Ideas to Reinvigorate Downtown Pittsburgh (Smithfield: purchasing, stats, moving to)

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by wpipkins2

I think his bread and butter work remotely. Clients used his practice out of convenience. Crime and violence is a problem but I don’t think it’s the dentist’s problem. Money talk bvll sh!+ walk.

If only your thinking meant reality. Not everyone has such low standards as yourself and try to act like businesses aren’t leaving due to the crime and violence. You should do a simple google search to realize how many dentists and other businesses are downtown so as to know what you’re actually talking about versus thinking you know, and remaining sheltered from reality.

If money was the problem he’d haved move years ago, same as the other successful businesses that are leaving and moving in the future. Funny how you don’t bring the other businesses leaving to to the crime and violence up. I also recall you saying how bad Smithfield has gotten, but now it’s because money versus the ridiculous crime and violence the last year+, lol

[wpipkins2]

Originally Posted by erieguy

If only your thinking meant reality. Not everyone has such low standards as yourself and try to act like businesses aren’t leaving due to the crime and violence. You should do a simple google search to realize how many dentists and other businesses are downtown so as to know what you’re actually talking about versus thinking you know, and remaining sheltered from reality.

If money was the problem he’d haved move years ago, same as the other successful businesses that are leaving and moving in the future. Funny how you don’t bring the other businesses leaving to to the crime and violence up. I also recall you saying how bad Smithfield has gotten, but now it’s because money versus the ridiculous crime and violence the last year+, lol

I have high standards. I know downtown and what it has to offer. I do know that some businesses depend on the daily influx of office workers.

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by wpipkins2

I have high standards. I know downtown and what it has to offer. I do know that some businesses depend on the daily influx of office workers.

Except you’ve shown otherwise, and you obviously don’t know what businesses are in great numbers there, and contrary to your belief, folks from the burbs visit doctors, dentists, oral surgeons, etc…, daily downtown, hence so many of them exist and always have. You continue to prove you don’t have much knowledge of what actually exists and need to be told what does. After all, in regards to office workers, you keep telling us how downtown is often bustling and how so many folks have returned to offices…and you still deflect from the businesses that have already left and are leaving due to the crime and violence, as they obviously have little to no confidence in Big Ed cleaning it up anytime soon.

[eschaton]

I do think it's true that the real change in terms of the downtown homeless issue happened early on in the Peduto administration, not post COVID.

When I first moved to Pittsburgh (waning days of Murphy) I noticed that unlike all of the other cities I had lived in or gone to, I was never accosted by panhandlers...downtown. There were a handful of mentally ill homeless people downtown, but they didn't solicit. I did occasionally get asked for money, but it was always either while on a Port Authority bus, or when I was in Oakland...it was never downtown. Most of those panhandlers had bus passes and actually lived somewhere (like, had a Section 8 apartment and collected SSI).

This changed in 2014 when Peduto decided to end the criminalization of panhandling downtown. Within a few months I noticed that there was finally a presence of downtown panhandlers. The panhandling IMHO peaked around 2021 or so...I rarely get asked for money downtown any longer other than by the "fifty cents or a dollar" guy. The amount sleeping in the streets has also gone way down.

I'm actually not sure how many of the "downtown loiterers" these days are homeless at all. Many of them appear to be relatively well dressed and bathed, and are just hanging out on the streets all day.

[wpipkins2]

Originally Posted by burghophilia-35

I think it is tough to generalize on those issues, though. Having worked downtown from 1999 - 2014, I definitely was panhandled during those early years -- most aggressively one night at 11:00 pm, probably in 2000, when I was leaving work after a long day.

Also snapped this photo (while taking a B&W photo class at Pittsburgh filmmakers) of a fellow, who was a very passive/gentle panhandler downtown during that era (probably from May 2002):

https://i.imgur.com/I1J1qH4.jpg

I worked in downtown from 1997 to 2013. By 1998 most panhandlers knew to stay TF out of my face. I did purchase news papers from the 1/2 man. I would give him 5 or ten dollars because he was a 1/2 of a man. He acknowledged that he was not homeless.

