Fairmount- An attractive Philly neighborhood well on the road to recovery

There are several sub-districts in Fairmount. I decided for evaluation purposes, due to size and individual identity, to include Francisville in this eval but to exclude Spring Garden as a separate district. The neighborhood boundaries are therefore Spring Garden to the South, Popular/Girard to the north, Broad to the east, and Pennsylvania Ave. to the west.

Prominent city families established countryseats in Fairmount in the 1700s & 1800s especially along the Schuylkill River. The Eastern State Penitentiary was built further inland in 1829. Development really came in force in the mid-late 19th century with the construction of many rowhouses to support a growing number of factories and breweries in the area. Francisville likely was a separate village established along a stagecoach stop.

Historically  Fairmount was home to working class and middle class families. A divide occurred in the 1960s where the eastern  half of the district (generally east of Corinth), primarily centered on the Francisville sub-district,  fell into disrepair and blight. West of Corinth remained stable. Sadly this was largely along racial lines. South of Fairmount Ave is the Spring Garden district which historically was a high-end district with larger flats. The western half of Fairmount also gentrified first. It is only within the past decade that areas east of Corinth have seen significant investment. Because of the deep distress of the neighborhood, investment is bringing an explosion of in-fill and thankfully of a high urban quality.

Most of the commercial amenities are along Fairmount Ave. Ridge Ave and Broad Ave were historically thriving business districts but are taking longer to recover than near by residential areas. In 5 years I’m confident that Ridge Ave will once again be a thriving biz district resembling Northern Liberties in many ways. Hopefully the same is true for Broad Avenue. That street is just to well built and iconic to remain blighted and underutilized.
Click here to view my Fairmount and Francisville Neighborhood on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Great Density, transit access, and overall walkability.
* Fairmount sits only 1-1.5 miles from Downtown.
* Good bike access with a bike lane along Fairmount Ave and Pennsylvania Ave along with several bike stations.
* Very attractive rowhouses with a mix of higher end and worker housing. Very attractive historic commercial bldgs along Broad St.
* Generally West of 22nd Street is most White and east is mostly Black. But the with revitalization, the line is being more blurred. Median income follows very similar lines.
* About 50% of households are family, a high pct for the City.
* Excellent modern in-fill with a high level of urban form closely resembling the form of historic buildings.
* Great access to the main recreational amenities of Fairmount Park, esp. the western half of the neighborhood. Also a nice recreational amenities at Francisville Playground (Rec center, pool, playground, and ballfield). Really no other rec spaces in the district.
* Fairmount, Broad, and Ridge are the main comm. areas but also some businesses mixed into residential areas in the western half of the District.
* Generally good urban in the biz districts but some auto centric dead spots along Broad and Ridge. Hopefully with rapid redevelopment (esp. on Ridge) these wholes will be filled in with good form.
* Good of array of decently rated schools. Lots of private school options. Girard College is basically a boarding school for the underprivileged.
* Solid cultural amenities when one also includes the amenities within 1 mile walk. Within the district  there are a decent # of restaurants, bars, and cafes especially along Fairmount. A couple great live music venues including the Met Philadelphia, and the South jazz club is just south of Fairmount. The district also hosts Eastern State Penitentiary. One also needs to include the many museums located on the neighborhood’s boundaries or within a mile walk (e.g. Museum of Art, Barnes Foundation, Rodin Museum, Franklin Institute, and much more).
* Solid retail amenities esp. when you include stores in adjacent district but walkable. There is an Aldi’s & Whole foods on the neighborhood’s edge and a small grocery within it. Other amenities include: a couple drug stores, a hardware store, bookstore, plenty of banks, and a decent amount of unique stores along Fairmount. Target is 0.5-1 from the district depending were you live. 

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* For-sale Housing getting expensive but still a good amount of moderately priced housing existing. 2-3 bedroom rowhouses selling in the 300Ks & 400Ks Larger/newer or more renovated homes selling between 500K-800K.
* Lots of rental options but also pretty expensive. 1-bedrooms leasing around $1,000s and 2-bedrooms in the mid 1,000s-$2,000. Some dedicated rentals mixed in.
* Decent tree cover in the western half of Fairmount not so great around Francisville. Sadly this matched closely race and wealth lines of the two areas.
* Generally a safe community although still some blighted areas and rough patches along the eastern edges of the district.
* Generally good ADA infrastructure but some missing sidewalks (sometimes due to development) in Francisville and not consistent ADA modern ramps, esp. in the res. streets.

