Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
me and my daughter i guess, who has had 7 of her 12 softball games cancelled, and 5 of the 8 preseason practices cancelled due to rain or 40 degrees+30mph winds.
after todays cancellation email, i replied ..informing the association that there is some 40 something poster on city data who doesn't mind putting on his bodysuit and mittens and splashing around in the puddles, and that they ned to move to the hmmm dessert. ill let you know if it sways them to putting the game back on.
But realistically, does Pittsburgh really offer that much more than Indy, Louisville, Raleigh, Charlotte, Nashville, Cincinatti, or most of the other places listed above, at approximately the same cost?
It is a good point. I'm sure such places have their strengths, like country music and Nashville. Although you've obviously never been to Indy if you like hills.
Pittsburgh differentiators from these places my perspective? One of the best Universities in the world, 2 other fine ones, the Carnegie and Mellon legacies in arts/museums, a very elegant East End, some delightful green hilly scenery and a pretty spectacular downtown setting, a tolerant population (ie not crazy southern religious stuff), and 'harmless' weather (tornadoes and hurricanes don't rock my boat). 2 of the best sports teams in their genre. And the Pirates
I'm sure there are others I'm unaware of. But all these things contribute to a mix which I hypothesize many other mid-size cities might struggle to match. And I'm sure other places have their differentiators too. And I sure ain't visited them all (and don't intend to).
More very cool decent size cities out west - Boise, ID, Salem and Corvalis, OR, Bellingham, WA. I could live in any of those.
me and my daughter i guess, who has had 7 of her 12 softball games cancelled, and 5 of the 8 preseason practices cancelled due to rain or 40 degrees+30mph winds.
after todays cancellation email, i replied ..informing the association that there is some 40 something poster on city data who doesn't mind putting on his bodysuit and mittens and splashing around in the puddles, and that they ned to move to the hmmm dessert. ill let you know if it sways them to putting the game back on.
I know. I've simply never figured out how the Pirates ever finish a game with this climate. It's simply amazing - I guess they must have a roof on PNC Park, like in Seattle. It's really well disguised though ....
It is a good point. I'm sure such places have their strengths, like country music and Nashville. Although you've obviously never been to Indy if you like hills.
Pittsburgh differentiators from these places my perspective? One of the best Universities in the world, 2 other fine ones, the Carnegie and Mellon legacies in arts/museums, a very elegant East End, some delightful green hilly scenery and a pretty spectacular downtown setting, a tolerant population (ie not crazy southern religious stuff), and 'harmless' weather (tornadoes and hurricanes don't rock my boat). 2 of the best sports teams in their genre. And the Pirates
I'm sure there are others I'm unaware of. But all these things contribute to a mix which I hypothesize many other mid-size cities might struggle to match. And I'm sure other places have their differentiators too. And I sure ain't visited them all (and don't intend to).
More very cool decent size cities out west - Boise, ID, Salem and Corvalis, OR, Bellingham, WA. I could live in any of those.
Boise feels a lot smaller townish than Pittsburgh and it's in the middle of nowhere. I like Boise, but you have to go a long ways to get anywhere else. I think I would feel quite isolated there. I agree with you about the charms of Pittsburgh. It was that combo of things along with cheap housing that appealed to me. I don't know much about Cleveland, Cincinnati, Minneapolis,,, and other midwestern cities that might have appealed to me had I not chosen Pittsburgh. Another deciding factor was that local artist, Laura McLaughlin was such a huge booster of the place. I wanted a city with a good environment for artists. She is from Pittsburgh originally and wouldn't live anywhere else.
Boise feels a lot smaller townish than Pittsburgh and it's in the middle of nowhere. I like Boise, but you have to go a long ways to get anywhere else. I think I would feel quite isolated there.
'Greater' Boise is about 600K people. It is spread out, I agree, and isolated, but pretty cosmopolitan, especially for Idaho . Surroundings are a beautiful, natural wonderland though.