[wpipkins2]

Originally Posted by eschaton

I do think it's true that the real change in terms of the downtown homeless issue happened early on in the Peduto administration, not post COVID.

When I first moved to Pittsburgh (waning days of Murphy) I noticed that unlike all of the other cities I had lived in or gone to, I was never accosted by panhandlers...downtown. There were a handful of mentally ill homeless people downtown, but they didn't solicit. I did occasionally get asked for money, but it was always either while on a Port Authority bus, or when I was in Oakland...it was never downtown. Most of those panhandlers had bus passes and actually lived somewhere (like, had a Section 8 apartment and collected SSI).

This changed in 2014 when Peduto decided to end the criminalization of panhandling downtown. Within a few months I noticed that there was finally a presence of downtown panhandlers. The panhandling IMHO peaked around 2021 or so...I rarely get asked for money downtown any longer other than by the "fifty cents or a dollar" guy. The amount sleeping in the streets has also gone way down.

I'm actually not sure how many of the "downtown loiterers" these days are homeless at all. Many of them appear to be relatively well dressed and bathed, and are just hanging out on the streets all day.

Pittsburgh's homeless problem and aggressive panhandling pales in comparison to similar sized cities let alone larger metros. In 2017 I was in downtown Cincinnati. Fountain Square is equivalent to Market Square but it was inhabited by homeless vagrant drug addicts. Nobody used the main area because of this. It reminded me of the Market Square of the 90's but way worse. Cincinnati's homeless issues were worse than the Pittsburgh issues of today. I never in my life smelled as much weed as I did in Cincinnati. Everywhere wreaked of weed.

[wpipkins2]

Originally Posted by burghophilia-35

Yea, other than the 1 time, fairly late at night, I didn't really know the panhandlers to be aggressive. There was a very sweet lady who used to stand at Liberty and 7th, or Liberty and Smithfield, and ask for change.

Now this weekend, I spent 7 hours in and around the city on Saturday, between dropping family off in Strip to drop off "kid art" at Art All Night, then biking around the city for hours, I was literally from Downtown, to Sharpsburg (beer at Hitchhiker), all over East End, and down into Homestead, and the most concerning thing I saw was all the rednecks in town for the Luke McCombs concert.

Art All Night, Friday's Gallery Crawl, and the August Wilson Block party were all packed this weekend! I missed the concert crowd.

[BUILD PENN SQUARE]

downtown is f'ed up

Man in critical condition after violent assault in downtown Pittsburgh

https://www.wtae.com/article/downtow...bbery/43754523

"A violent assault in downtown Pittsburgh has left a man in critical condition.

Pittsburgh Public Safety said the assault happened early Monday morning in the area of Smithfield Street and Sixth Avenue.

According to police, at least three young people were involved in the robbery and assault of a 50-year-old man who was found unconscious and not moving."

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by BUILD PENN SQUARE

downtown is f'ed up

Man in critical condition after violent assault in downtown Pittsburgh

https://www.wtae.com/article/downtow...bbery/43754523

"A violent assault in downtown Pittsburgh has left a man in critical condition.

Pittsburgh Public Safety said the assault happened early Monday morning in the area of Smithfield Street and Sixth Avenue.

According to police, at least three young people were involved in the robbery and assault of a 50-year-old man who was found unconscious and not moving."

Impossible as we were just told there’s been a crackdown on violence, though with no stats to prove it, and how it’s gotten so much better.

[Reggiezz]

It has been a rapid decline for downtown. Changing most of the high rises to residential is not easily doable unless they can convince Gen Z that windowless apartments are really cool. I picture the building in that episode of Black Mirror where the 20 somethings live in 10x10 windowless rooms and have to ride stationary bikes all day for power.