Places that some (not all) Pittsburghers ridicule (Philadelphia, Martinsburg: rental car, condo)

[PreservationPioneer]

Center City Philadelphia is the most beautiful large city I have been to. It has more charm than Manhattan, in my opinion. I'll take Rittenhouse Square over Washington Square.

[ryanm3685]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

This forum attracts urban planning aficionados and traditional urban sprawl haters such as myself, alleghenyangel, BrianTH, Gnutella, etc. whereas the general population thinks tearing down a large swath of pristine woodlands for a new Wal-Mart and Applebee's in the exurbs is "progress".

If they call more Wal-Marts and Applebees progress that's embarrassing; aren't there enough of those places as it is? Form your own damn identity! With that said, I think you might be overgeneralizing the population at large. Sure, Cranberry has had the largest amount of growth in our metro, but that doesn't mean the population that settles there is monolithic (other than race...for now-even the Cranberry report acknowledges that a large Hispanic population is in this country's future). As my dad says, people move out to those areas for different reasons, some of them being lower taxes, an escape from the perceived "rat race" of an urban core (but why would you move near Route 19, as that in itself can be a rat race, but I digress), more land, and so on.

Besides, the "move further out" model may be slowly winding down. Without going into much detail, we see more people willing to reinvigorate urban cores like Lawrenceville, East Liberty, and Downtown. I'm not saying that further out developments will imminently collapse in 50 years, but I think their spreading out further out will slow, but not stop, for various reasons. I don't see Pittsburgh getting to the point of Washington DC or New York City where the overall metro will sprawl two hours away from our core. Pittsburgh is a robust city, but not to the point that we'll attract so many people (at least in the next five years?) that we would have to expand two hours away from our core.

[Herodotus]

Originally Posted by ryanm3685

If they call more Wal-Marts and Applebees progress that's embarrassing; aren't there enough of those places as it is? Form your own damn identity! With that said, I think you might be overgeneralizing the population at large. Sure, Cranberry has had the largest amount of growth in our metro, but that doesn't mean the population that settles there is monolithic (other than race...for now-even the Cranberry report acknowledges that a large Hispanic population is in this country's future). As my dad says, people move out to those areas for different reasons, some of them being lower taxes, an escape from the perceived "rat race" of an urban core (but why would you move near Route 19, as that in itself can be a rat race, but I digress), more land, and so on.

Besides, the "move further out" model may be slowly winding down. Without going into much detail, we see more people willing to reinvigorate urban cores like Lawrenceville, East Liberty, and Downtown. I'm not saying that further out developments will imminently collapse in 50 years, but I think their spreading out further out will slow, but not stop, for various reasons. I don't see Pittsburgh getting to the point of Washington DC or New York City where the overall metro will sprawl two hours away from our core. Pittsburgh is a robust city, but not to the point that we'll attract so many people (at least in the next five years?) that we would have to expand two hours away from our core.

DC sprawl is actually beginning to reach Hagerstown, which is insane. I can't imagine that it could reach Cumberland, which has always been seen more as the outer reaches of the Pittsburgh region, as opposed to DC.

[bradjl2009]

Places I generally hear people talk about negatively or dislike are Philly, Ohio, Cleveland, Fayette County, and Buffalo. Places that most Pittsburghers tend to like it seems include any major beach town, New York City, Toronto, Erie, and the Laurel Highlands.

[Velvet Jones]

Originally Posted by Herodotus

DC sprawl is actually beginning to reach Hagerstown, which is insane. I can't imagine that it could reach Cumberland, which has always been seen more as the outer reaches of the Pittsburgh region, as opposed to DC.

I can imagine that happening if a good high-speed rail line every comes to the area. I was in Winchester, VA a couple of months ago. That is basically a DC suburb now, with daily shuttles running to the Dulles area. Tons of new homes and condos being built.

[Tirade]

Originally Posted by Herodotus

DC sprawl is actually beginning to reach Hagerstown, which is insane. I can't imagine that it could reach Cumberland, which has always been seen more as the outer reaches of the Pittsburgh region, as opposed to DC.

I remember reading a Washington Post article years ago about some Pennsylvania bordertown that was full of DC commuters. They called it the region's furthest exurb.

[Herodotus]

Originally Posted by Tirade

I remember reading a Washington Post article years ago about some Pennsylvania bordertown that was full of DC commuters. They called it the region's furthest exurb.

If they had built Maglev between Pittsburgh and DC, we might have become another suburb of DC, like Baltimore has !! (just kidding)

[Q-tip motha]

Originally Posted by ryanm3685

When I was younger I remember a fierce rivalry between the Steelers and the Browns (their first incarnation before they moved to Baltimore). In fact, riding on the Liberty Bridge I remember seeing a huge crane holding a dummy dressed in a Browns uniform - probably meant to look like a lynching! It seemed like our division rivalry then, and up until a few years ago, made a few people in Pittsburgh irrationally hate Cleveland, even though they may not have necessarily visited there. These days, I feel like not many people in Pittsburgh pay any mind to Cleveland, positive or negative. My hypothesis is that this is due to the fact that Baltimore has replaced Cleveland as our biggest adversary. So do you think this was just a football rivalry all along, and nothing truly against Cleveland?

