The worst city I have lived in (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh: how much, buying a house)

[Future Steeler]

I can sit here and argue this crap all day, but your 1st graph simply illustrates a CHANGE and no absolute numbers and your second graph doesn't compare to other cities.


And again, I have no qualms about the employment rate. I'm sure the employment rate is high in podunk Montana, doesn't mean it's a desirable place to live.

[Hopes]

Damn shame you can't find employment elsewhere. Learn to make the best of a situation or suffer your own self-imposed misery.

[highway29south]

As someone who was not born here or grew up here, I can say I've felt that way about Pittsburgh. Maybe not in those terms, but this place does have that effect on outsiders. But after 20 or so years of living here, I've gotten used to most aspects of this city that used to drive me nuts. Would I leave if I could, yes. Would I miss Pittsburgh, yes and no.

Pittsburgh is a town that is very much a bubble. Not many natives ever live anywhere else so experience and change are not part of the landscape. It also makes some of the traditions very difficult to understand and adapt to. Living downtown can't be helping either.

Since I have seen so many Pittsburghers present such a glowing "paradise" point of view of this town on CDF, I think it's good for the other extreme to be expressed. Understanding that there is some truth in both sides that could make this town a better place.

[groar]

Originally Posted by Future Steeler

Let's be realistic here. I'm in my late 20's and have several friends in the 20's and 30's throughout the country considering locations for settling with or without families. I have never heard anyone suggest, imply or even think about moving to Pittsburgh. I've even heard native burghers suggest they wouldn't recommend anyone move here for any particular reason. Where is this drove of young people coming from???

when i was in london for an extended period recently, there was a really positive buzz about pittsburgh. i was kind of surprised, actually, at how many people said "oh, i hear pittsburgh is a really cool place."

an old friend of mine from connecticut recently moved here from california. she and her partner came because they heard about what was going on in braddock, although they didn't end up there. a great deal of people in my neighborhood (hamnett place, wilkinsburg) are transplants. quite a few from nyc, actually.

i think a lot of the people interested in pittsburgh right now are the same people who initially move into sketchy neighborhoods in any city and make them "cool" and safe for yuppies - artists, musicians, countercultural people. the norms'll likely follow in a few years!

[hnsq]

Originally Posted by Future Steeler

I can sit here and argue this crap all day, but your 1st graph simply illustrates a CHANGE and no absolute numbers and your second graph doesn't compare to other cities.


And again, I have no qualms about the employment rate. I'm sure the employment rate is high in podunk Montana, doesn't mean it's a desirable place to live.

You brought up employment rates at first (claiming you had no facts) not me. I am just supplying you with some of those facts.

You also stubbornly refuse to reply to any of the posts about things to do in Pittsburgh. Have you read through the events calendar I posted? Googled the neighborhoods I mentioned? You are ignoring any post that shows evidence against what you think...

[BrianTH]

First a few factual matters:

(1) Prior to the recession, Pittsburgh had been adding jobs in business and professional services, health, education, high tech manufacturing, and leisure and hospitality.

(2) The population dynamics in the region have primarily been driven by the sharp industrial contraction, mostly in steel, roughly in the 1980s. That drove out a large cohort of young adults who couldn't find work, and in turn that meant they weren't having their children here in later years. Meanwhile, many of their parents and grandparents stayed, and they have since been dying or migrating to retirement areas, again without their grandchildren being born to replace them. However, these dynamics are solely dampening out, and Pittsburgh is likely going to be gaining population soon, if it isn't already, primarily through new young adults migrating to the region and having children.

We also get relatively few international immigrants, which in turn has made these birth/death and migration effects more apparent. That said, the international immigrants we do get average pretty high in terms of things like education, so I would like to see that part of the trend continue.

As for why anyone would choose Pittsburgh:

I am originally from Detroit and have also lived in Connecticut, Chicago, and Washington DC, and my wife is originally from Delaware. We were recently thinking about living many different places, most notably Chicago and Washington, but we also looked at places like Boston or New York (where we have friends) and Denver and Portland (where we have relatives). We ended up sticking with Pittsburgh because it has more than enough amenities in terms of culture and entertainment for us, and the cost of housing in the sort of neighborhood we like (walkable historic central neighborhoods--we live in Regent Square) would have been much, much higher in any other city we considered.

