| Carnegie Borough is named after Andrew Carnegie, who donated one of his libraries for the gesture. It was incorporated in the late 1800s. The main employers in the turn of the century were several steel mills such as Superior Steel and Union Electric Steel. Like many Steel towns, Carnegie saw significant decline in the 1970s, but it didn’t decline as much as other steel towns and has seen a stabilization of its housing and main street. Main Street is now bustling with many new restaurants and small businesses. Carnegie also has convenient access to Downtown Pittsburgh, quality public schools, and a good cultural scene with lots of live music, and community theaters. Areas that Carnegie can improve include dedicated bike lanes, more neighborhood parks and plazas, and better ADA and sidewalk infrastructure. I would also love for urban infill to start to line the largely auto centric Mainfield Avenue. |
URBAN STRENGTHS:
| * Carnegie has very convenient access to downtown couple with decent overall transit access. One can drive to dwtn in 10 minutes or get there in 20 via the bus. * Great economic and generational diversity with over 50% of households being family households. * Nice array of for-sale housing ranging between 50K-200K. Some housing selling for over 200K. Decent amount of rentals going for middle of the market rate. * Culturally a good amount restaurants, bars, and cafes, a surprising large number small theater community and local stages, a couple art galleries. * Nice neighborhood amenities including several banks, a couple drugstores, a Carnegie library, post office, many boutiques, a ,much more. There is also an Aldi grocery on the southern edge of the Borough. * Carnegie hosts a decent Elementary and High school that are very walkable. * Great streetscape along the main street but a bit dated so ADA infrastructure is old. Mainfield is a pretty crummy auto centric street only a couple blocks away from Main Street. |
URBAN WEAKNESSES:
| * No bike infrastructure in Carnegie. * Carnegie Park is high quality multi-faceted recreational space but located on the suburban edge of Carnegie. No other parks in the borough. * Carnegie certainly has its grit and some vacancy, but this is a pretty safe community. * Sidewalks and ADA infrastructure is hit or miss in the residential streets. * Not much modern in-fill but does exist is generally auto centric. |
Evaluating our Urban Communities [with a focus on America] 