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Wednesday, September 25, 2002

By Gary Rotstein, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Tracy Edmunds moved to Observatory Hill eight years ago to live in a bigger house that was in a good location to raise a family.

	Census 2000 Mount Oliver among those on the decline Graphic: Neighborhood vitality

The neighborhood has delighted her.

"It's been kind of a secret for a long time, and people are catching on now," said Edmunds, a Howard Hanna Co. real estate agent who sells the upper North Side neighborhood's artfully constructed, turn-of-the-century homes.

Edmunds has reason to be an Observatory Hill booster because of her occupation, but new data from the 2000 census supports the idea that her 4,600-resident neighborhood is on an upward trend.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette analyzed census information about high school and college graduation rates, employment, poverty and household income levels to determine where the 90 city neighborhoods ranked in each category.

As expected, East End neighborhoods known for their solid core of professionals in higher-priced housing -- Squirrel Hill, Shadyside, Point Breeze and Regent Square -- dominated the positive rankings.

But comparisons of rankings in 2000 with those in 1990 found five communities that had advanced in every category, including Observatory Hill, also known as Perry North. The others were Crawford-Roberts, the neighborhood that abuts Mellon Arena; the North Shore; the South Side Flats; and Swisshelm Park, tucked between Squirrel Hill and Regent Square.

Crawford-Roberts and the North Shore have experienced demographic changes because of housing developments built in the 1990s, and the South Side has undergone a transition in which younger residents have replaced older ones.

Younger generations are more likely than retirees to be well-educated and have more household income, and that's also a factor in Swisshelm Park's trends, said John Shields, president of the quiet, eastern neighborhood's community center.

"We were a community of elderly people, and they have moved or passed away or gone somewhere else," Shields said. "We've had a great influx of young couples -- I see more young children in the neighborhood every day."

"I think it's a good combination of professional and blue-collar people, but getting more professional," said city Councilman Bob O'Connor, who represents Swisshelm Park. "It has a suburban flavor but quick driving distance to the universities and hospitals."

Not everyone would assume that a better educated, higher income neighborhood is a benefit. Some people might prefer a bricklayer living next door rather than a lawyer. And longtime residents on the street who know neighborhood history are an asset, especially if they keep watch during the day.

But city officials have long wanted younger, better educated residents to live in the city rather than heading for the suburbs, partly because higher income levels enable families to maintain their property better.

Among other neighborhoods that made gains in most categories used by the Post-Gazette were Arlington Heights, Beltzhoover, California-Kirkbride, Hays, Lincoln Place, Morningside, South Side Slopes, Spring Garden and the Strip District.

Moving up in income and education doesn't necessarily mean a neighborhood is attracting more people.

Crawford-Roberts was the only neighborhood showing those positive trends to gain population between 1990 and 2000.

That neighborhood bordering Downtown grew by 11 percent in the decade, thanks to the mixed-income Crawford Square housing development, while the city's population declined by 10 percent to 334,563.

Even of the neighborhoods ranked high in all categories, only Regent Square grew, by 4 percent.

Squirrel Hill North and Point Breeze were far ahead of other neighborhoods in income levels, with nearly one in five households exceeding $150,000 in income.

Squirrel Hill North, the section north of Forbes Avenue, also ranked first in the percentage of population 25 or older with bachelor's degrees or more advanced education. More than 76 percent of its residents had at least four years of college; Shadyside was second with about 72 percent.

Among other neighborhoods that ranked high in all of the categories examined by the newspaper were Allegheny West, Banksville, Highland Park, North Point Breeze, Squirrel Hill South and Stanton Heights.