People who moved to PA and hate it (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh: home, job market)

[creepsinc]

Originally Posted by pcity

I don't understand how anyone could hate "PA".

There's so much variety in the state, from the most urban parts of Philly to the most rural parts of Forest County, it would seem like there's something for everyone.

I can understand hating one part of PA, or hating PA's government, or hating PA's weather, but how can one just hate "PA"?

Hint: probably a troll

[5thIndian]

I believe that there is no question that PA and specifically the Philly area has a lot to offer people of all tastes. It has a little bit of everything. (I personally tho, may move for that very reason, I can give up the shore for the mountains, for ex.) Some of the advantages over other areas are: Any philly area is 1.5 hrs from the shore, and 1.5 to the mountains and has 4 moderate temp seasons. Great walking/road biking trails too- from center of Philly to Green Lane and MORE (check Schuylkill River Trail). The history of the area is priceless too. Historical architecture, Valley Forge, Philly landmarks such as Independence Hall, and great museums. Not sure of your age, but within Philly, the young professional types like Manayunk and another cool area I just visited is Fishtown (up and coming area still I think)(train access)(slightly northeast of center city). Someone else mentioned Chestnut Hill which is an established cool Philly place to call home. Extra bonus of Chestnut Hill is that it is within walking distance to the Wissahickon (Fairmount Park) for hiking and getting close to nature, also has train access(two stations) and is on border of Montgomery Co if you want to get out of the "city" and do some suburb activities. Neg to Chestnut Hill is it is further from major highways for getting to mountains, or shore Manayunk is better in that regard AND it is expensive. For Suburb living: the areas of Montgomery and Chester Co and even Delaware Co, well they are all pretty similar, each has crowded awful looking parts and all have nice parts too. Two new young professional suburb areas are Conshohocken and Phoenixville (both Mont Co). Conshohocken has the added adv of being right off the Schuylkill Expressway, and PA turnpike (making getting the mountains easy) and it is on the bike trail too (a 10-15 mile ride to Manayunk then Boathouse Row). This and all of the areas I mentioned as "young prof" have a walking community of restaurants, bars and shops and all except Chestnut Hill are reborn areas, Chestnut Hill has always had a walking community. If you don't care about walking communities, then I recommend checking out the open areas and proximity to bike trails - I am assuming that you'd want to be active. We have some of the most interesting biking opps here. Long rides and hills if you are looking for them.
Folks who like this Philly/Montgomery Countyish area and want affordable houses can find them almost anywhere but those that want new sprall go north into areas of Limerick. That area has been developing over the past 10 years and has a beautiful new Ymca, new high schools, new target, and almost all box stores you can think of. 422 traffic is bad tho at rush hours so watch out for that.

[Honest Bob]

Just my two cents,

When I was younger, the best town for a party and a good time was Indiana PA.

Indiana PA has the University and plenty of fair jobs if you are willing to start out on the bottom and work your way up.

It might entail being a tight old Hunkie for 10 or 15 years, but in the end you will have a good job and a bank account full of money if you played your cards right.

Even if you could not find a job in Indiana PA, it is just close enough that you could drive to Greensburg or Pittsburgh if you had to.

Indiana University of Pennsylvania was rated even in Playboy magazine as one of the top 10 party schools in the USA. Even Dale Earnhardt jr has been here drinking a beer or three from time to time.

There are brand new condo's on the outskirts of the city and plenty of night life. That is if you like hot young women.

You couldn't pay me to live in Pittsburgh, Erie or Harrisburgh right now.

State College maybe - and that maybe would depend heavily on "if" you could get a job that paid enough to be able to live there.

[creepsinc]

Originally Posted by Internet Superman

You couldn't pay me to live in Pittsburgh

Yeah, it really sucks.

What with my hilltop sub-$500-a-month panoramic view home, I feel like I'm being paid to live here.


Edit: (putting in my 2 cents, turning the knob, and getting a Dixie cup full of troll food) Where do you live, anyways?

[The_Outsider]

Originally Posted by creepsinc

Yeah, it really sucks.

