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Old 04-29-2014, 10:52 AM
 
Location: Awkward Manor
2,576 posts, read 3,072,367 times
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Good luck to you, Maast!
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Old 04-29-2014, 11:04 AM
 
912 posts, read 1,722,174 times
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Sure I'll give it a go.

Things I liked:
  • The many views of the city Agree
  • The bridges I like walking across the Clemente Bridge to Pirates games. Other than that I'm pretty indifferent
  • Oakland is a pleasant neighborhood Agree! I really like Oakland. To me, it has the most "big city" feel of any neighborhood
  • Kebab places Don't eat them often, but they are good. I love me a late-night gyro from Mike & Tony's
  • Some of the museums I've only been to the Carnegie ones, but I've enjoyed them
  • Not many rednecks seemingly Not in the city, but I've seen plenty in the surrounding burbs
  • Nice churches and a diversity of churches (e.g. Eastern Orthodox)Not religious, but I can appreciate the architecture of the old chuches
  • City seems to be pretty tolerant to other races and religionsAgree
  • City is growing and developing continuously, hi-tech is increasingCan't argue with the facts

Things I didn't like:
  • The transportation systemYES! My #1 flaw with the city. It's near impossible to get from neighborhood to neighborhood efficiently with public transit. Far too car dependent
  • Not a lot of diversity (e.g. very few latinos)Agree. Wish we had more Mexican restaurants as well
  • Food in general is so-soI'm split on this. The food scene is definitely growing here. I'm not a fine diner, so I can't really comment on that aspect, but I found plenty of good, cheap options
  • Downtown is pretty dead, not much to doAgree. I'll stop in Macy's or eat in Market Square before a Pirates game, but that's about it.
  • Airport is declining and expensive to fly fromAgree
  • Not very good food selection in the supermarkets - never liked Giant EagleGiant Eagle is the WORST. Way over-priced. I miss Kroger back in Ohio. I shop exclusively at Aldi, Trader Joe's and the Strip now.
  • Can't get a decent bagel or pizzaPizza is awful here. 99% of it is the same thin, bland stuff. I miss the pizza in Youngstown. It has a thicker crust. Not deep-dish, but the slice doesn't flop in your hand when you pick it up.
  • Not many eventsSomewhat agree. The longer I live here, the more unique events I find.
  • You get a bit bored of the city after a whileI can see this.

I won't complain about the weather because we get the exact same weather in NJ!
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Old 04-29-2014, 11:05 AM
 
Location: Virginia
18,717 posts, read 30,948,293 times
Reputation: 42988
Quote:
Originally Posted by EveKendall View Post
This is a sincere question from someone trying to understand U.S. culture: why would more Latinos make a city better? I ask because I see a lot of this type of comments here, and this is not soemthing that Europeans worry about so much (e.g., Italians never sit around wishing there were more French people). i sincerely find this curious. In my neighborhood I regularly hear people speaking Yiddish, Russian, Polish, and even Italian, but there seems to be a type of diversity that is better, and it seems to be Hispanic/Latino.

I don't mean to derail the thread, I just find these comments puzzling and I want to understand. I wish you luck Maast.
I think it may be an American thing. We like variety, and think that the fusion of different cultures produces many great innovations. Not to mention good food! We like having lots of different ways of thinking, a large variety of cultural activities, and stores/restaurants selling all sorts of things from around the world. In school they teach kids to be proud that America is considered "the melting pot" of the world.

I don't know that one sort of diversity is considered better than another--not really sure what might be giving you that impression, but maybe some people prefer influences from around the world as opposed to mostly from Europe? Or maybe the people you meet have put a preference on Hispanic/Latino because it's not well represented in Pittsburgh (and thus more interesting/valuable).

On the street where I used to live in Nova, we had several families from India, Argentina, the Middle East, and Asia. Then a family from Moscow moved in, and everybody wanted to meet them. Are people from Moscow any more exotic or interesting than people from Bombay or people from Buenos Aires? Of course not, it was just that we hadn't had people from that part of the world living on our street before and so they seemed somehow more interesting (or at least they did when they first moved in, then they just became part of the 'hood like everyone else and the next family moving in got all the attention).

Last edited by Caladium; 04-29-2014 at 11:25 AM..
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Old 04-29-2014, 11:09 AM
 
912 posts, read 1,722,174 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EveKendall View Post
This is a sincere question from someone trying to understand U.S. culture: why would more Latinos make a city better? I ask because I see a lot of this type of comments here, and this is not soemthing that Europeans worry about so much (e.g., Italians never sit around wishing there were more French people). i sincerely find this curious. In my neighborhood I regularly hear people speaking Yiddish, Russian, Polish, and even Italian, but there seems to be a type of diversity that is better, and it seems to be Hispanic/Latino.

I don't mean to derail the thread, I just find these comments puzzling and I want to understand. I wish you luck Maast.
Because they bring delicious food. Also, from my experience with Hispanic communities in other cities, they are proud of their culture, and bring that same sense of pride to the neighborhoods they reside. It leads to nice communities with lots of great shops and restaurants catering to the Hispanic population, along with us gringos.