West End- Winston-Salem best urban district

There is no well defined boundaries for the West End neighborhood but my sense is that it extents north of the highway, between Hanes Park and Broad Street, and south of Northwest Blvd.

West End was planned as a picturesque streetcar suburb developed at the turn of the 20th century and including some structures from the late 19th century. Because of its mixed-use character, multi-model transportation, and access to Dwtn, this is by far Winston-Salem’s best urban community.

Yet like most southern urban neighborhoods West End also has a lot of urban deficiencies including a low density, limited bike infrastructure, hit or miss urban massing in the biz districts, and lack of important amenities such as a supermarket or drug store. Hopefully West End will continue to densify with quality urban form. Still plenty of lots to build on.

Click here to view my West End Flickr Album

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Great access to Dwtn via all moods of transportation.
* ADA ramps are consistant in commercial districts but largely missing in residential areas. Sidewalks are consistant though.
* Great economic diversity and decent racial diversity.
* Nice diversity is size and price for for-sale options. Plenty of 1 &2 bedroom condos selling for around 200K and 300K, respectively. Large SF homes selling in between 400K-650K, small SF homes selling in the 200Ks.
*Very nice Park along Peter’s Creek, a multi-functional park with lots of rec fields. Also a nice neighborhood park (Grace Court).
* Culturally a decent # of restaurants bars, & breweries, a cafe, a couple live music venues. Convenient access to all the cultural amenities Dwtn as well.
* Several public schools with decent ratings line the western edge of the West End.
* This appears to be a very safe community with limited blight.
* Good array of historic architecture. Also pretty decent modern infill.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Density is pretty poor for an urban district.
* Bike infrastructure is pretty weak. There is a dedicated bike lane on Northwest but that’s the northern edge of the neighborhood. No dedicate bike share stations, although there may be dockless bikes available.
* Family households make up less than 25% of the population. Most residents are young adults here.
* Rentals are pretty limited. Seems to be a nice price diversity of 2-bedrooms but limited 1-bedroom options.
* Other than restaurants and bars retail amenities are a bit light. There are several banks, salons, and a nice array of home goods, furniture stores, & consignment stores. Good amount of services close by in Downtown but no supermarket or major retail.
* Urban massing of commercial district is a mixed bag. Limited investment in streetscaping.

Downtown Winston-Salem

Downtown boundaries are a bit fuzzy. I used the boundaries of: Broad Ave to the west, 421 to the south, the railroad to the east and 6th/MLK BLVD to the north.

For southern cities of its size, Winston-Salem scores in the middle of the pack in my evaluation. On a positive note it has seen a resurgence in buzz and residential living recently helping to create three strong nodes: 4th street with its historic main street and theatre district. the Arts District centered along Trade, and the Innovation District (primary composed of old tobacco buildings). Dwtn also transitions pretty seamlessly to the West End neighborhood to the west. 

In-between these Dwtn nodes is mostly dead spaces mixing parking garages & lots and large office buildings. Like other southern downtowns, Winston-Salem does not provide good transit and bike connections to the broader metro area, nor is to a major jobs hub for the region. Another large deficiency is a lack of parks and a civic heart. The Innovation District’s Bailey Park helps with this somewhat, but it is located on the eastern edge of Dwtn. Downtown also needs a significant increase in neighborhood serving retail and uses, although access to quality schools is certainly strong here.

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Generally good racial and economic diversity Dwtn.
* The grid functions very well but lots of autocentric one-way streets through Dwtn.
* For sale prices are generally on the high end but good diversity in price points (high 100s-800K) and llots of 2-bedroom and even 3-bedroom townhouses. Rental inventory is a bit limited but moderate for Dwtns with 1-bedrooms renting in the low $1,000s and 2-bedrooms closer to 2K.
* Culturally a good array of restaurants, bars, and live music venues. There is also a thriving arts sub-district Dwtn hosting many galleries. Dwtn also hosts a nice set of theaters (movie, performing, community theater, and historic concernt hall).
* Typical gov’t bldgs and a nice convention center are located Dwtn.
* Host Dwtn safety and clean ambassadors.
* Nice array of boutiques and unique stores esp. along Trade St. in the Arts District. Also a couple drug stores.
* Solid historic architecture.
* Nice skyline, esp. for a mid-sized city.
* Distinct subdistricts (Arts and Innovation District) give Dwtn some good imagability. But certainly plenty of blah spaces Dwtn.
* Several quality schools located Dwtn. The public high school located just east of Dwtn. 

