Why can't Pittsburgh keep young people in the city? (Philadelphia: city hall, hotel)

[WILWRadio]

IHeartRobots. Currently I am working in a job that I'd rather not have and most definitely live in an area where I'd rather not be. But I do it because ultimately it will lead to better things and most importantly, moving to a place where I will be happier and can achieve some or most of my personal and professional goals.

Try to take that approach and realize that accepting a less than ideal job is usually not forever. Eventually if you make the right decisions, you can use it as a stepping stone to something better. Sometimes you have to take the Bull by the Horns and make things happen on your own.

[pcc09]

I was thinking about the actual question by the OP...Why can't Pittsburgh keep young people in the city? And I have to wonder how much people's perception of the city vs. the reality of the city plays a factor. I mean, I know that there are many, many factors, and it can be argued that young people are in fact not leaving the city in droves anymore. That's actually true. But the national perception of Pittsburgh from about 1970 until recently has been almost exclusively negative. So many people from PGH have this inferiority complex and have such a negative idea about the place that they are bound to hate it. It's like defeatism. Pittsburgh needs some positive energy from it's inhabitants. Not that everyone there is negative. I know many people there who are in fact very positive and embrace the city and work hard to make it a good place. But for everyone of them it seems there are 4 or 5 haters. I think it stems from the bitterness of the generation who experienced the steel collapse and unfortunately passed that anger on to their children.
To Iheartrobots I'd say...you should get out. You're from there, right? It's unhealthy for a person to live in the same place all of their life. There's nothing wrong with leaving and then coming back if you want to. But you should definitly get out and experience other places while you're young.

[ryanswindle]

I hear so much about the Steel collapse in this city as though it wrecked the place so thoroughly and completely. I have a hard time imagining a city of such size that was soc utterly dependent on one source of business, but then I see it appearing to happen here while I'm here with UPMC. It seems to be absorbing the entire place, building a very healthy huge medical and bioelectronic industry in the area.

This is great, but I wonder to myself if Pittsburgh isn't walking directly towards the doom it saw before, I don't know how it could possibly occur that the medical industry could even begin to collapse, so it's a silly idea altogether.

But the fact stands that the lack of diversity in Pittsburgh's economy is what caused it to see such a large scale bust, and yet in it's evolution forward it has again grown one and only one industry to support a huge portion of the local economy. I think it's great and actually the perfect industry to choose, but wonder if there might be some poor decisions somewhere in the political landscape leading Pittsburgh to have such a narrow economy...

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by ryanswindle

But the fact stands that the lack of diversity in Pittsburgh's economy is what caused it to see such a large scale bust, and yet in it's evolution forward it has again grown one and only one industry to support a huge portion of the local economy. I think it's great and actually the perfect industry to choose, but wonder if there might be some poor decisions somewhere in the political landscape leading Pittsburgh to have such a narrow economy...

Your premise isn't accurate. It is true heath services has been a big area of job growth, but we have also been adding jobs in higher education, professional and business services (which includes legal, consulting, marketing, and R&D), management of companies, leisure and hospitality, and what we might call high-tech manufacturing.

[Hopes]

You have an excellent point, ryan!

I've been very concerned about how UPMC's monopoly on the region impacts healthcare.

It never occurred to me that UPMC could become a danger to the economy.

It truly could put Pittsburgh in danger especially since Mellon is no longer providing balance as a major employer in a banking!

