Mexican War Streets/Allegheny West family friendly? (Pittsburgh, Robinson Township: homes, neighborhoods)

[aw_now_what]

Originally Posted by Lobick

SCR, I understand your underlying point, but this really wasn't the dynamic taking place within the War Streets with regard to the expansion of the historic district. If anything, and to use your terminology (not mine) it was rich whites against richer whites, who in turn played upon racial concerns to exacerbate the situation. There's a lot to this, years of community meetings, but I will try to give a brief explanation to provide neighborhood context.

As I mentioned, over several years the historic district expansion was debated and discussed at a number of community meetings, both within the Mexican War Streets Society and the Allegheny City Central Association. Everybody was on board, local pols all signed off, Councilman Peduto supported it, etc. The Historic Review Commission and Planning Commission were in favor. All that was required was for the City Council to pass a resolution. That's when other interests int he neighborhood began what I view as a smear campaign.

Principally, large property owners, one in particular with many Section 8 rental properties in the area to be designated, hired people to go door to door and drum up sentiment against the expansion. They spread misinformation about what the designation would mean to their tenants and others, painted the motivations of proponents of expansion as a desire to force out poor people from the neighborhood and played upon racially animosity. In advance of the community meetings before Council, they catered a dinner and then marched, en mass, to the meeting. Let's be clear, these were large, monied interests outside of the historic district who want to maintain the ability to tear down or drastically alter their historic buildings, outside of the review of the City Historic Commission. In my view they orchestrated outrage at the plan to the point where it became politically untenable in an election year.

My only consolation is that the District will ultimately expand. It's pretty clear to me that the Council actually missed their deadline to vote against it, but that's still in the courts. Unfortunately, it was too late for this home:
Judge halts demolition of Mexican War Streets rowhouse | TribLIVE

BTW, there's a lot of great info on the neighborhood's history contained in the nomination to expand the Historic District:
http://apps.pittsburghpa.gov/dcp/Dra...Nomination.pdf

Exactly what Lobick said.

And, expansion of the historic district is not the wealthy newcomers vs. moderate-income oldtimers issue that it's been painted as. Preventing developers from tearing down small homes to replace them with new $400,000 houses diminishes the stock of affordable housing.

[ferraris]

The two North Side Giant Eagles are just your typical grocery stores if you ask me. The Kuhn's in Brightwood was just remodeled a few months ago at most, though.

Also don't forget that you're very close to specialty shops in the Strip District, Downtown, Breadworks, and Tom Friday's butcher shop.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

If you want to talk about shite grocery stores, the only one I had close access to in Carrick was the Foodland/Shop N Save on Brownsville Road. It's always looked like hell and it's one of the few grocery stores in the area that had a security guard working daily. If I wanted a decent grocery store I had to cross 51 and that's never fun (especially these days).

I've been in the GE in the North Side more than a few times.... be happy with what you have.

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

It's always looked like hell and it's one of the few grocery stores in the area that had a security guard working daily.

I see your security guard & raise you one police officer working daily

[RogersParkTransplant]

Just chiming in to say we love Allegheny West and the War Streets too. We bought a great house up on Spring Hill, and you should take a good look at Spring Hill and also Troy Hill - not quite as walkable as where you're looking, but quieter and with amazing views of the city. The housing stock isn't as uniformly gorgeous, but it's a cool mix of Victorian, Craftsman, and also more recent homes. Note that you have to look at the other side of I-279 with your beer goggles on - it's run down but getting nicer all the time, and developers are coming in and investing, mostly with an eye to rehabbing interiors while keeping historic exteriors intact. We've had some threads on here about this - whether developers can be trusted to respect architectural history - but the bottom line is that East Allegheny is improving, which is great news for the whole North side.

About kids and safety - we moved here a year ago from Chicago and feel 100% safe. Granted we were already used to city life, but even so we have friendly neighbors and are surrounded by families. The neighborhood is mixed, both racially and socio-economically, and we see that as a huge plus. All the comments on here about the public schools match what we hear and see (ie, the district has some issues but also gives you great options and is fine on the whole), and we really hope to send ours to the Children's Museum pre-K program once they are old enough, too. Also check out the new public library on Federal Ave near North - they are very kid-friendly and will give you a strong sense of the neighborhood dynamics. (Grab a burrito at El Burro while you're at it!)

