Any other non-Pittsburghers who find themselves following this forum semi-regularly? (Washington: hotels, homes)

[bradjl2009]

It's nice to see a lot of people who moved out looking to move back in. I think the amount of people who have left and are moving back has picked up and also may explain why our inward migration is up. Considering the amount of job postings and the amount of education the people who have left and the posting require, I think the area should be looking at trying to get those people to move back.

[Goodjules]

I follow the forum pretty regularly. I live in CA but visited Pittsburgh in '06 and almost bought a house there. Wish I had. My Ca home was worth $650k at the time. Now it worth less than $400K. I could have sold my home in Ca and bought a great home there and had money left over. I still think about moving there when my daughter is in college.

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by raubre

Question for the non-Pittsburghers. What is your Pittsburgh connection?

I live in Pittsburgh and sometimes look at Cleveland, Portland and Austin. I also check the music and TV forums

That's interesting. Cleveland and Pittsburgh kinda seem like sister cities in some way or another. Portland and Austin are the hip cities out there. Always interesting to see what Pittsburghers are viewing.

As a non-Pittsburgher, I have no connection to Pittsburgh at all. But I do feel a mental connection. The people on this forum remind me a lot of the people I liked a lot in my home State of Michigan, and strangely absent of the kind of Michiganders that I don't like. (Occassionally I view the Detroit/Michigan forums, and grit my teeth a lot, and make regular conscious decisions to stop viewing their forums).

The values that I respect from Pittsburgh are living within one's means, nothing extravagent if you can't afford it, having down-to-earth natures and interests, vote blue but not excessively liberal motivations behind it, affordable living with urban amenities, etc. Mountains are a plus on top of all of that.

The things that I do not like about the MI forums (which DOES attract me to Pittsburgh): MI forums are very anti-city, and perhaps because of it, mutes my connection altogether with most of that state. Pittsburgh reminds me of the kind of city that I feel my past relatives could have easily chosen instead of Detroit, back in 'the day'. I think at the core, they have a lot of similarities.

[raubre]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

As a non-Pittsburgher, I have no connection to Pittsburgh at all. But I do feel a mental connection.

I think that's how I feel about Portland and Austin. As a big music fan,they get some pretty good shows in both cities. Not only that, I hear Portland is beautiful and thier winters aren't as bitter cold (just wet.)

[Katarina Witt]

I come over to this forum frequently. Sometimes I just lurk; there isn't anything that interests me, or that I can converse about, not having lived there for many years. Other times there are threads that interest me.

I was born in Beaver County, grew up there, went to Pitt and worked in Pittsburgh briefly after graduation. I have had family continously in the Pittsburgh area since about 1870; still have a brother and many other relatives living there. I get out there every few years, was just there in October.

Nevertheless, there are many on this board who have told me I shouldn't post here, that I don't "belong".

[feanix]

I moved from Pittsburgh last year, but still check the forum because I still have family there.

As a bonus, there tends to be some funny drama in the forum, particularly whenever someone says something negative about the city. It's an entertaining break.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by Katiana

I come over to this forum frequently. Sometimes I just lurk; there isn't anything that interests me, or that I can converse about, not having lived there for many years. Other times there are threads that interest me.

I was born in Beaver County, grew up there, went to Pitt and worked in Pittsburgh briefly after graduation. I have had family continously in the Pittsburgh area since about 1870; still have a brother and many other relatives living there. I get out there every few years, was just there in October.

Nevertheless, there are many on this board who have told me I shouldn't post here, that I don't "belong".

Sometimes you appear to be contrarian just for the sake of being contrarian, but that's just me. And I've never said that you "don't belong" here.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

Sometimes you appear to be contrarian just for the sake of being contrarian, but that's just me. And I've never said that you "don't belong" here.

I'm me. And not you, no, you've never said that.

[blt4spd]

I also check this forum regurally.
I can see myself winding up in one of the beer joints in Pittsbugh someday.
As you can see my location ( Europe), it takes A LOT more pre plans to make it reality.

Shall we set a day? The first beer on me?. What would be THE BEST beer joint in Pittsburgh? I have only one demand, the beer joint have to have country rock atmosphere. Any suggestions?

[CortlandGirl79]

I enjoy the intelligent conversation and entertaining banter of the Pittsburgh forum. I have a few acquaintances from high school that live in the Pittsburgh region and my mom's cousins grew up in Butler. Before moving to the Youngstown area over 100 years ago my mother's side of the family originated from Cambria County and other parts of western pa. I know some were from Johnstown and lived there during the flood, but i can't remember what other towns we were associated with.

Being that I'm from the Youngstown/Warren area i definitely feel a connection to both northeast Ohio and western Pa. Even if many Pittsburghers don't know it or can't admit it, the regions are very similar. Most of the similarities have to do with the people and history of both regions. I know I've said it before, but many people in my area were born in western pa or their parents were. Now most of them weren't from Pittsburgh, but they were from the small river towns around Pittsburgh. Others are from West Virginia and a smaller number were from the Cleveland area. Just like Cleveland and Pittsburgh a high percentage of our ancestors here were immigrants from Italy, Poland, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Wales, even Puerto Rico in the mid 20th century. It's interesting to read the obituaries in the Warren Tribune and Youngstown Vindicator..........you can really see that many people here came here to work in industry or to service the people that worked in industry.

I know my ancestors came here because of the jobs this region had. One of my great grandfathers worked for General Electric in Warren, another worked for Republic Steel in Niles and Warren, and one more was a farmer in Newton Falls (west of Warren). My mom's dad worked for Thomas Steel in Warren, my dad's dad worked for Mullins Manufacturing in Warren (they made steel kitchen cabinets) and then after WWII he went to work for Packard Electric, a division of General Motors (the business first made light bulbs, a business they sold to GE, then the Packard brothers started their car company in Warren, and the Packard Electric company made wiring harnesses for GM cars and for awhile they made wiring for appliances).

Now times have changed, Cleveland, Akron, Canton, Youngstown, Warren, Sharon, Ferrell, Pittsburgh and all the cities and towns surrounding these cities have had to change or attempt to change. Some have succeeded better than others. I feel like some in our region think they are better than others and that's one thing i don't like about the Pittsburgh forum........many people here think Pittsburgh is better than the other cities and towns here. The way i see it we're all part of the same region, the rustbelt. We're all part of the Cuyahoga, Mahoning, Shenango, and Monongahela Valley's. We've all spend the last 30 or 40 years trying to retain, retrain, change, diversify and educate. Pittsburgh has just had a little or a lot more success than some of the others, but instead of putting the others down, we all need to be pulling our resources. Our cities are part of a mega-region where our children are college educated (many move away), our workers are skilled, our cost of living is cheap, our cultural institutions are numerous, and our water is plentiful. So let the haters have the sun belt, because the rustbelt is making a comeback (it might be happening slowly in some areas). Like it or not, we're stuck with each other, we might as well make the most of it.