Moving; Safe Areas? (Pittsburgh, Brentwood: racist, places, police)

[Goinback2011]

Originally Posted by robrobrob

One also has to understand that buying a home in Lincoln Place is very often a great bargain because your property taxes are going to be quite low. All of my relatives have homes that are assessed around half of what they would sell for. However, both relatives have been there for years. From my understanding assessments of homes that sell for under 100,000 aren't appealed very often by the city. Perhaps, someone who bought a home in the city for less than 100,000 could let the OP know about the likelihood of an assessment appeal if the assessment differs from the purchase price.

Munhall's taxes are much higher. A 100,000 home in Munhall has taxes of about 3700 and a 100,000 home in the city has taxes of about 2200.

You forgot to mention the city has a higher wage tax than surrounding areas. Lower property taxes primarily benefit retirees.

[abwvu1]

Originally Posted by eschaton

You really should have started your own thread on this, but...

1. Safest portions of the North Side are Allegheny West and the Mexican War Streets. Lower Manchester is actually fairly safe these days, but many people presume it isn't just because black people live there. Deutschtown, on the east side of the park, is actually the highest crime area - although much of it is petty crime like low level drug dealing and prostitution.

2. Having lived in a brick rowhouse, I can tell you they are cheap to heat, due to the long shared party wall with your neighbor. Insulating your attic may be worthwhile, but that's really all you need to do.

3. Can't comment on this, because I don't have a background there. Sounds like a field where you'd have lots of competition though.

Appreciate your answers. I'd figure Mexican War Streets would be safe from what I read and heard but also expensive. Allegheny West seems like a great area and cost efficient as well.

I'd figure #3 would be. I face stiff competition myself at WVU as I've had 10 job interviews the past year for a higher pay grade job without as much as a job offer. But you have to know somebody to get that.

Last question (to all) any good part-time jobs downtown to get by on before getting that full-time job. I was thinking Rivers Casino and such.

[I_Like_Spam]

Originally Posted by abwvu1

Last question (to all) any good part-time jobs downtown to get by on before getting that full-time job. I was thinking Rivers Casino and such.

You have to be licensed to be hired by a casino in Pennsylvania, that takes time. In addition, you have to go to a dealers school for a couple of months unless you have experience.

[AllFantasy]

I have some fourteen homes I'm looking at in (average US crime index is about 300 ; school rating is out of 10):
<Town> [<Crime Index> | <Assigned High School Rating>]
Baldwin [189.0 | 6]
Brentwood [189.3 | 6] (I know this place is racist; I'm Asian; will I be affected...?)
Chalfant [20.2 | 4]
Elizabeth [187.9 | 6]
Forest Hills [105.4 | 4]
Pleasant Hills [189.3 | 6]
Port Vue [121.7 | 7]
Ross Township [144.2 | 8]
Turtle Creek [45.1 | 4]
West Mifflin [204.3 | 5]
West View [144.2 | 8]
Whitehall [35.8 | N/A]

Any comments...? Thank you!

[Goinback2011]

Baldwin Whiehall is a combined school district.

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by AllFantasy

I have some fourteen homes I'm looking at in (average US crime index is about 300 ; school rating is out of 10):
<Town> [<Crime Index> | <Assigned High School Rating>]
Baldwin [189.0 | 6]
Brentwood [189.3 | 6] (I know this place is racist; I'm Asian; will I be affected...?)
Chalfant [20.2 | 4]
Elizabeth [187.9 | 6]
Forest Hills [105.4 | 4]
Pleasant Hills [189.3 | 6]
Port Vue [121.7 | 7]
Ross Township [144.2 | 8]
Turtle Creek [45.1 | 4]
West Mifflin [204.3 | 5]
West View [144.2 | 8]
Whitehall [35.8 | N/A]

Any comments...? Thank you!

Any of those places should be fine (I wouldn't worry about Brentwood either as its rep is primarily from a few incidents involving the police & African Americans quite a few years ago).

