What does Pittsburgh NEED to become a place people want to live and work again? (York: transplants, employment)

[AlexEuts]

What's this area lacking? Why is it behind and what needs done? Seeing Trump's visit to North Fayette has me excited for the future of this area... but what needs to be done for it and the surrounding areas to become a place people want to live? I always see an overall negetive preception of this area. So i ask what needs to happen at the local and state level to see what once was a boom town again? i love this area, i'd like to hear your thoughts.

[xdv8]

Nice one.

[szug-bot]

Originally Posted by AlexEuts

What's this area lacking? Why is it behind and what needs done? Seeing Trump's visit to North Fayette has me excited for the future of this area... but what needs to be done for it and the surrounding areas to become a place people want to live? I always see an overall negetive preception of this area. So i ask what needs to happen at the local and state level to see what once was a boom town again? i love this area, i'd like to hear your thoughts.

Wow. This is a loaded question. I have thought about this too often to drive myself batty.

So for starters, here is my two centavos:

-transportation improvements: either with infrastructure or with design and policy...or both.
by "design and policy", i mean ways movement can be improved without additional roads - better signal timing, per-mile driving fees on local interstates, faster movement of T cars, etc.
(there are all examples. don't shoot the messenger.)

-school districts curriculum and achievement improvements: these could be improved with creative associations between schools and corporations and the universities. Someone once told me about an exceptional high school in Cincinnati that was sponsored by (owned by?) Proctor and Gamble. Students can have access to, and so be inspired by, these associations with medical, law, or engineering schools. In doing this, possibly university students can assist and have part of their student debt relieved.


Just some thoughts, but those two are my suggestions.

[xdv8]

Originally Posted by szug-bot

Wow. This is a loaded question. I have thought about this too often to drive myself batty.

So for starters, here is my two centavos:

-transportation improvements: either with infrastructure or with design and policy...or both.
by "design and policy", i mean ways movement can be improved without additional roads - better signal timing, per-mile driving fees on local interstates, faster movement of T cars, etc.
(there are all examples. don't shoot the messenger.)

-school districts curriculum and achievement improvements: these could be improved with creative associations between schools and corporations and the universities. Someone once told me about an exceptional high school in Cincinnati that was sponsored by (owned by?) Proctor and Gamble. Students can have access to, and so be inspired by, these associations with medical, law, or engineering schools. In doing this, possibly university students can assist and have part of their student debt relieved.


Just some thoughts, but those two are my suggestions.

You have made the troll happy by responding to their insincere question.

[szug-bot]

Originally Posted by xdv8

You have made the troll happy by responding to their insincere question.

that is a weakness of mine - identifying a troll (if the OP actually meant to "troll" at all). I guess I approach things with a naive idea that people wish to learn by exchanging ideas. The result is that I answer with what (I hope) is a thoughtful response.

I am unaware that a response comment is a waste of time, akin to a one sentence snipe typed from an east end coffee shop, steam rising from the $6 mocha fatta latte-cino in a mug adorned with che guevara's picture, only to dissipate in the shop's air of superiority breathed by its patronage.

[okaydorothy]

As a transplant, this is only my opinion and from my experience.
To make Pittsburgh great, the attitude of some of the people needs to change. They need to be more open to people coming in from different states and countries. From my experience, people in Pittsburgh tend to stick together and while they are friendly on the surface, it is very hard to make friends. Not everyone has a family here that they can spend the holidays with or socialize with weekly.
Also, it needs to be more open to international ideas. Be interested in things and ideas that come from afar.
The schools are fantastic.

[speagles84]

Originally Posted by szug-bot

that is a weakness of mine - identifying a troll (if the OP actually meant to "troll" at all). I guess I approach things with a naive idea that people wish to learn by exchanging ideas. The result is that I answer with what (I hope) is a thoughtful response.

I am unaware that a response comment is a waste of time, akin to a one sentence snipe typed from an east end coffee shop, steam rising from the $6 mocha fatta latte-cino in a mug adorned with che guevara's picture, only to dissipate in the shop's air of superiority breathed by its patronage.

100% troll man, no question about it.

[Mtl-Cns]

Originally Posted by AlexEuts

What does Pittsburgh NEED to become a place people want to live and work again?

Fewer internet trolls.

