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I've heard someone say Pittsburgh is Americas best kept secret ? How true is this? I'm from Philly and I have yet to visit .what are the people like? Iare there areas that are a melting pot of different cultures?
I found that this sums up much of what I felt with me myself having to get too nasty or hurtful.
Hmmm. I apologize if you were personally offended. However, this has been my experience living here.
Thanks for your comment.
I find that hard to believe given that the Republican Party is virtually non-existent in this area. To put this in perspective, the city hasn't elected a Republican to local office since the 1930s. In the last mayoral election, Luke Ravenstahl ran on both the Democratic and Republican tickets.
I find that hard to believe given that the Republican Party is virtually non-existent in this area. To put this in perspective, the city hasn't elected a Republican to local office since the 1930s. In the last mayoral election, Luke Ravenstahl ran on both the Democratic and Republican tickets.
true, but as soon as you get out into the suburbs things start getting more republican.
it's important to remember that this person is speaking from the perspective of only ever living in 1 suburb in this area.
oh and terry, i live in wilkinsburg, i doubt you've hung out here much.
OMG
Is anyone on here from Pittsburgh ??
This city was a huge melting pot a generation ago with Europeans flocking to this city for labor jobs in the old steel mills and manufacturing plants of what was the Worlds Greatest Industrial City.
We have neighborhoods like Polish Hill, German Town, even The South Side was dominated by one specific nationality which was The Ukranians, people of Mid eastern Descent (derivation from an ancestor; lineage; extraction. Synonyms: ancestry, parentage, origin) flocked from Pittsburgh's Lower Hill to Brookline especially Lebanese and Syrian descent. On Brookline Blvd Arabic was spoken routinely by the residents and italians are everywhere in this city. Is it NY, Jersey or Center City Nooooooooooo
Most of our suburbs are more like a Philly Suburb Plymouth Meeting or in Deleware Claymont which is what Robinson Twp and Cranberry Twp are like today but with more job opportunities. Side note I have lived in Philly and know it well !!!!! Why is Pittsburgh undergoing a significant growth spurt, well its a huge Banking Town PNC and BNY / Mellon a huge hospital and university town thank you UPMC and Pitt, CMU , Duquesne, Point Park University, RMU, Chatham and a multitude of others. Then ofcourse it is the center of the Marcellus and Utica Shale Natural Gas Play with Shell, Chevron, Exxon, Range Resources, Chesapeke and so many others pouring money into our region. What does this mean, jobs, jobs, jobs. If you are truly interested in Pittsburgh read The Pittsburgh Business Times get a feel for this new vibrant economy, you will be impressed. Best of all our housing costs are very low compared to other cities, you can get a 2BR condo in the Golden Triange with stadium and river view for only 165,000.00 in Gateway Towers try that any where else. My advice come to Pittsburgh for a weekend if you dont fall in love with it I will eat my words. In the metro area you can purchase a lake front home with a private dock and water depth off dock of 35' including a pontoon boat and golf cart for only 150,000.00 try that anywhere else. The Mexican War Streets on The North Shore are Chic with a Proggressive Gay, Artistic and Liberal Community. Manchester is a diverse urban neighborhood with amazing architect. It is a green City with a topography and skyline that is among the best in in the world. Southside, Homestead has much to offer, 3 rivers for rowing, kayaking, boating, fishing and soo much more, music venues to numerous to list, and some of the best museums on the planet. Look everyone has an opinion pro and con but what I am listing are the facts. Pittsburgh has become the Hollywood of The East, The Washington post has called Pittsburgh The In City !!! This is where life is amazing. The quality of life according to numerous publications in Pittsburgh is second to none!!! Pittsburgh has everything I am looking for great sport teams with amazing stadiums, parks and recreation, free concerts at Point State Park, River Regattas, The Pittsburgh Marathon, plays, musicals, and an array of entertainment coming into our city on a daily basis. As I have said to The OP, I have travelled and lived in many places. From Manhattan to San Francisco, San Diego to Fort Myers and many points in between, I choose Pittsburgh to be my home.
Moderator cut: photo removed, copyright protection
Last edited by toobusytoday; 09-20-2012 at 08:45 PM..
Reason: removed e-mail
I am an immigrant and just moved to Pittsburgh via 25 years in NY.
We are very happy here. Everyone that we have spoken to has been so so friendly, so down to earth and so willing to help. I cannot say that for our 25 years in NY.
The kids absolutely love their school. I find Pittsburgh clean also.
