Editorial: Mayor Gainey needs new team to turn things around (Pittsburgh: appointed, crime)

[gg]

Originally Posted by Knepper3

Yes the many companies sitting on leases. My work is pretty much waiting on every office around the US to have their leases come up so they can review/reduce. I've had meetings at large other AE firms that all say the same. Some of these leases have years left so its possible to keep seeing steady declines unless other vacancies are reduced. Not in Pgh, its the only place I never have work.

Wonder what the real vacancy rate is? 35%. More? Probably take a couple years or so to have a real idea.

[Knepper3]

Hard to say given the variety of uses/industry. I was in Germantown for a meeting last month at another firm's office. I've been there many times pre-covid which they expanded their footprint in the building to 4 floors, several hundred people. In talking, about 90% of the staff still does not come in unless they have a team meeting they want to do in person or just want some quiet to work if the house is too hectic. They said it's pretty normal across their US offices

[h_curtis]

Anecdotally, where I work, we have the top floor of one of the class A buildings. I was in the office yesterday, and there was 3 other people in there. Since covid, I've hired people onto my staff throughout the country, so there's no expectation that they're ever going to come to the office.

[Knepper3]

For most large engineering firms, unless you have a site specific requirement you don't really care. Flying to sites periodically is more cost effective and doesnt impact much.

[Nailerman9192]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Anecdotally, where I work, we have the top floor of one of the class A buildings. I was in the office yesterday, and there was 3 other people in there. Since covid, I've hired people onto my staff throughout the country, so there's no expectation that they're ever going to come to the office.

With remote work I wonder what states and metros gained residents? Is there any good information on this. I live in Wheeling and would love to see our downtown come back. It is getting better albeit slowly. We have had more redevelopment in the last 5 years than the previous 40.

What’s nice about Wheeling is it’s small and in a good location off 70. Pittsburgh is an hour east and Columbus is 1 hr 45 mins west. I will say Pittsburgh has a much more densely packed downtown with buildings and that isn’t close. However on a Saturday night there is a lot of foot traffic on high street in downtown Columbus as compared with market square as well as 5th and wood street areas in downtown Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh seems a lot weaker with foot traffic on their Saturday nights in downtown.

The OP likes to stoke culture wars and I’m not sure if you can give credit or criticism to the current mayor of Pittsburgh or not. Seems as though he or any mayor has to work with what they got. If the attitudes of police mirror some of the posters on this board then crime will always be a problem. It’s like the mayor has a lack of talent to work with. Just like the manager of the pirates isn’t going to win with his lackluster talent. It is hard to run a big city if you are dependent on that same level of talent pool to police and turn your city around.

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by Nailerman9192

With remote work I wonder what states and metros gained residents? Is there any good information on this. I live in Wheeling and would love to see our downtown come back. It is getting better albeit slowly. We have had more redevelopment in the last 5 years than the previous 40.

What’s nice about Wheeling is it’s small and in a good location off 70. Pittsburgh is an hour east and Columbus is 1 hr 45 mins west. I will say Pittsburgh has a much more densely packed downtown with buildings and that isn’t close. However on a Saturday night there is a lot of foot traffic on high street in downtown Columbus as compared with market square as well as 5th and wood street areas in downtown Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh seems a lot weaker with foot traffic on their Saturday nights in downtown.

The OP likes to stoke culture wars and I’m not sure if you can give credit or criticism to the current mayor of Pittsburgh or not. Seems as though he or any mayor has to work with what they got. If the attitudes of police mirror some of the posters on this board then crime will always be a problem. It’s like the mayor has a lack of talent to work with. Just like the manager of the pirates isn’t going to win with his lackluster talent. It is hard to run a big city if you are dependent on that same level of talent pool to police and turn your city around.

From Weirton to Pittsburgh to Allison Park to Wheeling. Quite the made up stories, lol. The idea of Wheeling, which is a a low income and lousy area, gaining significant population is great stuff. WV has to pay people to move there.

Many of the folks here have expressed locking loser criminals up, and especially shooters and murderers and putting them away, however, the Lib run city that Pittsburgh is, votes for soft on crime political figures, including a mayor that’s so incompetent with doing anything about the skyrocketing shootings and murders to where county police have been called in to try to help…and the police have already expressed their unhappy feelings about loser criminals getting dumped back on the streets after arresting them…and as far as the lack of talent goes, SCR, who works for the police department, has told us many times that police aren’t being hired even though there’s a major shortage.

[eschaton]

Hey, Wheeling has some great architecture! You can tell it was briefly one of the ten largest cities in the U.S. in the early 19th century. Think about what this block would go for if the houses were in Pittsburgh!

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Hey, Wheeling has some great architecture! You can tell it was briefly one of the ten largest cities in the U.S. in the early 19th century. Think about what this block would go for if the houses were in Pittsburgh!

Certainly not enough to get folks to move there

[fat lou]

Originally Posted by Nailerman9192

The OP likes to stoke culture wars and I’m not sure if you can give credit or criticism to the current mayor of Pittsburgh or not. Seems as though he or any mayor has to work with what they got. If the attitudes of police mirror some of the posters on this board then crime will always be a problem. It’s like the mayor has a lack of talent to work with. Just like the manager of the pirates isn’t going to win with his lackluster talent. It is hard to run a big city if you are dependent on that same level of talent pool to police and turn your city around.

That editorial mentions some pretty basic things, like showing up for meetings and conferences, and putting together committees. Does it really take the Delta Force to handle things like that?

[gg]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Hey, Wheeling has some great architecture! You can tell it was briefly one of the ten largest cities in the U.S. in the early 19th century. Think about what this block would go for if the houses were in Pittsburgh!

Very nice. Thanks for posting it.