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I was just wondering what some of the reasons are for why some people have moved to PGH. Did you move here for work related reasons? Did you move here.... just because? No particular reason? How long have you lived here? Do you plan on staying? Do you regret your move? Where did you come from?
I'm going to be going back to college and when I graduate, I want to move to a city. PGH seems as good as any PLUS i'm a big PGH Steelers fan so theres that. What advice would you have for me?
It does not hurt that you are a Steeler fan, but there is so much more to Pittsburgh than football and sports in general. This is coming from a big sports fan. I am a native who lived here all my forty plus years with the exception of college. To appreciate the urban fabric of Pittsburgh, you have to get into the city neighborhoods. That is what really sets Pittsburgh apart from many other cities. Downtown Pittsburgh hustles and bustles during weekdays and on some nights, but it is not where everybody goes to after the sun goes down. That is the first step in appreciating Pittsburgh, i.e. appreciating that it is a city of neighborhoods and does focus on solely on Downtown. or the Steelers.
I guess the reason I moved to Pittsburgh, aside from affordability, was because it was a real city.
It wasn't one of those new cities in the sunbelt that sprang up out of nowhere. There is a legacy and a history to Pittsburgh. And it's a household name. You can just say Pittsburgh and people know what city you are talking about. The city has an identity. And important things in history have happened here. It just feels like a real place.
I also liked that the city itself was still considered a desirable place to live. It hasn't lost the battle to the suburbs, as so many cities have. There's still money in the city, and a reason to go there.
Architecture was a big selling point to me. Obviously, I love historic buildings and Pittsburgh has many. I loved the downtown, which felt like a mini-Manhattan, with tall buildings and density. I also loved the row-house neighborhoods, like Lawrenceville and the South Side.
I wanted to own my own house, and Pittsburgh had many in my price range. And the neighborhoods the cheap houses were located in were often safe.
Moving here in 2007 wasn't easy. There weren't plentiful jobs here back then, as there are now, and that was before the buzz about Pittsburgh being a good relocation destination. But I was pretty determined about it, as I have to be about anything I do in life.
Do I like living in Pittsburgh? Yes, it's a good place. Good people, good jobs. It's a solid city with a hopeful future. I was downtown today and I was just thinking about all the changes since 2007. It was about 7pm, and the street was full of all kinds of well-dressed young people. It wasn't like that a few years ago, when downtown was mainly where homeless people went, and people caught busses, after 5.
No place is perfect, and Pittsburgh has its share of issues, as any city does. I see myself being as happy here as I could possibly be anywhere else. The bigger cities that I think are probably more exciting, like Philly and NYC, are too expensive for me to really enjoy and get ahead in. It's easy to be comfortable here. You don't have to be super-ambitious or shrewd to forge a life for yourself here. You just work and pay the bills, and find that you can afford the things you need. And if you are a type A personality, there are things like a Victorian mansion in Shadyside or a downtown condo that you can dream about, and hope for someday.
Haven't made the jump yet, but I thought I'd chime in. After 22 years of the same dreary, dry desert atmosphere here in Arizona, I am ready for a change. My mom died in January, and my siblings have already left for greener pastures in Illinois, Utah and Nebraska. There's nothing keeping me here in AZ but sheer inertia and friends I already pretty much left behind when I left my hometown. I need a fresh start.
I was originally aiming to move to Massachusetts, but the ridiculous cost of living ($1500/mo for an apartment the size of a fridge!?) stopped me dead in my tracks on that idea. Instead, I'm coming to Pittsburgh, a town with just as much history, things to do, and elite educational institutions without the bank-breaking real estate market and structural unemployment that now typifies the Massachusetts experience.
The house prices, primarily. House prices in Portland, OR were (still are) extremely high, even in the worst neighbourhoods. We didn't want to be house poor, or be stuck renting forever. The economy there when we moved was awful as well (not sure how much it has improved), and the culture there was increasingly not to our tastes. There are a lot of other places with similar house prices these days, but Pittsburgh had a lot of advantages in terms of the economy, location, scenery, etc.
A secondary reason for moving was that we now live within driving distance of my family in Ontario, and that makes life a lot more pleasant.
I came here for grad school, 18 years ago now. Met someone and got married--my wife also came here for school (business school), then got a job here. We bought a house, then I went to law school in Chicago while my wife stayed here (we saw each other on weekends). I clerked in central PA, then worked for the DOJ in Washington. Along the way we had a kid.
We looked around at various options for getting back together in one city, but eventually realized we couldn't beat Pittsburgh in terms of a combination of career and lifestyle (even though I ended up moving back to Pittsburgh without a job in hand). We enjoy historic homes, walkable neighborhoods, public transit commutes, and the amenities of a larger city, and it is tough to compete with Pittsburgh on price when it comes to that combination. So we bought another (bigger) house, I moved back from DC, and here we are.