Not sure why people jump all over someone that doesn't like it here? Pittsburgh isn't everyone's cup of tea, so what? Looking at Pittsburgh's shortcomings is always a good idea if you want to address them, or discuss if they are valid points. The arts in Pittsburgh are huge, considering how small Pittsburgh is. Terry T, is comparing Pittsburgh to DC and NYC? Kind of hard to actually do that. NYC? Seriously? That being said, I suspect Terry needs to live in DC or a much larger metro. I don't feel that is a negative at all. Many people living in NYC would hate Pittsburgh. Our area is sleepy in comparison, but many people living in Pittsburgh would hate to live in and around NYC metro. Two different places and certainly very different styles.
Terry, I hope you move to a bigger city. Pittsburgh would be too small. Don't make the same mistake twice. Go to DC. That would have what you need. Sure tons of traffic and a more aggressive style, but one heck of a lot of art, due to it being the nation's capital. NYC, might be a little too overwhelming, but maybe.
I can appreciate and respect Terry's post, and I believe our sub-forum should be a venue for us to not only cheerlead where Pittsburgh shines but also to admit our faults and brainstorm ways to address them. From my experience lurking in and participating within many other city forums on City-Data ours typically can have much more civilized and less heated discussions, and I hope that is the course that this thread will also take.
I am a transplant to Pittsburgh. I grew up in Northeastern Pennsylvania within the economically-distressed and non-cosmopolitan Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area. I graduted from college and jumped at a career opportunity with the Feds in Northern Virginia. After a year-and-a-half of trying to justify paying $1,200/month in rent to live in an outdated 1-BR apartment in deep cookie-cutter suburbia while still managing to retain my sanity I finally had a quarter-life crisis of sorts, quit my job, found someone to replace me on my lease, and I hoofed it to Pittsburgh, lured in, admittedly, in large part thanks to all of the passionate and informed posters on this city sub-forum. I've not been disappointed in the least by the outstanding quality-of-life this city affords to an individual at a reasonable price point. While Pittsburgh is my own Nirvana it DOES have its faults, and I hope people on this sub-forum are mature enough to respond to Terry's criticisms with tact.
Pittsburgh has all of the cultural offerings I craved in DC without the expense of living in Northern Virginia. We lack the diversity that Northern Virginia had, but at the same time I work in the financial services industry and interact daily with people who are just moving to the city from Turkey, Iran, South Korea, Kenya, China, and numerous other nations (admittedly almost 100% fueled by both UPMC and CMU). I also saw all 50 state license plates here more rapidly than I did when living in Northern Virginia. I don't know if this is a function of now living in a city vs. a gelatinous suburb or if Pittsburgh truly is rising in national prominence, but I feel a bit giddy inside when I pull up at a red light beside a vehicle with Oregon license plates and see the occupants gleaming wide-eyed at the historic mansions along Fifth Avenue in Shadyside or see an Asian family looking at a walking map of the city while standing on a street corner in Oakland. Terry is correct in that our Hispanic population is nearly non-existent and is largely located in the city's Beechview neighborhood. On the other hand Terry is incorrect about the lack of Asians and/or Asian-Americans as I have witnessed an explosion in the growth of our local Asian/Asian-American population in the East End over the past two years I've lived here. Tirade's recent reply about the amazing amount of diversity in Squirrel Hill mirrors my own experiences living in the city. Perhaps if you were living in McKees Rocks, Springdale, or Charleroi you may have a different opinion, but here in the city (and especially the East End) we're a MAJOR melting pot. My openly-gay partner and I know of a very massive LGBT community here in Greater Pittsburgh as well, and contrary to popular belief many of our friends actually live in suburban locales such as South Fayette Township and Wexford. Imagine that. There could be a rainbow flag creeping up tomorrow on your own cul-de-sac!
I'll be the first to admit Pittsburgh's obsession with sports, namely football, is EXTREMELY off-putting to transplants. Not only don't I care much at all about sports in general (besides a slight interest in baseball and hockey), but I come from a long line of rabid Philadelphia sports fans. It's annoying that I have to "fake" some great interest in the Steelers and actually DO read up on various stats to sound knowledgeable in order to succeed in my sales-focused primary career where building a good rapport with my clientele through whatever means necessary is crucial. There are some on here who would lead you to believe that sports aren't really that big of a deal in Pittsburgh, but that's just glowingly inaccurate. I love that the city has three state-of-the-art sporting facilities (soon to be four with a new soccer stadium near Station Square), and I love that all four are within walking distance to Downtown whereas cities like Philadelphia screwed up by putting their sporting venues far outside of the core of town. Like it or not while I'm not a rabid sports fan I'm the exception---not the rule---in the country, and many transplants DO factor in the quality and accessibility of sports teams and venues in their ranking of a city. I challenge them to find a city of our size in this country that has a better nexus of new sporting venues coupled with extreme fanaticism from city residents. Cincinnati, which I often consider to be our younger sibling, comes close, but I still can't think of any other community our size with four great venues within walking distance of everything the city has to offer.
