Ot: what's the deal Pittsburgh?

[SoufOaklin4Life]

why are all the suburbs completely detached from each other and require 2 miles of winding hilly roads to access with nothing attached?

Seriously, does nobody walk to do things outside of the east end?
No sidewalks out of neighborhoods into plazas ?


My wife and I literally spent 4 days looking for a neighborhood we could live in with our son, and became despondent . Realtors looked at us like we were speaking Japanese .


Very frustrated and starting to think staying in Dixie is better option.

Any advice ?

 

[billyberoux]

There is an abundance of choices. What are your self set limitations - such as distance from work, distance from any particular relatives, etc.

 

[ratking17]

Regent square/squirrel hill gives you what you want there...

 

[Franb]

why are all the suburbs completely detached from each other and require 2 miles of winding hilly roads to access with nothing attached?

Seriously, does nobody walk to do things outside of the east end?
No sidewalks out of neighborhoods into plazas ?


My wife and I literally spent 4 days looking for a neighborhood we could live in with our son, and became despondent . Realtors looked at us like we were speaking Japanese .


Very frustrated and starting to think staying in Dixie is better option.

Any advice ?

The suburbs were designed for cars, not for walking. Strip malls and big-box retail. That's America. Older cities and towns were designed for walking.

 

[bobfree]

why are all the suburbs completely detached from each other and require 2 miles of winding hilly roads to access with nothing attached?

Seriously, does nobody walk to do things outside of the east end?
No sidewalks out of neighborhoods into plazas ?


My wife and I literally spent 4 days looking for a neighborhood we could live in with our son, and became despondent . Realtors looked at us like we were speaking Japanese .


Very frustrated and starting to think staying in Dixie is better option.

Any advice ?

Aspinwall, Regent Square, East Liberty, Friendship, south side closer closer to hot metal.

And more areas coming.

 

[bubba31]

Mount Lebanon

Expensive yes.....but amenities such as an ice rink....golf course....adult ed......safe.....the T into town....

and many parts of mount lebo offer walkability to local shopping...whether it be washington rd or beverly road

I miss living there.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

I think you should stay in Dixie.

 

[vinniep33]

why are all the suburbs completely detached from each other and require 2 miles of winding hilly roads to access with nothing attached?

Seriously, does nobody walk to do things outside of the east end?
No sidewalks out of neighborhoods into plazas ?


My wife and I literally spent 4 days looking for a neighborhood we could live in with our son, and became despondent . Realtors looked at us like we were speaking Japanese .


Very frustrated and starting to think staying in Dixie is better option.

Any advice ?

Stay please

 

[thom67]

why are all the suburbs completely detached from each other and require 2 miles of winding hilly roads to access with nothing attached?

Seriously, does nobody walk to do things outside of the east end?
No sidewalks out of neighborhoods into plazas ?


My wife and I literally spent 4 days looking for a neighborhood we could live in with our son, and became despondent . Realtors looked at us like we were speaking Japanese .


Very frustrated and starting to think staying in Dixie is better option.

Any advice ?

Move to Sewickley and you worries are over. Sidewalks, kids walk to schools, and 25 minutes to downtown with traffic. No tunnels or major bridges for your commute.

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

Move to Sewickley and you worries are over. Sidewalks, kids walk to schools, and 25 minutes to downtown with traffic. No tunnels or major bridges for your commute.

We checked it out, charming little town . Oakmont as well which were the closest things we found as burbs which weren't completely isolating .

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

Mount Lebanon

Expensive yes.....but amenities such as an ice rink....golf course....adult ed......safe.....the T into town....

and many parts of mount lebo offer walkability to local shopping...whether it be washington rd or beverly road

I miss living there.

We checked it out,
But the hour commute from Bloomfield to mt lebo at 4pm pretty much killed it as an option.

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

Regent square/squirrel hill gives you what you want there...

Well yeah, like i said other than the east end.

The extra 2% income tax is not appealing.
That and a decent house costing at least $500k and needing work.

