Visitors Love Our City! I Know.

[highway29south]

Originally Posted by Katiana

I think the forum should be for an exchange of information and ideas. If you really want to improve Pittsburgh, or any city, you need to get off the computer and get to work on it.



Everyone's opinion should be welcome here. Have you ever visited some of the other city forums? There are always people who dislike a place posting, e.g. "I lived in (insert name of city here) for X years and I found it to be (too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry, too unfriendly, too friendly and intrusive [well, rarely that], too green, too brown, too sunny, too cloudly, too new, too old,) etc. So what? People are entitled to their opinions. It brings about some vigorous debate, which if it doesn't get nasty, can be interesting. Way more interesting than, "Where can I get the best pizza at 3 AM?"-type threads.

I agree. That is part of the problem with the Pittsburgh forum. Natives only want to hear the positive and become very defensive about the negative. Every city has negatives. For example, I not only follow Pittsburgh forums but Virginia as well because I grew up there. There are plenty of people who complain about Virginia and plenty who hate it there and those opinions not attacked like negatives are attacked here. When a person is attacked for their opinion, it probably doesn't change that opinion and it may add to their belief that their opinion about Pittsburgh is correct. Who wants that?

Pittsburgh is only going to change if people can face the negatives and take action. Sure, people complain just to vent but that should be ok too. After all, if you live in a city you should be able to express your opinion about that city.

Reacting with discussion rather than attacking may lead to change instead of the usual back and forth fighting. It's worth a try anyway.

[nuwaver88]

Originally Posted by Katiana

I think the forum should be for an exchange of information and ideas. If you really want to improve Pittsburgh, or any city, you need to get off the computer and get to work on it.



Everyone's opinion should be welcome here. Have you ever visited some of the other city forums? There are always people who dislike a place posting, e.g. "I lived in (insert name of city here) for X years and I found it to be (too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry, too unfriendly, too friendly and intrusive [well, rarely that], too green, too brown, too sunny, too cloudly, too new, too old,) etc. So what? People are entitled to their opinions. It brings about some vigorous debate, which if it doesn't get nasty, can be interesting. Way more interesting than, "Where can I get the best pizza at 3 AM?"-type threads.

I disagree with the notion that everyone should be welcomed here. Like I said, I welcome negative posts as long as they are objective. Trolls should not be welcomed here. I was criticized when I first joined this board for sparring with trolls. I learned my lesson. There are some "glass half empty" posters on this board. I have no problem with them. It allows for good debate. It is the posts like "Pittsburgh has little history or culture and everybody is an inbred with no education" posts that I cannot tolerate. I would hardly call that objective thinking.

[Katiana]

Well, trolls, no, and the Pittsburgh forum has more than its share. They usually get banned, only to appear again some day. Other than that, everyone's opinion should be welcome. So what if someone says, "Pittsburgh has little history or culture and everybody is an inbred with no education" ? Anyone with half a brain knows that's not true. Ten people will hit the keyboards to dispute that.

I interpreted what you said earlier as wanting to get rid of anybody who has any differing opinions at all. People have argued that the National Weather Service statistics are bogus b/c they depict Pittsburgh as a cloudy, gray place, which it is! People have argued that Pittsburgh doesn't have a high population of elderly, which it does! Those are just two examples.

Again, if you ever visited another city/state forum, you'd see the same kind of stuff.

From the Omaha forum:

The Bad Business Bureau Thread

Culture Shock in Omaha? (Minorities, or lack thereof)

Yielding to make a left turn (Bad drivers)

Westboro Baptist Church says "God Hates Omaha!"

Omaha still offended by mere mention of gay?

From Denver/Colorado:

Don't move to Denver

The negative impacts of rural sprawl

Do you want to hear the good AND bad about Colorado, or just the good? (This was widely thought to be a trolling thread)

Colorado City & County Budget Cuts & Shortfalls

These are a couple of the other forums I visit. I'm sure you could find the same on just about every city/state forum on CD.

