But, years later, many of her co-workers have grown bored with suburban living. My boss and two others are looking to come back because they re tired of driving to everything. They don t know their neighbors, and in some ways it s very isolating. The Russells, along with 20 to 25 of their neighbors, throw barbecues and parties every couple of months. Their community isn t perfect, they concede.
Petty crime happens, though infrequently.
And some people who live nearby are involved in questionable activities. We have drug problems here, but so do the suburbs, Cynthia said. In the suburbs, the problems are more hidden. Pittsburgh, which was recently picked by Reader s Digest magazine as one of the nation s top 10 places to raise a family, has a relatively low violent-crime rate compared with other urban areas of the same size and population. Over the past decade, it has undergone a transformation with the redevelopment of its downtown and construction of new sports complexes.