Colfax seems like a good enough school district , it's disappointing how poorly many of the rest of the Pittsburgh publics how, considering the enormous amounts of taxes .

 

[Pitt79]

Regent square/squirrel hill gives you what you want there...

Great neighborhood, you gotta love old houses and brick streets to live there.

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

Great neighborhood, you gotta love old houses and brick streets to live there.

The oldness was a bit shocking .

 

[OnSHATterday]

Here in Pittsburgh we have "hills." This is in large part to being in a chain of "mountains" called the "Appalachians." These "hills" hinder sprawling neighborhoods.

 

[Piranha]

We checked it out, charming little town . Oakmont as well which were the closest things we found as burbs which weren't completely isolating .

If you have kids, then you will want to send them to a private school if you live in Oakmont. Riverview is an average SD at best.

 

[KennyTheKangaroo]

In this thread, we want walkable places with new housing at affordable prices with low real estate taxes and low personal income taxes

 

[Seneca_Valley]

In this thread, we want walkable places with new housing at affordable prices with low real estate taxes and low personal income taxes

Don't forget easy commute to work and great schools. As great as the burgh is, might be a tough putt.

 

[Jim Z]

why are all the suburbs completely detached from each other and require 2 miles of winding hilly roads to access with nothing attached?

Seriously, does nobody walk to do things outside of the east end?
No sidewalks out of neighborhoods into plazas ?


My wife and I literally spent 4 days looking for a neighborhood we could live in with our son, and became despondent . Realtors looked at us like we were speaking Japanese .


Very frustrated and starting to think staying in Dixie is better option.

Any advice ?

Why not live in the city?

 

[KennyTheKangaroo]

The oldness was a bit shocking .

What the eff was so shocking about it? These neighborhoods were all developed almost 100 years ago. Pittsburgh isn't tabacco road, where all the development took place recently.

 

[Swervin27]

lived in lebo for years, down below the saloon.. walked up to Washington rd a few times to grab sushi and a beer or a pizza at il pizzaiola, it's over rated.. They used to have a outside music thingy, right on Washington rd.. would close it down last Saturday of the month in june/july and august. that was cool, drink outside with a band.. Any time I can drink outside while pushing my little one in a stroller and not get CYS involved, im for it..

But the "walk to a shopping plaza" thing gets old. Walk to a shopping center to get a starbucks coffee is so cliché, be better than that.. Regarding walking as a form of exercise, cant imagine many suburbs are prohibitive of this.. Plenty of sidewalks and side roads in suburbia, trails thru the woods all over the place, Montour trail nice in the south hills.. If you don't like nature, local high schools have tracks, they allow tax payers access... Think outside the box Soufie

 

[upj87]

why are all the suburbs completely detached from each other and require 2 miles of winding hilly roads to access with nothing attached?

Seriously, does nobody walk to do things outside of the east end?
No sidewalks out of neighborhoods into plazas ?


My wife and I literally spent 4 days looking for a neighborhood we could live in with our son, and became despondent . Realtors looked at us like we were speaking Japanese .


Very frustrated and starting to think staying in Dixie is better option.

Any advice ?

Have you tried the SoDoSoPa neighborhood in South Park?

 

[Pitt79]

The oldness was a bit shocking .

But it's a great neighborhood! My brother lives there, I spend a few weekends there every year. If you like to be walking distance to decent restaurants and bars, it's great. Yes, the houses are old. My brother's house was built in the 1880s and has hookups for natural gas lighting! But they are solid brick houses. Plus Halloween is a big time event there, kind of weird and quirky, but fun.

 

[Darth_VadEER]

why are all the suburbs completely detached from each other and require 2 miles of winding hilly roads to access with nothing attached?

Seriously, does nobody walk to do things outside of the east end?
No sidewalks out of neighborhoods into plazas ?


My wife and I literally spent 4 days looking for a neighborhood we could live in with our son, and became despondent . Realtors looked at us like we were speaking Japanese .


Very frustrated and starting to think staying in Dixie is better option.

Any advice ?