[sr1234]

Nuwaver88 - We can't even get relatives and friends to come back to visit after trips to Pittsburgh. Many have come to the downtown for conventions and/or to visit us. The major complaints are: the road system is awful, nothing is marked properly with signs, its expensive, no parking, too far from the airport, nothing downtown but the stadiums, hotel rooms are small, hotel amenities are not that great, restaurants are overrated, shopping poor (macy's doesn't cut it), and its dirty.
They all list other cities that are better for tourists than Pittsburgh. Now they have us visit them because they don't want
to come back.

*These are opinions expressed to us from other people who do not live in Pittsburgh. If Pittsburgh would work on these problems then people would want to visit.

[rmkiefer07]

My partner and I were in Pittsburgh a few weeks ago for the first time. From this visitor's point of view, the only complaint we would make was the road system. Yes, very confusing. However, we viewed this as an opportunity to discover the city.

Downtown was great - very walkable. Didn't think it was any dirtier or cleaner than other cities.

Food? Most good, some misses. Particularly enjoyed Paparazzi's in South Side, De Luca's in the Strip District, and Pittsburgh BBQ.

Enjoyed the Phipps Conservatory and the Andy Warhol Museum.

Airport not much farther from town than Seattle (Sea-Tac is 16 miles).

All in all, Pittsburgh was a pleasant surprise! Are we packing up to move? No. We love our home in Seattle. However, if circumstances arose that we needed to relocate East, we would seriously consider Pittsburgh.

Yes...we want to visit again! Love to see the museums in Oakland and explore all the cool neighborhoods. Pittsburgh has lot's of potential IMO.

Cheers!

[nuwaver99]

Originally Posted by sr1234

Nuwaver88 - We can't even get relatives and friends to come back to visit after trips to Pittsburgh. Many have come to the downtown for conventions and/or to visit us. The major complaints are: the road system is awful, nothing is marked properly with signs, its expensive, no parking, too far from the airport, nothing downtown but the stadiums, hotel rooms are small, hotel amenities are not that great, restaurants are overrated, shopping poor (macy's doesn't cut it), and its dirty.
They all list other cities that are better for tourists than Pittsburgh. Now they have us visit them because they don't want
to come back.

*These are opinions expressed to us from other people who do not live in Pittsburgh. If Pittsburgh would work on these problems then people would want to visit.

I respect your opinion SR1234. In just think that it is a good bet that I deal with more visitors than you, since I work in the industry. Yes, I get the token complaints, but I deal with a mature and versed traveler for the most part who sees the big picture. A great city need not be all about Downtown, although Downtown Pittsburgh is just another of Pittsburgh's great city neighborhoods that serves it's purpose instead of "one size fits all" like a lot of cities. On one hand bad roads go with the territory of an old city with crazy topography. On the other hand, we have to quit using this as an excuse. Yes, our blessing is our curse as far as topography goes. We cannot build roads any which way possible, but we still need to do a better job.

[Yac]

This is a place for discussion, thus everyone is welcome to share their thoughts, as long as they are on topic and with some merit (e.g. not a "smart" one-liner, this might be trolling).
I see no real trolls on this forum at the moment, though I'm sure this will change, and rather sooner than later .. Hopefully the mods will be there to stop them in time.
Yac.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by sr1234

Nuwaver88 - We can't even get relatives and friends to come back to visit after trips to Pittsburgh. Many have come to the downtown for conventions and/or to visit us. The major complaints are: the road system is awful, nothing is marked properly with signs, its expensive, no parking, too far from the airport, nothing downtown but the stadiums, hotel rooms are small, hotel amenities are not that great, restaurants are overrated, shopping poor (macy's doesn't cut it), and its dirty.

Interestingly, my relatives who have visited generally enjoy it and usually have come back. However, they have usually stayed with us in the East End, and we have used that as a base to explore our local amenities (e.g., Frick Park and the Frick Art and Historical Center), the Confluence area, Oakland, day trips (to Falling Water and such), and so on.

[dugdogmaster]

My relatives come to visit from Italy every other year. Where's the first place they want to go once they get off the plane? The heart of the city. And we have to literally drag them away Mind you, they live in Rome!!!

[youngabe]

Ahh finally, not a thread about people knocking our wonderful city. It's not NYC, it's not LA, it's Pittsburgh and that's why I love it. And yes, visitors are usually taken back at what this place is REALLY like!