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Best definition of Section 8 I could find via quick web search:
The Section 8 Federal Housing Assistance Program was instituted to help provide safe and sanitary housing for people that normally would not be able to afford it.
The Dept of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) pays all or a portion of the monthly rent directly to the landlord every month, depending on the tenants situation.
The property must be in a safe and sanitary condition (no chipped paint, windows open and close, furnace works etc...), and landlord must sign the Sect 8 lease.
Every year, at lease renewal, Sect 8 re-inspects the property. Landlord is given 30 days to correct any violations.
In theory, true, the reality is, it does not happen that way. One name on the lease, then all of a sudden 5 more people move in. The properties fall in disarray, lawns are not cut, garbage piles up and we have to deal with it. If the government enforced their rules, the places would not be a mess and the tenants would not be criminals.
Esplen has slid so far down it's become the quietest of this section of Pittsburgh. Once the bars were ALL closed, crime dropped to near zero as everyone that lives here has a meager income, little in the way of expensive possessions and everyone knows it so, no crime. Besides, the few of us who live here all have weapons and aren't afraid to use them! A few home invasions have resulted in the perp going to the hospital or morgue. So, robbery is way, way down.
Sheraden, on the other hand, is in the middle of it's long slide to urban hell. Once a haven of middle class homes, well kept and nice it now is a haven for welfare cheats, drug dealers and section 8 housing. Some of the residents try to keep their homes up but, like most engaged in petty/grand larceny, their residences are un-kempt and falling into complete condemnation. Gunshots punctuate the night. Loud parties, screaming, vandalism, etc. plague the area. The last neighborhood grocery closed its doors due to theft and robbery. A large dollar store chain is renovating that building and planning on opening soon. We'll see how long that lasts. There are a few small businesses there but, the last one that tried to open? The owner was shot and killed during a robbery the second day he was open.
According to the Pittsburgh powers-that-be, Pittsburgh doesn't have a gang problem. ROFLMAO. Tell that to the property owners who have their homes and businesses tagged regularly and carry a gun when open for business in Sheraden.
I'm sure something is wrong with them, as realtor.com has a number of low end listings....but no one has ever started a topic on the Pittsburgh Forums for me to find out!
So, what's the story with SHERADEN & ESPLEN?
Esplen has been pretty crappy since I was a kid (I'm 60). Low lying industrial kind of area, just across the channel from a power plant on Brunot's Island, in its best days it wasn't very desirable.
Sheraden, on the other hand, was pretty nice when I was a young adult. I attended Langley, many of the folks I graduated with got their first homes or apartments in Sheraden. My brother lived over there for a while. It was an orderly kind of community, that had a lot going for it- especially the eastern areas of Sheraden in back of where the Foodland was on Sheraden Blvd. There were a few crappier sections, out past Allendale on Chartiers near Schmitty's and that. But overall, it was a pretty decent area, then it went straight to heck in a hand basket.
In the 1970s, Sheraden was a blue-collar working class neighborhood with families...Then when Broadhead Manor and
West Gate closed...the second/third generation of project people spread out to Sheraden and Greenway apartments..
The first generation I knew from Broadhead had some rough individuals but that project was not as dysfunctional as this bunch out now (the second/third generation)...
In the 1970s, Sheraden was a blue-collar working class neighborhood with families...Then when Broadhead Manor and
West Gate closed...the second/third generation of project people spread out to Sheraden and Greenway apartments...
Public housing wasn't nearly as crazy in the early 70's and before, than it was become later.
I think your housing authorities had higher standards of who they signed leases with, and a more orderly list of rules that were enforced back in the day.
I remember riding out to Ohio View Acres to look to buy a car, visiting people in the projects without any apprehensions at all. The projects really got a worse reputation later, after I left high school
All of the projects weren't that bad until the mid 70's (so from the 40's-early 70's). Some got a little bit dicey in the drug wave era/post MLK assassination time, and since their creation all but a pleasant handful of complexes were more than a little rough around the edges...
The late 60's/70's babies then went to war with each other in the 90's... Shaping communities to be plagued of gang violence now with 90's (and soon 2000's babies) killing each other at an alarming rate in the Pittsburgh area ghettos.
I would refute that Esplen post an so would the police reports... I'm not calling it a neighborhood like Arlington, McKees Rocks, McKeesport, North Braddock, Sharpsburg or Carrick but its not a neighborhood like Crafrton Heights, Baknsville, Polish Hill, Bon Air, Greenfield, Chalfant, East McKeesport, or South Side Slopes...