I lived in Mt. Lebo not too far from Beverly Ave while our first child was a toddler. We really liked it there. Sidewalks on every street and Beverly is a nice neighborhood hang out. We'd walk to Bado's for pizza and beer, there's an ice cream shop there, a coffee shop, a salon, ect. There's also a school there with a small playground I believe.

Some really good milf action, if you're into that.

Easy walk to 19 to visit the saloon and other restaurants.

Older but very nice homes, very good school district which doesn't bus students.

 

[Swervin27]

I lived in Mt. Lebo not too far from Beverly Ave while our first child was a toddler. We really liked it there. Sidewalks on every street and Beverly is a nice neighborhood hang out. We'd walk to Bado's for pizza and beer, there's an ice cream shop there, a coffee shop, a salon, ect. There's also a school there with a small playground I believe.

Some really good milf action, if you're into that.

Easy walk to 19 to visit the saloon and other restaurants.

Older but very nice homes, very good school district which doesn't bus students.

worked at bados in college.. like that place myself.. the neighborhood back off of North meadowcroft is nice.. much bigger than you think. get a couple blocks back there and it's quiet.. close enough to banksville that you can be from your driveway to Heinz field parking lot for a pitt game before you can finish your 3rd beer on the drive there..

 

[Darth_VadEER]

I recall Souf giving us a big lecture about living in a diverse neighborhood and rejecting plain, suburban whiteness...glad to see you joined the club.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Well yeah, like i said other than the east end.

The extra 2% income tax is not appealing.
That and a decent house costing at least $500k and needing work.

Colfax seems like a good enough school district , it's disappointing how poorly many of the rest of the Pittsburgh publics how, considering the enormous amounts of taxes .

Its demographics and DNA, not teacher quality or education quality. If you took Mt. Lebanon's teachers and curriculum and had them go to Westinghouse and then took Westinghouse's teachers and curriculum and had them go teach at Mt. Lebo, Mt. Lebo kids would still test much higher than Westinghouse kids. Eveybody knows this yet some people rely on those test score rankings to determine the type of education their child will receive when they only measure demographics, not education quality.

If you want your kid to go to school with kids whose parents have graduate degrees, make six figures, etc, that is fantastic, I know I do but I also am not naive to think the teachers, curriculum, or overall education is any better than any random school.

 

[Darth_VadEER]

worked at bados in college.. like that place myself.. the neighborhood back off of North meadowcroft is nice.. much bigger than you think. get a couple blocks back there and it's quiet.. close enough to banksville that you can be from your driveway to Heinz field parking lot for a pitt game before you can finish your 3rd beer on the drive there..

Yeah I loved Bados and that neighborhood. Our house was 3 bedroom and the third room was really tiny. Barely big enough to fit a bed and dresser. We knew we'd grow out of the house but it was a happy place for us. Nothing but good memories. We ended up leaving the area but our hearts kinda stayed. Whenever I'm back in town I cruise by and see myself pushing my son in the stroller, taking him to get ice cream, ect...the good ol' days.

 

[drunkinoakland]

lived in lebo for years, down below the saloon.. walked up to Washington rd a few times to grab sushi and a beer or a pizza at il pizzaiola, it's over rated.. They used to have a outside music thingy, right on Washington rd.. would close it down last Saturday of the month in june/july and august. that was cool, drink outside with a band.. Any time I can drink outside while pushing my little one in a stroller and not get CYS involved, im for it..

But the "walk to a shopping plaza" thing gets old. Walk to a shopping center to get a starbucks coffee is so cliché, be better than that.. Regarding walking as a form of exercise, cant imagine many suburbs are prohibitive of this.. Plenty of sidewalks and side roads in suburbia, trails thru the woods all over the place, Montour trail nice in the south hills.. If you don't like nature, local high schools have tracks, they allow tax payers access... Think outside the box Soufie

You want me to drive for my Chai Latte instead of walk? That isn't an America I wanna live in.

 

[Darth_VadEER]

Not long after I moved in, I asked my neighbor why Mt. Lebo doesn't bus there students to school.

