OK really, lets discuss this great renaissance they are trying to do. I am all in on building residential living in downtown. I think its a great way to get people to spend their money downtown and it also provides more jobs for the city. But they are sooooooo targeting the wrong people for the “high end living”. Think about it, most people that can afford the guestimated 3k a month is probably already living out in the suburbs. why in the world would they want to move downtown? I think if they targeted these new living arrangements they are building to people right out of college it would do wonders for the city. I like most others my age would probably go for this type of living. And I would probably even pay 1k for a two bedroom. And i bet they would fill these complexes!
but what do i know, we will just let the idiots that run the city build these great buildings for no one to live in.
the best idea they could have would be to put a walmart in where lazarus was… need to accomodate to the right people. building apartments in the dollar bank building is a great idea because is across the street from point park… then again, 1850 a month for two bed room might not be affordable by students :ugh:
pittsburgh makes some poor planning decisions sometimes. you can’t even park downtown to work, let alone live.
I’ve been pondering this idea for a while but since I dont have money to invest in property and building I’ll let someone else make money…
North Side revival. Its not the city persay BUT if you look at all the condemmed 3 story houses on either side of 279…they could be had for pocket change and either rennovated or torn down and have some nice townhouses or something built. Low property taxes. Its prime location if you work in the city but don’t want to live exactly in the city. Just get a few friends together and buy a few blocks and ur golden. The brewery is right down the street, AG hospital across the street The only thing I’m not certain on is how to reform all the drugs and ghetto people. Obviously can’t push them out or they’ll start killing people…my best htough is have a political figure work some magic and win the following of the area, employ some locals, focus on the schools a bit more. Right now its so low income over there, if you make 6 figures you;d be a king. Your thoughts?
Our city and county gov’t continually move from failure to pathetic failure. I don’t expect this to succeed either. The government should not have to create a situation for private enterprise to succeed. It should happen naturally. In addition, GeneralG is correct - there is no infrastructure in downtown to support what people of this income level will expect.
Peters Twp and Cranberry aren’t growning because things are being done properly within Allegheny County and there is no change in sight. Taxing the hell out of businesses and individual property owners drives people away.
My company moved from downtown to Southpointe a few years back. What was happening was that Pittsburgh is continually trying to lure new businesses into town with tax incentives. Sounds like a good idea on the surface but it has helped the city slip further down the hill. What is really happening is the new businesses aren’t paying their share and this left the existing businesses holding the bag. No one will move to Pittsburgh because the “rack” tax rate is too high. So they need incentives. However, the cost of running an established business is going up because these existing businesses have to fund the newbies’ incentives. See the slippery slope?
On the personal property front, my house is up for sale and I am getting the hell out of this county myself. I already have an accepted offer on a house in Beaver, PA. I had planned on seeing if the new property tax approach that began in 2002 would address some problems, but politics have again crept back into it and screwed it up. The homestead exemption will likely grow in Allegheny County. Just like the incentives to bring new businesses into town, it seems like a good idea but it also has major problems. The homestead exemption is set up to make it so older folk don’t have to pay their share of property taxes and essentially avoid getting taxed out of their houses. It makes everyone feel good to help Grandma stay put. However, that just means that other people have to make up for the shortfall and drives them away.
One day Allegheny County will me comprised old people (who are voters, by the way) that don’t pay taxes and be devoid of any businesses.
It’s a romantic idea and alot of politicians are anxious to jump on the wagon, but there just isn’t enough foundation for it.
Then again, don’t neglect the cyclical nature of things. Tough to accurately quantify, but it’s been all about the burbs for some time now. If the vernacular rhetoric gets to the point where the burbs are played out, the move to downtown would be on…hard to imagine though.
Beaver, PA, huh? You’ll be right across the bridge from me. I could never live downtown. I’ve too much of a country boy per say. If I go right out of my driveway it’s all sticks, cows, and hill billys. If I go left it’s a sheetz with a town around it. I’m never more than 10 minutes from any major store, and only 2 blocks away from peace and quiet. ahhhh i think I just found a positive aspect of Rochester.
but with the way the city makes rash decisions and screws over the residents, most intellegent buisness people would take that money and buy a huge house out in the suburbs somewhere instead of wasting it on 1500-3000 a month rent. Even though the realestate market is slowing down you can still get a hell of a spred that is yours and its a investment with that type of money.
What do you get if you pay that much in rent in the city? Nothing except being close to work.
:doh: I forgot about slots. When it finally happens, might be a need for this. I still sort of doubt it as the “AC renaissance” didn’t amount to much other than phenomenal ghetto growth, but I guess Pittsburgh would take growth, ghetto or no…
I heard on the radio today that they’re trying to raise the income tax so they can reduce property taxes by about 40%. More than likely we’ll get f’d by the state and end up paying the same in property taxes and more in income taxes. If I’m wrong and my taxes go down by 40% I’ll be happy as long as my income taxes don’t go up the same amount.
You will prbably see the state fuck you, or your town. I know a lot of towns after that homestead exmption went into effect, the county dropped the taxes but the towns went and raised thier’s and some it twice the amount. of your refund… :doh:
Yes, there is a group of politicians out there talking about eliminating property taxes. I originally thought this was a good idea, but upon further investigation, I think it is a terrible idea. It’s ended up like the national sales tax idea - seems OK until you look at the details.
Right now, you can decide how good your municipal services are and how good your school districts are by moving to those communities and paying the corresponding premium. Alternatively, you can move somewhere with poor performing schools and weak services if you don’t care and your property taxes should be lower as a result. Capitalism.
If property taxes are eliminated and replaced with income taxes, I suspect that an average Joe’s taxes will increase overall and he will have zero say into how much of that cash comes back from Harrisburg for his local communities and schools one the state-level politicians get their hands on it. Somehow, I think that the per-student funding for the Upper Saint Clair taxpayer will look alot like the per-student funding for the Braddock resident in the name of “fairness”, once returned from Harrisburg. …and the USC guy probably paid a helluva lot more than the Braddock guy…
The problem with taxes isn’t how they are collected. The problem is that they are escalating much faster than overall inflation in the private sector and no politician that I have observed is really taking spending cuts all that seriously… The gov’t will cost what it costs. The best way to distract from the cost is to get the voter to focus on collection methods…