Finally, the Cedar Ave Giant Eagle - every few months you do read about a mugging there, so do be careful, but it's OK and getting better all the time. I read the reports, and they tend to be sad, someone punching a grandma or something, and also there is the occasional incident late at night on E Ohio St when people are coming out of the bars. None of this makes us feel unsafe, but we do keep our eyes open and drive rather than walk there, especially after dark. On a more positive note, however, we adore the farmer's market in the park near Cedar Ave on Fridays in summer and Fall, and even though it's just a few blocks up it's 100% safe and packed with families.

[FreightTrainRunning]

I've said this before but we've found Allegheny West to be totally safe as a neighborhood. The worst thing that we've had happen to us was having some flowers pulled from the window boxes in the summer. Oh and that time that I opened my garage door and found a drunken Steelers fan in the middle of peeing on it. I lived in the East End in the nineties and crime was many, many times worse over there. I once thought that someone had stolen a ladder that I'd left behind the garage but then my next door neighbor called and said that he'd grabbed it to keep it from getting stolen.

Since out house is built right against the sidewalk and our bedroom is in the front, we're effectively sleeping about five feet away from the street (although one story up) and it's dead quiet every night except for the sound of the freight trains running through the cut in West Park.

[steindle]

In terms of family/kid-friendly events, I was really impressed by Pumpkinfest (which takes place at E Ohio & Cedar, right where the Farmer's Market is) this year. Very well-organized, very informative re: kid-oriented organizations, and lots of stuff to do.

[RogersParkTransplant]

Originally Posted by steindle

In terms of family/kid-friendly events, I was really impressed by Pumpkinfest (which takes place at E Ohio & Cedar, right where the Farmer's Market is) this year. Very well-organized, very informative re: kid-oriented organizations, and lots of stuff to do.

Yes! And to clarify what I wrote last night - we do feel safe walking around on East Ohio in general, or to the Giant Eagle if we're grabbing something quick. It's just the occasional incident does happen, and if it's after dark and we're slowed down with kids and a lot of groceries, it's the spot in that neighborhood where we are especially careful and more likely to drive. At 4pm in the summer, though, we don't hesitate to walk down to East Ohio, or schlep back up the hill from the farmer's market on foot.

[mlv124]

Wow! Great feedback. I appreciate the time you guys took to address some of my concerns.

I think this area might be a good fit for our family! Seems like a lot kid friendly places and activities. Also, some great entertainment options for us.

As for schools, if we can't get into the right magent school, we will probably go the Catholic school route.

I also like how centrally located these neighborhoods are. We went to look at a house on Beech Ave. and then drove down to visit my mother-in-law in the south hills, and it only took 30 min. I currently live in the suburbs of NYC, so it was nice not to sit in bumper to bumper traffic. We also drove up to the north hills and were surrounded by suburban amenities (grocery stores, mall, parks etc.) in 10 min.

[RogersParkTransplant]

Originally Posted by mlv124

Wow! Great feedback. I appreciate the time you guys took to address some of my concerns.

I think this area might be a good fit for our family! Seems like a lot kid friendly places and activities. Also, some great entertainment options for us.

As for schools, if we can't get into the right magent school, we will probably go the Catholic school route.

I also like how centrally located these neighborhoods are. We went to look at a house on Beech Ave. and then drove down to visit my mother-in-law in the south hills, and it only took 30 min. I currently live in the suburbs of NYC, so it was nice not to sit in bumper to bumper traffic. We also drove up to the north hills and were surrounded by suburban amenities (grocery stores, mall, parks etc.) in 10 min.

Yay! Always happy to see more families choosing this area - Beech is such a super street.

If you don't mind driving for groceries, we like shopping out at Robinson Township - nice CostCo and all the other big stores. Of course we prefer shopping in the neighborhood for many things, but there's certain times when you just need a CostCo, IKEA, or Home Depot. One great thing about the North Side is that you can take the Steubenville Pike through Crafton to get out there, and avoid the afternoon traffic on 376.

Good luck with the next steps in relocation!