I am tired of hearing how great Pittsburgh is! (tornado, dangerous)

[Lobick]

Originally Posted by ThumbingMyWay

According to most folks on here, if they could afford living comfortably on the west coast (as I assume your boss could, being highly educated and well traveled), they would have said the same thing to you.

Not me...but before I lived out there for four years I probably would have.

[Goodjules]

Originally Posted by gortonator

6 months ago when I told my old boss I was moving to Pittsburgh, she said. "Pittsburgh? really?". She then called her boss in and he said "You really want to live in Pittsburgh? Really?"

These are highly educated, well traveled west coast folks. Who obviously don't read 'most liveable' surveys

I was one of the West Coast folks you described. I honestly thought there was nowhere else on the planet that I could live happily outside of San Francisco. It wasn't until I got married that I moved out of San Francisco to the Peninsula which opened my mind to the greater SF Bay Area. I was very provincial. Imagine my amazement when I discovered that cities other than New York, Paris, Rome, and the rest of the world's iconic cities actually had something to offer. I was in my late 30s when I came to the realization that there were other American cities that were just fine. And many years after that when I was contemplating divorce I knew I would have to choose one of those "other" cities if I was going to survive financially. Lucky for me I didn't have my old notions about the rest of the country by the time I had to start looking for a new home or I wouldn't have been able to see places with an open mind.

[gortonator]

Originally Posted by ThumbingMyWay

According to most folks on here, if they could afford living comfortably on the west coast (as I assume your boss could, being highly educated and well traveled), they would have said the same thing to you.

where I lived was more affordable than Pittsburgh, believe it or not.

Not everywhere west of the Rockies is SF-style expensive.

[dbsteel]

Originally Posted by PinkFlowerGarden

The most overrated city I have ever visited. There is one "famous" street full of bars/restaurants. That is it. You are spot on with the suburb comment. I'm not sure why creative musician types would even consider the town because it is so boring.

I lived in Austin for 12 years, and it went from kind of cool little peaceful college town, to congested mess filled with cookie cutter houses and strip malls. Construction everywhere. What a mess. Not a bad place to live, but certainly not a "top fiver" as every magazine would tell you. Amenities were debatable. If you brought the negatives up on a forum like this, you would get slammed and told over and over again about some lame park or quirky one block section of street with cool coffee shops and lame live music.

So to many people it was great, and they defend it because they live there, and that is probably how Pittsburgh, or (Fill in the blank) is to other people.

[ThumbingMyWay]

Originally Posted by Lobick

With regard to the "topic of the thread", it seems to me that you're arguing two distinct things; (1) Pittsburgh doesn't deserve its numerous accolades and recent puff pieces since it isn't particualry distinct or demonstrably better (however measured) than many other cities and (2) that Pittsburgh isn't a particularly great place to live and has dissappointed you.

That would be correct. Again, I never once said that I agree with the rest of the world's population that Pittsburgh is not the best city in the world.

The former is largely immaterial to me since they're not my rankings and I've authored no such articles although, depending on methodology, it is always comforting to find you own perceptions line up with more rigorous analyses.

My final point of my previous post revolved around the second argument. There's no reason to expound on it further, since it appears to have fallen largely on deaf ears but suffice to say, the point was that, in twenty years you may look back on your time in Pittsburgh and conclude that it had far more going for it than you appreciated at the time. Perhaps not.

Perhaps I may, perhaps not. I will find that out for myself one day.

Here is why I think your comment of insignificant and a little irrelevant: it didn't fall on deaf ears, I just think it's premature to dismiss my opinions since I haven't lived in multiple states. Of course 20 years from now I may look back and conclude I didn't give Pittsburgh enough credit.

Of course in 20 years folks who have landed in Pittsburgh in recent years (or recent months like gortonator - no offense ) may look back and regret leaving where they came from.

[AaronPGH]

I've found that Pittsburgh is a place that grows into you. I hated it here and was counting down the days until I could get out when I first arrived. And then the whole city seemed to open up slowly once I found my place. There are so many amazing under-the-radar things going on around here and an "I can do anything here" energy that the young creative crowd has. I travel almost once a month for dj gigs all around the US, and honestly some of the underground music sub-scenes going on here smoke almost every other city in the country. Maybe not in size, but in quality and creativity. It's all super inspiring to me. There's a lot of stuff people are doing here that they couldn't get away with anywhere else in the US, but it took me years to find all of it. I think it's just a city you have to work at to unlock. A lot of people don't have the patience for it. Friends who come into town for shows/parties/VIA are shocked at what's happening here, and some have even moved here (or are making their plans to) because of it.

I'm aware that we definitely have our problems, but we are punching way above our weight in some really great categories these days.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by ThumbingMyWay

I don't mean to turn this into strictly a Nashville vs Pittsburgh post, but since it is a city I am pretty familiar with, I will say it has everything you like about Pittsburgh (and even does many things better in my opinion). For example: they have a top university with Vanderbilt, a very large arts/museums presence, elegant areas (around the west end, Franklin, and others), green scenery north of the city and beautiful countryside surrounding, a more spectacular downtown, and there's not any 'crazy southern religion' or harmful weather (tornados seem to miss the area).

Oh really now?



By the way, nearly half the tornadoes that strike Tennessee occur at night. In fact, Tennessee has a higher rate of nocturnal tornadoes than any other state.



Sleep tight in Nashville.

[ThumbingMyWay]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

Oh really now?

By the way, nearly half the tornadoes that strike Tennessee occur at night. In fact, Tennessee has a higher rate of nocturnal tornadoes than any other state.


Sleep tight in Nashville.

I'll admit to not doing any research on that and downplaying the tornado risk. I just have never heard of any tornados tearing up TN compared to OK, Kansas, Iowa, Texas, Nebraska, etc...

[goodgirl49]

Originally Posted by juliegt

I was one of the West Coast folks you described. I honestly thought there was nowhere else on the planet that I could live happily outside of San Francisco. It wasn't until I got married that I moved out of San Francisco to the Peninsula which opened my mind to the greater SF Bay Area. I was very provincial. Imagine my amazement when I discovered that cities other than New York, Paris, Rome, and the rest of the world's iconic cities actually had something to offer. I was in my late 30s when I came to the realization that there were other American cities that were just fine. And many years after that when I was contemplating divorce I knew I would have to choose one of those "other" cities if I was going to survive financially. Lucky for me I didn't have my old notions about the rest of the country by the time I had to start looking for a new home or I wouldn't have been able to see places with an open mind.

It's good that you are as open minded as you are! Many people wouldn't probably wouldn't move from the Bay Area/CA even if they were really hurting financially. It's great that you chose to move to Pittsburgh despite having no family or friends living in the area.

[gortonator]

Originally Posted by ThumbingMyWay

Of course in 20 years folks who have landed in Pittsburgh in recent years (or recent months like gortonator - no offense ) may look back and regret leaving where they came from.

I won't be here forever, I assure you. Sydney is my home town, and is a truly wonderful city in almost all aspects - apart from the skiing accessibility I'd visited Pittsburgh several times for work over the last 15 years before moving here, so didn't move here just because of the hype. If it was a dullsville crap hole, I'd never have taken the job.

How long I'll be here, who knows? I sure don't. But I'll enjoy it immensely it while I am here, which I am finding extremely easy to do .... in fact it sounds like I've been out and about seeing the sights in 4 months a lot more than you have since you arrived - no offense

Off to the 3 Rivers Festival ... there's some fine bands on this week. And all free ....