G20. It's Over! (Pittsburgh, Oakland, Portland: neighborhood, moving, estimate)

[raubre]

Makes me wonder what impact (positive or negative) it will have on the city in the future.

Anyone have any thoughts?

[Impala26]

Originally Posted by raubre

Makes me wonder what impact (positive or negative) it will have on the city in the future.

Anyone have any thoughts?

So far, I'd say neutral, probably not all that much effect either way in the direction the city was already heading.

As for us being looked at as the "Portland of the East"... the jury is out.

[nuwaver88]

Well, the delegates did not see the city at it's best. It was bit dreary aand Pittsburgh looks beautiful in the sunshine. Also, Downtown, which is usually vibrant by day, was dead. I think the delegates understand it was dead becuase it was shut down. Dan Onorato said Pittsburgh was chosen because of what it has done over several years. Nobody should feel that a dead overcast city is indicative of Pittsburgh all of the time. Actually, this is the time of the year that Pittsburgh usually gets a lot more sunshine than usual, so it was not normal to have two dreary days in a row in late September. Hopefully, the talk in the convention center was more convincing than what was going on outside of the convention center. It was a royal pain for those of us who work in hospitality, but a great experience.

[Hopes]

It wasnt' important for the delegates to see the city. They weren't meant to see it. Their schedule made it impossible---wisked away from event to event right into the late night. What's important is that the journalists wrote about the city. I do think the there will be long term benefits. Maybe Pittsburgh was already headed in that direction, but it might get there faster. I think we'll see more companies moving here over the next few years. It's cheaper to do business here afterall.

[Little Mizz Pittsburgh]

I don't see it having a negative impact..

[raubre]

Originally Posted by Hopes

It wasnt' important for the delegates to see the city. They weren't meant to see it. Their schedule made it impossible---wisked away from event to event right into the late night. What's important is that the journalists wrote about the city. I do think the there will be long term benefits. Maybe Pittsburgh was already headed in that direction, but it might get there faster. I think we'll see more companies moving here over the next few years. It's cheaper to do business here afterall.

I agree about the journalists. They will be the ones who praise (or put down) Pittsburgh. People will read whatever praises are inked and maybe will want to visit or move here.

[BrianTH]

I also agree that the long term benefits are all about the journalists. I saw one estimate that the press coverage was estimated to be equivalent to about $100 million worth of advertising.

Anyway, I think we will very likely get more big convention bookings out of this.

I also think it is possible the coverage will help us attract more businesses, residents, and so on, but with that stuff its effects, if any, are going to be so entangled with other more important factors that it will largely be impossible to tease out just this one factor. The bottomline is that we have to continue to offer prospective businesses and residents a good product, and marketing is secondary to that effort--but that doesn't mean it is worthless.

[greg42]

It's not quite over; there's a stupid situation at Pitt right now sounds like.

[toosie]

Yeah it's not over in my neighborhood - still a constant stream of helicopters, police, and emergency vehicles.

I think, for the most part, this will be positive for the city. Maybe especially in terms of prep and police presence (yes, I know they weren't all Pittsburgh police.)

[BrianTH]

The stuff going on in Oakland tonight is a little scary to me because for the first time I feel like I don't have a basic understanding of why this is happening (up to now, for good or ill, both the anarchists and the police were playing off their standard scripts). For now I am just going to continue to hope for no serious injuries or major destruction of property.