POLL: Will Pittsburgh Once Again Rank as "America's Most Livable City" in 2012? (skyline, town) - Page 3 - City-Data Forum

h_curtis · 12-01-2011, 08:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LIRefugee

The ability to view a city like Pittsburgh for what it is and not what it isn't varies from person to person. I know one New Yorker who went to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and could only describe it in terms of what it lacked in comparison with the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. Other New Yorkers I know describe surprise over how nice Pittsburgh is when compared to its general reputation and have come to regard the city fondly.

I think people who get wrapped up in what they think a city SHOULD be instead of enjoying a city for what it actually is do themselves, and others, a major disservice.

Well said. I mean, for people to really compare Pittsburgh to NYC? Pittsburgh is so much smaller, I find it very hard to compare them. All you can do is compare how each city affects yourself and a quality of life. NYC is a different ballgame to say the least.

Blackbeauty212 · 12-01-2011, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by h_curtis

I don't think there is much danger. Most people in the US still look at Pittsburgh as a dump regardless of the press it gets. I think people just say, ah that is nice they give little Pittsburgh a bone to make them feel better. Believe me, if you go to NYC or LA or some big city and mention Pittsburgh, you will still get the same old reaction and that reaction isn't a good one.

I live in NYC and trust me they have plenty of respect for Pittsburgh maybe not the Elite Snobs but your common day everyday folk think of Pittsburgh as a "tough city" like NYC...I proudly tell folks I'm from the Burgh and those that don't know Pittsburgh knows someone who has recently been here and are curious to hear more.

LA even notice all the film projects coming here and notice the reaction to Pittsburgh from most of the Cast crew once they get here?

Pittsburgh is still largely underrated, but it takes more of beating from its Overcritical and Pessimistic Natives than it does from most Outsiders.

MathmanMathman · 12-01-2011, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

Man, you have no idea. I work with one guy who is from NYC and another who is from Italy and they both talk trash on the city (and they live here now). Plus, every time we have someone in the office from our headquarters in Boston they always turn their nose up at the city. Just yesterday there was a "this is it?" statement in regards to the size of our downtown as if it's the downtown of a Lego city or something. Plus I know another person from NYC who constantly compares the city to New York and comments on our lack of such and such in comparison.

So yeah, in my experience transplants who have moved here for a job have no qualms of viewing the city as a dump.

Can't blame them in some ways. I thought Pittsburgh was the big city but the first time I traveled to NYC from Pittsburgh...Ho-ly Cow!!! NYC is really really BIG

The tall buildings give the city a cathedral-like effect to the streets and the BIG ships in the harbor.

At best, and we've heard it before, Pittsburgh is a compact Manhattan.

MathmanMathman · 12-01-2011, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KingKrab

Meh, New Yorkers and Bostonians are annoying enough. Especially people from Boston. They are the most obnoxious, arrogant, annoying people on the face of the planet. I worked with people from Boston. They think that since they have so many schools it means it makes them all smart even if they didn't go to a Ivy League school. I worked with one who was dumb as a rock and still had this perception about himself. It is called east coast arrogance. It is annoying and obnoxious to say the least. They don't call them mass_holes for nothing.

I just tell annoying east coasters as it is. Especially the meathead toughguys from Filthy that their city is a filled with large ghettos, get over yourself you obnoxious annoying meathead idiot, and if you travel west of Reading everybody can't wait for global warming to make the Atlantic swallow your over-ridden concrete wasteland back into the ocean.

I find that attitude, in varying ways, from DC up to Boston, the northeastern corridor.

LIRefugee · 12-01-2011, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MathmanMathman

Can't blame them in some ways. I thought Pittsburgh was the big city but the first time I traveled to NYC from Pittsburgh...Ho-ly Cow!!! NYC is really really BIG

The tall buildings give the city a cathedral-like effect to the streets and the BIG ships in the harbor.

At best, and we've heard it before, Pittsburgh is a compact Manhattan.

But....so what? NYC has more to it than Pittsburgh, but that doesn't make it inherently better or worse. Bigger != Better.

It's all a matter of perspective. My parents saw Minneapolis as the distant, glittering city when they were growing up. I was intimidated by the big buildings when I moved to downtown Milwaukee over a decade ago. Now after many moves and much traveling, I find driving through Manhattan on a weekday to be a bit of a challenge, but no big deal, and I am no longer seduced by bright lights and big cities. I now pay attention to the qualities of a place that I personally find attractive. I much prefer living in a large city, but not that utterly engulfs me and where merely driving away for a trip feels like a major effort. But that, ultimately, is a personal preference and has no bearing on the worthiness of anyone else's point of view or of the cities themselves.

Every city has its own set of advantages and disadvantages, and I think its wiser to view a place for what it has rather than be tribal about it. Of course, that's not the same as LIKING it, but preferring one city over another doesn't make the other a bad city.