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It's official: Pittsburgh is the most liveable city in the U.S. | News In Brief | Marketplace from American Public Media (http://www.publicradio.org/columns/marketplace/business-news-briefs/2011/02/its_official_pittsburg_is_1_in.html - broken link)
I have lived in 5 of the 10 cities on the list ... and spent considerable time, multiple visits, in 3 of the others ... I am sputtering ... who ever came up with this nonsense?! Without being specific on the pluses and minuses of each, let me just make a quick jump to a comment about Honolulu (which city I enjoy a great deal). Honolulu is so different in both culture and environment than any of the others, that to make a relative judgement is about like comparing apples to -- oh, say -- catfish ... they are both living things and edible (sorta) ... but they aren't even in the same classification of life.
Anyway, "liveable" is what you like ... while I was born in Detroit, I don't consider it liveable, and I love Honolulu ... yet, I do know folks who prefer Detroit ... so who am I to argue with personal taste?
PITTSBURGH! What a joke! I spent one day in Pittsburgh at the Wm Penn hotel. I went outside to see the city and was back in my room in 45 minutes. PITTSBURGH!??
Well, according to their own website "The Economist Intelligence Unit is the world's leading resource for economic and business research, forecasting and analysis. Like The Economist, we are independent of all governing bodies and corporations, leaving us free to deliver accurate and impartial business intelligence." However, they also want folks to pay them for their opinions. If this is the level of data they put out, it is surprising they can afford a web presence. Perhaps they are using some sort of arcane criteria that nobody else knows about? Either that or it is a classic case of GIGO.
They have Pittsburgh and Detroit on the same list as Honolulu and I'm not sure what criteria would put all three of those places on the same list. Especially with the hit that the rust belt cities have been taking lately.
It's official: Pittsburgh is the most liveable city in the U.S. | News In Brief | Marketplace from American Public Media (http://www.publicradio.org/columns/marketplace/business-news-briefs/2011/02/its_official_pittsburg_is_1_in.html - broken link)
I love Honolulu myself. But does it go on the list?
Having lived in four of the 10 cities, I have no idea why they chose Pittsburgh. I do understand why Honolulu is on the list, though.
The Economist Intelligence Unit is considered a very prestigious organization, but having read the linked article, I suspect that the results are based purely on data in the five categories they considered. I'd be surprised if they included any subjective input from people who actually live in these cities. I've never been to Detroit, so I can't judge personally, but I haven't read anything positive about it as a place to live, since their economy crashed. (Maybe the fact that you can buy houses in abandoned neighborhoods for as little at $3,000 made Detroit score high in affordability.) Pittsburgh, on the other hand, consistently rates high in these surveys, and I have a friend who lives there and loves it, so I can't discount that rating out of hand. I'm surprised that Portland, Oregon didn't make the list -- surely it's more livable here than Detroit is. As for the 10 most livable cities in the world, no US cities made the list, but the cities that did are all places I'd like to visit. On the other hand, the Economist is a British publication, and 8 of the 10 top world cities are in Commonwealth countries. Is there perhaps a bit of Anglo bias there?
The Economist is crap. The Detroit metro area is nice enough if you don't mind winter, but Detroit proper is a hellhole for the most part. Pittsburgh is boring and also has crappy weather. Atlanta's too hot (and landlocked), and Minneapolis is too cold. The other cities are somewhat defensible, but I agree that Portland and many other places are probably more liveable than the above 4, or possibly even D.C. and Chicago.
Hey Wink, do you have anything good to say about Hawaii?
Mickey
Pittsburgh isn't in Hawaii, it's in Pennsylvania
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