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Hey Fashionguy, coming from a Pittsburgh native who has lived in DC, State College,PA, Northern Virginia and currently NYC, I can honestly say that Pittsburgh blows away Philly, DC and even NYC in ways. First, Pittsburgh is like a mini NYC. It offers the same stuff, but to a lesser degree. 2nd, Pittsburgh is actually doing very well right now. UPMC alone saw an absolutely enormous profit last year. Pgh is hosting the G 20 Summit this fall, We just won two major championships (AGAIN), the Pen's are now ranked the 4th most profitable sports franchise in the USA out of the big four pro sports, Pittsburgh is currently hosting a major pro fishing tournament and hosted Bassmaster a couple years ago which was a huge success, Pittsburgh has hosted the US Open, Pittsburgh is building a state of the art arena for the Pens, building up the Northside, Strip, Southside - beautiful places that are going quick. Pittsburgh Sports tradition blows away Philly's. We have more civic pride than you guys do and we're not money obsessed like most people in Philly are. Every person I met when I lived in DC (who was from Philly), only seemed to care about how much money they make, you make or what we all drive. Very materialistic.
I've worked on Wall Street, worked in DC for major DoD contractors and still do work/live in NYC. I've been between the two for 5 years and absolutely HATE it. NYC is much better than DC, but it's still not a Pittsburgh or State College. DC/VA = lame preppy yuppies and very commercial and materialist culture. Philly = arrogant and too liberal, another downside of DC/NoVA.
That is very likely to be true. Pittsburgh has two great universities and several IT company branches. A city as large as Philly must have many blue collar workers. But those are off the point of doing well or not.
[LEFT]British magazine gives city a jolly good No. 1 rating
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
By Mackenzie Carpenter, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato was calling -- no, crowing -- from his cell phone, in full, gleeful, salesman-for-the-region mode, ticking off the number of recent surveys declaring Pittsburgh the nation's most livable city (four or five); the number of front-page New York Times stories about Pittsburgh in the past three months (two) and the value of such publicity to the Pittsburgh area (priceless).
Given that abundance of good publicity, the news that Pittsburgh once again is the most livable city in the United States -- and 29th worldwide -- in a 2009 survey by British magazine The Economist was "great news, but not a surprise," Mr. Onorato said.
"This is now the fourth or fifth independent survey from outside the region talking up the Pittsburgh metro region. You have the stories in The New York Times, the president picks us to host the G-20 summit, now you have this magazine, plus others over the years. It's amazing."
The Economist Intelligence Unit -- which publishes numerous surveys and studies for paying clients -- has ranked Pittsburgh first in U.S. livability ratings since it started measuring them in 2005, said Jon Copestake, editor of the survey. Reader forum
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Of the 140 cities considered, Vancouver, B.C., took the top spot worldwide, followed by Vienna, Melbourne and Toronto. Cities in Asia and Africa fared the worst, with Harare, Zimbabwe, followed by Algiers and Dhaka, Bangladesh (tied), thanks to "civil instability and poor infrastructure," the report said.
The Economist's ranking is just one of many kudos Pittsburgh has earned recently: In 2007 it was rated as "America's Most Livable City" by Places Rated Almanac, and in January Forbes Magazine cited it as the sixth best city in "Ten Cities For Job Growth In 2009."
Of course, there was that survey by the Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends project, which found Pittsburgh one of the least popular of places to live -- in the bottom 10 of 30 cities surveyed -- with only 17 percent of those surveyed saying they wanted to live there. And Business Week magazine reported that Pittsburgh is the 14th "Most Unhappy City" in the nation.
In The Economist's report, between 30 to 40 indicators were considered under five categories: stability, health care, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. The Economist used its own analysts plus statistics and input from correspondents in each city.
"The idea was that the city presenting the least challenges to your lifestyle would be deemed the most livable," said Mr. Copestake -- in other words, cities that aren't too big, too crowded or too crime-ridden. Pittsburgh's medical centers and its cultural amenities -- unusual for a city of its size -- helped propel it up the charts, he added.
The actual differences in scores between U.S. cities was fairly small, he noted. "All of the cities in the U.S. are comparable in livability terms," he said, noting that the lowest scoring city, Lexington, Ky., at 85 percent, was only a few points lower than Pittsburgh, at 92 percent.
While Mr. Copestake obviously hasn't experienced our famous tunnel traffic, he noted that because of our population loss, "that means less people needing services so they're not overburdened."
And that's exactly the problem with these "most livable" contests, countered Jake Haulk, president of the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy.
"Livability is in the eye of the beholder," he said, noting surveys tend to overvalue cultural institutions -- which benefit relatively few people -- and undervalue economic indicators such as job growth and low taxes, which benefit many. Places like Charlotte, N.C., attracted people for that reason, he said.
"I would think that livability would have to do with finding a good job. If you're just looking at cultural things, sure, Pittsburgh is a nice place to live, if you can afford to send your kids to private schools or live in the suburbs and pay high taxes for good schools, but people tend to go where they can find work."
Nonsense, said Mr. Onorato.
"No one is claiming Pittsburgh is perfect," he said, noting that Mr. Haulk "bragged a few years ago about how great Charlotte is, and now Charlotte is in total collapse."
Mackenzie Carpenter can be reached at mcarpenter@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1949.
First published on June 10, 2009 at 12:00 am
This is true, Pittsburgh is one of the top 5 most educated cities in the USA - I think the list includes Boston, DC, San Fran, Pittsburgh and Austin?
Quote:
Originally Posted by ckhthankgod
What's interesting is that I believe that Pittsburgh has a higher percentage of people with a higher education degree than Philly. That surprised me when I heard that, but Pittsburgh has been embracing technology recently. So, who knew? Most-Educated Cities in the United States - MSN Encarta
Philly might be gaining population because of it's location, but that doesn't make it a better city. I mean, it's right off of I-95, near the ocean, NYC, DC and other major East Coast cities. THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT BETTER.
Not everyone wants to live in a congested large urban area with a bunch of extreme liberals and dirty air, no mountains, fresh water lakes, steams and real outdoorsey stuff. And what guy drinks girly drinks?! Men in big cities such as DC, NYC and Philly! You'd never see that in Pittsburgh or other Midwestern cities, not as much at least. It's ashame how many of you "men" in these big cities are such metro-sexuals. Grow a pair, OK?
LMAO.
Funny how I'm actually from the midwest...which Pittsburgh isn't part of, by the way. My native metro is growing. And it's pretty isolated, more so than Pittsburgh. Wonder why that is?
Exactly what I meant - Philly and SE PA people only care about money! The first thing you came back with was in regards to wealth! Why?
Anyway, I don't disagree with you. And of course it's GDP is higher. It is on of the largest cities in the USA, so I sure hope it's producing. Because if not, we have a real problem!
Quote:
Originally Posted by DailyJournalist
Trailrunner79, Philadelphia is still the number 9 richest city by GDP in the world, while Pittsburgh is number 61.
Pittsburgh isn't officially Midwest, but it has a Midwestern feel. What's your native city and why did you move? Pittsburgh has been holding it's population, if not even growing slightly lately.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lakal
LMAO.
Funny how I'm actually from the midwest...which Pittsburgh isn't part of, by the way. My native metro is growing. And it's pretty isolated, more so than Pittsburgh. Wonder why that is?
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Pittsburgh ranked tops in U.S. by The Economist
