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Sorry, jay, I get a bit "troll shy" these days about posting anywhere. I'm more afraid of posting something on the internet than I am of my own neighborhood. Thanks for saying so by the way, (about the nice street). It is, at times, a lovely place.
Last edited by 501 Carthage; 04-16-2014 at 06:30 PM..
Yea that's the kind of vibe I get with Princeton Park. If you look on my crime maps I have it placed in a different category than Hunter Park/Franklin Ave area/Highschool area/Park Triangle area even Upper Central area/Singer Place area/Sperling-Ella St area/Southern Laketon area. In a lot of my post I talk about the negative, but in my more recent years on the forum I try to include saying that most of these neighborhoods are filled with good/hard working people and rather riddled by just the prevalent culture/actions/generation grip of street gangs/drugs/crime.
Yea that's the kind of vibe I get with Princeton Park. If you look on my crime maps I have it placed in a different category than Hunter Park/Franklin Ave area/Highschool area/Park Triangle area even Upper Central area/Singer Place area/Sperling-Ella St area/Southern Laketon area. In a lot of my post I talk about the negative, but in my more recent years on the forum I try to include saying that most of these neighborhoods are filled with good/hard working people and rather riddled by just the prevalent culture/actions/generation grip of street gangs/drugs/crime.
And I really appreciate your maps and data Uptown. Not being from here originally, I didn't have a good idea of the gang history and affiliations. I knew a lot of the Detroit set, but it didn't translate to Pittsburgh. I kind of took a leap based on intuition and some exposure from the D (about Princeton Park) that hasn't been completely right or completely wrong. Nevertheless, your maps, knowledge, and history has made it a lot easier to be mindful. This thread and some of y'all's posts actually made me want to add something to the conversation in hopes to grey it up a bit. Hopefully we can all move it out of the black/white-good/bad thing we're all (including me) so quick to leap on. I've been in this house just long enough to see that sometimes changes are happening at a house to house level, then block to block, but that looking to zip codes can really skew perspectives. All respect to stats and figures.
I don't have an agenda and don't want to convince anyone of anything.
all zones of privilege
A note: maybe this is because I'm not scared of black people, brown people, anyone who doesn't exactly look like me or hold my political or religious affiliations.
My name is Craig, and I live in Princeton Park, Wilkinsburg, PA.
I know an african american couple that lives in your section of Wilkinsburg. Both are professionally successful and driven. They have a nice and maintained home, but they want to move further east because of the 2 things that everybody complains about in Wilkinsburg: Extremely high Taxes and terrible schools.
It is true, both your observations about Wilkinsburg. I don't have children so I can't speak the school issue at all except that I know the majority of folks on my block do not use the public school. I believe, though I'm not positive, that I read on this board that the school was no more, that it was being consolidated. Not willing or capable to discuss if that's good or bad.
Additionally, the other point you mentioned was the folks you know up in this area. I know a lot of people like that here, professional, successful, driven. There are paralegals, medical and dental professionals, senior administrators, some retirees, a general contractor, truck driver, and so on. Service type industries, but that's Pittsburgh as a whole it seems nowadays (oh, I'm in education). So at least my section of Princeton Park seems to be filled with folks who head to work in the morning, come home to families in the evening, and do what they can to stabilize their direct community against some of the other ridiculous things in this hood, like the 3 abandoned houses at the very entrance from Admore Blvd to the community up Marlboro. Such an eyesore, public health and safety issue, and general bad vibe for anyone who might be a little daring thinking this is the next place to invest/live. If I knew what to do about those I'd have done it already. The borough certainly doesn't seem to know either. So, some days it feels overwhelming, but most days it's pretty alright, like a community and not so much just a place I'm living.
It is true, both your observations about Wilkinsburg. I don't have children so I can't speak the school issue at all except that I know the majority of folks on my block do not use the public school. I believe, though I'm not positive, that I read on this board that the school was no more, that it was being consolidated. Not willing or capable to discuss if that's good or bad.
Additionally, the other point you mentioned was the folks you know up in this area. I know a lot of people like that here, professional, successful, driven. There are paralegals, medical and dental professionals, senior administrators, some retirees, a general contractor, truck driver, and so on. Service type industries, but that's Pittsburgh as a whole it seems nowadays (oh, I'm in education). So at least my section of Princeton Park seems to be filled with folks who head to work in the morning, come home to families in the evening, and do what they can to stabilize their direct community against some of the other ridiculous things in this hood, like the 3 abandoned houses at the very entrance from Admore Blvd to the community up Marlboro. Such an eyesore, public health and safety issue, and general bad vibe for anyone who might be a little daring thinking this is the next place to invest/live. If I knew what to do about those I'd have done it already. The borough certainly doesn't seem to know either. So, some days it feels overwhelming, but most days it's pretty alright, like a community and not so much just a place I'm living.