Last edited by Uptown kid; 01-31-2016 at 07:40 PM..
According to the Pittsburgh powers-that-be, Pittsburgh doesn't have a gang problem. ROFLMAO. Tell that to the property owners who have their homes and businesses tagged regularly and carry a gun when open for business in Sheraden.
We don't. I lived in a city where the gang members would leave bodies in the middle of the street. 1. to send a message to the neighborhood 2. to send a message to other gangs 3. to send a message to the police. The last straw for me was when I realized they were starting to taunt the state police. They had no fear.
Pray that we don't get the various immigrant gangs. They are 100x worse than the Americans.
Esplen has slid so far down it's become the quietest of this section of Pittsburgh. Once the bars were ALL closed, crime dropped to near zero as everyone that lives here has a meager income, little in the way of expensive possessions and everyone knows it so, no crime. Besides, the few of us who live here all have weapons and aren't afraid to use them! A few home invasions have resulted in the perp going to the hospital or morgue. So, robbery is way, way down.
I'm sorry, but last I checked this wasn't true. Espen had, on a per-capita rate, one of the highest crime rates in the city.
Mind you, this could have been due to having a low population and a lot of non-residential area. The entire West Carson corridor is technically within Espen, so any crime which happens on West Carson would be attributed to the neighborhood in official statistics.
Quote:
Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam
Public housing wasn't nearly as crazy in the early 70's and before, than it was become later.
I'm fairly sure the crack epidemic is what made the difference. There really wasn't massive drug dealing among poor inner-city youth up until 1980 or so. Before that there was plenty of "street hoodlum" type of violence, but it wasn't really a business.
We don't. I lived in a city where the gang members would leave bodies in the middle of the street. 1. to send a message to the neighborhood 2. to send a message to other gangs 3. to send a message to the police. The last straw for me was when I realized they were starting to taunt the state police. They had no fear.
Pray that we don't get the various immigrant gangs. They are 100x worse than the Americans.
Wilkinsburg~ J-Town gang-related killing
Wilkinsburg~ Uptop gang-related killing
Wilkinsburg~ UpTown gang-related shooting
Wilkinsburg~ UpTown Hunter Park gang-related body of teen found
Homewood South leading gang member body found
Homewood North gang-related shooting at vigil
Homewood North @ 1000 "Crest Blocc" gang-related double killing (same place of non fata 12 year old shooting)
East Hills Projects toddler killed in gang-related crossfire
East Hills witness found in abandoned house
Garfield gang members double killing
Larimer broad daylight gang member killing
East Liberty Gardens- 12yr old and 55 year old killed in gang-related crossfire
Peabody Park, East Liberty grandmother fatally shot in gang-related crossfire
Lincoln double murder gang-related killing
Marshall-Shadeland witness slaying
Northview Heights little boy killed in gang member crossfire
Allegheny Dwellings gang-related killing
Manchester gang-related killing
Hoodtown Mafia gang member girlfriend killed in drive by
Perry Hilltop- "Uptop" gang-related double murder
Perry Hilltop- Brightridge Street (Charles St Valley) 12 girl killed; 3 years later brother killed/mother shot (gang-related) in "Perrysville"
Brighton Place gang-related shooting
Allegheny Commons East gang member gives woman fight in an argument with a mother of several a gun
Beltzhoover gang-related drive by & female friend of gang member assassinated by hit men style killers
Knoxville gang-related fatal drive by killing 14yr old
Mt. Oliver Boro gang-related drive by killing
Arlington gang member broad daylight killing
Allentown drive by on wheelchair bound gang member
Carrick Highschool gangland killing
Westinghouse Highschool gangland shooting
Edgewood Towne Centre gang-related shoot out
Duquesne Place Apts 16yr old gang member fatally shot oping door to "friends"
Duquesne gang-related body found the next day
Mckeesport 7th Ward yesterday woman and child shot in presumably gang-related crossfire
"McKeesport C-Vill" jitney driver killed in case of gang-related mistaken identity
Lysle Blvd/5th Ave crash as senior citizen killed by Crawford Village stray bullet
Clairton bystanders shot in gang-related shooting
Mon-View Heights, West Mifflin double gang member killing
Hawkins Village broad daylight gang perpetrated killing
Homestead broad daylight gang-related killing
Glen Hazel broad daylight gang-related killing
Hazelwood gang-related killing
North Braddock gang-related killing
Braddock gang-related killing
Swissvale boy shot in head in non fatal gang-related shooting
Prospect Terrace single homicide; quadruple gang-related shooting
Monroeville Mall bystanders shot stray bullets gang-related shooting
Boyce Park Braddock vs Wilkinsburg shoots fired
Kennywood shots fired
Downtown Central Business District shooting due to North Side feud Hill District teen killed on his way to school gang-related murder Chauncey Drive bullet hits 6 year old in hand during crossfire of gang-related shooting Skyline Terrace shots fired with children apartment Sugar Top witness and mother killed Sheraden double gang member homicide Fairywood young man gang-related killing while distracted in dice game quadruple shooting Greenway Park Apts, Crafton Heights gang member kill New Yorker looking for drugs shooting McKees Rocks Uansa Village fatal broad daylight gang-related drive by McKees Rocks Hays Manor gang-related shooting Meyers-Ridge (formerly McKees Rocks Terrace) young father killed by gang members Stowe Township Pleasant Ridge gang member shooting where stray bullet hits woman, 60, watching tv on couch *correction "I live in a city where the gang members would leave bodies in the middle of the street."