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Solid public transit access downtown and in immediately adjacent neighborhoods, but becomes mediocre pretty quickly. Also no transit access to the airport.
* Bike infrastructure is limited to several small bike lanes segments and dedicated bike stations only in Dwtn. Across the City/region only large segments of bike lanes in parts of South Winston-Salem.
* Family activities pretty limited.
* ADA infrastructure is a mixed bag throughout Dwtn.
* Parks are pretty limited. The best one is the new Bailey Park, part of the Innovation District. This is very active and has lots of events. The other two are tired looking modernist plazas.
* Bailey Park fucntions as the best Civic Plaza but not centrally located.
* Limited musuems and only one sports stadium located on the western edge of Dwtn.
* Total jobs Dwtn is only about 20-25K, pretty low for a region of this size.
* No supermarkets and certainly no Department stores.
* Much of the modern architecture is bland modern towers. Some nice post modern skyscrapers.
* Urban form solid along Trade St and 4th St and some surrounding streets and in the Innovation District. Much of Dwtn are either autocentric and filled with skyscrapers not relating well to the street.
* Only a small medicine college located Dwtn, but Winston State University (5K students) is lcoated just SE of Dwtn. 

Sheraden- A westside urban district with convenient access to Dwtn Pittsburgh

Originally incorporated as Sheraden Borough in 1894, Sheridan quickly grew and was annexed by the City of Pittsburgh in 1907. The neighborhood became a hub for Irish and German immigrants in the early 20th century. Like most European Ethnic groups most families moved to the suburbs in the 70s on the westside leaving a large African American population behind. 

Sheraden has struggled ever since shedding at least several thousand residents leading to many pockets of blight and disinvestment. The commercial districts along Chartiers and the Sheraden and Hillsboro node also suffered as well leaving a handful of bars and restaurants, a dollar store, and several convenience stores. Yet with the rise in interest and values in Pittsburgh since the 2000s, Sheradan has begun to slowly rebound, most visibly with a rise in price of its attractive turn of the century housing stock now selling in the high 100s and low 200s. There are also several pockets of stable 1950s housing in the Corliss sub district on the hill tops. With a great central park (Sheraden Park), busway access, and downtown only 3.5 miles away, I’m confident the neighborhood will stabilize and hopefully revitalize a couple nice urban business nodes. The speed of this work ready depends on how serious the City of Pittsburgh is about revitalizing its blight. 
Click here to view my Sheraden page on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Solid public transit access, especially with the West Bus Way running through the neighborhood.
* Great access to Dwtn via public transit and driving. Access to Oakland a bit challenging via public transit.
* Good racially diversity with a surprisingly large Asian population. Large Pct of family households and good age diversity.
* Large range in housing prices from 25K-the low 200KS depends on condition, size, and amount of blight in a particular section of the neighborhood.
* Sheraden Park is a large and amenity rich park located at the heart of the neighborhood. Several other nice smaller parks throughout.
* Pretty good historic architecture especially in the nicer streets of Sheridan.
* Decent tree cover on the residential streets, excellent along the hill sides and hollers.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Density is pretty low but better than other Westside neighborhoods.
* Sidewalks are generally pretty consistant but ADA curbs missing in most intersections. Also plenty of sidewalks are not in great condition.
* Very high poverty rate (around 36%) but still decant economic diversity.
* Rental product (at least officially listed) is very low here.
* Retail and cultural amenities are limited to a couple restaurants & bars, a dollar general and several convenience stores. Downtown McKees Rocks has some good amenities a mile away though.
* Crime doesn’t appear to be a more issue here, but still a fair amount of blight.
* One elementary school located is the community is fair at best. A Middle school with a stem focus is located in adjacent Crafton Heights.
* Limited modern in-fill but at least there are some stable 1940-1950 homes on the hillside portions of the neighborhood.
* Decent urban form at the small biz node of Sheraden and Hillsboro. Chartiers is a tired early 20th century mixed-use Pittsburgh run with some good urban form but few open businesses.
* The streetscape is pretty underinvested and has been touched in decades.
* Pedestrian activity is fair at best.

