How is Observatory Hill? (Wilson, West View: appointed, 2015, rentals)

[Lock-Os]

I haven't seen anything new come up in Ross, West View, Milvale, or Reserve that was worth close to asking. Ross and Milvale have literally almost nothing for sale at the moment and West View houses are so cramped together that if the house doesn't have a garage you don't have any way to add off street parking, and oh boy are the roads a mess in some places. Did find one place their though they were asking a lot for something that needed quite a lot of money to repair.

So getting back to Observatory Hill. Is the upper part more like Ross? It seems to be lumped in there with it is some mapping programs.

[norcider]

Most of Observatory Hill is suburban-like; yards, tree lined streets, off street parking. It borders Ross.

[Paul2421]

Originally Posted by Lock-Os

I haven't seen anything new come up in Ross, West View, Milvale, or Reserve that was worth close to asking. Ross and Milvale have literally almost nothing for sale at the moment and West View houses are so cramped together that if the house doesn't have a garage you don't have any way to add off street parking, and oh boy are the roads a mess in some places. Did find one place their though they were asking a lot for something that needed quite a lot of money to repair.

So getting back to Observatory Hill. Is the upper part more like Ross? It seems to be lumped in there with it is some mapping programs.

if you think west view is cramped i don't think you will have much luck in oh. maybe parts of summer hill?

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Lock-Os

I haven't seen anything new come up in Ross, West View, Milvale, or Reserve that was worth close to asking. Ross and Milvale have literally almost nothing for sale at the moment and West View houses are so cramped together that if the house doesn't have a garage you don't have any way to add off street parking, and oh boy are the roads a mess in some places. Did find one place their though they were asking a lot for something that needed quite a lot of money to repair.

So getting back to Observatory Hill. Is the upper part more like Ross? It seems to be lumped in there with it is some mapping programs.

The area you were interested in looks like this on streetview. Mostly early 20th century homes (some semi-attached) with a scattering of mid 20th century mixed in. Some houses have driveways or access to a rear alley, but this is not universal.

[Lock-Os]

This once place I am seeing tonight is just south of where 19 crosses the Parkway North. It has a back alley were I can build a garage latter on if I want too.

[Lock-Os]

Less cramped, more lack of off street parking or access to put off street parking in.

[SteelCityRising]

Knowing that Darlene Harris is the city council representative for Observatory Hill would be more than enough for me as a prospective first-time home-buyer to cross it off of my list unless the seller offered me a "Darlene Harris Apology Discount". Knowing that I'd be living beside the types of people who vote to keep her in office despite her aversion to change or progress, which is noticeably making the North Side at-large lag behind the East End in terms of redevelopment and revitalization, would make my stomach turn sour. I don't want to be living beside people who think bike lanes are awful; that think the city's biggest problem is "potholes"; and who think that waving to someone at a fish fry qualifies as being "community-focused".

Theresa Kail-Smith, who serves the western city neighborhoods (and Mt. Washington) is a good example of an "old school Pittsburgher" type of representative who isn't stuck in 1983. She challenges Mayor Peduto if and when necessary and can be cordial about it.

I wouldn't dare buy a home in the North Side until I could be assured that a progressive was representing the area, and that enough of the "old guard" had died off or moved to the suburbs in order for real change and progress to occur. In the same amount of time that the Garden Theater block has been sitting and rotting due to red tape on the North Side the median rents in my East End neighborhood have nearly doubled due to rapid redevelopment. As much as I lament that my future is being priced out of the East End I'd be more than happy to live in a place like Observatory Hill if and when Harris and her supporters are gone. As a progressive I'd stick out like a sore thumb in a neighborhood like that almost as much as I currently feel like an anachronism as an idealist young liberal working in an office replete with defeatist old conservatives who ***** about bike lanes daily.

I can't foresee Observatory Hill improving until it has progressive leadership. I don't know when that will happen.

[tyovan4]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I wouldn't dare buy a home in the North Side until I could be assured that a progressive was representing the area, and that enough of the "old guard" had died off or moved to the suburbs in order for real change and progress to occur. In the same amount of time that the Garden Theater block has been sitting and rotting due to red tape on the North Side the median rents in my East End neighborhood have nearly doubled due to rapid redevelopment. As much as I lament that my future is being priced out of the East End I'd be more than happy to live in a place like Observatory Hill if and when Harris and her supporters are gone. As a progressive I'd stick out like a sore thumb in a neighborhood like that almost as much as I currently feel like an anachronism as an idealist young liberal working in an office replete with defeatist old conservatives who ***** about bike lanes daily.

I can't foresee Observatory Hill improving until it has progressive leadership. I don't know when that will happen.

I think you need to take a few steps back here, as I think your perspective may be a bit clouded.