[eschaton]

This initially came across as a post from one of our repetitive sockpuppet trolls as well. But googling the name, I pretty quickly found a twitter account for a young Trump-supporting guy in one of the outer counties, so perhaps we should give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he's being genuine here.

OP, Pittsburgh actually has good national buzz when it comes to certain circles, like tech. Obviously not another Seattle or San Francisco or anything, but well ahead of many of our Rust Belt peers, which is why we are the only core rust belt city which made the final list. I think the perception of the city is now worse in some areas of the outer counties than it is nationwide.

I don't think the dysfunction in our state government has helped in making Amazon choose Pittsburgh (or Philly, for that matter) at all. Other states like New Jersey have larded up the deals with subsidies, but with our perpetual budget crisis I have not heard of anything substantive the state has been doing. I happen to think the Republicans in the statehouse are more to blame here, but I'm pretty sure you disagree. Either way, the stalemate does us no favors in the short term.

More broadly, the area lacks one and only one thing - jobs. Ultimately jobs bring migrants, which bring more residents, which creates more jobs. There really is not some sort of magic formula for job creation though. Local economies just need to find something they are good at, and basically export the result, whether it's raw materials, manufactured goods, or services. In the modern era extraction and manufacturing are steadily automating and offshoring, reducing the employment footprint available. Service-related jobs are sort of bifurcated. Some of them directly relate to servicing a local economy - everything from janitors up to doctors. They can be anywhere, but an economy will never grow off of these jobs, because the demand is equal to the local population. The other side of the service industry are value-added services which can be done from anywhere in the world. Due to both corporate consolidation and changes in professional class desires, these sorts of jobs are contracting into larger metropolitan areas in bigger and bigger cities. So while in the past a small civil engineering firm located in Connelsville might be competitive on local jobs, now they get outbid by bigger firms located in the city if Pittsburgh, or even based in Chicago, New York, or internationally.

[okaydorothy]

Originally Posted by eschaton

This initially came across as a post from one of our repetitive sockpuppet trolls as well. But googling the name, I pretty quickly found a twitter account for a young Trump-supporting guy in one of the outer counties, so perhaps we should give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he's being genuine here.

OP, Pittsburgh actually has good national buzz when it comes to certain circles, like tech. Obviously not another Seattle or San Francisco or anything, but well ahead of many of our Rust Belt peers, which is why we are the only core rust belt city which made the final list. I think the perception of the city is now worse in some areas of the outer counties than it is nationwide.

I don't think the dysfunction in our state government has helped in making Amazon choose Pittsburgh (or Philly, for that matter) at all. Other states like New Jersey have larded up the deals with subsidies, but with our perpetual budget crisis I have not heard of anything substantive the state has been doing. I happen to think the Republicans in the statehouse are more to blame here, but I'm pretty sure you disagree. Either way, the stalemate does us no favors in the short term.

More broadly, the area lacks one and only one thing - jobs. Ultimately jobs bring migrants, which bring more residents, which creates more jobs. There really is not some sort of magic formula for job creation though. Local economies just need to find something they are good at, and basically export the result, whether it's raw materials, manufactured goods, or services. In the modern era extraction and manufacturing are steadily automating and offshoring, reducing the employment footprint available. Service-related jobs are sort of bifurcated. Some of them directly relate to servicing a local economy - everything from janitors up to doctors. They can be anywhere, but an economy will never grow off of these jobs, because the demand is equal to the local population. The other side of the service industry are value-added services which can be done from anywhere in the world. Due to both corporate consolidation and changes in professional class desires, these sorts of jobs are contracting into larger metropolitan areas in bigger and bigger cities. So while in the past a small civil engineering firm located in Connelsville might be competitive on local jobs, now they get outbid by bigger firms located in the city if Pittsburgh, or even based in Chicago, New York, or internationally.

The issue with jobs here is that it is very difficult for transplants to get a decent job here because the locals have it sewn up. It is all word of mouth but by the time people that are not from the area hear about a job, it is gone. My hubby worked in a different state for a national company in a management level for 8 years. He applied for the same job here, and didn't even get an interview. The job went to someone who knew someone. We sold our business to a major corporation and was told we definatley would have had jobs with them in this area. We both applied, and neither of us got even an interview. Even a job at the local getgo ; the interviewer told him he was overqualified. Yes, he was, but people don't realize there are others who will start at the bottom again if given a chance.