That's funny, community members (including kids) in Homewood/Zone 5, the Hill, Wilkinsburg, Beltzhoover/Knoxville and the Northside wake up to bodies every year. If you live in parts of Pittsburgh/surrounding boroughs, Duquesne, McKeesport, Clairton and Alliquippa they (the gangs) still leave bodies.
Gangs here are loosing fear as they are starting to regain power in the communities to the extent of the early-mid 90's. Residents are calling the police less for shots fired because their so routine.
What you probably are missing here is that their are two Pittsburgh's. One with seemingly all around "great" places such as the new Lower Northside, parts of Observatory Hill/Brighton Heights, the West End Zone 6 area without the rust, Duquesne Heights, parts of Mt. Washington, the South Side (for the exception of late at weekend nights), Chatham, Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, Bakery Square, new housing in the Somerset development, Schenley Plaza in Oakland, the new Larenceville, the "New Eastside" East Liberty, Point Breeze, Schenley Farms, Greater Park Place, northern Highland Park, Morningside, Stanton Heights, Friendship/adjacent Bloomfield, Greenfield (for the most part), Regent Square, Swisshelm Park, Frick Park, Pitt, CMU, Duquesne, Schenley Park, Long Vue Manor and the glamorous outer suburbs like Mt. Lebo/North Allegheny/Pine Richland/North Hills/USC/Pleasent Hills/Moon/Sewickley area/Oakmont/most of Monroeville/etc.
The other side are great places, but with a greater deficit on the end of the wealth gap stick... In this Pittsburgh where there are sad interconnected stories of inter-generational poverty, violence, crime, incarceration, poor education, high teenage pregnancies, blight/urban decay/overall neighborhood decline, you have places with annual drug/robbery/gang/domestic dispute/relation murders and police involved fatal shootings...
Gangs are prominent in the roughest communities in the City's police zones 1-6, parts of the Mon Valley, Stowe Rocks's housing projects, and now spreading into the Eastern Suburbs due to gentrification (with potential to one day soon be on more than just the eastern side of suburban Pittsburgh). I dare you to visit and say we don't have a gang problem in the following public housing complexes: Northview Heights Estates, 2400blk Bedford Dwellings @ Chauncey Drive, Homewood North @ 1000 Brushton Ave/Everton St/Stranahan St, Homewood North @ Molher St, "the East Hills Projects", Hawkins Village, E.R. Crawford Village, Harrison Village, Allegheny Dwellings, Paul Courts/Princeton Ave Apts, Hi View Gardens, 6200blk Hamilton-Larimer @ Auburn St, Lemington Heights & Mon-View Heights. Even Skyline Terrace, Mill Vue Acres, Century Townhomes, East Liberty Gardens, 3100blk Arlington Heights, Glen Hazel Heights, Three Rivers Manor, Rankin's Palisades Plaza, the Greenway Park Apts, Mapleview Terrace, Uansa Village, Hays Manor, Bedford Hills at 800 Memory Lane aka "Whiteside", Meyers Ridge, Garfield Commons, Hilltop-Parkview Manor, Oakhill @ 200 Burrows Street and Allegheny Commons East.
Last edited by Uptown kid; 02-02-2016 at 04:56 PM..
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