When you have a sense of community you can deal with the negative aspects of the community. I live in the "hood" and love my house. Most of my neighbors are hard working everyday people. Some are educated professionals and some are entry level. Most of my neighbors are older and have lived in their homes since they were built. We have section 8 single mothers that work very hard while raising children.
When you have a sense of community you can deal with the negative aspects of the community. I live in the "hood" and love my house. Most of my neighbors are hard working everyday people. Some are educated professionals and some are entry level. Most of my neighbors are older and have lived in their homes since they were built. We have section 8 single mothers that work very hard while raising children.
We must be neighbors, if not literally than at least spiritually.
I agree with your insights and observations. I also understand that some think I am (we are?) loony, nostalgic, sentimental, crusading, or a "hippie" for holding such beliefs. I appreciate that some don't hold my beliefs. I'd rather light a candle then curse the darkness. I have a few ideas as to why folks get that way, but I ain't a scientist or brain doctor so I doubt much that it matters. Point is, making room for the idea that people are more complex than their skin color, family history, neighborhood, socio-economical status, religion, and so on, is difficult work. It also calls into question our own narratives we've come to believe about ourselves. It's easier to rely on crime statistics, overheard stories, local lore, and even one or two instances from our very own experience. I get it, and no disrespect intended when I say that I believe it's hard cognitive work to resist the road of judgment, generalizing, and bandwagonning that reinforces that kind of thinking. It is for me at least because I'm prone to going off now and then about what's really wrong with this neighborhood, borough, city, state, country, whatever. But there's an old ancient teaching that says something to the effect of: "The trouble begins when we say that this is good and this is bad..."
But hey, I'm philosophical like that and maybe blinded to the danger I'm in actually living where I live. But then again, I can find danger everywhere I look. In the same way I can find peace and the opportunity to be helpful wherever I look. It's all just perspective and I've come to this one after a hard road of utilizing other ones. I will say this: I wasn't always who I am now and thank God that folks didn't shoot me dead back in the day when some of them had a legal right to. I just try to pass it on now. See you around the way neighbors.
oh hi! i lived in point breeze, squirrel hill, south side slopes, greenfield, and hamnett place, wilkinsburg, and i liked wilkinsburg the best. even before i moved to wilkinsburg, where i lived for 6 years until i moved away last july, i went to the mr roboto project on wood st several nights a week from 2000 on.
it has its downsides for sure (schools, taxes, crime), but the sense of community there, and the people there, are amazing. the community garden i helped start only had one relatively minor act of vandalism in 4 years (and counting) of existence, and the kids who did it now help out with the garden.
and i know this is statistically insignificant but the only place in the pittsburgh area where i was a victim of a crime was in greenfield. when my next door neighbor broke into my apartment.
oh and going back to something someone said earlier, a busy business district in a low income area is a very good thing. sure, people might ask you for change or offer you a joint (!) or otherwise talk to/bug you, but if someone DOES decide to jump you, there are witnesses all over the place, who will help if their presence alone doesn't deter the person from attacking. i'm not sure why someone would be scared of a street with a lot of people on it - that's the safest place in the world to be. the only time i'd be nervous in the penn ave business district (ON penn, the side streets are another matter) would be very, very late at night.
We must be neighbors, if not literally than at least spiritually.
I agree with your insights and observations. I also understand that some think I am (we are?) loony, nostalgic, sentimental, crusading, or a "hippie" for holding such beliefs. I appreciate that some don't hold my beliefs. I'd rather light a candle then curse the darkness. I have a few ideas as to why folks get that way, but I ain't a scientist or brain doctor so I doubt much that it matters. Point is, making room for the idea that people are more complex than their skin color, family history, neighborhood, socio-economical status, religion, and so on, is difficult work. It also calls into question our own narratives we've come to believe about ourselves. It's easier to rely on crime statistics, overheard stories, local lore, and even one or two instances from our very own experience. I get it, and no disrespect intended when I say that I believe it's hard cognitive work to resist the road of judgment, generalizing, and bandwagonning that reinforces that kind of thinking. It is for me at least because I'm prone to going off now and then about what's really wrong with this neighborhood, borough, city, state, country, whatever. But there's an old ancient teaching that says something to the effect of: "The trouble begins when we say that this is good and this is bad..."
But hey, I'm philosophical like that and maybe blinded to the danger I'm in actually living where I live. But then again, I can find danger everywhere I look. In the same way I can find peace and the opportunity to be helpful wherever I look. It's all just perspective and I've come to this one after a hard road of utilizing other ones. I will say this: I wasn't always who I am now and thank God that folks didn't shoot me dead back in the day when some of them had a legal right to. I just try to pass it on now. See you around the way neighbors.
Well said.
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