Following up on Debra Kimmelman's questions: Is this Pittsburgh neighborhood (Shadyside West) a high-density student rental area, with large numbers of absentee landlords? If so, who was canvassed for the HD question? The absentee landlords? The student renters? Is there a problem with blight, crime, trash, squalor, homelessness, grafiti, etc that would make the neighborhood's problems comparable with our neighborhood's problems? Were vast numbers of single-family homes carved up into rental apartments? Is the neighborhood economically and ethnicly diverse, as is Spruce Hill? Is there a high turn-over rate of home-ownership and/or residency, as in Spruce Hill? What percent of home-owners vs. rental properties is there in that neighborhood?
THAT is a key question in comparing Spruce Hill to ANY other neighborhood, as the bulk of the properties in Spruce Hill are owned by outside rental companies, not residents. We have a bit of an upswing now in homeownership, due to the Penn programs. But, private homes are vastly outnumbered by rental properties. We have some powerful forces working to undermine our architectural heritage: Penn's expansion and large (and small) rental-property companies' ownership of the neighborhood. Is this the same case for your Pittsburgh neighborhood example? If it is, then there's a reason to take a closer look. If not, then I think apples and oranges are being compared. I haven't been to Pittsburgh in many years, but the last time I was there (10 yrs ago?) it was quite an impressive town -- MUCH cleaner than Phila., a lot of historic renovation (commercial and homes). I didn't see any "student ghetto" areas, but I of course didn't see everything in the city. I don't know if Pittsburgh has any special districts (such as UCD) that contributed to its cleanliness, or if that's just the way it was. Neil Lifson ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>.