He said it's to keep the riff-raff out. I thought to myself.....I'm gonna like living here.

 

[Piranha]

The best system of parks and recreation for kids is located in the Cranberry Area. You have Graham Park. An incredible complex that is still expanding. It is state of the art, and nothing in the Pittsburgh area will come close to it. You have the Cranberry Waterpark that continues to expand. They just built a new community playground, and there are 5 other nice playgrounds within a 5 minute drive of our house.

 

[Swervin27]

Not long after I moved in, I asked my neighbor why Mt. Lebo doesn't bus there students to school.

He said it's to keep the riff-raff out. I thought to myself.....I'm gonna like living here.

I grew up with a lot of lebo kids, my street I grew up on was 1/2 lebo, 1/2 bethel. Anyways, I asked same question and the "unspoken" answer was to prohibit city kids from bussing in and attending school in lebo... Not sure if it's true or not.. the non offensive answer is simply to keep taxes down..

Lebo is full of itself, people hold themselves in very high regards.. you can say a lot of stuck up people in that area.. it is a nice area though, took my two little ones to the "dive in" last Friday night.. lebo pool at night with "the good dinosaur" playing for $2. they do nice community stuff like that.. of course I snuck a few beers in, me and my south park white trashiness and all.

 

[Darth_VadEER]

I grew up with a lot of lebo kids, my street I grew up on was 1/2 lebo, 1/2 bethel. Anyways, I asked same question and the "unspoken" answer was to prohibit city kids from bussing in and attending school in lebo... Not sure if it's true or not.. the non offensive answer is simply to keep taxes down..

Lebo is full of itself, people hold themselves in very high regards.. you can say a lot of stuck up people in that area.. it is a nice area though, took my two little ones to the "dive in" last Friday night.. lebo pool at night with "the good dinosaur" playing for $2. they do nice community stuff like that.. of course I snuck a few beers in, me and my south park white trashiness and all.

The street we were on was very established and we were definitely the youngest couple on the block, probably had the least money too. Around the corner there were some homes that looked like they came to life out of a fairytale.

There was certainly some stuck-up attitudes there but no worse than some other affluent communities I've experienced.

Pool night in Mt. Lebo must be milf heaven.

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

We checked it out,
But the hour commute from Bloomfield to mt lebo at 4pm pretty much killed it as an option.

Bloomfield? I surely hope you didn't sign on to that sinking ship known as AHN.

 

[Seneca_Valley]

The best system of parks and recreation for kids is located in the Cranberry Area. You have Graham Park. An incredible complex that is still expanding. It is state of the art, and nothing in the Pittsburgh area will come close to it. You have the Cranberry Waterpark that continues to expand. They just built a new community playground, and there are 5 other nice playgrounds within a 5 minute drive of our house.

Out of play. Too white, too republican...............

 

[Darth_VadEER]

Aspinwall might be worth a look. We looked there and my wife fell in love with a couple old homes with "character". It's walkable for Pittsburgh and has some charm. I'm not sure about schools.

Your commute to Bloomfield wouldn't be bad.

 

[Piranha]

Out of play. Too white, too republican...............

He mentioned Oakmont and Sewickley in an earlier thread. So................

He should just move to Lawrenceville, and then he could walk or bike to work. Peduto would be proud.

 

[9nationalchampionships]

The city is in a boom created by education, health care and technology related jobs. If you want to walk to most things the neighborhoods are great but segmented. Segmented due to geography ( hills and rivers) and how they were settled years ago with ethnic groups. I love the city and the wife and I are getting out of Cranberry next year to move to the city. We like highland park but there are many options.

 

[Panther Parrothead]

Lebo is a great place to live, for all of the obvious reasons.

Snobby? Maybe. But one person's definition of "snobby" is another person's definition of "pride". (And no, I don't live there.)

Live wherever you'll be happiest.

 

[Pitt79]

Out of play. Too white, too republican...............

Are you racist against white people? Of course there are areas I'd stay out of for being too black. that's not offensive is it? Should be OK to say, after what you said.