West End/Elliot- West Pittsburgh’s most urban neighborhoods

West End Village (originally named Temperanceville) was founded in 1860 as a dry town. It was annexed into the City of Pittsburgh in 1874. The village was founded on the valley floor through which Saw Mill Run flows toward the Ohio River and between the Coal Hill end of Mt. Washington and River Hill. This is a very curious spot hidden in what I would call a Pittsburgh “holler” yet only 2 miles from Downtown Pittsburgh. It also is located in a flood plain. This along with being a victim of blight and abandonment have nearly decimated the village’s historically high population of 2,000 residents in 1940. Now just over 200 souls remain here. Fortunately, much of the neighborhood’s historic commercial remains in-tact forming a decent main street. Some businesses have set up shop here but much vacancy still remains.

Just up the hill from the West End westwards along the Ohio River is the Elliot Neighborhood. It was annexed into the City of Pittsburgh in the early 20th century. The neighborhood grew rapidly in the early 20th century  due to its proximity to downtown Pittsburgh and direct access to several arterial roads and streetcar lines into a pretty dense and walkable community. Sadly like many districts in Pittsburgh, it faced decline following WWII and has never really recovered. But unlike other distressed Pittsburgh communities, Elliott’s housing stock is mostly in-tact and boasts high densities, albeit without the walkable amenities it used to have.

Given their very convenient access to Downtown via transit and of course driving, there’s no reason these two urban communities should remain stagnant. Hopefully the City of Pittsburgh gets its act together in cleaning up the blight of these neighborhoods. Elliott could easily become a walkable community again with a decent mixed use district along Chartiers Ave. With appropriate investment the West End Business district could be thriving again but with dense housing surrounding it.
Click here for my West End Album and here for my Elliott Album

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Excellent public transit access and very convenient to Dwtn and Oakland via bus and car.
* Very high level of family households and solid racial and economic diversity.
* Good park access with several small parks well dispersed in the community. Westend Overlook provides excellent views of Downtown.
* Excellent tree canopy due to all the hills and valleys.
* Good historic architecture in the West End biz district. The residential architecture is blander worker housing.
* Pretty good massing in the West End’s urban biz district.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Decent bike connection into the West End via the West End bridge, but limited bike infrastructure outside of this.
* Housing is very cheap. High end of the market is in the low 100s. Fair amount of housing selling below 50K.
* Rentals are pretty limited and generally pretty cheap.
* Cultural amenities are limited but some good stuff including a local theater, a handful of restaurants and bars, a cafe, a couple art galleries. While not walkable the plethora of cultural amenities downtown and in the side are nearby.
*Some nice retail amenities (mostly in West End). This includes a post office, library, hardware store, a handful of boutiques, and lots of construction supply stores. No grocery or drug store nearby.
* While most structures are still standing  (esp. in Elliot) lots of vacancy and blight.
* No schools within the district and only a handful in nearby neighborhoods.
* Sidewalks are largely in tact but current ADA ramps is rare except in the core biz district of the Westend.
* Streetscaping is pretty uninspiring and outdated but not terrible.

Downtown Columbus, OH

Downtown Columbus has many subdistricts  but the main three can be separated into:
– the Discovery District (eastern edge)
– the High Street Corridor (main north-south St.), also called the Uptown District
– the Riverfront along the Scioto River.
Other subdistricts include the Arena District (NW portion), Capitol Square (at High and Broad), and the Columbus Civic Center (along the River).

The City of Columbus began to develop in 1812 with the purpose of creating the state’s new capital. This was originally layer out across the river in Franklinton, but quickly shifted to Downtown Cbus. The current statehouse was built in 1857. By the turn of the 20th century, office and commercial activity was concentrated along High and Broad  in addition to Long and Gay Streets. Surrounding these areas was several mostly residential neighborhoods including German village to the South, Market Mohawk to the SE, large high-end mansions further east along Broad, and Fly town where the Arena District stands now.

The Post WWII era brought many modern high-rises  helping Dwtn attract more office jobs. Columbus also engaged in very intense urban renewal efforts leading to the wholesale removal of much of its southern southwestern, and eastern edges. This left behind large swaths of dead spots comprised of surface parking lots, and low rise buildings. Fortunately the character of Dwtn has slowly improved for the better the past two decades thanks to several new parks, the Arena District, revitalization of in-tact historic streets like High, Gay, and Long, and significant in-fill throughout. Dwtn has also invested much in its streetscaping and bike infrastructure.