What with my hilltop sub-$500-a-month panoramic view home, I feel like I'm being paid to live here.


Edit: (putting in my 2 cents, turning the knob, and getting a Dixie cup full of troll food) Where do you live, anyways?

You know theres a reason you can get a $500 a month home to live in Pittsburgh - not many people want to live there. It's an armpit.

I'm not the guy you were responding to but I'm going to second him on that. You couldn't pay me to live there either. Pittsburgh is like a giant oversized Youngstown Ohio with an equal amount of culture.

It takes more than sandwiches topped with french fries and yellow towels to make a city worthy of being called world class.

[WonderingWanderer]

Check out Danville, PA. It meets alot of what you are looking for. And about IT, look at Geisinger for jobs, esp if you're a programmer. www.geisinger.org

[creepsinc]

Originally Posted by The_Outsider

You know theres a reason you can get a $500 a month home to live in Pittsburgh - not many people want to live there. It's an armpit.

I'm not the guy you were responding to but I'm going to second him on that. You couldn't pay me to live there either. Pittsburgh is like a giant oversized Youngstown Ohio with an equal amount of culture.

It takes more than sandwiches topped with french fries and yellow towels to make a city worthy of being called world class.

Who said anything about world class? Since when is that a yardstick of an excellent place to live, which Pittsburgh is, and which "Jefferson County" must be, too.

I'll just ignore the (yes) world-class museums, symphonies, etc, since you did. I'll also ignore the heap of awards over the past few years re: Pittsburgh's livability. I'm sure Jefferson County has received plenty.

You're off to an excellent start in your posting career, quality-wise.

[TestEngr]

We moved to Danville, PA 3+ years ago and we HATE it!!! I can't go into all the problems, but will make a few generalizations. If your name is fairly ethnic you might find issues getting employment here, that I can almost guarantee. There is not a lot of employment in the area either, but you won't get called at all with ethnic name.

We moved here for my wifes position at geisinger, and I do NOT recomend them at all as an employer either. I can extensively elaborate on that, but they are not good to their employees is all I will say for now.

Perhaps you might find in PA overall some real estate less than some places, but hard to find a good, honest agent here so watch out on that.

Also not good shopping unless you go to big cities.

PA is the backwater state of the northeast, I advise not coming here for most. It is largely a place for people of traditional backgrounds only, others will be outcasts for the most part. There are plenty of small business that stays honest, but many of the larger employers don't seem good to people here at all.

Just giving it the honest no here. PA is not for everyone.

[creepsinc]

Originally Posted by TestEngr

We moved to Danville, PA 3+ years ago and we HATE it!!! I can't go into all the problems, but will make a few generalizations. If your name is fairly ethnic you might find issues getting employment here, that I can almost guarantee. There is not a lot of employment in the area either, but you won't get called at all with ethnic name.

We moved here for my wifes position at geisinger, and I do NOT recomend them at all as an employer either. I can extensively elaborate on that, but they are not good to their employees is all I will say for now.

Perhaps you might find in PA overall some real estate less than some places, but hard to find a good, honest agent here so watch out on that.

Also not good shopping unless you go to big cities.

PA is the backwater state of the northeast, I advise not coming here for most. It is largely a place for people of traditional backgrounds only, others will be outcasts for the most part. There are plenty of small business that stays honest, but many of the larger employers don't seem good to people here at all.

Just giving it the honest no here. PA is not for everyone.

What state is for everyone? And not hiring ethnic names?? Most of the people I work with (in PA) have "ethnic names".

You're off to a great start. Welcome to City-Data!

[TestEngr]

Originally Posted by creepsinc

What state is for everyone? And not hiring ethnic names?? Most of the people I work with (in PA) have "ethnic names".

You're off to a great start. Welcome to City-Data!

Well I see from your profile you are in a larger city and I have been on city data about as long as you. Not sure about your post creeps, how does that add to the discussion?

Folks there are two PA's.

1) the two big cities
2) the rest of PA

Don't look at people in the two large cities and infer anything about the rest of PA.

I wrote about the rest of PA.