Comrade Rudiak is as left-wing and Progressive as Bicycle Bill himself. How is her district faring compared to Harris'? Carrick is certainly not a nice place.

The East End Progressives that you fawn over, and want to be accepted by, don't care about you. They truly don't. You're a white, young, male, with a bachelor's degree and a blue collar salary. You are not one of their core constituencies - you're not a tecchie, you're not a real estate developer, you're not a trust-fund yuppie, and you're not a poor black that they can throw peanuts at so they can fawn over how Progressive they are.

Do you think you're going to be benefit from the affordable housing land bank/trust fund/redistribution scheme? If you do, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
Instead, your beloved Progressives are going to be jacking up the real estate transfer tax. Which means that you're going to have to cough up more cash at closing. You've talked for years about wanting to buy a home in the City. Your Progressives just raised the barrier to you doing that - they're working against your interests, not for them.
Your Progressives are also spending, on average, $133k per unit to renovate apartments in Glen Hazel. Pittsburgh Housing Authority borrows to fund construction surge | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
It is insane. I paid a third of that to purchase a home in Etna. A move-in ready home that needed no work.



Your passion for your community would make you such an asset to a small borough or township - where you can actually have your voice heard regarding municipal concerns. The City doesn't care about you. The East End Progressives don't care about you. You have to acknowledge these facts, no matter how much you wish they weren't true, and selfishly look out for your own personal interests.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by tyovan4

I think you need to take a few steps back here, as I think your perspective may be a bit clouded.

Comrade Rudiak is as left-wing and Progressive as Bicycle Bill himself. How is her district faring compared to Harris'? Carrick is certainly not a nice place.

The East End Progressives that you fawn over, and want to be accepted by, don't care about you. They truly don't. You're a white, young, male, with a bachelor's degree and a blue collar salary. You are not one of their core constituencies - you're not a tecchie, you're not a real estate developer, you're not a trust-fund yuppie, and you're not a poor black that they can throw peanuts at so they can fawn over how Progressive they are.

Do you think you're going to be benefit from the affordable housing land bank/trust fund/redistribution scheme? If you do, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
Instead, your beloved Progressives are going to be jacking up the real estate transfer tax. Which means that you're going to have to cough up more cash at closing. You've talked for years about wanting to buy a home in the City. Your Progressives just raised the barrier to you doing that - they're working against your interests, not for them.
Your Progressives are also spending, on average, $133k per unit to renovate apartments in Glen Hazel. Pittsburgh Housing Authority borrows to fund construction surge | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
It is insane. I paid a third of that to purchase a home in Etna. A move-in ready home that needed no work.



Your passion for your community would make you such an asset to a small borough or township - where you can actually have your voice heard regarding municipal concerns. The City doesn't care about you. The East End Progressives don't care about you. You have to acknowledge these facts, no matter how much you wish they weren't true, and selfishly look out for your own personal interests.

I understand what you're saying. With that being said I think I'm turning a new leaf. Instead of wallowing in self-pity for being an educated white guy with a working-class salary (a demographic that nobody in this city cares about) I'm going to keep working overtime and picking up extra jobs as necessary to build a better life for myself. Despite, as you say, the city powers-that-be actively working against me I'm going to hunker down and make the best of it instead of complaining.

With that being said Darlene isn't the "voice of the future" for Pittsburgh. I don't even know how to ride a bike, and I can't fathom how she can have as much support as she does running essentially on the platform of "F-off, bikes!" She's been an elected official in the North Side for over a decade, and most of the outer parts of the North Side in her district are worse now than they were back then while the inner parts would have naturally gentrified no matter what given that they are walking distance to Downtown. It would be a tough sell for me to want to buy a home in her district when I have yet to see what she's done to improve upon her district.



So we've now gone from the OP asking about Observatory Hill to a weiner-measuring contest between the East End and North Side to Observatory Hill to politics between North Side regressives and East End progressives. We should get back on-track here.

I don't envision Observatory Hill going DOWNhill in the coming years; however, I don't see it improving, either. All of the neighborhoods that are "hot" right now in this city either have a usable and walkable business district or are proximate to ones that do have those amenities. I foresee Troy Hill, Brighton Heights, Beechview, and Brookline all being the "hoods to watch" for the 2020's. All have inexpensive real estate, are generally safe, and have business districts that range from "meh" to "adequate". If all four of those business districts continue to improve with more services, restaurants, etc., then Observatory Hill's chances of recovery will be pushed even further back.

[bluecarebear]

Originally Posted by tyovan4

Your Progressives are also spending, on average, $133k per unit to renovate apartments in Glen Hazel. Pittsburgh Housing Authority borrows to fund construction surge | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
It is insane. I paid a third of that to purchase a home in Etna. A move-in ready home that needed no work.

The same Northview Heights which is known as a major crime hub? The city has lost it's mind.