This Must Stop! (Pittsburgh: hotels, luxury, college)

[Q-tip motha]

Originally Posted by alleghenyangel

The demand doesn't exist because people assume nothing will be open. That perception needs to change, but the only way it will change is if some pioneer restaurants remain open (which I think is already happening).

It isn't going to be the restaurants that take the first step in changing that perception. If you go downtown for dinner you lose $5-15 in parking. If you don't go they lose labor costs. The customers have to create the demand, then they will react.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by alleghenyangel

Sometimes I think people in Pittsburgh are in denial about the recession, or just about how bad things are. I think things are doing okay in Pittsburgh, especially compared to decades past, so that may be lulling people into a false sense of security. I'm not trying to be gloomy, but things are pretty bad out there. Yes, we have jobs here, for now, but how do you have job security when the nation is so messed up?

I know a lot of people my age, and the majority of them have degrees and were unable to find jobs in their fields after graduating. And they have student loans to pay, too. Most of them are living with their parents! I was lucky enough to find a job in my field, but it doesn't pay a lot (although I do perfectly well on it). There won't be any $1000 lofts in my future, though.

^ This. Some on this sub-forum were blessed enough to have secured lucrative positions within their field of expertise and have been gainfully employed long-term so they don't realize that by the time we fully recover from the last recession we'll possibly be into our NEXT dip in this potential "double-dip recession!"

I work 12-15 hours per day at least 4 days per week and then work 8 hours per day two other days per week. I've altered my schedule to give myself one day off both of my jobs per week so I can run errands and try to keep my sanity. I'm college-educated, and my positions right now involve hawking moderately-priced gifts at people by day and delivering Thai food by night to affluent DINKs in Squirrel Hill for $1.00 tips on $60.00 orders. I cried earlier tonight calculating how many hours I have to work selling gifts or delivering food to pay my monthly student loan bill for a degree that's proven to be worthless in this economy, and by the time the economy DOES recover I'll have been out of school AND my field so long most employers won't want to have anything to do with me.

Pittsburgh has TONS of "jobs". Anyone who can't find a "job" here is either lazy, too picky, or a moron. I'm 100% confident could pick up a THIRD job if my financial conditions deteriorate further because I have an excellent work ethic. With that being said, though, career opportunities are scarce here right now. I don't have health insurance, and I can't afford to insure myself, which is why I tire of the Tea Partiers saying the only people with no health insurance are those who "don't want it", but I digress as that's tangential. I've pretty much given up hope on finding a career opportunity in my field at this point, despite nearly two years of experience in the U.S. Department of Defense. My partner just celebrated his second anniversary as a "permatemp"---using his Statistics and Mathematics degrees to deliver mail at an office building. Another friend waits tables with his degree. Another friend moved back in with her parents in Eastern PA after being unable to secure employment in her field here. I see all of these younger (20ish) people in Oakland driving around in BMWs and Audis while updating Facebook on their Smartphones and sipping their Starbucks, and I can't help but wonder what they do for a living to afford those nice vehicles and gadgets?

I love Pittsburgh, but the economy here isn't as rosy as some on here would like to deceive others into believe it would be. In NoVA I had a horrible quality-of-life, but I had job stability. In Pittsburgh I can't find employment commensurate with my qualifications and experience, but everything else has been an improvement for me. I really don't think a place truly exists that has both a robust skilled job market AND a high quality-of-life. If someone finds such a place then please tell me. For as "rah rah Pittsburgh" as I am my partner and I are prepared to relocate out of the area in August 2012 if we can't find anything by then.

[PreservationPioneer]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I see all of these younger (20ish) people in Oakland driving around in BMWs and Audis while updating Facebook on their Smartphones and sipping their Starbucks, and I can't help but wonder what they do for a living to afford those nice vehicles and gadgets?

Wow, this really got me thinking so much about how I take my job for granted. I have a full-time position with benefits. I make around 30k a year and I have been very lucky. I have a new car, and a smartphone, and I sip coffee at Starbucks. But I have been taking all of that for granted, like it isn't worth that much.

