What pieces of the puzzle does Pittsburgh lack to be a great city? (Austin: colleges, living in)

[gortonator]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

You know that highway between Pittsburgh International Airport and Monroeville? It desperately needs to be upgraded to modern Interstate standards. And speaking of the airport and Monroeville, there need to be T extensions to both places as well.

those would be fine things indeed

[Aqua Teen Carl]

- Better public transit
- Major boost in infrastructure (bridges, roads, schools, litter/pollution cleanup)
- Less corruption (mayor and police department come to mind)
- Lessen the stranglehold that one jagoff company has over our entire city

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

You know that highway between Pittsburgh International Airport and Monroeville? It desperately needs to be upgraded to modern Interstate standards. And speaking of the airport and Monroeville, there need to be T extensions to both places as well.

Even if it is, I'm still going to slow down when entering the tunnels, for tradition's sake. Seriously though, either one of those is many billions of dollars we don't have. And I'm of the opinion that what saved Pittsburgh from total collapse ala Detroit was that we didn't have the infrastructure to permit that kind of sprawl. Scaling back while saving the core can't happen if there is no core.

[zman63]

I have beaten a dead horse on issues that I see. If pittsburgh should try to model itself after somebody else it should be columbus ohio. The article I am posting speaks of 190 companies that relocated to the columbus metro in an 18 month period totaling 22,000 new jobs. When you read this article you could replace columbus with pittsburgh. The fact of the matter is we arent there yet. How can we make this a pittsburgh article?

Columbus, Ohio Region: Driving Economic Growth In the Midwest | Site Selection Online

[CaptainPittsburgh]

More diversity is my first, second and third answer to this question. We're getting better, but Pittsburgh is still light years behind cities like Atlanta in this regard.

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by zman63

If pittsburgh should try to model itself after somebody else it should be columbus ohio.

I lived in Columbus, OH for ten years or so before coming here. It was nice enough, but not so nice that I feel the need to try to replicate it. Also, I'm not sure what "The Magazine of Corporate Real Estate Strategy and Area Economic Development" is, but it sounds fishy.

[pman]

Originally Posted by CaptainPittsburgh

More diversity is my first, second and third answer to this question. We're getting better, but Pittsburgh is still light years behind cities like Atlanta in this regard.

put more simply (I think), more people. new people, new ideas. they would be in addition to the current population. the mixing of people and ideas is the foundation of a good city. more new people means more new restaurants, more people riding transit (and hence the need for more transit), more pedestrians, more patrons for the arts, more tax revenue to fund liabilities, less blight.

columbus is not a world class city. while there might be some things columbus is doing that should be modeled but it's hardly an aspirational model for pittsburgh.

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by pman

columbus is not a world class city. while there might be some things columbus is doing that should be modeled but it's hardly an aspirational model for pittsburgh.

That's true and boy did Columbus ever have a raging inferiority complex about it. They were always trying to build or do something to make up for the fact that Cleveland and Cincinnati had professional sports teams (I was there before hockey came to town) and more than one building that dated from before 1962.

[youngabe]

For the record, if Pittsburgh ever mirrored Atlanta in terms of sprawl--I'm leaving. Atlanta does absolutely nothing for me and frankly neither does Columbus. If we want to compare or mirror more with Boston or San Fran, then we'll talk.

...I get that we're talking terms of economy, etc, but I had to get that out there. Ha, but I think we've all agreed, Pittsburgh lacks certain things, as does every American city, and Pittsburgh beats out numerous other American cities on the other hand.

Transportation? Yes, that needs a significant improvement. If people can't get around easily locally or in and out of the city internationally, it will stagnate things.

Just a few things:

The Planning Commission favors saving the Produce Terminal:
Pittsburgh planning commission recommends historic designation for Strip District produce terminal - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Locals and politicians do in fact have "big ideas" for the city...they're not all stagnated for 40 years and sleeping:
Bill Peduto looks for county's help in creating a 'mini-Manhattan' in Downtown Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

[AaronPGH]

Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212

Pittsburgh's all round Transportation Crisis is a Very Big Problem, that will continue to adversely affect the city..

- Declining Public Transit
- Scarce Rail Connections
- Limited Direct Flights
- Worsening Car Culture

This is the number 1 problem for the City's future in my book.

This. Minus 'worsening car culture'. Attitudes have shifted more towards walking/biking/transit – the problem is that our transit infrastructure has gone the other direction at the same time.