The next stage in Dwtn Cbus’ urban growth evolution is to become a solid place to live. This requires more residents, in-fill projects on surface parking lots, and much more retail amenities like a full service grocery store, target, and small businesses. Hopefully with Columbus’s strong market this can become a reality soon.
Click here to view my Downtown Columbus Album on Flick

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Nice set of dedicated bike lanes within Dwtn and especially out to the metro area via several trails along rivers. Dedicated bike lanes connections to City neighborhoods is not terribly comprehensive. Good dedicated bike coverage Dwtn and to many inner-city neighborhoods in Cbus.
* Very gridded Dwtn street network but plenty of wide 1-way streets. Fortunately many of these converted a parking lane to dedicated bike travel.
* Generally good ADA infrastructure depending on what part of Dwtn one is at.
* Lots of good urban in-fill being built Dwtn, helpful to offset some of the awful stuck built between the 1960s-1980s.
* While not to the level of Dwtn Cleve or Cincy, the buzz of Dwtn Cbus is improving.
* Culturally several modest  museums Dwtn including the Art, State House, the Cultural Arts Center, the Fire Museum , and several historic homes. The Veterans & COSI museums are just across the River in Franklinton. Good array of performing arts theaters mixing historic and new theaters, including many small theaters. Cbus also has an Opera and Ballet. Also a decent array of art galleries, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and live music venues.
* Dwtn hosts both a NHL stadium , MLS team, and minor league baseball park in the Arena District. The Convention Center is on the border with the Short North.
* At 25%, pretty high pct of households are family households. Pretty good for Dwtn.
* Pretty good array of for-sale product, generally higher end but good diversity. 1-bed condos sale btwn 150K-350K. 2-beds are at a similar price but some higher end product in the 400Ks&500Ks especially when you include townhomes. Good array of 3-bed product selling btwn 500K-1M.
* Good amount of rental product, typically priced for American Dwtns. 1-bedrooms lease in the $1,000s, 2-bedrooms in the 1,000s& 2,000s. 3-bedrooms are pretty limited.
* Dwtn Cbus has come a long way with improving its parks Dwtn in the past decade building the Scioto Mile Promenade, Bicentennial Park, Columbus Commons, McFerson Commons in the Arena District, and North Bank Park Pavilion. This supplements older parks & plazas such as Sensenbrenner Park, Topiary Park, and the Ohio State House Grounds.
*  Solid Dwtn employment with over 85K jobs. Vacancies are average.
* High college enrollment with nearly 34K students attending school within Dwtn. 

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

*Overall transit service in Columbus is so . Probably about middle of the pack for a major American City. Fair amount of suburban areas are within the City.
* No bus connection between dwtn and the airport
* Density is so , but improving as more in-fill res. projects come to Dwtn.
* Some spots of good vibrancy but certainly plenty of dead spaces Dwtn.
* No strong civic plaza although one could argue its either the Statehouse or Bicentennial Park. Columbus Commons was meant to be this and has good programming but was a major disappointment from a design perspective.
* Two nice high schools downtown. Also a arts middles school but located outside of the Dwtn area.
* Decent Dwtn retail and neighborhood services but not on the same level as Dwtn Cleve or Cincy. No supermarket, shopping mall, nor major retailers. But Dwtn does offer several drug stores, a hospital, Dwtn library and post office, and some boutiques and clothing stores. Better shopping amenities located in adjacent inner city district of German Village and the Short North.
* Many surface parking lots have been built on, but Columbus certainly has plenty more to go especially in the eastern half of the district. Massing is often good in areas of density and form. But also areas of crummy 1960s-1980s low rise buildings often with auto centric orientation.

Tarentum, PA- A well built but blighted rivertown 20 miles from Downtown Pittsburgh

Tarentum is located about 20 miles up the Allegheny River from Dwtn Pittsburgh. This rivertown developed after the Civil War, rapidly expanding in the late 19th century and reaching 5,400 residents in 1900. The borough peaked at nearly 10K souls in 1940. But like most Western PA river towns it has been on a steady population decline since WWII and now Tarentum has just over 4K residents.

Tarentum was a well built city and hosts a fairly expansive Dwtn with main street like buildings across several streets and several bulky historic mixed-use buildings (including a large abandonded Opera House). There is also a historic main street along Freeport in Western Tarentum that is largely in-tact but very blighted. Nice homes climb the hill north of Dwtn but most housing is historic worker housing. The oldest homes in Tarentum are near the Allegheny River, which also hosts a really nice riverfront park.

