Braddock Journey

Monday, July 07, 2008

People in Pittsburgh are constantly asking us why we moved here, with fear or disgust in their voices. They tell us the streets aren’t safe and warn us not to walk past any recessed doorways after dark. To be sure, Braddock has had its share of violence that we’ve heard of—community history. But we have not seen any firsthand nor ever felt threatened. 

On the contrary our neighbors are extremely friendly, offering to help us paint and telling us how they chased off kids who were breaking the windows when the house was empty. The people at the post office are so friendly, they may even have the Douglas post office beat. On the other end, our neighborhood also has its share of crackheads. At least they ask for work rather than breaking my car window like the meth addicts in Juneau.

But the people who live here now and who are friendly are only one side of the community that we have found in Braddock. We are also members of a group Ryan likened to ex-pats in Europe. People who have moved here to do something who may not have ever met one another in any other situation, but group together because of this shared experience.

Neither of these communities we experience firsthand on a daily basis have their stories told in the regional news. When we read Google alerts and topix.com news related to Braddock it is almost always about a shooting, fire, or slaying. They aren’t even all in Braddock. They are on Braddock Avenue, which runs throughout the city, or in North Braddock. But the impression this leaves on the Pittsburghers who read this news on a daily basis is that Braddock is filled with violence.

Not once in these news feeds have I seen an article about the 70 local youth who are employed on the urban farm this summer. No coverage of how they are building raised gardens around local homes and teaching the residents to grow their own vegetables. There isn’t coverage of the heavy Americorp volunteer presence in the community and the miriad activities they are enabling. There are no articles on the rehabilitation of numerous buildings throughout the city. So many people here are fixing up buildings that I can’t go to Lowe’s without running into someone I know, and I’m there almost every day.

This discrepancy is causing a divide between the story we tell about our community and the one others in the region hear about it.