What's Pittsburgh really like? (people, atmosphere, etc...) (legal, tickets)

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Pittsburgh obviously hasn't been completely unaffected by the recession, and it is true there are a handful of other large cities doing as well or a bit better. Nonetheless Pittsburgh is certainly doing much better than the national average, and for that matter better than the state average. Also, as Chris Briem and some other people have pointed out, the cities which have had lower unemployment rates throughout the recession probably have experienced an in-migration of job seekers from higher unemployment areas, which would somewhat boost the local unemployment rates.

Agreed. Also, unemployment rates aren't the only measure of how a city's economy is fairing. The claim that Pittsburgh's economy is doing better than others in the country isn't necessarily focused on the unemployment rate. Remember that study that also took into consideration stable house prices, low foreclosure rates, overall product sales, etc. Pittsburgh did rank as the economy that is recovering the fastest. It's misguided to only consider unemployment rates---especially in an area where unemployment rates are very high compared to the rest of the country. Furthermore, a blanket percentage of unemployment doesn't tell the whole story. For instance, it would be misleading to rant about unemployment rates to a professional job seeker when the largest percentage of unemployed people are from retail or construction industries in a specific city.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Hopes

I'm glad we clarified that your brother's job was directly related to the national economy, not Pittsburgh's economy.

I'm extremely familiar with the accounts held by those companies. Those large human resource consulting companies are a different ball game from working in a corporate human resources department. Manufacturing companies outsource that type of human resource work because it's high volume busy work that comes and goes in waves. The outsourcing allows the corporations to employ only critical human resource professionals without extra the hassle of benefits and unemployment compensation of the 'seasonal' type of human resource positions.

The reality is that there are plenty of human resource openings currently available in the Pittsburgh area. PPG, American Eagle, and PNC are just a few. And the openings are at all levels---VP, director and down. I fear your brother might have had difficulty landing a position because his experience was with a consulting firm. Its a shame your brother got tied up in staffing the manufacturing industry. He very well might need to relocate to another city to find a job.

Afterall, manufacturing isn't a big part of Pittsburgh's economy. As a matter of fact, manufacturing and construction are the two industries doing the worse in this recession and neither were a large part of Pittsburgh's economy.

Actually, one of his big, long term projects was for Sanofi-Pasteur, hiring pharmaceutical sales people. He's not going anywhere. He's 59 years old, will be 60 in July. (Well, maybe to CO b/c his daughter lives here, too, but not to work.)

His experience does show that Pittsburgh's economy is tied in to the national economy as well. As for people migrating to Pittsburgh b/c the UE is low, and raising it, well that could be said about the 104 with lower UE rates also, or the other 8 cities with the same UE rate as Pittsburgh. Regardless of how cheap it is to live in Pittsburgh, one still usually needs an income to do so.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Also, unemployment rates aren't the only measure of how a city's economy is fairing. The claim that Pittsburgh's economy is doing better than others in the country isn't necessarily focused on the unemployment rate.

Absolutely: we've experienced relative stability in all the big measures.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Katiana

As for people migrating to Pittsburgh b/c the UE is low, and raising it, well that could be said about the 104 with lower UE rates also, or the other 8 cities with the same UE rate as Pittsburgh.

It is a little more complicated than that. Job-seekers will tend to move disproportionately to bigger cities, and also to places where the cost of living is relatively low. Of course I'm not suggesting Pittsburgh would be the only place experiencing this effect, but the list where the effect is likely to be as high is probably a pretty short one.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by Katiana

Actually, one of his big, long term projects was for Sanofi-Pasteur, hiring pharmaceutical sales people. He's not going anywhere. He's 59 years old, will be 60 in July. (Well, maybe to CO b/c his daughter lives here, too, but not to work.)

His experience does show that Pittsburgh's economy is tied in to the national economy as well. As for people migrating to Pittsburgh b/c the UE is low, and raising it, well that could be said about the 104 with lower UE rates also, or the other 8 cities with the same UE rate as Pittsburgh. Regardless of how cheap it is to live in Pittsburgh, one still usually needs an income to do so.

I had hoped you would start focusing this discussion in a more generic manner. You've shared way too much information about your brother over the past few months. Compiled together with the information you posted in this thread yesterday, I know who he is. Let's just drop this for his sake. I wish him the best.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Hopes

I had hoped you would start focusing this discussion in a more generic manner. You've shared way too much information about your brother over the past few months. Compiled together with the information you posted in this thread yesterday, I know who he is. Let's just drop this for his sake. I wish him the best.

Good grief, people talk about their families all the time on this board. I know quite a bit about yours: you have a 15 year old son who works in a restaurant, your husband works out of town (Charlotte, I believe), and so forth. If anyone made this conversation personal, it was you, talking about my brother getting involved in manufacturing (which he mostly wasn't), offering him career advice, how he should leave town, etc.

[sahara_gem]

Hello everybody here!
Got another question for you guys: What neighborhood would be good to check out that is very walkable, affordable yet nice homes, maybe a park, and doesn't have a lot of crime?
Which neighborhoods have the worst crime and should be avoided? THANKS a bunch!
And is Pittsburgh a fairly pet-friendly place?




Thanks,
Ruth & Jen

[BrianTH]

To start from the end, Pittsburgh is a very pet-friendly place (although we could use more official off-leash dog areas--people just let their dogs off leash in certain park areas).

Most neighborhoods don't have much crime by large-city standards, but many of the lowest crime neighborhoods happen to be right around Frick Park and are quite walkable. The necessary housing budget varies, but Squirrel Hill, Point Breeze, and Regent Square are all quite nice, and Greenfield isn't bad and a bit more affordable.

[onwardandupward]

Add to that Highland Park.

[ashpenni]

[quote=BrianTH;12503530]To start from the end, Pittsburgh is a very pet-friendly place (although we could use more official off-leash dog areas--people just let their dogs off leash in certain park areas).[quote]

Having moved to Pittsburgh in 2008 from a small town in Ohio (Dayton), I was shocked to find such a lack of off-leash areas, let alone what I would call a "dog park". Back home, I had several options; designated off-leash, official dog parks with shade and benches and picnic tables and running water.

This past summer, I heard there were talks of a proposed dog park in South Side. I went to the Town Hall meeting where they discussed the project and revealed the preliminary plans and let me just say...I was impressed. It is planned to go in behind the South Side Giant Eagle, right on the river. It was huge and looked like it would have some amazing facilities for both dogs and their owners.

If they actually go through with building this dog park, it's going to be amazing. I don't know what the progress is on the project, but I do know there was an unbelievable amount of contention and uproar over the project at the Town Hall meeting...so that may have slowed plans a bit. Has anyone heard of this project or have any knowledge on the progress? There are a lot of people in Pittsburgh waiting on a real dog park...