Check this out! (Pittsburgh: office, steel, place)

[nuwaver88]

This article touches on much of what we have talked about.
Talking with Barry Balmat: Outgoing director of local Rand office says city needs a better attitude

Any comments.

[lifepgh2op]

Originally Posted by nuwaver88

This article touches on much of what we have talked about.
Talking with Barry Balmat: Outgoing director of local Rand office says city needs a better attitude

Any comments.

Nice article. I liked the part where he said Pittsburgh is schizophrenic and that people are very proud of it but have insecurities, too. It's been said many times that it's hard to shed the image of a run down steel town and it can just be draining to a person to constantly defend it. We have a lot of work to do but it helps being recognized that things are positively changing, slowly but surely.

[jcsinpgh]

Yeah, I think that's a very true statement...not that everyone feels that way, obviously, but I think many people do. This is just my pet theory, but I feel like the city streets, for example, are poorly labeled not out of any hostility to newcomers, but because people genuinely can't imagine that a non-Pittsburgher would ever bother to visit their city, so why bother?

I think sometimes newcomers hear long-time Pittsburghers ask "Why on earth are you here?" and get offended because they perceive that the emphasis in that question is on "you," but I think the emphasis is really on "here," if that makes any sense.

[fleetiebelle]

And I think lifelong Pittsburghers are more apt to defend Pittsburgh to outsiders (which is good) than they are to really look at what doesn't work and what can be changed to make the city better (which is bad.)

[BrianTH]

Interesting article. Personally, I think the general tone is that things are heading in the right way, if slowly, which seems right to me. I even think that applies to the attitude--yes there are some people here who are overly insecure about Pittsburgh's virtues, but I think those people are slowly being replaced over time by much more optimistic people.