Poli's in Squirrel Hill to finally be demolished next year. (Pittsburgh: day care, income)

[charisb]

Originally Posted by GeneW

Poli's has been closed for almost a decade, having anything in that space is better than nothing and it's not like there's a shortage of restaurants in Sq. Hill.

Exactly! That space has been empty for so long. Empty buildings are never a good thing.
I am not sure why people are acting as if some high revenue project has been driven out by this.

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by charisb

I am not sure why people are acting as if some high revenue project has been driven out by this.

There was a high revenue project proposed. People are forgetting how long ago it fell through.

[doo dah]

It's a lousy intersection for pedestrians.

[MountainDewGuy]

Originally Posted by Moby Hick

There was a high revenue project proposed. People are forgetting how long ago it fell through.

There were businesses next to Poli's that were driven out because they expected to be kicked out by the new development, which never happened. This is unfortunate because now there is empty space. I'm not sure if the second floor were the Gay and Lesbian Community Center has a new tenant, but the bottom floor is empty (I think?). Nobody wants to put anything permanent there since it is in a flux. Not sure how old the building(s) are but the are somewhat ugly and the best option would be to tear all of that down and start anew. I wish someone would see the value and be willing to make an investment like the previous plan.

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by MountainDewGuy

I wish someone would see the value and be willing to make an investment like the previous plan.

The original plan was for a hotel (among other things) and I think that boat sailed when the original developers failed. It has been a very long delay and the Poli site's developers were hardly the only people to notice that there weren't enough hotel rooms around. When the first plan was proposed, there was one hotel at the Waterfront. Now there are three. In the other direction, there was only one chain hotel and the Shadyside Inn (and a small B&B I can't think of the name of). Now, hotels are being added in East Liberty and at the old Don Allen site.

You won't see something like the previous plan because it's not the same situation was it was in 2008. And, as I've said before, if somebody had a different plan, they've had plenty of time to put it out there. The only thing those buildings have been used for since 2005 is to hold Josh Wander's signs.

[gg]

Originally Posted by HeavenWood

You said "The region can't support restaurants due to the clientele in that region.

It had more to do with it being a little poorer down that way, with the row houses and highway right there. Relax a bit, you seem tensed up.

Someone mentioned it was a bad intersection for pedestrians. It is a little crazy down that way if you are on the right side of the road going down hill. If you are on the left side, it probably is okay. People do cross down there all the time though.

Looking over all these posts, I think I will change my position a bit. I really want to see the city to get some more revenue going, but that location isn't all the important. It is pretty much right on the highway. Guess there will be some shops on the first floor. Maybe it will look okay. I also didn't realize it has been a decade since Poli's was out of business. Wow!

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

It had more to do with it being a little poorer down that way, with the row houses and highway right there. Relax a bit, you seem tensed up.

As if people in the city don't travel beyond immediate walking distance to go out to eat. You're full of it.

Regardless, there's so little going on down that way, good-faith attempts to establish viable businesses and increase foot traffic shouldn't be balked at because you think special needs housing is some kind of euphemism. What's on that stretch of Forward besides a bowling alley and pizza place, anyway?

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by GeneW

The apartment building next to my house was largely Section 8 for the first five years that we lived here and the only problem we ever had was one guy with a loud motorcycle who lived there for a few months. For better or worse, it was sold and rehabbed and now those same units are $1300 a month and occupied by professional types. The new tenants are fine but not nearly as friendly as the old ones.

I thought I was the only one that noticed that poor and lower-middle-class Pittsburghers seem to be much friendlier than the "progressive, educated, upper-middle-class" types the city is universally trying to attract these days. It's quite rare that someone in Squirrel Hill (not anti-Semitic) or Point Breeze will attempt to strike up a random conversation with me or bother to make a feeble attempt at carrying on one that I initiate myself. If I'm walking around Millvale, Polish Hill, or Greenfield I've had much more success with people being overtly friendly and accommodating.

If the "new Pittsburgh" is cold, Smartphone-obsessed, and self-absorbed, then I'll be the first to admit I wish the "yinzers" I've so often maligned over the years don't disappear. I think I'm finally starting to appreciate them after living here for so long.

[Der Schwabe]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

If the "new Pittsburgh" is cold, Smartphone-obsessed, and self-absorbed, then I'll be the first to admit I wish the "yinzers" I've so often maligned over the years don't disappear. I think I'm finally starting to appreciate them after living here for so long.

This is hardly Pittsburgh specific. You're finally getting the cold, self-absorbed high-earners to move in from the suburbs.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I thought I was the only one that noticed that poor and lower-middle-class Pittsburghers seem to be much friendlier than the "progressive, educated, upper-middle-class" types the city is universally trying to attract these days. It's quite rare that someone in Squirrel Hill (not anti-Semitic) or Point Breeze will attempt to strike up a random conversation with me or bother to make a feeble attempt at carrying on one that I initiate myself. If I'm walking around Millvale, Polish Hill, or Greenfield I've had much more success with people being overtly friendly and accommodating.

If the "new Pittsburgh" is cold, Smartphone-obsessed, and self-absorbed, then I'll be the first to admit I wish the "yinzers" I've so often maligned over the years don't disappear. I think I'm finally starting to appreciate them after living here for so long.

Wow, this really is one of SCR's alternative Tuesdays (or Wednesdays as it were).

And you should take even your own "random conversation" anecdotes with a grain of salt. As long as someone isn't rude in response to your good-faith attempts to chat, I don't see the issue. You don't know if they have things to do or places to be. I'm big on both chatting up random people and, whenever possible, engaging those who are interested in having a conversation with me (sometimes to my girlfriend's lament ), but sometimes I'm busy or tired or simply not in the mood.

P.S.: as much as I find your blanket generalizations irritating, one thing I know you're not is anti-Semitic.