiance and I bought a house just a hop over in Perry South a few years ago. We haven't had any problems in the area. We're just down off Perrysville near Charles. In fact, I can see the intersection from my back yard.

Most of the problems in the area are either exaggerated or only affect the people who get themselves involved in illicit affairs.

[SlurmsMcKenzie]

I spent 5 years in Sheraden, an area most here would probably label a near-ghetto and much worse than Observatory Hill. It wasn't so bad, never had much of a problem with anyone there. I think a lot of times we overstate the danger of some areas (mainly out of unfamiliarity) while downplaying others (East Lib, etc...).

[norcider]

Stay north of the Perrysville and Marshall intersection and you're in a perfectly safe neighborhood, minimal porperty degradation and so forth.

[creepsinc]

Originally Posted by norcider

Stay north of the Perrysville and Marshall intersection and you're in a perfectly safe neighborhood, minimal porperty degradation and so forth.

agreed, but south of that intersection isn't really Observatory Hill anyway.