Is Pittsburgh America's Most Livable City? - Parts 1 & 2 (Carnegie: section 8, transplants)

[Little Mizz Pittsburgh]

Panel discussion - May 31, 2011 @ 7 p.m. - Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's Homewood Branch

http://youtu.be/6xjQOBTrBdc

http://youtu.be/4IVjFNINeFk

[SteelCityRising]

Around 3:32 in the first video the song plays as follows:

"Welcome to America's Most Livable City. Please ignore these invisibles with me. You see, Pittsburgh, we built this economy but we still lead the nation in black poverty. Welcome to America's Most Livable City. Just ignore the invisibles with me and state your business 'cuz here the place you live in depends on your race and privilege."

Am I the only one who is beyond irritated with the insistence of many impoverished African-Americans in this city that their generational poverty is entirely the fault of everyone else around them but themselves? I know of blacks who came from "da hood" who built wonderful, successful, upstanding lives for themselves. They did so without relying upon the government for handouts or gaming the system. Instead of sitting around blaming whites for their problems they rose to the call and took action to better themselves ON THEIR OWN.

Polish Hill, my own neighborhood, is an impoverished majority-Caucasian neighborhood, yet we're improving on our own with very limited outside funds thanks to the hard work of neighborhood volunteers who actually give a damn and WANT to see this place succeed, with or without the blessing of the city.

[MathmanMathman]

Somehow, I see huge potential there.

But it is up to the residents to make it happen. If no action is taken, nothing happens, and they shouldn't wait for government assistance. That just breeds more inactivity by the residents. A lot of this is attitude and mindset.

[Little Mizz Pittsburgh]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Around 3:32 in the first video the song plays as follows:

"Welcome to America's Most Livable City. Please ignore these invisibles with me. You see, Pittsburgh, we built this economy but we still lead the nation in black poverty. Welcome to America's Most Livable City. Just ignore the invisibles with me and state your business 'cuz here the place you live in depends on your race and privilege."

Am I the only one who is beyond irritated with the insistence of many impoverished African-Americans in this city that their generational poverty is entirely the fault of everyone else around them but themselves? I know of blacks who came from "da hood" who built wonderful, successful, upstanding lives for themselves. They did so without relying upon the government for handouts or gaming the system. Instead of sitting around blaming whites for their problems they rose to the call and took action to better themselves ON THEIR OWN.

Polish Hill, my own neighborhood, is an impoverished majority-Caucasian neighborhood, yet we're improving on our own with very limited outside funds thanks to the hard work of neighborhood volunteers who actually give a damn and WANT to see this place succeed, with or without the blessing of the city.

Go to the panel on May 31 @ 7 p.m. with this...and then come back here and let us know how well your opinion went over....lmaooooo

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by Little Mizz Pittsburgh

Go to the panel on May 31 @ 7 p.m. with this...and then come back here and let us know how well your opinion went over....lmaooooo

How successful you can be in this city has NOTHING to do with race. It has EVERYTHING to do with how well you do (or do not) apply yourself.

[Little Mizz Pittsburgh]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

How successful you can be in this city has NOTHING to do with race. It has EVERYTHING to do with how well you do (or do not) apply yourself.

OK..well, like I said, they're having this panel on May 31. The flier I have says ALL ARE WELCOME. If you feel that strongly about it, then you should go and state your opinion. I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with you, nor am I here to debate this with you. I'm just sayin'....all viewpoints are welcome.

[Craziaskowboi]

I see both sides. On one hand, yinzers don't like black people, and to deny that is to put your head in the sand. Their clout in the region is diminishing, but they still have enough clout to make things more difficult than they need to be because they still either don't realize or don't care that not all black people are morons from the ghetto with perpetual chips on their shoulders.

On the other hand, many black Pittsburghers either don't realize or don't care that not all white Pittsburghers are bigoted yinzers, so the chips on their shoulders grow ever larger for no reason, and they're no more enlightened than any yinzer is. Furthermore, as long as "keepin' it real" involves not giving a **** about education, and even bullying those black people who do -- and this goes for everywhere, not just Pittsburgh -- then white racism is not the main problem.

Yeah, up to about 40 or 50 years ago, white racism was a legitimate and nasty problem for black America, but even though it's still a problem from time to time, it's not nearly the problem that it used to be, and these days a lot of black people simply hold themselves back, whether it be by "keepin' it real" themselves or by caving into peer pressure from those who do, which, unfortunately, exists on a community scale in many areas.

As for the yinzers...get over yourselves. You are not the city, and the city will move on and evolve without you. In fact, it's really begun to in the last 10 years; you just haven't realized it yet. You're most certainly welcome to evolve with it, though. The alternative is, you can "keep it real" like some of the black people you hate do -- and you can get left behind just like them too.

Face it; the yinzers and the "keepin' it real" ghetto crowd can't stand each other because they're so alike. They're two sides to the same coin and they don't realize it.