There is some hope for a revitalization of Tarentum. There is a small but dedicated group of local businesses downtown, many well built historic commercial buildings ripe for renovation and most of the housing stock is still in tact. It will be interesting to see if the slow drive of revitalization along 28 reaches Tarentum some day. 
Click here to view my Tarentum album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Consistent sidewalks infrastructure, but modern ADA curbs are hit or miss. More within the biz districts.
* Some nice Dwtn Historic architecture. Mix of nice residential buildings (north of Dwtn) and gritty worker housing (West Tarentum).
* Lots of family households and decent economic diversity.
* Culturally Tarentum has a decent set of restaurants and bars, some live music venues,  a handful of cafes, a nice art gallery, a local museum.
* Crime is very low here but plenty of blight and abandonment. 
* Pretty good urban form remains in Dwtn Tarentum and even along Freeport in West Tarentum (although its a very gritty and underutilized biz district).

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* No bike infrastructure.
* Transit access is so  but decent in the Dwtn Tarentum.
* Modern in-fill is limited. What does exist is mostly crummy autocentric uses.
* Rentals are very limited.
* For sale housing is inexpensive. Most product sells between 50K and low 100Ks. Some homes selling in the 100Ks but plenty below 50K.
* Tarentum has a very nice riverside park with multiple amenities but nothing else, meaning park space is not convenient to many of its residents.
* Some nice retail amenities downtown including a local pharmacy, family dollar, post office, a florist, a couple banks, jeweler, and several boutiques.
* Walkable schools limited to one public school.

Springdale, PA- Childhood home of Rachal Carson located only 25 mins from Downtown Pittsburgh

Springdale’s claim to fame is that it is the childhood home of marine biologist and author of Silent Spring, Rachael Carson. Perfect setting as Rachael Carson witnessed first hand the environmental destruction that modern industry can create on the environment and liked in the shadow of a very distinctive power generation plan with massive twin smokestacks. Other than this claim to fame, Springdale is yet another rivertown built on industry during the turn of the 20th century. Its population peaked in 1960 at 5,600 and has been in a steady decline ever since now hosting just over 3,000 residents.

Springdale is a relatively stable post-industrial town with a medium income near the Allegheny Co. average, limited poverty, and some blight (concentrated along its main street and near the Allegheny River). The main street hosts several nice in-tact blocks with a decent array of local businesses,. Beyond this Pittsburgh Street becomes pretty drab and semi-autocentric. It would be nice to see more businesses and in-fill along Pittsburgh St. and a renewed interest in Springdale. This might happen as some river towns along route 28 closer to Dwtn Pittsburgh have started to witness revitalization. If not, Springdale will likely continue on without much change.
Click here to view my Springdale Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Some nice historic architecture.
* While transit access isn’t great, only a 23 minute drive to Dwtn.
* Economically this is a very middle class community.
* High percentage of family households (56%)
* Crime below the national average, although there is some grit and vacancy especially Btwn Pittsburgh St and the River.
* Good tree canopy.
* Some local retail along Pittsburgh St but not a ton (i.e. dollar general, ice cream, a bookstore, jeweler, florist, post office, public library, and a couple banks and salons).
* The junior high and high school are walkable and located within Springdale Borough limits. A Christian school located in the adjacent Cheswick community.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Sidewalks are consistent but really no ADA standard curb cuts.
* Modern in-fill is very limited.
* Transit access is so .
* No bike infrastructure.
* Pretty low density for an urbanized area.
* Relatively stable housing market, but not much variety in price point. For-sale generally ranges from 60K-180K depending on size and condition.
* Rental options are very limited.
* Park amenities limited to Veterans Memorial Field (home to several sports fields) and couple other greenspaces
* Cultural amenities limited to a handful of Americana restaurants, some bars, a local brewery, and the Rachael Carson Homestead Museum.
* Good urban form for several blocks along Pittsburgh St. but beyond this it becomes pretty semi-autocentric. Same idea follows for the streetscape.

Irwin, PA- Historic Town 30 miles east of Downtown Pittsburgh

I only included a small portion of Irwin in this evaluation. It’s the portion north of Penn Highway and west of Locust St. This is the older most walkable portion of Irwin where sidewalks are consistent.

