Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Pennsylvania > Pittsburgh
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 05-08-2008, 02:33 PM
 
2,053 posts, read 4,803,035 times
Reputation: 2410

Advertisements

Hi all, we are considering buying a house in Allentown and would like to hear about the neighborhood. Is it safe? Is it convenient? Are there services nearby? We don't have much info about it and could definitely use your advice. Whatever info would be great. Thanks much!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 05-08-2008, 08:16 PM
 
134 posts, read 561,625 times
Reputation: 77
Avoid at all costs, not a nice area at all. Safety would be a concern, although it is accesible to the city.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-08-2008, 09:16 PM
 
522 posts, read 1,790,162 times
Reputation: 151
I second the above notion. Convenient, yes. Safe, no. of course it depends on your idea of "safe", but it is in a particularly economically depressed area of the city near Mount Oliver and the infamous St. Clair Village projects...neither of which I could tip toward the "nice" or "safe" end of the scale. It neighbors a little-known section of the city known as "Knox" which may honestly be the next "worst section" of the city- it has gone down down down hill, and fast lately. I would avoid the area if I could help it. It sounds like you're probably an investor looking to flip something and if that is the case, you'll lose your shirt. Heck, McKees Rocks or Hazelwood would be a better choice at that pricepoint.

Cap
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-09-2008, 10:53 AM
 
2,053 posts, read 4,803,035 times
Reputation: 2410
Thanks much for answering!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-11-2009, 05:08 AM
 
Location: Macao
16,265 posts, read 43,022,745 times
Reputation: 10231
Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainObvious View Post
I second the above notion. Convenient, yes. Safe, no. of course it depends on your idea of "safe", but it is in a particularly economically depressed area of the city near Mount Oliver and the infamous St. Clair Village projects...neither of which I could tip toward the "nice" or "safe" end of the scale. It neighbors a little-known section of the city known as "Knox" which may honestly be the next "worst section" of the city- it has gone down down down hill, and fast lately. I would avoid the area if I could help it. It sounds like you're probably an investor looking to flip something and if that is the case, you'll lose your shirt. Heck, McKees Rocks or Hazelwood would be a better choice at that pricepoint.

Cap
Where is a street address of 'St. Clair Village projects'...just so I can figure this area to avoid.

Allentown is in the area of the South Side with all the views and such...but sounds like Allentown is an area to avoid in that area, right?

Where do the 'liveable' areas around Allentown begin? Which directions?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-11-2009, 11:16 AM
 
Location: Columbus,Ohio
1,014 posts, read 3,572,692 times
Reputation: 508
It seems not too long ago the two Mount Olivers ( the city neighborhood and borough), Knoxville and Allentown were decents areas . We know that Beltzhoover and the St. Clair projects were places to avoided for a very longtime ago. However, what caused this evil decline to the four former areas and is there anything that can be done to stop or reverse this disturbing trend? It seem like that blue collar Joe keeps getting pushed out of neighborhoods because of crime, drugs, thugs , gangs , section 8 ( a true scourge ) and the ever evil white and/ or middle class flight. If neighborhoods continue to decline as fast as they are , your hardworking average Joes and their families are going to run out of safe affordable and walkable options. Moving out to the further auto centric suburbs is not the answer especially for those who cannot afford more than one car per family. ( I am in that situation and my husband needs the car to get to work, but fortunately our neighborhood is holding it's own for the time being.)
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-11-2009, 04:44 PM
 
Location: South Oakland, Pittsburgh, PA
875 posts, read 1,484,500 times
Reputation: 285
I'm not sure how the citizens of Pittsburgh and its governing body can improve the decaying city neighborhoods. Maybe it was just rhetoric, but to me it seemed like both Acklin and Dok Harris had more of an agenda when it came to this issue than good 'ol Lukey. I hate to infuriate some and say that the government will have to play a roll in any form of revitalization of these neighborhoods. Yes, section 8 and public housing in general have proven disastrous, but truly free-market capitalism won't fix these neighborhoods either, it will just push more development in the suburbs.

No, to improve the Beltzhoovers, Homewoods, and Hill Districts of the area, intimate public-private partnerships will need to be forged. There will have to be incentives (or conversely, restrictions) about maintenance of property to a certain level. Police will have to stop being the enemy, "the man" and develop some level of respect and responsiveness to their precincts and earn the trust of their citizens.

Yeah, maybe it is pipe dream, but it's my belief that one has to start somewhere. I think it just takes a level of shrewdness and vision to begin a process like this and unfortunately for the last few decades the majority of Pittsburgh politicians have been satisfied to live by the status quo.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-11-2009, 06:28 PM
 
156 posts, read 295,861 times
Reputation: 44
Default Mt Washington

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tiger Beer View Post
Where is a street address of 'St. Clair Village projects'...just so I can figure this area to avoid.

Allentown is in the area of the South Side with all the views and such...but sounds like Allentown is an area to avoid in that area, right?

Where do the 'liveable' areas around Allentown begin? Which directions?
If you move up to Mt Washington, you enter livable areas. Along Bailey/Boggs, the neighborhood is nice. If you continue west (toward Grandview), you can move "back from the view" and find nice neighborhoods.

It is a shame that Allentown and Mt Oliver have become what they have. I understand they were nice neighborhoods in the past.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-11-2009, 07:01 PM
 
Location: Macao
16,265 posts, read 43,022,745 times
Reputation: 10231
Quote:
Originally Posted by otters21 View Post
It seem like that blue collar Joe keeps getting pushed out of neighborhoods because of crime, drugs, thugs , gangs , section 8 ( a true scourge ) and the ever evil white and/ or middle class flight. If neighborhoods continue to decline as fast as they are , your hardworking average Joes and their families are going to run out of safe affordable and walkable options. Moving out to the further auto centric suburbs is not the answer especially for those who cannot afford more than one car per family. ( I am in that situation and my husband needs the car to get to work, but fortunately our neighborhood is holding it's own for the time being.)
Yeah, I know what you mean. That is what makes Pittsburgh attractive, one of the seemingly few urban cities left where just normal people can live in real neighborhoods. When I view Philadelphia or Washington DC or wherever, it has already hit the urban decay 'well past pushed out' levels.

How prevalent is 'Section 8' housing throughout Pittsburgh in general? The more of that in a city, the worse it gets, for sure.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-11-2009, 08:50 PM
 
Location: Columbus,Ohio
1,014 posts, read 3,572,692 times
Reputation: 508
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tiger Beer View Post
Yeah, I know what you mean. That is what makes Pittsburgh attractive, one of the seemingly few urban cities left where just normal people can live in real neighborhoods. When I view Philadelphia or Washington DC or wherever, it has already hit the urban decay 'well past pushed out' levels.

How prevalent is 'Section 8' housing throughout Pittsburgh in general? The more of that in a city, the worse it gets, for sure.
Unfortunately it(section 8) is prevalent not just in Pittsburgh but it's all over America and that includes city neighborhoods, inner and middle ring suburbs and spreading out to the outer suburbs and exurbs and even into small towns and rural areas.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Pennsylvania > Pittsburgh

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top