| My evaluation excluded the more suburban portion of Aspinall north of state route 28. Aspinwall began as an upper middle class river town for those who wished to be close to Downtown for commuting but away from the craziness and pollution of the City. But unlike Sewickley this was mostly younger families with children. Aspinwall has maintained its stability even with dropping from 4,000 to 2,700 residents since WWII. This is aided by its attractive historic housing, nice village feel with attractive neighborhood retail, location in the prized Fox Chapel School District, and convenience to the Water works shopping district. Areas that Aspinwall could improve from an urban perspective include more bike infrastructure, racial diversity, and walkable schools within the borough boundaries (as opposed to being in surrounding suburban communities). A large multi-family, mixed-use development along the river would be a nice population boast to the borough as well, but not sure if this is possible with the flood plain. |
URBAN STRENGTHS:
| * Convenient access to Downtown via transit and an easy 15-20 minute drive/ * Very walkable village feel with compact residential streets and several streets with neighborhood restaurants, bars and some retail. * Pretty Dense community. * Pretty good age diversity and large percentage of family households. * For sale housing generally on the high end but pretty good diversity. 2-bedrooms in the 200ks low 300ks, 3-bedrooms 300Ks and low 400ks, & 4-bedrooms 300K-600Ks. * Recreational amenities include a very interesting riverfront park and the Aspinwall Recreation area. * Culturally Aspinwall has a nice mix of restaurants, bars, and cafes, and a few art galleries but not much else. * Lots of locally owned boutiques, unique shops, and a bookstore. Plenty of retail amenities just outside of Aspinwall but in a strip mall (i.e. a movie theater, hospital, supermarket, banks, a Walmart, staples, and several chain retail stores). * Very safe community. * Attractive historic housing. * Generally good ADA infrastructure. Up to date ADA curb cuts is hit or miss. |
URBAN WEAKNESSES:
| * Limited bike infrastructure. * Very white community (90%). Some economic diversity. * Rentals are pretty limited but what exists is generally medium prized. * Only the Catholic Elementary school is within Aspinwall. But Aspinwall is part of the prized Fox Chapel School District, all of which are in suburban, auto centric areas. * Limited modern in-fill. What does exist is hit or miss. |
Evaluating our Urban Communities [with a focus on America] 