Did I mention the food? We need more taquerias here.
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Old 04-29-2014, 11:16 AM
gg
 
Location: Pittsburgh
26,137 posts, read 25,758,585 times
Reputation: 17378
Quote:
Originally Posted by Maast;34576891
Things I didn't like:[LIST
[*]The transportation system[*]Not a lot of diversity (e.g. very few latinos)[*]Food in general is so-so[*]Downtown is pretty dead, not much to do[*]Airport is declining and expensive to fly from[*]Not very good food selection in the supermarkets - never liked Giant Eagle[*]Can't get a decent bagel or pizza[*]Not many events[*]You get a bit bored of the city after a while[/list]
I won't complain about the weather because we get the exact same weather in NJ!
Sounds like Pittsburgh isn't a big enough city for you. I can understand that, if you are used to using NYC as your city. NJ around NYC in general has better food than Pittsburgh. We have come a long way, but still have a long way to go. We have NO good pizza. I am not sure why. Some folks from NYC say it is the water, but I think we don't have access to better cheese because most all places use PennMac, which is subpar. Also, Pittsburgh seems to like a sweet sauce on their pizzas, which I think tastes pretty bad.
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Old 04-29-2014, 11:18 AM
 
Location: The canyon (with my pistols and knife)
14,169 posts, read 22,574,016 times
Reputation: 17323
Quote:
Originally Posted by EveKendall View Post
This is a sincere question from someone trying to understand U.S. culture: why would more Latinos make a city better? I ask because I see a lot of this type of comments here, and this is not soemthing that Europeans worry about so much (e.g., Italians never sit around wishing there were more French people). i sincerely find this curious. In my neighborhood I regularly hear people speaking Yiddish, Russian, Polish, and even Italian, but there seems to be a type of diversity that is better, and it seems to be Hispanic/Latino.

I don't mean to derail the thread, I just find these comments puzzling and I want to understand. I wish you luck Maast.
I think the main reason is two-fold: 1) Lots of people misconstrue a lack of racial diversity with racism on the part of the predominant race. 2) Nobody wants to be labeled racist. Because of these two factors, lots of people try to promote and embrace racial diversity.

With that said, there are three advantages to having racial diversity: 1) There's more exposure to different cultures. 2) Those of a minority race or ethnicity won't feel so alone. 3) There's a wider variety of food to eat.
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Old 04-29-2014, 11:39 AM
gg
 
Location: Pittsburgh
26,137 posts, read 25,758,585 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gnutella View Post
2) Those of a minority race or ethnicity won't feel so alone.
I think it has everything to do with this. There is a TON of diversity in Pittsburgh, but if it isn't Latino or some race that isn't white, it doesn't count. I hear one heck of a lot of languages spoken every day in East Liberty. A lot of Russian, Italian, Spanish, English, Chinese, Japanese and French. I have heard Estonian, Portuguese, Polish, Swedish, Turkish and others. It is all about the color of one's skin in the US of A for some reason. People label everyone on that, not true diversity. I always found that very odd, but I spent a lot of time in Europe, so my view is quite different than the color only people here. People in Europe would call African Americans, "Americans". Why wouldn't they?

Last edited by gg; 04-29-2014 at 12:09 PM..
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Old 04-29-2014, 11:42 AM
 
2,369 posts, read 2,893,127 times
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I agree with the op in 99.9% of his pros and cons, except that I am latino and ive had some east end racist remarks said about me when they thought I wouldn't hear them.

ive come to conclude that my personality is not the best fit for this area. philly id fit in, but not this city as much as I like it, which is why ill be headed back to the DC area and well.. live life.

I sure noticied all the darn pollen when I visited VA last week though. damn missed PGH for that lol.
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Old 04-29-2014, 11:46 AM
 
1,947 posts, read 2,230,755 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Caladium View Post
Are people from Moscow any more exotic or interesting than people from Bombay or people from Buenos Aires? Of course not,
yes they are .... oooops ... wrong thread

I used to live in a town that was about 30% hispanic. The Hispanic population lived pretty much in one area of town, where the shop signs were in Spanish and rarely English. Most of the Hispanic population was low paid manual and farm work, a good chunk of it illegal. There was some very good hispanic food. Some quite superb. There was lots of very bad hispanic food. Our favorite local Mexican bar made killer margaritas and had the most terrible, absolutely compelling and unmissable karoake nights every Friday.

There was also lots of overt racism, especially as rural Republican area there was very strong feelings against illegal immigrants. I had several friends who were continually and vocally derogatory about most aspects of the Hispanic population. This was not something that was seen as socially unacceptable. A couple were small business owners who openly discriminated against Hispanics.

It was of course diverse.
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Old 04-29-2014, 11:57 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
510 posts, read 900,010 times
Reputation: 688
Quote:
Originally Posted by Caladium View Post
I don't know that one sort of diversity is considered better than another--not really sure what might be giving you that impression, but maybe some people prefer influences from around the world as opposed to mostly from Europe? Or maybe the people you meet have put a preference on Hispanic/Latino because it's not well represented in Pittsburgh (and thus more interesting/valuable).
Anecdotally, I only hear people express the need for 'more Latinos'. Not just in Pittsburgh but in other parts of the U.S. When I lived in the (very White Pacific NW, for example, I rarely heard people say "We really need more black families in the city". The focus was always on Latinos.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gnutella View Post
I think the main reason is two-fold: 1) Lots of people misconstrue a lack of racial diversity with racism on the part of the predominant race. 2) Nobody wants to be labeled racist. Because of these two factors, lots of people try to promote and embrace racial diversity.
I guess this is kind of what I guessed: that diversity is used as a proxy for racist by some.
People seem to complain a lot about Pittsburgh's diversity but it seems pretty diverse to me. I guess it depends on how you define it and I definiet it differently from many Americans.

Thank you for respectfully answering my question. I won't ask anything else so the thread stays on topic.
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