Bloomfield is the proof that there’s a Third Way--not bourgeoise development, not fallen industry town--it’s the sustainable neighborhood dream. Find a large stock of affordable, in fact, cheap housing a flat mile from any city core and compare the costs. Living in Bloomfield versus living in …..fill in the blank.
I walk through Bloomfield and it’s like walking in a dream--these stores, these restaurants, this bakery, that tiny magazine shop there is NO WAY they haven’t been bought out. But it’s for real. It’s so for real a lot of the Creative Class isn’t attracted to it: it’s not the gentrified simulcrum of a town, with a remade street façade, quaint yet rebuilt homes, family owned but insanely overpriced eateries…no, this is the real thing. These are working and middle-class people who, through a combination of efforts, have held onto development in their square mile of city. If you want to actually live in Pittsburgh, actually be a Pittsburgher, move to Bloomfield.
