Southside Flats: A Neighborhood Portrait

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Introduction to Neighborhood Situated on the Monongahela River is the neighborhood of Southside Flats. Within it lays the entertainment hub of Pittsburgh. Numerous bars and nightspots line the main thoroughfare of E Carson St. The early history of the neighborhood saw it as a main point for industry with its proximity to the river and railway stations. At the end of the nineteenth century, the neighborhood would boast a major steelworks factory that employed a sizable portion of the residents of Southside Flats. Many of these residents emigrated from the countries of Eastern Europe and incorporated many of their traditions into the area and the neighboring Southside Slopes. This style of life would last until the early 1980s when the South Side Local Development Company was formed and the steel plant shut down. The area was absent of a major employer until the City of Pittsburgh Urban and Redevelopment Authority (URA) bought the land once occupied by the steel plant in 1993. The URA bought the land with money they borrowed from a developer that eventually led to the construction of the SouthSide Works. The complex officially opened in 2004 brought many national retailers to the Pittsburgh area. The construction of the SouthSide Works is one example of how cities have had to cope with the deindustrialization that has taken place in this country over the past 30 years. The emergence of Southside Flats as the hotspot of Pittsburgh for nightlife and shopping has caused problems for the local residents. Over the past years, there has been an increasing riff between the local residents and the patrons of the area’s bars and nightclubs. This riff grew to such an extent that the Pittsburgh police began instituting tight reg... ... middle of paper ... ...com/r/25649185/detail.html). Friedenberger, Amy. 2010. “South Side reverie reconsidered.” The Pitt News, October 11. Retrieved January 31, 2011 (http://pittnews.com/newsstory/south-side-reverie-reconsidered/). Lord, Rich. 2010. “Crackdown continues on illegal parking in South Side.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 17. Retrieved January 21, 2011 (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10290/1096004-53.stm). Nereim, Vivian. 2010. “243 cited, 84 towed during Southside parking blitz.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 11. Retrieved January 18, 2011 (http://www.postgazette.com/pg/10284/1094213-53.stm). Levine, Mark V. 1994. “’A Third-World City in the First World’: Social Exclusion, Racial Inequality, and Susatinable Development in Baltimore,” Pp. 123-56 in The Social Sustainability of Cities edited by M. Polese and R. Stren. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

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