5 months after relocating to Pittsburgh - things I like and dislike (Robinson Township: real estate, apartments)

[Clevelandguy88]

Hello all,

I have been living in Pittsburgh for 5 months now(I moved from out of state after accepting an offer from UPMC) and wanted to share some thoughts on the city and just some random things I’ve noticed since moving here. I want to make it clear this is in no way to put down the city as there are things I really like here too, which I’ll also list.

Some random thoughts about Pittsburgh.

1.) retailers here are generally much smaller than other places where I’ve lived.


A lot of stores, especially grocery stores are much smaller and crammed next to other stores compared to previous places I’ve lived. Sure, this is probably a good thing to a lot of people but took time to get used to. Also a lot of Walmart’s here have not been converted into supercenters so not really a grocery option there.

2.) Very little of a variety of health care options here

I was suprised at how much of the healthcare field upmc really owns here. Even when I lived in Cleveland for 2 years, there’s the Cleveland clinic which is one of the top systems in the world, has atleast 6 other hospital systems within the city. But here in Pittsburgh, upmc seems to dominate everything.

3.) price of parking

I pay almost 5 times as much a month to park for work then I ever have before.

4.) All the hills

This really isn’t a complaint as the hills do offer great scenery in some areas but really limit where new structures can be built in certain areas.

5.) price of renting

Believe it or not, the price to rent here is cheaper than anywhere else I have lived, even Cleveland lol

6.) public transportation

Public transportation is phenomenal here in Pittsburgh.

7.) traffic

I guess it depends on what you’re used to but for me the traffic is awful.

8.) the people

For the most part, the people are very friendly and courteous here.

[speagles84]

Originally Posted by Clevelandguy88

Hello all,

I have been living in Pittsburgh for 5 months now(I moved from out of state after accepting an offer from UPMC) and wanted to share some thoughts on the city and just some random things I’ve noticed since moving here. I want to make it clear this is in no way to put down the city as there are things I really like here too, which I’ll also list.

Some random thoughts about Pittsburgh.

1.) retailers here are generally much smaller than other places where I’ve lived.


A lot of stores, especially grocery stores are much smaller and crammed next to other stores compared to previous places I’ve lived. Sure, this is probably a good thing to a lot of people but took time to get used to. Also a lot of Walmart’s here have not been converted into supercenters so not really a grocery option there.

2.) Very little of a variety of health care options here

I was suprised at how much of the healthcare field upmc really owns here. Even when I lived in Cleveland for 2 years, there’s the Cleveland clinic which is one of the top systems in the world, has atleast 6 other hospital systems within the city. But here in Pittsburgh, upmc seems to dominate everything.

3.) price of parking

I pay almost 5 times as much a month to park for work then I ever have before.

4.) All the hills

This really isn’t a complaint as the hills do offer great scenery in some areas but really limit where new structures can be built in certain areas.

5.) price of renting

Believe it or not, the price to rent here is cheaper than anywhere else I have lived, even Cleveland lol

6.) public transportation

Public transportation is phenomenal here in Pittsburgh.

7.) traffic

I guess it depends on what you’re used to but for me the traffic is awful.

8.) the people

For the most part, the people are very friendly and courteous here.

No disrespect taken. This is a fair candid list of Pittsburgh, good and bad. Traffic is abysmal here for the size city we are, I know

[eschaton]

Not sure where you live/work, but your complaints about traffic, parking, and possibly small retailers are intimately linked with your enjoyment of public transportation. Pittsburgh is just much less of a car-centric city. The urban core is several decades older than Cleveland overall, and although urban renewal had its casualties, we didn't carve the city up with highways anywhere near to the extent Cleveland did.

Basically, if you live in Pittsburgh and have a job with regular work hours that's accessible by transit (particularly in Downtown/Oakland, you should not be driving to work. Busing it (or whatever) is always cheaper and less of a hassle.

[svband76]

"4.) All the hills

This really isn’t a complaint as the hills do offer great scenery in some areas but really limit where new structures can be built in certain areas. ..."

I think this is a good thing. Yet somehow the Southside Slopes exist. https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4192...7i13312!8i6656 I love the winding impossible streets here.

[Knepper3]

Yeah don't take that as a put down and think it's pretty fair. I dont often park downtown but when I have I thought it was expensive. As for UPMC, I see them all over but didnt realize they dominate as much as you point out. That might just be because my mom is a native Pgher and always preferred AHN system hospitals. Since her stroke 3 years ago there have been many Dr visits and none UPMC. I personally usually go w/ UPMC but rarely need anything.

The smaller stores, yeah I guess I didnt really notice it but it is expected given the limited real estate lot sizes and out topography. I also shop more outside the more urban areas that are more standard. Down in FL we had a Super Target and Super Walmart, yes they were huge but I also hated the way retail dominated so much down there.

