Why is Pittsburgh so white? (Philadelphia, York: cost, plantations, statistics)

[chessimprov]

Originally Posted by szug-bot

there are even corners of the city that look like they are villages nestled in some forgotten corner off a state highway, like some enclaves of Spring HIll, and even Mount Washington. One could argue that homes shouldn't even be at these places because of the street maintenance and garbage pickup required on such narrow streets with problematic geotechnical problems.

its been said the area is a patchwork of small towns masquerading as a big city.

Well I'd say this is true of Pittsburgh and its nature of being the medium sized city that it is. There are enough activities to do. You don't necessarily feel overwhelmed or underwhelmed, and a lot of the people I met when I lived there in 2005 wanted to stay in their own neighborhood. They didn't want to venture out much if they didn't have to.

You get a lot for your money as long as you can get a job.

Like many places, those areas were probably developed too fast and are narrow streets because of the topography, possibly because they are older roads too and decades/centuries ago, bigger roads were not considered necessary or good use of space, and of course these homes aren't just going to suddenly go poof now.

[svband76]

Because it is.

[trackstar13]

Not enough sun.

[Huckleberry3911948]

Black people and white people have a lot in common
They both want to live in a white neighborhood
We are not so unalike

[gwillyfromphilly]

Originally Posted by gg

It is a very small metro. Keep digging for your agenda though. Good luck.

Could you imagine if someone on the Philly subforum created a thread called "Why is Philly so Black?"

[gg]

Originally Posted by gwillyfromphilly

Could you imagine if someone on the Philly subforum created a thread called "Why is Philly so Black?"

They would be called.... ah everyone knows what they would be called. Even though I could discuss why and I would interestingly use the Italian community in my example, I have just realized in the remainder of my life this is the norm and will be the norm. I just let it go. I did grumble a bit though.

[OyCrumbler]

Pittsburgh metropolitan area really consists of smaller mill towns that had mostly independent economies, so that percentage is a bit different. It's also in the middle of Appalachia which isn't the wealthiest area and wasn't much on large slave plantations, so when people did move to the city from nearby, it was drawing mostly from a mostly white population and one that wasn't very wealthy so there was a sizable base (for a city of its size) of low wage workers to draw from nearby rather than from further out. Additionally, it wasn't on an easy direct pathway from the southern states that did have large black populations during the Great Migration, so ultimately it didn't draw as many black people though it did draw some.

Native Americans-wise, well, yea, that was a done deal a while ago.

Hispanic people like from Puerto Rico generally followed major passenger ports where other Puerto Rican communities had settled. As you can probably tell, Pittsburgh is not a major seaport (though it does have a decent-sized river port for freight). Pittsburgh is also nowhere near the border of Mexico and was never part of New Spain.

Also, Pittsburgh and its metropolitan area was heavily shedding jobs and people during the time when airplane fare became more accessible and the US changed its immigration policies, so there wasn't much of an attractant in that period.

The city itself has seen some demographic changes over the last few decades though and at least part of that can be attributed towards the move towards the tertiary sector of the economy and the prominence of Pittsburgh's two main universities and the research they engender.

I think Knoxville has somewhat similar properties to Pittsburgh. Sarasota is much more likely due to lack of industry and restrictive covenants and the like.

[OyCrumbler]

Originally Posted by gwillyfromphilly

Could you imagine if someone on the Philly subforum created a thread called "Why is Philly so Black?"

Sure, it's probably because it's a large bustling industrial city that was very attractive during the period of the Great Migration as Philadelphia was an industrial powerhouse and quite accessible by many rail services from the south. It then went through a significant population loss during the loss of manufacturing jobs as well as various policies that was conducive towards development of suburban tracts, but there were sometimes certain kinds of restrictions on lending or buying that made it more difficult for black people to do the same. As city conditions for various reasons worsened during the mid-20th century, more people with the means to got out, but there were a smaller percentage of black people with such means so there wasn't the same proportion of black people who left. With the population of Philadelphia growing again and attracting more people after about a half-century of population loss, Philadelphia's percentage of population is shifting to an increasingly smaller proportion of black people despite some limited Caribbean and African migration.

That seem pretty accurate as a broad overview to you?

[gg]

Originally Posted by OyCrumbler

Sure,.....

I don't feel like getting banned or a time out, but you are welcome to ask that question over on the Philly forum. Feel free. I think I will pass.

[OyCrumbler]

Originally Posted by gg

I don't feel like getting banned or a time out, but you are welcome to ask that question over on the Philly forum. Feel free. I think I will pass.

Why? I’m pretty sure I’ve got the answer right and the Philadelphia metropolitan area frankly isn’t notably black. Its demographic composition is actually remarkably not notable for a larger US metropolitan area.