Honoring one of our own (bars, requirement, reputation)

[okaydorothy]

You deserve it. Thank you for all your info that you have shared. It did influence my descision also. If you are a sample of the kind of people in Pittsburgh, I cant wait to move.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by okaydorothy

If you are a sample of the kind of people in Pittsburgh, I cant wait to move.

He truly is. Pittsburgh certainly isn't Utopia, but I've found the majority of people here to be friendlier and much more helpful than average. Yes, I've had my unfortunate run-ins with the jerks here (i.e. the woman who ran a red light and totaled my car and her drunk macho attorney husband as prime examples) but by and large this is truly a community. Even the woman who gave me my first Player's Club Card at Rivers Casino gave me some "sage" advice when I first moved here when she saw that I had the dreaded 15219 zip code and urged me to move away for my own personal safety because it was a "bad area". Granted she was wrong as my neighborhood is one of the safest around; however, she genuinely was looking out for me like I was her own son. My landlady also cautioned me that the Mexican War Streets were the worst part of the North Side when I told her I wanted to explore the historic rowhome-lined streets one day. While she, too, was obviously mistaken (you'll find most Pittsburghers never leave their own little "bubbles") I still really appreciated the concern.

People in Pittsburgh are better at being more "balanced" about their city than many other areas. People here take pride, but they don't attack people like me for pointing out some unpleasant realities, such as the epidemic amounts of litter, the prolific and tragic violent crime amongst inner-city young African-American males, our mass transit funding crisis, and the much higher than average level of heavy smoking (which also contributes to the litter). None of the "cons" of living here, though, outweigh the positives for me. I grew up in an area where the overwhelming majority could only find faults/flaws in the area and permitted those to overshadow all of the good (just look at conversations about Scranton on the NEPA sub-forum). I then moved to the polar opposite area---a place where there was very strong civic pride and where people became militant against you if you pointed out any negatives. Pittsburgh is amazingly balanced in this regard. People here can be proud of our home while also not being blind to what improvements we need.

[gg]

Congrats Brian.

[SteelCityRising]

So sorry I didn't notice this thread first!

YAC: Can you please merge this thread with the thread I just started honoring Brian? Maybe you could just combine my new thread into the end of this thread?

[Caladium]

Perhaps we can merge this with the thread that was started yesterday, so that all the congrats can be in one place?

[UKyank]

There's a new sheriff in town brandishing his shiny new star badge

[BrianTH]

I also think what helps keep Pittsburghers friendly is that it is a relatively affordable and opportunity rich city, so you don't get as much of that rat-race, zero-sum-game, exclusionary attitude as you can get in some other places.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by Caladium

Perhaps we can merge this with the thread that was started yesterday, so that all the congrats can be in one place?

I already asked if this could be done. Sorry, Caladium! I didn't mean to step on your toes. Your thread title wasn't very clear, and being excited I rushed to post this thread before reading yours and going:

[escilade18]

Congrats Brian, I am personally amazed that you did not receive the most informative poster award. I have yet to see your posts on here result to personal attacks. They are always informative and you provide good evidence to go along with what you are saying. Thanks for making this sub-forum all the more enjoyable to participate in

[BrianTH]

The most-informative-poster competition was stiff and the winners clearly deserving, but I am grateful people have mentioned me in that context.