[Knepper3]

Originally Posted by Clevelandguy88

5.) price of renting

Believe it or not, the price to rent here is cheaper than anywhere else I have lived, even Cleveland lol

I am curious, I rented for a large part of my life but never in Pgh. Aside from prices, what do you feel about the quality of rentals for the price here? When I rented I lived in FL, the quality of the rentals was all about the same since most apt complexes were all built within the past 10 years at the time and really was not much older apartments.

[SteelCityRising]

Welcome to Pittsburgh!

Fairly accurate assessment. No offense taken from this "homer" at all.

I agree with some of your criticisms. I've always wondered why Pittsburgh's retailers seem so much smaller-sized than retailers in other cities, and nobody has ever been able to explain that to me. For example the East End Whole Foods is tiny, which leads to it feeling too congested for me (hence why I won't shop there). Our urban ALDI locations also seem tiny. The East End Target also seems tiny compared to many suburban Targets, so we drive further afield to patronize other Targets. The Giant Eagle Market District in Shadyside is smaller than the one in Robinson Township. Our city seems like it has an AMAZING variety of AWESOME restaurants, but retail? Our retail sucks. You'd think with all the BMW's in the city these days retailers would want to chase those dollars, but I guess not.

The traffic congestion is noticeably awful here compared to other comparably-sized metro areas. I've driven the PM rush on surface streets and highways in/around Columbus, Cincinnati, Buffalo, and Cleveland. Pittsburgh's traffic is much, much worse. Considering we were simultaneously just ranked one of the nation's "least-car dependent major cities" I'm sort of puzzled by this.

I'm intrigued to hear that you find Pittsburgh's rental market to be dirt cheap. We're in the process of closing on our first home in the city. It is a few hundred square feet larger than our existing dumpy 1-BR apartment and will be $400/month vs $900/month out of our pockets. I've always considered Pittsburgh's rental market to be expensive for the low quality of the rentals offered (and to get something "nice" or "modern" you're usually spending well north of $1,000/month for a 1-BR just as you would in any other major city). Are you talking about the suburbs, which may have cheaper rents?

Yes, we have a health care duopoly in this city (albeit I think it's more of a 60/40 split favoring UPMC). I don't hate UPMC the way most in this city seem to, though, so I have no qualms about taking my Aetna insurance to UPMC if I'm ever in need of medical attention.

Parking is indeed expensive. Next to my building is the "cheapest" parking garage Downtown, and it's still almost $300/month. I've heard it's even tougher to park in Oakland, as there are waiting lists for parking spaces.

I've found the people here to be a mixed bag overall. I try to be as friendly, outgoing, and courteous as I can to strangers and love interjecting myself into conversations on the sidewalk Downtown when I overhear confused/wayward tourists trying to locate themselves on their Google Maps on their phones. I've met some wonderful people here. I've also encountered some jerks. I moved here from Northern Virginia and have found overall that people here are friendlier and less materialistic than they were back there.

[robrobrob]

The cost to park downtown is pretty expensive. However, I think we have a 50 percent parking tax which at one point was the highest in the nation. Check out his article from 2006.



https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsbu...nt?oid=1334401


I find it interesting that the parking tax is more lucrative than the city's income tax.


I also want to point out that some of the garages have drastically reduced rates recently if you get in early.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by robrobrob

The cost to park downtown is pretty expensive. However, I think we have a 50 percent parking tax which at one point was the highest in the nation. Check out his article from 2006.



https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsbu...nt?oid=1334401


I find it interesting that the parking tax is more lucrative than the city's income tax.


I also want to point out that some of the garages have drastically reduced rates recently if you get in early.

The history of this is basically Pittsburgh wanted to enact a commuter income tax like Philly, but the state legislature said no. As a result, the city decided instead to hike garage rates through the roof - and change zoning to restrict new surface parking downtown - to create an effective commuter tax.

A side benefit of this is it made transit much more cost-effective downtown versus other rust belt cities, but I do not believe this was the original intent.

[WhoIsStanwix?]

Originally Posted by robrobrob

The cost to park downtown is pretty expensive. However, I think we have a 50 percent parking tax which at one point was the highest in the nation. Check out his article from 2006.



https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsbu...nt?oid=1334401


I find it interesting that the parking tax is more lucrative than the city's income tax.


I also want to point out that some of the garages have drastically reduced rates recently if you get in early.

The parking tax is not more lucrative than the income tax according to the city budget. Parking tax revenue comes in at an estimated $56.2 million for 2019, while the earned income tax comes in at $102.6 million. Real estate tax is the top source of revenue, at $147.4 million.

https://apps.pittsburghpa.gov/redtai...2-17-19(3).pdf