In regards to the overall health of the city's denizens I'm not going to argue with Terry. Not only is he correct in his assessment of the morbid obesity of many people who live here (and their apathy towards shedding a few pounds), but the amount of chain-smoking I see here, especially in front of our hospitals, is alarming. Even though our city is increasingly white-collar and educated we still retain our working-class roots, and, as such, we hold the distinction of being the only place I've ever lived where we simultaneously have many educated middle-class white-collar people who ALSO smoke heavily and are obese. There's a reason why UPMC does so well here, folks, and it's not due to creative marketing. Granted I used to have six-pack abs when I lived in NoVA and have since returned to being in "average" shape, but I still take efforts to eat healthily, don't smoke, and run when my schedule permits. For what it's worth in the past two years alone I've noticed a moderate uptick in the number of cycling commuters and recreational runners/joggers not only in the tonier parts of the East End (i.e. Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, Point Breeze, Regent Square, etc.) but also in regular traditional "working-class" neighborhoods such as my own Polish Hill, where I now am more careful to avoid "clotheslining" a cyclist when exiting my vehicle and routinely greet fellow runners when I work out. If this continues to spread to other parts of the city in the coming years I can envision our issues with obesity teetering out. On the other hand smoking is something I don't see becoming less of a part of the local culture anytime soon. My partner smokes. My landlady smokes. My upstairs neighbor smokes. My next-door neighbor smokes. My neighbor across the street smokes. Many of my clients smoke. My boss at my second job smokes, as do both managers and most of my co-workers. Every other guy I've considered dating here in Pittsburgh smokes. For as forward-thinking as some of the cheerleaders on this sub-forum would lead you to believe Pittsburgh is we can't be THAT "advanced" if the majority of the people here think smoking is the best thing for you since sliced bread.
h_curtis is correct in his assessment that the city isn't very clean. Just walk or ride your bike through East Liberty, the Hill District, Polish Hill, or even the Strip District or South Side Flats sometime and notice all of the half-crushed plastic soda bottles, fast food wrappers, cigarette butts, etc. dotting the landscape around you. It's deplorable. Every Tuesday evening I try to scour my block and pick up litter before tying up my garbage bag and setting it on the curb. By the weekend it's filthy again. Once while walking down Halket Street in Oakland en route to a delivery at Magee Hospital I witnessed a man in front of me just drop his empty plastic bottle onto the sidewalk in front of his young children and keep walking. If I wasn't working I was going to confront him. I habitually see people tossing cigarette butts out their car windows and wish there was an effective number I could call to report them via license plate for littering without clogging up 911. The area I grew up in was much dirtier than this, but Northern Virginia was a great example of an area that was pristinely clean, despite its other drawbacks. I don't know how so many people here can simultaneously have Steeler/Pittsburgh pride and then just throw garbage out their car windows.
I'm a liberal Democrat (no surprise). With that being said I don't think Terry's comments towards Republicans were appropriate, and he owes the forum a better apology than that. Hopes, for example, is one of my favorite posters, and she's a Republican if I'm not mistaken, who also happens to live in the suburbs. She seems to be more cultured than many urban-dwelling Democrats I know. She doesn't at all resemble that very narrow-minded description he tossed out. Just as how not everyone who lives in the East End is a yoga-obsessed, hybrid-owning, Whole Foods-patronizing, wine-sipping, rainbow-flag-waving, baby-eating liberal Democrat not everyone who lives in our suburbs is a cul-de-sac-loving, SUV-driving, gay marriage-hating, Wal-Mart-loving redneck idiot Republican. I may be the king of unjust stereotypes at times, but I do apologize when I err. That comment alone really offended me, and I'm not even Republican, Terry.
Not sure why people jump all over someone that doesn't like it here? Pittsburgh isn't everyone's cup of tea, so what? Looking at Pittsburgh's shortcomings is always a good idea if you want to address them, or discuss if they are valid points. The arts in Pittsburgh are huge, considering how small Pittsburgh is. Terry T, is comparing Pittsburgh to DC and NYC? Kind of hard to actually do that. NYC? Seriously? That being said, I suspect Terry needs to live in DC or a much larger metro. I don't feel that is a negative at all. Many people living in NYC would hate Pittsburgh. Our area is sleepy in comparison, but many people living in Pittsburgh would hate to live in and around NYC metro. Two different places and certainly very different styles.
Terry, I hope you move to a bigger city. Pittsburgh would be too small. Don't make the same mistake twice. Go to DC. That would have what you need. Sure tons of traffic and a more aggressive style, but one heck of a lot of art, due to it being the nation's capital. NYC, might be a little too overwhelming, but maybe.
----Hi Curtis
I lived several years in D.C. and loved it!!!!
Where did you live in DC? I spent around a year of my life living in Capitol Hill (NE) myself. Loved the scenery, hated the people.
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