[Steelers10]

Very well said. If anyone has ever lived in (or even been to) Atlanta, you will run into many middle and upper middle class blacks who have fled Rust Belt cities, Pittsburgh no exception. Perhaps maybe if the Hill District wasn't rendered unviable real estate by urban renewal projects of the 1960s such as freeways and the civic arena then perhaps wealth would have been accumulated in the city of Pittsburgh and black poverty not be dispersed throughout the northside. So maybe what you are railing against in Pittsburgh are many blacks who just are too impoverished to move and are stuck in the city.

On the flipside, if you have ever lived in Florida there is no shortage of white Pittsburgh transplants. Pittsburgh probably would have had a larger impoverished white population had many not returned to more remote areas of Appalachia to be poor there. Black Pittsburghers returning to Alabama in the 1960s apparently wasn't an option.

The people of a metropolitan area that is actually declining in population really aren't in much of a position to tell people to pull themselves up by the bootstraps. Pittsburgh has had economic, political, and infrastructural issues that failed to retain upwardly mobile human capital over the span of two generations and should be focused on retaining what population it has left and encouraging new, innovative minds to move to the city. With some of the negative comments on these forums geared toward race, when a young professional is deciding between Pittsburgh or Atlanta (or Charlotte where Bank of America competes for financial minds with PNC), where do you think the young professional is going to choose?

Originally Posted by Gnutella

I see both sides. On one hand, yinzers don't like black people, and to deny that is to put your head in the sand. Their clout in the region is diminishing, but they still have enough clout to make things more difficult than they need to be because they still either don't realize or don't care that not all black people are morons from the ghetto with perpetual chips on their shoulders.

On the other hand, many black Pittsburghers either don't realize or don't care that not all white Pittsburghers are bigoted yinzers, so the chips on their shoulders grow ever larger for no reason, and they're no more enlightened than any yinzer is. Furthermore, as long as "keepin' it real" involves not giving a **** about education, and even bullying those black people who do -- and this goes for everywhere, not just Pittsburgh -- then white racism is not the main problem.

Yeah, up to about 40 or 50 years ago, white racism was a legitimate and nasty problem for black America, but even though it's still a problem from time to time, it's not nearly the problem that it used to be, and these days a lot of black people simply hold themselves back, whether it be by "keepin' it real" themselves or by caving into peer pressure from those who do, which, unfortunately, exists on a community scale in many areas.

As for the yinzers...get over yourselves. You are not the city, and the city will move on and evolve without you. In fact, it's really begun to in the last 10 years; you just haven't realized it yet. You're most certainly welcome to evolve with it, though. The alternative is, you can "keep it real" like some of the black people you hate do -- and you can get left behind just like them too.

Face it; the yinzers and the "keepin' it real" ghetto crowd can't stand each other because they're so alike. They're two sides to the same coin and they don't realize it.

[Little Mizz Pittsburgh]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

I see both sides. On one hand, yinzers don't like black people, and to deny that is to put your head in the sand. Their clout in the region is diminishing, but they still have enough clout to make things more difficult than they need to be because they still either don't realize or don't care that not all black people are morons from the ghetto with perpetual chips on their shoulders.

On the other hand, many black Pittsburghers either don't realize or don't care that not all white Pittsburghers are bigoted yinzers, so the chips on their shoulders grow ever larger for no reason, and they're no more enlightened than any yinzer is. Furthermore, as long as "keepin' it real" involves not giving a **** about education, and even bullying those black people who do -- and this goes for everywhere, not just Pittsburgh -- then white racism is not the main problem.

Yeah, up to about 40 or 50 years ago, white racism was a legitimate and nasty problem for black America, but even though it's still a problem from time to time, it's not nearly the problem that it used to be, and these days a lot of black people simply hold themselves back, whether it be by "keepin' it real" themselves or by caving into peer pressure from those who do, which, unfortunately, exists on a community scale in many areas.

As for the yinzers...get over yourselves. You are not the city, and the city will move on and evolve without you. In fact, it's really begun to in the last 10 years; you just haven't realized it yet. You're most certainly welcome to evolve with it, though. The alternative is, you can "keep it real" like some of the black people you hate do -- and you can get left behind just like them too.

Face it; the yinzers and the "keepin' it real" ghetto crowd can't stand each other because they're so alike. They're two sides to the same coin and they don't realize it.

Great post!

[SlurmsMcKenzie]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Polish Hill, my own neighborhood, is an impoverished majority-Caucasian neighborhood, yet we're improving on our own with very limited outside funds thanks to the hard work of neighborhood volunteers who actually give a damn and WANT to see this place succeed, with or without the blessing of the city.

That is great for Polish Hill, but I'm guessing the problems your neighborhood sees pales in comparison to problems experienced elsewhere. Community involvement only works if the majority of the neighborhood wants to see change, regardless of race. In my neighborhood, things like abandoned housing, slumlords, and unruly section 8 tenants are all big problems. While those of us that care can write our councilman, show up at meetings, and call the police, we need the city to step up to the plate, too. Never mind things like drugs and gangs, where trying to get involved to stop the issue may put you in harms way. Getting rid of some of the decrepit, abandoned housing would be a good first step. It is, after all, something the city has been promising to do for years now.