Fayette County demographics, economy and politics profiled in Washington Post

[Love2Golf09]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

The only reason Fayette County is even part of the Pittsburgh MSA is because anybody there who has enough motivation to work commutes to a job in Westmoreland County.

It's sad that such a beautiful area is such a giant economic and demographic ball and chain, not just for the Pittsburgh MSA, but for Pennsylvania as well.

There are actually a good bit of people from Fayette County that work in the south hills, especially around west mifflin. From Uniontown to Century III Mall, it would take about 40 mins to commute on Rt.51. Less if they took 43. If someone was working around USC, they could take 43 and get to finleyville in about 30 mins or so, then take another 20-30 mins to get to south hills village. These are not unreasonable commute times compared to someone from Monroeville or Robinson that works downtown.

And, for the record, Fayette County's unemployment rate is right in par with the national average. For all the talk of poverty, WaPo didn't mention that. Strange. I guess it would have given the reader an idea of how bad things are in the rest of the county.

[Mr. Mon]

From the article:

Robert Schiffbauer, who for 34 years has been a supervisor of South Union Township, is one of those Democrats who thinks the party has lurched to the left.

“We’re talking socialism. Literally,” Schiffbauer said. “I fear what its going to be like if Obama’s reelected. The reins are going to be taken off.”...

He talks about conspiratorial forces running the world — the Trilateral Commission, the Council on Foreign Relations, the banking system.

They choose this guy as an example of a disgruntled Democrat?

Truth be told I spend a lot of time in Fayette County, and whenever the conversation turns to national politics I repeatedly hear two reasons why local registered Democrats won't vote for Obama:
1) They think he's a socialist.
2) He's a *****

Guess which one I hear the most often?


Anyway, demographics trump party affiliation any day of the week. And the demographics of Fayette are not exactly friendly to a candidate like Obama.

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by Mr. Mon

Anyway, demographics trump party affiliation any day of the week. And the demographics of Fayette are not exactly friendly to a candidate like Obama.

It's not really like the republicans are gaining votes there as between
2004 & 2008 votes for republicans increased by a whole 624 votes (25,045 vs 25,669).

[Mr. Mon]

Originally Posted by UKyank

It's not really like the republicans are gaining votes there as between
2004 & 2008 votes for republicans increased by a whole 624 votes (25,045 vs 25,669).

True. This is just a hunch on my part, but I think voter turnout in areas demographically like Fayette County is going to be at a historic low this November. Many don't see the benefit in voting Republican as it's so contrary to their past and there is no way they are voting for Obama.

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

How about a straight up trade of Fayette County for Monongalia County?

Can we? But in all seriousness, Fayette really isn't a nice place at all to me. I have no problem with the commenters calling out anyone who thinks of Obama as a Communist as an ignorant idiot.

[Craziaskowboi]

Honestly, I don't want to trade Fallingwater, Ohiopyle or the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort to West Virginia, but maybe that's just me. Those are all great assets for Pennsylvania, and they're located in Fayette County. The trashy part of the county is basically in a triangle with the corners at Uniontown, Brownsville and Mt. Pleasant.

As for racism, give it another 20 years. About 20 years ago, Pittsburgh was "the most racist city EVAR!!!," but race relations have improved noticeably since then, especially within the last 10 years. Maybe some of that is due to displacement from Pittsburgh (and Allegheny County) to outlying counties, but just as the region is being reborn from the inside out, attitudes will change from the inside out too.

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

Can we? But in all seriousness, Fayette really isn't a nice place at all to me. I have no problem with the commenters calling out anyone who thinks of Obama as a Communist as an ignorant idiot.

I think there are lots of beautiful areas (and alot of history) in Fayette C that would be silly to disassociate with just because of a disagreement over politics.

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

Honestly, I don't want to trade Fallingwater, Ohiopyle or the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort to West Virginia, but maybe that's just me. Those are all great assets for Pennsylvania, and they're located in Fayette County. The trashy part of the county is basically in a triangle with the corners at Uniontown, Brownsville and Mt. Pleasant.

As for racism, give it another 20 years. About 20 years ago, Pittsburgh was "the most racist city EVAR!!!," but race relations have improved noticeably since then, especially within the last 10 years. Maybe some of that is due to displacement from Pittsburgh (and Allegheny County) to outlying counties, but just as the region is being reborn from the inside out, attitudes will change from the inside out too.

I hope you're kidding becuase that's not true by any means.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

I hope you're kidding becuase that's not true by any means.

Of course it's not true, but that didn't prevent people from saying it was anyway. I was being sarcastic because I remember the old message boards at Pittsburgh.com, The Pittsburgh Channel and the Tribune-Review, and many people sincerely believed that it was the most racist major city in the United States.

Everything that I typed in the second part of this post can be applied to Pittsburgh as well.

[BrianTH]

We could keep visitation rights . . .