Young Professionals moving in Summer 2014 (Pittsburgh, Bellevue: living in, club, bars)

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by sealie

I think it's not always obvious to newcomers how limited PAT is, or how extreme wanting him to have the shorter commute can be, or how old that transfer situation gets by January. I also think grad students underestimate their workload generally. Also if I were a young couple I would pick the north shore in a hot minute over Sewickley. They can certainly work this out among themselves but I think there are legit reasons the north shore is the least worst option.

If they're going to make a compromise, Bellevue is the most logical. It allows them both to have reasonable commutes. The compromise is giving up a hip neighborhood. Let's be realistic though. North Side isn't very hip. It's dead the majority of the time. With Bellevue, they're really only giving up being able to walk to a bar but there are bars in the neighboring neighborhoods.

[Bong477]

We were very happy in Ross Township with me working in Oakland as a newlywed professional couple without kids. My wife worked in Canonsburg, Carnegie, and Oakland at different points in our 4 years there. I drove to Oakland and had garage parking included with my job though. If I had to take the bus, I would not have enjoyed life as much.

Bellevue, avalon, ben avon, nicer parts of north side are all reasonable suggestions too.

[sealie]

I am nowhere near as invested in this as you are. I read what she said and thought her stated desires might be based on an imperfect understanding of the transit situation, so I was trying to address that. I now see the error of my ways and am done with this.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by sealie

. I read what she said and thought her stated desires might be based on an imperfect understanding of the transit situation, so I was trying to address that.

I agree. I highly suspect she'll prefer to drive her car.

[AaronPGH]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Sewickley has a life! Have you ever walked around the North Shore when there's not a game? It's dead most of the time. lol

I'm a young professional. Gotta say, never in my 11 years of living here have I ever driven out to Sewickley to meet up with a friend. There really isn't any of that grad student culture out there, and nobody I have ever known has ever lived there. I'm not knocking the business district, it's a very nice place. And it certainly meets the criteria if they want to find some sort of nice middle ground. But they need to be ready to never be able to convince friends to come their way, and to drive into the city a lot for friend things. This can really suck if you're new to town. You sort of commit social suicide by living outside of the East End, South Side or North Side.

If the OP isn't planning on them doing a lot of socializing, then Sewickley could be great. But it's something I would mention to any newcomer to consider. There is more to take into account than just a commute to work and back. There is the life balance – where are you shopping, what are you getting involved in on your free time, how will you be getting to these places, etc.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by AaronPGH

I'm a young professional. Gotta say, never in my 11 years of living here have I ever driven out to Sewickley to meet up with a friend. There really isn't any of that grad student culture out there, and nobody I have ever known has ever lived there. I'm not knocking the business district, it's a very nice place. And it certainly meets the criteria if they want to find some sort of nice middle ground. But they need to be ready to never be able to convince friends to come their way, and to drive into the city a lot for friend things. This can really suck if you're new to town. You sort of commit social suicide by living outside of the East End, South Side or North Side.

If the OP isn't planning on them doing a lot of socializing, then Sewickley could be great. But it's something I would mention to any newcomer to consider. There is more to take into account than just a commute to work and back. There is the life balance – where are you shopping, what are you getting involved in on your free time, how will you be getting to these places, etc.

That's pretty snobby of you to say it's social suicide to not live in one of three city neighborhoods. It's crazy to assume nobody can have a social life unless they live in the heart of Pittsburgh.

You're forgetting that the boyfriend is working in BADEN. Why do you think their whole social life revolves around her going to Pitt? Her husband will make friends where he works. They can also make friends in Sewickley. There's a whole metro area of millions of people who have social lives and make friends without going into the city. That includes young professionals too.

It's funny you think Sewickley is too far to visit a friend once in a blue moon, but it's perfectly fine for the boyfriend to commute daily even farther than Sewickley. Do you really think there isn't shopping near Sewickley? It's perfectly situated between two major shopping areas of the metro.

I'm not defending Sewickley from a city vs. suburbs standpoint. I don't go to Sewickley either. I'd go if I had a friend there. I travel to other counties to visit friends. I also said that I think Bellevue would be more fair to both of them, but it's apparently not cool enough for you since it's not one of three city neighborhoods.

[AaronPGH]

Originally Posted by Hopes

That's pretty snobby of you to say it's social suicide to not live in one of three city neighborhoods. It's crazy to assume nobody can have a social life unless they live in the heart of Pittsburgh. ...... blah blah blah blah

How old are you again?

I'm not being a snob. I'm being realistic. The heart of the young professional crowd is in the city center. You can write as many paragraphs at me as you want, but it's not going to change anything. Young people usually want to have fun and get involved in activities to meet other young people. Most of that stuff happens inside city limits. If this couple is very social it's going to be rough anywhere else. I can't count the number of transplant friends I've had that initially moved to a suburb, only to move into the city after a year or two because they got sick of dealing with transportation to friends/bars/clubs/nightlife all the time.

And like I said in my previous post, if they're more on the quiet side of things and don't like to go out on weekends, then this input really doesn't matter.

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by AaronPGH

How old are you again?

I'm not being a snob. I'm being realistic. The heart of the young professional crowd is in the city center. You can write as many paragraphs at me as you want, but it's not going to change anything. Young people usually want to have fun and get involved in activities to meet other young people. Most of that stuff happens inside city limits. If this couple is very social it's going to be rough anywhere else. I can't count the number of transplant friends I've had that initially moved to a suburb, only to move into the city after a year or two because they got sick of dealing with transportation to friends/bars/clubs/nightlife all the time.

And like I said in my previous post, if they're more on the quiet side of things and don't like to go out on weekends, then this input really doesn't matter.

I agree with this for the most part. Don't get me wrong, I would absolutely hate the commute to Baden, but according to google it would take me 37 minutes each way to get there which is probably less time sitting in the car then most of the people that commute into the city do every day
I would value being near my social peers & having lots of things to do within easy reach when not at work over the bad commute.

[JimboPGH]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Sewickley has a life! Have you ever walked around the North Shore when there's not a game? It's dead most of the time. lol

Sewickly' not exactly hopping with '20 somethings, and it's not close to anything. It's a lovely community for well-to-do middle-aged families who want spiffy boutiques and a wealthy school district, but it's not for young couples who want an urban setting. Living there would provide the OP's partner with a quick commute, but make her's hellish and car dependent.

The "Lower Northside" is a popular area for post-grads, is connected via public transit to not only Oakland, but Bloomfield, Lawrenceville, and Polish Hill as well, has venues for art and music, has some interesting bars, HAS BANJO NIGHT, is walking distance to downtown, and is crawling distance to the greatest ballpark in the world. And the commute really wouldn't be that bad for the OP's partner, and would save the OP the headache of having to drive and park in Oakland.

Sorry Hopes, but this is a landslide in the Northside's favor.

[Hopes]

I still think Bellevue would be more fair, but I give up. You won me over with banjo night.