[pman]

Pittsburgh's reputation BEFORE the collapse of the steel industry was awful. Dirt, soot, boring, etc. my grandmother would always say it was the dirtiest place she'd ever visited (in contrast, Detroit was quite nice). when it collapsed, the jobs and wealth disappeared bu the reputation remained. It's also worth looking at it in a larger context. the whole state of Penn was struggling, from pittsburgh to philly, erie to scranton, reading to altoona. the state did, and still does have, a reputation for bureaucracy and excessive corp taxation. the WHOLE STATE had a problem retaining young people. I think Pennsylvania in general is benefiting from "if you do it long enough, eventually it will be populat again." the old cities are becoming more popular with young people and pittsburgh is in relatively good shape compared to a lot of places (cough, buffalo, cough)

[WILWRadio]

Originally Posted by pcc09

I was thinking about the actual question by the OP...Why can't Pittsburgh keep young people in the city? And I have to wonder how much people's perception of the city vs. the reality of the city plays a factor. I mean, I know that there are many, many factors, and it can be argued that young people are in fact not leaving the city in droves anymore. That's actually true. But the national perception of Pittsburgh from about 1970 until recently has been almost exclusively negative. So many people from PGH have this inferiority complex and have such a negative idea about the place that they are bound to hate it. It's like defeatism. Pittsburgh needs some positive energy from it's inhabitants. Not that everyone there is negative. I know many people there who are in fact very positive and embrace the city and work hard to make it a good place. But for everyone of them it seems there are 4 or 5 haters. I think it stems from the bitterness of the generation who experienced the steel collapse and unfortunately passed that anger on to their children.
To Iheartrobots I'd say...you should get out. You're from there, right? It's unhealthy for a person to live in the same place all of their life. There's nothing wrong with leaving and then coming back if you want to. But you should definitly get out and experience other places while you're young.

Perhaps they should build a barbed wire fence around the city's entire perimeter and electrify it. I don't think it is as bad as the OP makes it out to be. Based upon the number of people that post in this forum asking questions about relocating to the Pittsburgh area and having read some articles recently about how some recent college graduates and other 20 somethings are moving into the area, I think that the tide has finally turned.

[WILWRadio]

Originally Posted by pman

Pittsburgh's reputation BEFORE the collapse of the steel industry was awful. Dirt, soot, boring, etc. my grandmother would always say it was the dirtiest place she'd ever visited (in contrast, Detroit was quite nice). when it collapsed, the jobs and wealth disappeared bu the reputation remained. It's also worth looking at it in a larger context. the whole state of Penn was struggling, from pittsburgh to philly, erie to scranton, reading to altoona. the state did, and still does have, a reputation for bureaucracy and excessive corp taxation. the WHOLE STATE had a problem retaining young people. I think Pennsylvania in general is benefiting from "if you do it long enough, eventually it will be populat again." the old cities are becoming more popular with young people and pittsburgh is in relatively good shape compared to a lot of places (cough, buffalo, cough)

Sadly yes, Buffalo is still at least two big steps behind Pittsburgh on the comeback trail. It's a shame because it actually is a pretty nice city with some wonderful architecture. Buffalo has some pretty decent and friendly people that possess a good work ethic and community spirit. But their God awful city and county government is destroying the region.

Pittsburgh definitely is a decade or more ahead of Buffalo right now. At least the city and county government are not totally impeding progress in the area like it has in Erie County, NY.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by pman

Pittsburgh's reputation BEFORE the collapse of the steel industry was awful. Dirt, soot, boring, etc. my grandmother would always say it was the dirtiest place she'd ever visited (in contrast, Detroit was quite nice). when it collapsed, the jobs and wealth disappeared bu the reputation remained.

No kidding--in fact James Parton described Pittsburgh as "hell with the lid off" in 1868! Over a hundred years of that sort of thing takes a little time to wear off.

[Chichappens]

you have to make the city alluring to catch and hold on to the attention of younger people. such as NYC, London, las Vegas...........Pittsburgh is not a city known for nightlife or jumps in many categories to chose from. The Weather can't even attract tourists let alone young'ins..........you don't hear Asians Europeans or people in other states saying I want to see Pittsburgh before I die......... Maybe if the city got a good ad company and campaign to put Pittsburgh on the Tourist attraction map and had some awesome travel deals it could boost the tune to get people looking at a sleeper city that could can and will drive a younger generation to not just visit but stay a while.