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Old 03-24-2012, 09:26 PM
 
Location: Cumberland County, NJ
8,631 posts, read 12,959,988 times
Reputation: 5766

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Quote:
Originally Posted by luabear View Post
your message made me very worried for you. It seems like you are a very unhappy person with a lot of problems. Please seek psychological help. People this unhappy in one city are unhappy in every city. I hope you are able to seek the help you need to be happy in your life. Pittsburgh is not your problem...
:d

 
Old 03-24-2012, 09:27 PM
 
1,183 posts, read 2,140,623 times
Reputation: 1584
The fact that you use South Oakland as some sort of expected cultural touchstone indicates to me that you're kind of hilariously clueless.

I never understand the point of these purely mean-spirited rants. Plenty of people don't like the place where they live -- you need to harbor some unhealthy aggression to feel the need to publicize it. If you're so far superior to your surroundings, I don't see the need to insult everyone else on your way out. Just leave. No one will care.
 
Old 03-24-2012, 10:41 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
6,327 posts, read 9,126,215 times
Reputation: 4048
Wow somebody is rather rude and bitter for such a young age. It seems like you have some issues for sure. The problem is definitely you and doesn't have anything to do with Pittsburgh.
 
Old 03-24-2012, 10:48 PM
 
Location: The canyon (with my pistols and knife)
14,176 posts, read 22,666,318 times
Reputation: 17373
Quote:
Originally Posted by Icamefromhell View Post
Pittsburgh sucks!
I thought the last of you and your ilk died in 2006. Your post sounds like the kind of rant I would have expected a decade ago. I guess I was wrong.
 
Old 03-24-2012, 10:54 PM
 
248 posts, read 325,583 times
Reputation: 145
Quote:
Originally Posted by marshalt View Post
Mean and bitter people?
We visited Pittsburgh two weeks ago to get a feel for a few neighborhoods that we might want to move to. On the edge of Dormont we pulled into an empty church parking lot to change my son's diaper, and spent a few minutes walking around the parking lot with him to settle him down.

After 10 minutes or so a woman came out of the house next to the parking lot and said that she saw us through her window and couldn't help but come out to say hi to the baby (babies are such great ambassadors ). We told her that we were in town to look around and were thinking of moving to Pittsburgh, after which she spent the next hour and a half talking to us in that parking lot about Dormont and the city. At one point she went back into her house to write down some contacts she had at Carnegie Mellon that might be job leads for me. We left with two index cards full of names and organizations that could help us with housing and employment if we moved.

It was dark at that point, and we never ended up seeing Dormont. Instead we spent the drive back talking about how amazing it was that someone would spend that much time helping complete strangers that they would probably never see again.
 
Old 03-24-2012, 11:00 PM
 
248 posts, read 325,583 times
Reputation: 145
To the OP:

It's often hard to appreciate a city until you've lived somewhere else and have a solid comparison. You should move and try out a few different cities while you're young. My guess is that you'll see Pittsburgh in a new light after a few years away.
 
Old 03-24-2012, 11:03 PM
 
Location: Marshall-Shadeland, Pittsburgh, PA
32,613 posts, read 77,439,770 times
Reputation: 19101
The OP is entitled to his opinion, and I don't believe we should ostracize him for it, as doing so would only serve to make him feel even more alienated in the process. City-Data was intended by its creator(s) to be a venue where everyone could talk about cities----statistics, demographics, economic development news, current events, relocation-oriented advice, or even just to meet new people in your community. Opinions held by one individual will not necessarily conform to those held by the majority, and that's perfectly fine; not all of us are going to see eye-to-eye.

The OP reminds me a lot of myself of how I felt about my tenure in Northern Virginia (NoVA). During that timeframe I was intensely depressed, miserable, and inconsolable for a variety of factors ranging from homesickness, constant romantic rejection, loneliness, feeling "trapped" in a job I hated, etc. I could do nothing but focus on the negatives of the area---the hostile Type-A personalities, the traffic congestion, the ugly urban sprawl, the astronomical cost-of-living relative to entry-level salaries, the dense concentration of illegal immigrants, the "Fed" culture, the horrible snow removal, etc., etc. I never stopped to consider the region's many positives---the natural beauty, the underground utilities, the lack of potholes, the lack of litter, the welcoming houses of worship, the low violent crime rate, the literate population, the free cultural amenities, the excellent mass transit system, etc., etc. because I just became transfixed on the negatives. I feel as if the OP is also depressed right now and is likewise displacing his frustrations onto the area in which he resides, much as I did when I was depressed in NoVA.