Irwin was a very small community through most of the 1800s.  It began to take off in the late 1800s with the discovery of extensive  bituminous coal deposits and by 1900 had reached around 2,500 residents. Its population maxed out in 1980 with around 5,000 (thanks to some suburban annexation). Unfortunately Irwin has lost just over 1,000 residents since then. Fortunately Irwin is still pretty healthy, especially for Western PA standards. It has a vibrant main street with lots of shops and restaurants open and its residential fabric is mostly in-tact with a stable housing market.

My hope is that Irwin can stabilize its population decline soon, allowing it to grow more neighborhood serving retail and start to fill-in underutilized buildings and spaces. Other urban improvements include more walkable schools, better bike infrastructure, and public transit access. Irwin could also use some immigration not only to help stabilize its population but to add diversity to a place where Whites make 95% of the population. 
Click here to view my Irwin album on Flickr

Urban Strengths:

* Pretty good density.
* Nicely connected street grid, convenient for pedestrians.
* Stable housing market with most product selling in the 100Ks. Some lower end product btwn 50-100K. Some higher end product selling in the 200Ks.
* Consistant sidewalks in Irwin. Current ADA ramps typical in the downtown area but rare in the residential streets.
* Irwin Park is a very nice one with lots of amenities. But its the only park in Dwtn Irwin.
* Some nice cultural amenities including a  nice array of restaurants, bars & cafes, a community theater, a couple historic sites, and an art center.
* Good array of neighborhood amenities as well including a post office, lots of boutiques and locally owned stores, antique stores, a toy store, many churches, and other neighborhood retail.
* Very nice urban form in the Dwtn Irwin. Some surface parking lots but generally off the main street. Streetscaping is also pretty good. 

Urban Weaknesses:

* Pretty poor public transit access, although downtown Pittsburgh is only a 30-35 min drive.
* No bike infrastructure.
* Rentals are very limited.
* No walkable supermarkets or larger retailers.
* Only the Catholic grade school and music school are located within Dwtn Irwin. All other schools are located on the outskirts of Irwin and not walkable.
* Modern in-fill is very limited. 

Jeannette, PA- Once the Glass Capital of the World

Jeannette was first incorporated as a borough in 1889 and quickly grew to 3,000 residents by 1890. Jeannette earned the nickname “the glass city” as it became a major glass producing center for the US. Some estimates indicate the borough produced 70-85% of the world’s glass at one point. Jeannette was also Westmoreland County’s first truly industrial town and rapidly grew to 8,000 residents by 1910. At times, there were as many as 7 significant factories operating in the borough. Jeanette reached its height at 16,000 residents in 1950 but the post WWII decades were not kind to the City as only 9,000 residents now reside in the borough.

What remains of Jeanne is an impressive historic main street, but with many vacancies and vacant lots. Still some shops remain, but nothing like its heyday. Residential areas immediately surrounding downtown and in the industrial flats have been hardest hit with the hillside neighborhoods mostly in tact. Sadly Jeannette is likely to continue its slow decline without drastic changes like an influx of immigration, or major reinvestment effort into its downtown and neighborhoods. Towns like this make me wish the US has an immigration policy incentivizing resettlement of rust belt cities. That seems to be its only hope of coming back. 
Click here to view my Jeannette Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Decent economic diversity but also high poverty here (22%).
* While there is lots of blight and vacancy here, very low crime rate.
* High pct of family households (58%)
* While dwtn Jeannette is certainly very blighted there is still a decent amount of walkable retail remaining including a drug store, library, post office, a couple banks, a dollar general, florist. a liquor store, jeweler and several other general retail options. Some retail on mixed-use streets throughout Jeannette.
* Some nice historic buildings Dwtn. Nothing extraordinary about the housing stock generally.
* The massing of the main street is actually pretty good even though there is significant blight Dwtn. Outside of dwtn commercial is generally mixed-use with decent urban form.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Limited current ADA curb ramps and plenty of areas missing sidewalks and curb cuts.
* Very low density for an urban area.
* Poor public transit and therefore multi-model access to Dwtn.
* No bike infrastructure in Jeannette.
* Housing is very inexpensive. Large amount of product below 100K and much of it below 50K. The most stable product is generally further from Dwtn and selling in the low to mid 100Ks.
* Rentals are pretty limited and very inexpensive.
* Parks a limited to a couple playgrounds and ball fields.
* Cultural amenities limited to a handful of restaurants (many of them Italian) and bars along with the Italian cultural center.
* Several decent walkable schools including a public elementary, middle, and high school and Catholic Grade school.
* No recent investment in streetscaping. Looks very tired.