I used to live in Eastern WA so got used to isolation. The highways are fast and empty ...
In my eyes as a PA native who has lived elsewhere and networked with people from across the country Pennsylvania is a state that simply flies under everyone's radar. Nobody really seems to love it. Nobody really seems to hate it. We're just sort of "here". Everyone who wants to traverse from New England to the Mid-Atlantic or Midwest or vice-versa needs to drive through our Commonwealth (we're the "Keystone" State for a reason) but very few venture off the highways, where they largely see nothing of interest. We're the nation's sixth-largest state by population (consistently competing for fifth with Illinois, which passed us by not long ago), but for a "big" state we don't tick off other people the way Californians seem to get under the skin of people in Idaho or Montana or the way NY/NJ residents seem to irk people in Florida or North Carolina (or the way people from TX seem to irk everyone in general).
I don't think many people know very much about PA. I hate to say it, but given the poor public educational system in our nation I'm going to toss it out there and guess that probably half the country thinks Philadelphia is the capital of PA. In my personal opinion PA offers one of the best "bang for your buck" experiences in the country. We're reasonably proximate to the BosWash Corridor (even from here in Western PA), yet we're much more attainably-priced for the middle-class. In PA you can enjoy vineyards in Erie County, immense wilderness in the "PA Wilds" region of North Central PA, cosmopolitan events in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, a tour of a real coal mine in Scranton, skiing at Elk Mountain in Susquehanna County, white-water rafting on the Lehigh River in Jim Thorpe, mountain biking on the Appalachian Trail in the Poconos, a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright-designed homes in the Laurel Highlands, etc.
By most demographic measures we're perfectly "average". We're neither a wealthy nor poor state, overall. Our state's budget is neither bursting at the seams or in danger. We're not very prone to most natural disasters, beyond flooding and (usually) weak tornadoes that cause minimal damage. Our state's residents, overall, are a typical political split of urban Democrats and rural/suburban Republicans. Our median home price isn't far from the national average. We're a bit "whiter" than other states, but we've become increasingly diverse in recent years, especially in Eastern PA cities such as Reading, Allentown, Hazleton, and even Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, which has continued to experience the NJ/NYC power-commuter overflow. Overall this certainly isn't a bad place to live, and I feel fortunate to live here.
Actually, the Philadelphia suburbs trend Democratic, as does all of Allegheny Co, where the majority of residents live in the suburbs. Beaver County used to be solid Democrat as well; not so much any more.
It is a good point. I'm sure such places have their strengths, like country music and Nashville. Although you've obviously never been to Indy if you like hills.
Pittsburgh differentiators from these places my perspective? One of the best Universities in the world, 2 other fine ones, the Carnegie and Mellon legacies in arts/museums, a very elegant East End, some delightful green hilly scenery and a pretty spectacular downtown setting, a tolerant population (ie not crazy southern religious stuff), and 'harmless' weather (tornadoes and hurricanes don't rock my boat). 2 of the best sports teams in their genre. And the Pirates
I'm sure there are others I'm unaware of. But all these things contribute to a mix which I hypothesize many other mid-size cities might struggle to match. And I'm sure other places have their differentiators too. And I sure ain't visited them all (and don't intend to).
More very cool decent size cities out west - Boise, ID, Salem and Corvalis, OR, Bellingham, WA. I could live in any of those.
I think you'd be wrong about much of that in bold.
Let's talk about universities. Below is a link to US News' ranking of the top 400 world universities. CMU is #49, below 18 other US universities, some of which are also in similar sized cities, e.g. MIT and Harvard in the Boston area; Johns Hopkins in Baltimore; some are in smaller cities such as The U of Michigan in Ann Arbor; The University of Wisconsin-Madison in Madison; Yale U in New Haven, CT; Princeton U in Princeton, NJ; Cornell in Ithaca, NY, Duke in Durham, NC; Brown in Providence, RI; etc. Pitt comes in at 98; Duquesne isn't even on the list. The issue is not whether US News has the Holy Grail about this subject; I don't think they do. But many cities have good colleges and universities, including some that are highly rated.