OP, I wish you nothing but the best of luck in life, but I personally don't think Pittsburgh made you this way. I've found this city to be the most unpretentious, kindest, and friendliest place I've ever had the pleasure of residing within. Yes, we're replete with Steelers-obsessed morons, litter, potholes, mullets, and xenophobes. In just a year-and-a-half I've also encountered more brilliant individuals here than I can recall. I suggest you visit Squirrel Hill some Friday evening and people-watch. You'll be amazed at what you see. You'll observe a woman playing her violin near the Manor Theater while elderly Jewish couples go to see a liberal documentary. You'll see Asian-American families enjoying cuisine at How Lee. You'll see gay couples painting ceramics together. You'll see children of all walks of life playing jump rope and hopscotch together on nearby residential streets. You'll see a visiting college professor from Kenya sitting at Starbucks typing up her latest scientific publication on their laptop while eating a cake pop. You'll see a man propose to his high school sweetheart through the windows of Bangkok Balcony. You'll see a single mother getting off the bus and heading into Rite-Aid to pick up Robitussin for her sick son. You'll see Mark from Murray Avenue Grill, Viktor from Coriander, Randi from PNC Bank, or many other well-known faces waving to you and wishing you well. You'll see people lining up for a free Italian ice at Rita's on the first day of Spring. Pittsburgh feels like a true community to me, and for that reason alone I've decided that this is where I want to settle down and raise my family, despite the economic struggles I've endured to live in a city whose "hype" as of late is causing a rapid cost-of-living appreciation.

Pittsburgh offers much more than people truly give it credit for. My partner and I visited Cleveland for the first time on St. Patrick's Day, and our experience was so bad overall that I left in tears and wish never to return. Now THAT is a city that most certainly "sucks" in comparison to Pittsburgh.
 
Old 03-24-2012, 11:47 PM
 
Location: About 10 miles north of Pittsburgh International
2,458 posts, read 4,194,006 times
Reputation: 2374
Quote:
Pittsburgh sucks...the end. If you got offended by this...tough luck...you didn't have to come in this thread, you didn't have to respond to this thread, you didn't have to read any of my words, but yet...you did...why is that?

Actually, I quit after the first three paragraphs or so, read the replies, and then came back and skimmed over the rest, til I got to something worth responding to.

I hope venting your spleen has made you feel better.
 
Old 03-25-2012, 12:04 AM
 
783 posts, read 2,017,626 times
Reputation: 657
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelCityRising View Post
Pittsburgh offers much more than people truly give it credit for. My partner and I visited Cleveland for the first time on St. Patrick's Day, and our experience was so bad overall that I left in tears and wish never to return. Now THAT is a city that most certainly "sucks" in comparison to Pittsburgh.
I really hope that you were joking about leaving in tears, otherwise you need to seriously man up. Homosexual or not, there is no reason for a grown man to be crying like a little girl. That's just embarrassing...and it gives us real yinzers a bad rep. The last time I was brought to tears was when Hines Ward broke Keith Rivers' jaw. Yeah, seeing it was that beautiful.
 
Old 03-25-2012, 12:23 AM
 
Location: Kittanning
4,692 posts, read 9,011,419 times
Reputation: 3668
Quote:
Originally Posted by Icamefromhell View Post
but Pittsburgh isn't about doing your own thing. It's very conformist (which is something I found out really quick) and if one doesn't follow with the crowd, they;ll just be alone and miserable. Which is how I've felt living in this city...alone and miserable.
I read your post and this was the main theme that I agree with you on. I have also noticed a lot of conformity in Pittsburgh, but is it exclusive to Pittsburgh? I don't know.

There are some things I dislike about Pittsburgh, mainly the separation of the "nice" neighborhoods from downtown, and the general topography of the city, which discourages walking between different parts of the city. When I visited Baltimore and Buffalo, there were many nice neighborhoods in the core that were integrated into the urban fabric of the city, all easily walkable to downtown. Here in Pittsburgh, all of the neighborhoods are rather chopped up, by highways, rivers, mountains, and vast stretches of ghetto (mainly, the Hill District). You could walk between Shadyside/ Oakland and Downtown, or South Side and Downtown, or the War Streets and Downtown, but it's not very practical or convenient. Walking from Allentown (Buffalo's Shadyside) to Downtown Buffalo, or Mount Vernon (Baltimore's Shadyside) to Downtown Baltimore, is a breeze, and a beautiful walk. In those cities, there is a lot more residential within walking distance to downtown, so you don't have to be wealthy to afford to live in the city center.

It's getting to the point in Pittsburgh that you have to make six figures in order to enjoy living in a decent neighborhood in the city center. The whole point of me moving to Pittsburgh in 2007 was that it represented an affordable urban living experience, but now it only offers an affordable urban suburb or inner-city ghetto living experience.

Last edited by PreservationPioneer; 03-25-2012 at 12:34 AM..
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