Four years ago, when I lived in Michigan and had just graduated college, I was living at home with my parents and thought there was no way out. I had no money for anything, my parents' business was going down the tubes in the economy there (still is, but they manage to hold on to it somehow). I couldn't find a job for my life. I remember commuting every day to Lansing for a part-time position (10 hours a week) that was better than nothing, and all I could get (this was with a degree!). It was a useless degree in Michigan. Then after a year of searching for a job, washing cars, and doing other crap jobs, I moved here to Pittsburgh for a job at Wal-Mart. Yeah, that's how hungry I was for work. And slowly things fell into place. I found a job in my field. I now have plenty of money. But it's good to remember that it took me two years after graduating college to find something in my field. It's really, really hard out there. It's scary to think that things might have happened differently. What I clearly remember from those years was how difficult it was to find a career, the cold interviews and the rejection letters, and the worst which was doubting yourself because of the rejection. It was then that I developed my cheap spending habits and my obsession with saving money.

[PA_Native71]

Originally Posted by madg0at

I would like to see this too, but until more people actually live downtown instead of just commute in Monday-Friday we'll continue to see a trend of places only open during the week and when events are happening (Pirates are away this weekend, for instance). Downtown needs a critical mass of residents and then we'll see a more vibrant off-weekend atmosphere there.

you hit it on the head you need more residential areas close to downtown to make it a more active place and places will stay open more, I have seen in the past in this site that if they had better places with private parking and easier access to grocery stores and other basic amenities living downtown would be viable and stay around longer, too, but until they start looking at downtown as a real community it will not grow, there is options but an effort has to be made by the individual and the government to start talking and see what can be done

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by alleghenyangel

Wow, this really got me thinking so much about how I take my job for granted. I have a full-time position with benefits. I make around 30k a year and I have been very lucky. I have a new car, and a smartphone, and I sip coffee at Starbucks. But I have been taking all of that for granted, like it isn't worth that much.

This wasn't meant to be a stab at anyone in particular, but, yes, be very thankful for what you do have. As for me while I'm unable to pay for medical treatments I need I'm still happy I have a roof over my head in a safe (albeit noisy and nosy) neighborhood, running water, Internet access, and a comfortable bed. I also have a car. My partner and I had a massive fight this evening. He's as destitute (if not more so) than I am, yet he told me he had just ordered a pizza for delivery for himself. I asked him if he had budgeted to ensure that $20 or so expense could be covered until his next paycheck, and the sparks flew. People say money can't buy happiness, but the peace of mind it buys can permit you to enjoy one another's company instead of always ramming heads.

I literally just want to know where all of these presumably Pitt and CMU students work at where they can afford tuition AND luxury vehicles AND smartphones AND Starbuck's AND designer clothing (etc., etc.) at their young age. I worked full-time through college at $11.14/hr. (plus sales commissions) and couldn't afford most or much of any of that. I just want to know what I did wrong. I'm not saying I necessarily want an Audi or an iPhone or iPod or Nook or whatever else, but it would be nice to know what all of those people younger than me do for a living that they can afford all of them while I work two jobs and am still financing my way out of debt at 24.

[Tirade]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

it would be nice to know what all of those people younger than me do for a living that they can afford all of them while I work two jobs and am still financing my way out of debt at 24.

Either their parents are paying for it or they're maxxing out their credit cards. In either case, they're not actually paying for it with their own money.

[MeinGlanzendMotorrad]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

financing my way out of debt

I think I found it.

[gg]

Originally Posted by alleghenyangel

Sometimes I think people in Pittsburgh are in denial about the recession, or just about how bad things are.

Things aren't really bad at all anywhere in the US, unless you make it that way for yourself. Sure this is a so-called recession, but it is nothing. My grew up in the depression where there were soup lines everywhere and people really had trouble getting food! Hello? People now are just mad they can't by another big screen TV.

Just look at this amazing weather we have had and are having. If you have enough to eat today, things are GREAT!! Stop all the whining and enjoy.

[FreightTrainRunning]

Originally Posted by alleghenyangel

The demand doesn't exist because people assume nothing will be open. That perception needs to change, but the only way it will change is if some pioneer restaurants remain open (which I think is already happening).

There are quite a few restaurants open in the evenings in the cultural district and from my experience, they're always packed, even on weeknights. We were at "Meat and Potatoes" last week and it was still mobbed after 9PM when we left. I think that there's lots of room for more restaurants to stay open downtown.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Things aren't really bad at all anywhere in the US, unless you make it that way for yourself. Sure this is a so-called recession, but it is nothing.

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