Another place that seems to attract some people's ire around here is Philadelphia. I've heard it called Filthadelphia at least once. Granted, I do remember being in Center City and hearing a dad tell his son, "Get out of there, that's a pee corner!" Then again, it's not like certain back streets of Oakland (I'm looking at you Atwood!) are ultra clean either, so Philly may have equal leverage in calling us dirty too. Do you think there is a widespread dislike against Philly here? And if so, could it be (real or perceived) filthiness, the Flyers/Pens rivalry, possible inferiority complex, etc?

But I think West Virginia gets it the worst from certain segments of our population. It seems like you always hear jokes about how in West Virginia, "his father was also his grandfather," "her aunt was also her grandmother," and so on. I even remember there being some casting call for some "mountain people" for a Pittsburgh show, and they asked for some kind of eerie look. Any one else remember this show? People from and around West Virginia wrote livid letters to our local newspapers. Sometimes it seems like some people here don't want to acknowledge the connections we have with this state. Almost like they don't want to be called the Paris of you know what. Any of you have any thoughts on this, or examples of other places you've heard get a lot of hell around here?

I am from West Virginia. I am well spoken, educated, and lacking a distinguishable accent. I am a former chef who can and does regularly feed my family food that is better than many of the restaurants in town. Without sounding too arrogant, we eat better than most of the people in this country.

...and I've had coworkers here in town in the corporate office that I work in tell our new hires that I f--k my family members. I generally laugh it off and assume its some form of compensation on their part.


Unlike most WVians I've managed to let go of the inferiority complex that you tend to develop growing up when everyone in the country (including your relatives from out of state...Ohioans are just as bad as people in this area, don't get me started about Virginia) have only negative things to say about you and your community.

I like living here (most days), but this will always be home. All 400 acres of it that my family has owned since 1863):




Cleveland is quite nice, and I could see myself living there (although I prefer the burgh). Baltimore I've never really been to, but the people I've known who are from there don't paint too rosy a picture. Philly has its decent points.

[Garvdog]

Originally Posted by ryanm3685

If they call more Wal-Marts and Applebees progress that's embarrassing; aren't there enough of those places as it is? Form your own damn identity! With that said, I think you might be overgeneralizing the population at large. Sure, Cranberry has had the largest amount of growth in our metro, but that doesn't mean the population that settles there is monolithic (other than race...for now-even the Cranberry report acknowledges that a large Hispanic population is in this country's future). As my dad says, people move out to those areas for different reasons, some of them being lower taxes, an escape from the perceived "rat race" of an urban core (but why would you move near Route 19, as that in itself can be a rat race, but I digress), more land, and so on.

Besides, the "move further out" model may be slowly winding down. Without going into much detail, we see more people willing to reinvigorate urban cores like Lawrenceville, East Liberty, and Downtown. I'm not saying that further out developments will imminently collapse in 50 years, but I think their spreading out further out will slow, but not stop, for various reasons. I don't see Pittsburgh getting to the point of Washington DC or New York City where the overall metro will sprawl two hours away from our core. Pittsburgh is a robust city, but not to the point that we'll attract so many people (at least in the next five years?) that we would have to expand two hours away from our core.

A lot of the city dwellers like to pretend that the only reason people live in the suburbs is because they are xenophobic, obsessed with owning as much property as possible, or afraid of living near other human beings. Yet they seem to ignore one of the biggest reasons- children. Kids need good schools. City of Pittsburgh, with one or two possible exceptions, does not offer them and their SD is in financial ruin. Many Pittsburgh exurbs, however, offer excellent schools. And yes, in general you do get more property for your money- which is nice if you have kids that need to sleep and play somewhere. Also, moms in general like modern home layouts where they can prepare dinner while keeping an eye on the kids in the family room. Traditional early 20th century homes are not designed that way. Not every parent can afford to own a big old house in Shadyside, renovate it, and send their kids to private schools.

[Tallysmom]

We spent our wedding night in Cleveland... set the tone for the whole marriage. And yes -- that's a joke, it's been 29 years this year.

And as for hating Philadelphia... I can remember clearly when I was young, tons of bad parking tickets were issued by Philly in an attempt to extort money. But the morons who thought it up just picked out random plates and a lot of them were issued to Pittsburghers who could prove they weren't in Philly at the time so it blew up in their faces.

Add that to the MOVE bombing incident -- where the mayor basically blew up a city block to stop radical movement -- yep -- had the police BOMB a house and burned down an entire block displacing 60 families and killing 11 or 12 people.

If those two reasons aren't enough to hate Philly with a passion... I bring to the table Elton John's "Philadelphia Freedom".