[AllFantasy]

Originally Posted by Goinback2011

Baldwin Whiehall is a combined school district.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by UKyank

Any of those places should be fine (I wouldn't worry about Brentwood either as its rep is primarily from a few incidents involving the police & African Americans quite a few years ago).

Yea, I did some searching and it was mostly against African Americans. I'm guessing they don't even care about Asians lol... demographics of Pittsburgh has Asians as like less than 2% or something ridiculously low like that.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by AllFantasy

Thank you.



Yea, I did some searching and it was mostly against African Americans. I'm guessing they don't even care about Asians lol... demographics of Pittsburgh has Asians as like less than 2% or something ridiculously low like that.

Pittsburgh's Asian-American community is indeed relatively small compared to other major metropolitan areas, but it's growing pretty rapidly. It feels like ~1/3 of Shadyside, North Oakland, and Squirrel Hill, all of which are in the East End of the city proper, are of Asian descent. These are educated people lured here by the presence of Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh, UPMC, Google, Uber, Apple, Intel, etc. There is a decent population of South Asians in Scott Township, which is a suburb southwest of the city.

[AllFantasy]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Pittsburgh's Asian-American community is indeed relatively small compared to other major metropolitan areas, but it's growing pretty rapidly. It feels like ~1/3 of Shadyside, North Oakland, and Squirrel Hill, all of which are in the East End of the city proper, are of Asian descent. These are educated people lured here by the presence of Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh, UPMC, Google, Uber, Apple, Intel, etc. There is a decent population of South Asians in Scott Township, which is a suburb southwest of the city.

Oh, I wasn't complaining about lack of Asians; I don't really care about that. Just thought it was an interesting observation.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by AllFantasy

...demographics of Pittsburgh has Asians as like less than 2% or something ridiculously low like that.

The Pittsburgh area doesn't have a huge Asian population, but it's bigger than that.

Per 2013 Census Bureau estimates, the city of Pittsburgh had an Asian population of 14,628, which was 4.8% of the total population, and an increase from 13,465 (4.4%) in 2010. Extrapolating the 2010-2013 growth rate, the Asian population in the city of Pittsburgh will be 17,342 in 2020, and 5.7% of the total population. Similarly, in Allegheny County, the new 2014 Census Bureau estimates have the Asian population at 42,032, which is 3.4% of the total population, and an increase from 34,090 (2.8%) in 2010. Extrapolating the 2010-2014 growth rate, the Asian population in Allegheny County will be 53,945 in 2020, and 4.3% of the total population.

In the city proper, most Asians live in the East End, with the largest populations in the neighborhoods of Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, Oakland, Greenfield, Bloomfield, Friendship and Regent Square. Outside the East End, the only city neighborhoods with obvious Asian populations are the Central North Side, and more recently the South Hills neighborhood of Carrick, where a small-but-growing cluster of Bhutanese refugees live.

In the suburbs, most of the Asian population lives to the north, including suburbs like Franklin Park, Marshall Township, McCandless, Pine Township, Fox Chapel, O'Hara Township, Indiana Township, Aspinwall and Blawnox, and also parts of Ross Township and Cranberry Township.* Elsewhere, there's a cluster of suburbs to the southwest with substantial Asian populations, including Scott Township, Mt. Lebanon, Upper St. Clair, Robinson Township and North Fayette Township. To the east, Monroeville and Murrysville* are the only suburbs with an Asian population of any consequence.

(*: Cranberry Township is located in Butler County, and Murrysville is located in Westmoreland County.)

By the way, here's a blog I look at occasionally that focuses on Asian interests in the Pittsburgh area. The blogger is Korean, so it's a bit heavier on Korean interests than other ethnicities, but he does his best to cover everything, including restaurant openings and reviews, movie premiers and re-releases, news headlines, employment classifieds, cultural events, and even the latest gossip about Jung-Ho Kang. He seems to update it every couple of days too, so it's a good source for what's going on.