Not all cities are fortunate enough to have had Andrew Carnegie as a benefactor, but virtually all cities have wealthy families who have given money for public facilities. Some examples of cities roughly the same size as Pittsburgh (MSA) that do are Denver (Boettcher, Coors, Gates, etc); Milwaukee (Schlitz and Pabst, etc). Even small cities like Omaha have the Joslyns, the Buffets and others. Many cities also have an attractive location, geographically, again, Denver, also Minneapolis on the Miss. River and home to many lakes; Portland, Seattle, Salt Lake City to name a few around Pittsburgh's size. (SLC is actually quite a bit smaller.)
Every city has a "cool" area where it was always "in" to live, even in the days of rampant suburbanization.
I never got the idea Pittsburgh was so especially"tolerant", not that I think it's particularly intolerant. You have not seen MYOB libertarianism until you have lived in Denver. None of the cities I have mentioned have what you call "crazy southern religious stuff" and since I've never lived in the south, I don't really know what you're talking about. From what I've heard from friends/relatives who have lived in cities in the south, that's not really an issue.
"Harmless" weather is a matter of opinion.
Two of the best sports teams in the genre? Really? Many other cities have had sports teams go to the championships, and also have pro basketball, and even soccer.
In short, Pittsburgh is not unique in the areas you mentioned. What draws people to Pittsburgh and keeps them there is "chemistry". They like it.
I think you'd be wrong about much of that in bold.
...much deleted .. see original post above
I hardly disagree with anything in your post, but the context from OP's post a page back was 'comparing Pittsburgh to mid-size, mid-west cities such as Indy, Nashville, etc'. That's what I was comparing Pittsburgh with. Not Denver, Seattle (your forgot some dudes called Gates and Allen who have given a few bucks away), etc, and not small Ivy League college towns. Apologies if that wasn't clear in my reply - I tried very hard to make it so. Please re-read ...
And the wonderful thing about academic institution rankings is, there's so many to choose from:
I hardly disagree with anything in your post, but the context from OP's post a page back was 'comparing Pittsburgh to mid-size, mid-west cities such as Indy, Nashville, etc'. That's what I was comparing Pittsburgh with. Not Denver, Seattle (your forgot some dudes called Gates and Allen who have given a few bucks away), etc, and not small Ivy League college towns. Apologies if that wasn't clear in my reply - I tried very hard to make it so. Please re-read ...
And the wonderful thing about academic institution rankings is, there's so many to choose from:
But all these things contribute to a mix which I hypothesize many other mid-size cities might struggle to match.
and the OP said:
Quote:
does Pittsburgh really offer that much more than Indy, Louisville, Raleigh, Charlotte, Nashville, Cincinatti, or most of the other places listed above, at approximately the same cost?
By MSA size, Pittsburgh is #22. Denver is #21. The five cities just above Pittsburgh are Denver, Baltimore, St. Louis, Tampa, San Diego and Minneapolis. The next five smaller are Charlotte, Portland, San Antonio, Orlando, and Sacramento. Those are Pittsburgh's peers. Also note my post was not entirely about academics, though several of those cities also have world-class universities.
'Greater' Boise is about 600K people. It is spread out, I agree, and isolated, but pretty cosmopolitan, especially for Idaho . Surroundings are a beautiful, natural wonderland though.
I used to live in Eastern WA so got used to isolation. The highways are fast and empty ...
Great description. I like Boise, don't get me wrong. Surroundings are beautiful, but if you want to get to a major metropolitan area it's a loooooong drive at the very least. I think it would be a good fit for people who like the small city/university town feel and want to be close to nature. If you're looking for a more cosmopolitan, urban vibe, Boise probably isn't for you.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
