America's Most Miserable Cities - Pittsburgh Didn't Make the List (Oakland: house, employment)

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by ChiefP

absolutely correct. I was born and raised in Pittsburgh and later moved down to NC, in the Raleigh-Durham-Cary region. It's abysmal. There is absolutely no sense of community anywhere. The whole "southern hospitality" thing is a myth. I would absolutely prefer the company of Pittsburghers over North Carolinians anyday. The only ones that seem have any character are the transplanted Northerners. On the subject of climate, yes NC has some great weather sometimes. Spring and fall are generally very nice, with comfortable temperatures. However, you've never experienced hell until youve spent summer in the Carolinas. There are countless 90+ degree days, and the humidity always seems to hit 95% on those days. Don't get me wrong, it gets hot in Pittsburgh. But it feels like a jungle here. I would also prefer a Pittsburgh winter. Winter in NC is high 50 low 30 all the time, and its really pretty boring. Rare snow, just the occaisonal ice storm. Its cold enough to be considered winter but it lacks any of the features (snow, ice, sledding,) which make winter fun. Ever seen a kid try to sled in half an inch of snow? It's pathetic

I love this post!! I would move to Wyoming before I'd move to Raleigh or Charlotte or any Sunbelt city for that matter.

[Katarina Witt]

What's wrong with Wyoming (Other than Dick Cheney)?

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by Katiana

What's wrong with Wyoming (Other than Dick Cheney)?

Nothing actually, the thing I wouldn't like is the lack of large cities. Other than that I think WY is a nice state.

[Ihatemorons]

nothing is wrong with Wyoming. It is beautiful land beyond belief. However, some people like to be in cities, and Wyoming really doesn't offer that. In Wyoming most can't afford to live in the nice mountain towns Jackson, and towns like Rock Springs, Rawings, and Laramie are just a little too weird. Wyoming is a vacation type place for people who perfer mid-sized metros or large cities.

[Ihatemorons]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

Nothing actually, the thing I wouldn't like is the lack of large cities. Other than that I think WY is a nice state.

Most think Wyoming is a rugged mountain state. In fact more than half sits in a ugly basin with no mountains, no trees, no nothing. Just empty land with rock piles. The other half is absolutley beautiful.

[nuwaver88]

Wyoming is the tenth largest state in land size but is the least populated, with 522,000 or so acording to the 2007 census. It has actually seen a 5.9 % increase since 2000. That is fairly significant. I guess the weather is similar to Colorado, with a lot of sunshine and subject to extremes in the winter. The University of Wyoming in Larimie is the only four year college in the entire state. That is another interesting fact for such a large state.

[PreservationPioneer]

Someone on this board once wrote, "Charlotte is like Cranberry with skyscrapers." I couldn't agree more. Charlotte has no soul. It is a city of parking lots, strip malls, big box stores, and glass buildings. Some people like that. I like older cities with character and history. Charlotte had history but it was plowed over decades ago, and any charm it once possessed is gone. Have you ever researched how many historic buildings have been demolished in Charlotte? Go to emporis.com and have a good look.

[PittsburghJeremy]

It sounds like cracker has been to basically two spots in his whole life. Not exactly a guy I'd lean on to give me advice on where to plant my butt after the time in the military is up.

If Pittsburgh's infrastructure is a joke, I'd love to hear what he'd say about Tucson and Phoenix after a couple of years out there. I spent 6 years in the Arizona deserts and I pined for home pretty much every single day.

As far as the "Southern Hospitality" thing goes, it really goes person by person with that. Some Southerners are really great people. Some southerners are huge jerks. And some Southerners are flat out redneck idiots. It's really no different than anywhere else I've lived.

And I totally agree that I'd much rather live in a city with history and tradition that dates back before 1900 than live in one of the "big box" cities that currently dominate the South and the West Coast.

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by PittsburghJeremy

It sounds like cracker has been to basically two spots in his whole life. Not exactly a guy I'd lean on to give me advice on where to plant my butt after the time in the military is up.

If Pittsburgh's infrastructure is a joke, I'd love to hear what he'd say about Tucson and Phoenix after a couple of years out there. I spent 6 years in the Arizona deserts and I pined for home pretty much every single day.

As far as the "Southern Hospitality" thing goes, it really goes person by person with that. Some Southerners are really great people. Some southerners are huge jerks. And some Southerners are flat out redneck idiots. It's really no different than anywhere else I've lived.

And I totally agree that I'd much rather live in a city with history and tradition that dates back before 1900 than live in one of the "big box" cities that currently dominate the South and the West Coast.

i agree developers have told everyone in those areas and out here this is the best way to live your life. They said the American Dream is living in a McMansion with a shopping center anchored by a Wal-Mart 5 miles away. This thinking is so 2005 and I'm glad people are finally beginning to revolt against this type of development the Sunbelt is infamous(at least it's infamous in the Northeast and Midwest) for. What they have built there lacks the soul and beauty of the North.

[JoeLeaphorn]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

And I always think of where I was born (Detroit) when people lament about Pittsburgh's decline after the steel industry collapsed. As this index rightly shows, Detroit has done a far worse job handling a similar problem (the collapse of the auto industry).

So while Pittsburgh certainly isn't perfect, it could also be much, much worse.

As I have noted, before, the Pittsburgh numbers are somewhat misleading. While we suffered a significant loss of manufacturing jobs, we experienced a significant increase in the number of health care and higher academic jobs which tended to have higher wages/benefits than the jobs that they replaced. Thus we have a smaller workforce working at higher wages, coupled with a significant loss of the middle class. But we also pay 1.5 times what other communities of our size pay for health care. The median income makes us look like we have a vibrant middle class, but we don't.

Second, whereas many Pittsburgh jobs left for other parts of the country, where the workforce followed, Detroit experienced a precipitous drop in all domestic automobile production (and dominance). This, coupled with stagnant economic growth, left Detroit workers without alternatives. Many Pittsburghers left for jobs in other places. Detroit workers have fewer options.

Finally, one of the reasons that we experienced such growth in our health care and higher education industries is that these entities are not taxed in the same way that other businesses are. This means that individual taxpayers and Pennsylvania businesses subsidize these entities with their tax dollars.

So before we pat ourselves on the back for doing the right thing we should remember that what we have wrought is, at this point, unsustainable. The city can't meet its pension obligations and won't be able to do so without raising taxes. The state is in the same situation with respect to a myriad of problems and social programs.