I am a native of Pennsylvania (the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metro area in the opposite corner of our beautiful Commonwealth, to be precise). I graduated college in May 2009 and was recruited by the Feds to work in Northern Virginia, just outside of DC. I was raised in a more intimate environment where it seemed like everyone knew everyone else and looked out for one another as if they were their own flesh and blood. It wasn't uncommon to run to the mall, Target, or just go for a jog and take twice as long as you had initially intended as you bumped into numerous people you knew and hadn't seen for a while. That area, despite its positives, was just a bit too small for my tastes and also was lacking departments such as diversity and progressive attitudes towards the LGBT community, so I sought relocation.
Northern Virginia chewed me up and spit me out in less than two years. Beyond not being able to assimilate into the sprawling built environment (think Cranberry Township on steroids) I attempted to find and foster a "second family" of sorts there right from the get-go, organizing get-togethers, throwing surprise parties, buying gifts for people, and doing anything in my power to make people feel valued and appreciated. Unfortunately several of these people whom I grew to regard as surrogate siblings betrayed me, hurt me, and backstabbed me to get themselves ahead at my expense to the point where I fell into a very deep depression that even nine months of intensive therapy couldn't pull me out of. Eventually I realized that the only thing that would have a fighting chance in saving me was to remove myself from that negative environment as quickly as possible. I was going to transfer with my employer to Pittsburgh, but once that transfer was delayed by 6-8 months, at the earliest, I knew I had to do what was best for my overall health. I quit my job, found a replacement for my lease (a woman who then also took me to the cleaners, but I digress), and set off on a new adventure in Pittsburgh.
Why Pittsburgh? I visited the City of Champions for the first time in 1998 with my father, his colleague, and his colleague's son to see a Pirates game at the old Three Rivers Stadium. We stayed Downtown at the hotel at Chatham Center. Back in the mid-to-late-1990s Pittsburgh was a different place (in a worse way) than it is today. We were panhandled left and right and were turned off by how depressing and dirty the Downtown was. A few years ago the opportunity to visit Pittsburgh again presented itself when my best friend wanted to go there for a weekend getaway during our college Spring Break, and I obliged, knowing her ulterior motive was to try to surprise a guy she had long had a crush on. We stayed at the Priory on the North Side, and this time---roughly a decade after my first visit---I was impressed by the city. It reminded me a lot of what I liked about my native Scranton/Wilkes-Barre---historic architecture, distinct neighborhoods, yinzer-like people, etc.---yet it also seemed to be much more open-minded (seeing a same-sex couple walking hand-in-hand in Shadyside was an eye-opener considering in my native area I had to endure slurs).
That positive visit a few years ago always stood out in my mind, and when I sought sanctuary from the mess that had befallen me in Northern Virginia there was no doubt in my mind that Pittsburgh was a top contender---along with Minneapolis/St. Paul, which, in my mind, was very similar (albeit much more expensive, more isolated, and with a colder climate).
Where am I now? I'm paying $550/month (less than half the rent I was paying in an far-flung NoVA suburb) for a 1-BR apartment with character on the third floor of a 110-year-old rowhome in a safe, tight-knit, and walkable neighborhood. My income has dropped dramatically as I'm now working two jobs to make ends meet as entry-level career opportunities in my field are scarce, but despite working so many hours I still don't question my decision to relocate here. Shortly after moving here I fell in love, and we're now about to celebrate our seven-month anniversary together. In NoVA despite my most valiant efforts guys always thought they were too good for me for whatever reason---status, materiality, looks, etc. In Pittsburgh I had two guys fighting over me as if I was some sort of prize. I feel like I've built GENUINE friendships here whereas most of the people I tried so hard to befriend in NoVA haven't even batted an eye since I've moved up here.
I've also been featured twice in the Post-Gazette since moving here, the most recent instance being a passing reference I never would have anticipated:
"Not that you have to be related to get really well fed at Engine 8: The crew also insisted Paul the delivery guy from Edible Arrangements, who was dropping off a skewered fruit "thank you" from the owners as Mr. Sovyak was cooking, eat a burger."
^ In turn I typed up a very nice Letter to the Editor last night promoting the chivalry of that fire department's personnel, their dedication to their community, and the community at-large, as well. I will post it in this thread once it is published so those asking themselves if Pittsburgh really CAN be a good place to "start over" can have some of their concerns assuaged.
I apologize for my verbosity, but I'm very enthusiastic about this city. If the mayor or Chamber of Commerce would create a $30,000/year position as a "goodwill ambassador" I'd be working 24/7 to draw in as much new commercial and residential growth as I possibly could. I view this city as being my refuge. I view this city as being what saved me as I pondered suicide back in NoVA. I view this city as being home.
I came here in 1989 to stay for three years so my ex-wife could go to grad school. Twenty-two years later I'm still here and don't plan on ever leaving. I have friends and/or family in DC, NYC, Boston and SF and the cost of living in those cities compared to living in the 'burgh is ridiculous. I can have an amazing townhouse right in the middle of the city on a quiet street within a fifteen minute walk to work and still have access to more culture than I have time to take in, there's no way that I could have that in any of those other cities.
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