As a final thought: I agree the East End is probably the best bet for transplants, in part because there are just so many of us here these days. But I hope Downtown gets there too as a popular place for transplants--it is just going to take some time because as of 2000 the residential population Downtown was very small.

[aveojohn]

Originally Posted by groar

when i was in london for an extended period recently, there was a really positive buzz about pittsburgh. i was kind of surprised, actually, at how many people said "oh, i hear pittsburgh is a really cool place."

an old friend of mine from connecticut recently moved here from california. she and her partner came because they heard about what was going on in braddock, although they didn't end up there. a great deal of people in my neighborhood (hamnett place, wilkinsburg) are transplants. quite a few from nyc, actually.

i think a lot of the people interested in pittsburgh right now are the same people who initially move into sketchy neighborhoods in any city and make them "cool" and safe for yuppies - artists, musicians, countercultural people. the norms'll likely follow in a few years!

Whats going on in Braddock besides nothing.

[raubre]

Future Steeler, do you like ANYTHING about the city? No one can possibly hate it that bad. Whatever city you came from I'm sure anyone can find faults with (even you.)

[groar]

Originally Posted by aveojohn

Whats going on in Braddock besides nothing.

'

BBC NEWS | Americas | US mayor strikes unconventional note
People's Weekly World - Future for the Mon Valley? ‘Hell doesn’t have to last forever!’
Installation reflects two women's different experiences of growing up in Braddock
Pop Star: John Fetterman
A Call to Arms - Braddock Mayor John Fetterman Wears His Allegiances on His Sleeve - Main Feature - Main Feature - Pittsburgh City Paper
John Fetterman: “The Pissed-Off Avenging Angel of the Rust Belt” | Rust Wire
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/01/us...ml?_r=2&src=tp
Mayor John Fetterman of Braddock Pennsylvania interviews with Solutions about his Support of a Carbon Cap - The Cap Solution - Environmental Defense Fund 1
Badass mayor builds bridges between working class and enviros | Grist

yeah, nothing much.

[Amazonas]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

First a few factual matters:

(1) Prior to the recession, Pittsburgh had been adding jobs in business and professional services, health, education, high tech manufacturing, and leisure and hospitality.

(2) The population dynamics in the region have primarily been driven by the sharp industrial contraction, mostly in steel, roughly in the 1980s. That drove out a large cohort of young adults who couldn't find work, and in turn that meant they weren't having their children here in later years. Meanwhile, many of their parents and grandparents stayed, and they have since been dying or migrating to retirement areas, again without their grandchildren being born to replace them. However, these dynamics are solely dampening out, and Pittsburgh is likely going to be gaining population soon, if it isn't already, primarily through new young adults migrating to the region and having children.

We also get relatively few international immigrants, which in turn has made these birth/death and migration effects more apparent. That said, the international immigrants we do get average pretty high in terms of things like education, so I would like to see that part of the trend continue.

As for why anyone would choose Pittsburgh:

I am originally from Detroit and have also lived in Connecticut, Chicago, and Washington DC, and my wife is originally from Delaware. We were recently thinking about living many different places, most notably Chicago and Washington, but we also looked at places like Boston or New York (where we have friends) and Denver and Portland (where we have relatives). We ended up sticking with Pittsburgh because it has more than enough amenities in terms of culture and entertainment for us, and the cost of housing in the sort of neighborhood we like (walkable historic central neighborhoods--we live in Regent Square) would have been much, much higher in any other city we considered.

As a final thought: I agree the East End is probably the best bet for transplants, in part because there are just so many of us here these days. But I hope Downtown gets there too as a popular place for transplants--it is just going to take some time because as of 2000 the residential population Downtown was very small.

I have lived in Toronto, Amsterdam, New York, and currently in New Jersey. I met my wife, who was born and raised in NYC, in Soho. We started dating and got married. After a while the whole big city got to us and we couldn't take it anymore. We got out of NYC and now New Jersey is packed with New Yorkers that can't not afford the city anymore. Therefore, we are looking to move to Pittsburgh. The whole big city gets to you. Most of our friends and family have moved out of the city and now we live in NJ. So according to the OP, it seems like Pittsburgh is the city we are looking for. Not to mention, we are sick and tired of the pretencious New Yorkers.