Squirrel Hill, Shadyside, Point Breeze?

[likepgh]

BrianTH is right to keep reminding us about Regent Square--it's a great neighborhood and often overlooked in the Sq Hill/Shadyside/Point Breeze triangle. I should have included it when discussing schools since the Pittsburgh part does feed to Minadeo.

I can't make too many suggestions about housing, unfortunately, but I would suggest going to the on-line version of the University Times, Pitt's in-house newspaper for faculty and staff. They have a small classified section with some apartment/house rental listings. CMU may have an equivalent publication.

As for Squirrel Hill and the cleanliness/run-down issue: I can't think of any part of Squirrel Hill that is unsafe. There are some blocks that are mainly rentals (think Darlington and Bartlett between Murray and Shady) that may be more run-down/less upscale/more noisy but most of the rentals in houses (or of houses) will be on blocks with a good mix of owners and renters and many of those renters will be young professionals; grad and professional students; post-docs, visiting faculty, residents/fellows, etc. Some undergraduates from Pitt and CMU have "invaded" Squirrel Hill but I don't think any parts of Squirrel Hill have gone the way of South Oakland...

[Humanoid]

That's not true at all; there is a HUGE bike culture here

Maybe there is a HUGE bike as a sport culture, I wouldn't know. But biking as a mode of transportation is not popular at all in Pittsburgh, there are very few bike lines. Most bridges you can't even cross safely on a bike. I biked in Pittsburgh for 5 years and I can only think of a couple of bike lines. Also, its nearly impossible to add bike lines to the roads because the roads are already too narrow. The city would have to build actual bike paths, so far they've only made a few.


Anyhow, about apartments. Pittsburgh seems to be a magnet for slumlords and overall crappy landlords. Whatever sort of place you rent you should be sure to get some recommendations for it, or at the very least look into matters more critically than you would else where.

[LovetheEastEnd]

Originally Posted by Humanoid

Maybe there is a HUGE bike as a sport culture, I wouldn't know. But biking as a mode of transportation is not popular at all in Pittsburgh,

Did you live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania? For anyone to say that biking for commuting purposes is not popular here is as much to saying to me that you never looked out your window. There are people on their bikes through the dead of winter with no problems at all. There are now bike "lanes" across the Birmingham Bridge and the Hot Metal Bridge, along with recent lanes added on Liberty Ave, which are hardly narrow streets.

[gallacus]

Originally Posted by LovetheEastEnd

Did you live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania? For anyone to say that biking for commuting purposes is not popular here is as much to saying to me that you never looked out your window. There are people on their bikes through the dead of winter with no problems at all. There are now bike "lanes" across the Birmingham Bridge and the Hot Metal Bridge, along with recent lanes added on Liberty Ave, which are hardly narrow streets.

Don't forget about the bike lane on the newly refurbished Millvale Bridge (http://popcitymedia.com/developmentnews/smillv0213.aspx - broken link)in Bloomfield. For commuting purposes, there's a good, safe way to get just about anywhere from just about anywhere in the city. I wont argue the exact number of people commuting on bicycle, but there are many.

[Smily Gladshanks]

Hey, younz.

Learn to say younz. Yinz.
That being said, you are young with a young family. And you want a quiet, safe neighborhood. And shadyside, s-hill and point breeze are your choices. I dont' know your income. Ok, here goes...

I live in Shadyside. It's rather expensive, in general. I once dated a realtor who said she never sells a house for under 350k, regardless of its quality. But that's hearsay, still. I can tell you that most of Shadyside seems to be rented to Pitt, CMU grad students like myself. I don't see many families except for those coming in to shop the main street. It's the yuppie section of the three areas you mention, for sure, though probably less so than most cities (this is Pittsburgh, afterall).

Squirrel Hill is easily the most family-oriented neighborhood. Like Shadyside, it has nice trees, nice homes. It's certainly a bit cheaper, but it's still relatively expensive compared to the rest of the city. I imagine Squirrel HIll as the place young Shady-siders go once they get a family together. There are nice things to do on the main street (library, some shops, some more family things besides Shadyside's couple of bars, Banana Republic and sort-of-record store), and there are teenagers all over, it seems. There are some nice parks nearby for biking, walking, etc. Family, man.

Point Breeze is a bit cheaper I think. Probably less safe.

Squirrel Hill is the safest area, though most of the city is quite safe. We get some sort of crime event in Shadyside pretty often because of the proximity to East Liberty. Squirrel HIll is farther away on foot (crime is on foot, generally).

I picture you liking Squirrel Hill best. Point Breeze is just next door, though, and so is Shadyside. They are the three neighbors.

Joe

[neoplasticity]

any opinion on greenfield?

[Humanoid]

Did you live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania?

Ugh, I lived in Pittsburgh for 6 years and recently at that. There is little point in debating this because its a well known fact about Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh has been rated as one of the worst cities for biking, for example see the following article:

Can Pittsburgh learn to love bikes?

The city has made some improvements, but if people ignore the problems nothing will be done about them.

[LovetheEastEnd]

Originally Posted by Humanoid

Ugh, I lived in Pittsburgh for 6 years and recently at that. There is little point in debating this because its a well known fact about Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh has been rated as one of the worst cities for biking, for example see the following article:

Can Pittsburgh learn to love bikes?

The city has made some improvements, but if people ignore the problems nothing will be done about them.

Quoting an article from 2003 really was a great idea to back your stance up.

Oddly enough, "Bike" magazine rated Pittsburgh as the number one city out of ten total picked for cost of living and bike culture, accessibility, etc.

[Humanoid]

Oddly enough, "Bike" magazine rated Pittsburgh as the number one city out of ten total picked for cost of living and bike culture, accessibility, etc.

What does cost of living have to do with how bike friendly Pittsburgh is? Seriously, its so bloody obvious to anybody that bikes in Pittsburgh that it isn't bike friendly that this is rather silly. I could post dozens of articles about it (even ones from 2007!), or simply just talk to the local bike advocates (e.g., critical mass).

Pretending that there isn't a problem will not solve the problem. Regardless, this is way off topic and the OP will find out what is really the case shortly.

any opinion on greenfield?

Greenfield is okay if you do not mind living around ...errr..."working class" individuals.

[BrianTH]

Just a quick note:

Last I saw, statistically Point Breeze was as safe as Squirrel Hill.