what is good and bad about Pittsburgh (Washington, Homestead: homes, tornadoes) - Pennsylvania (PA) - Page 6 - City-Data Forum

missthing · 12-04-2007, 08:36 PM

I think this site is pretty good- although I am not excited about the response to some of the emails - bad job market- my family and I are planning on moving to Pittsburgh and there has been a lot of negative vibes about jobs, weather sucks, crime rate. Is there nothing good about Pittsburgh? When we visit to look at a couple of houses this summer it did not look bad so we can back and visited sand castlle and blast and people were very nice. Was i in the same place you people were?

guylocke · 12-04-2007, 08:39 PM

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When we visit to look at a couple of houses this summer it did not look bad so we can back and visited sand castlle and blast and people were very nice. Was i in the same place you people were?

LOL, yes, of course. There are a few people on this forum you just have to live with and ignore. We all do it. In fact, there have been many "positive" posters who come and actually leave because they get fed up with how much negativity there is on this forum (including me). You should find a couple other sites that you can chat about Pittsburgh with, I guarantee your experience will be a lot different than this forum.

Personally I like having four seasons (a lot, actually), if people think Pittsburgh is full of crime they've never been out of the state (or quite possibly, their backyard), and the job market IS indeed tight. But it's common sense not to just come here blindly without some sort of security. Some professions are doing quite excellent in Pittsburgh. It all depends how ambitious you are what sort of work you do.

Don't forget missthing, you will almost always find more "negative" people on things like forums or almost anything in life. Why? Because if someone hates something or has a really bad experience with something, they will tell over 10 people about it. However, if someone really loves something or has an exceptional experience with something, they normally tell 5 people or less. Think about it, you have a REALLY horrible dinner at a restaurant. Are you inclined to let it be known or ask for the manager? I imagine. Let's say you have an EXCEPTIONAL dinner. Are you inclined to go out of your way to compliment the chef or call over the manager? Possibly, but probably muss less likely.

You do the math.

My very best advice to you is take everything you hear on a forum with a grain of salt. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. You did the right thing coming and getting a feel for the area. You seem to really enjoy it so far like many of us do.

FromGA · 12-04-2007, 08:47 PM

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Originally Posted by missthing

I think this site is pretty good- although I am not excited about the response to some of the emails - bad job market- my family and I are planning on moving to Pittsburgh and there has been a lot of negative vibes about jobs, weather sucks, crime rate. Is there nothing good about Pittsburgh? When we visit to look at a couple of houses this summer it did not look bad so we can back and visited sand castlle and blast and people were very nice. Was i in the same place you people were?

My guess at this point is that weather (some people like 4 seasons), crime (lower than other cities), bad traffic (probably not as bad as other cities) -- are not real issues to be concerned about in Pittsburgh. I think people who have not seen what is going on in other cities write these things as negatives. Weather should exclude pretty much the entire northeast, crime and traffic probably much of the sprawl belt, etc.

Economy may be a real issue -- but I think there are sectors (new economy type) that are doing quite well. Am I correct?

The other may be the level of diversity (I am not just talking about two races), I am trying to understand this. I have seen this discussed in other threads on this forums. However, this may not be an issue for some.

missthing, where are you moving from (to get an idea what you are comparing Pittsburgh to), and how was your visit to Pittsburgh.

FromGA · 12-04-2007, 08:52 PM

Sorry, I seem to have said many of the same things as guylocke, he must have posted while I was writing. Only he seems to have lived there all his life, and I have never set foot in Pittsburgh!

guylocke · 12-04-2007, 08:58 PM

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bad traffic (probably not as bad as other cities)

This one is just plain old stupid. Traffic in Pittsburgh, while certainly exists as we do have a metro of well over 2 million people, is NOTHING like it is in other major cities, and even a lot of cities of its own size. Go to Seattle! *shiver*

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Economy may be a real issue -- but I think there are sectors (new economy type) that are doing quite well. Am I correct?

You are most definitely correct. Pittsburgh is actually a world-leader in some of the most profitable, advanced, and viable future industries. Pittsburgh DOES have poor job growth, let's put that out there. However, the sectors that ARE growing are high- paying and high- profit. That's an important thing to point out. Also don't forget, in the last few decades, Pittsburgh has quite literally transformed itself from a city that was nearly completely dependent on blue-collar jobs (most dirty industry) to a city where blue-collar jobs are a large minority and still declining.

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Only he seems to have lived there all his life

That is correct.

kpoeppel · 12-04-2007, 11:06 PM

There are lots of good things about Pittsburgh. *IF* you can find a good job, then you've got it made. Pittsburgh has consistently ranked high in Places Rated Almanac, and there are plenty of natural and man-made amenities in the region. Pittsburgh has fairly low crime. I tend to agree that people who think Pittsburgh has high crime haven't been to places like St. Louis, Chicago, Baltimore, D.C., Philadelphia, etc. There are definitely some bad areas in Pittsburgh, but that goes for almost any big city.

The strong economic growth has been in health care (large elderly population and top-notch hospitals) and education. Those sectors are heavily government-funded, so unfortunatly they don't indicate a very robust private sector.

On a positive note, the fact that Mark DeSantis (moderate Republican challenger for mayor) had a fairly strong showing (in a 5 to 1 Democrat city) may mean that people are getting "fed up" enough to try new leadership. There are non-profit organizations who are trying to improve the business and tax climate of the region.

As far as the weather...there's good and bad. Summers are wonderful, IMO. There are enough afternoon showers and thunderstorms to keep things lush and green, withough "raining out" the whole day. Lots of outdoor activities. Falls are very pleasant with beautiful foliage. Unfortunately, winters are very cloudy due to being downwind of the great lakes and upwind of the appalachian mountains. Sometimes the cloudy days seem endless and it can get depressing. It's a good time to have parties inside, watch football, etc. The area does get some snow, which can be very beautiful, especially if the sun does manage to peak out after the snow ends. Spring is so-so...early spring can seem little different than winter, but late spring can be very pleasant and warm. So it's about 6 months nice, 6 months not-so-nice. Overall, I'd say Pittsburgh has a fairly "moderate" climate, without extreme heat, extreme cold, and not too much "severe" weather.

Seaharbour · 12-05-2007, 06:23 AM

kpo...

I grew up in Pgh and have been away for almost 14 years now...I have been living in sunbelt..ever hear too much of a good thing? Well...I sure have experienced. I started t hate seeing summer every day...I started to miss Xmas, the way it was and used to be...we are lucky cause my husband got a great position lined up with a very excellent company....of course there is not guarantee that job will be there tomorrow and no it will not pay six figures like we are USED too but we think the trade off is worth it...we really missed pgh...I look at this way, we can lose any job in any state we live, and have to relo again...we rather not...we are going to buy a home for like 150 or so, half of much of what we could afford...and live below our income...this way if something happens, we can stay in Pgh....Poliicts are crummy in all cities and towns....just the wave of the future too, we just have to focus on the positive more maybe....at least that is what I thinking and betting on here....Life is good when your content and not trying to make it perfect..there is not perfect place but there are some that are pretty darn close!

Thanks for your post, I value everyones post,it helps me to think outside myself!

vwscottie · 12-05-2007, 07:14 AM

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Originally Posted by guylocke

This one is just plain old stupid. Traffic in Pittsburgh, while certainly exists as we do have a metro of well over 2 million people, is NOTHING like it is in other major cities, and even a lot of cities of its own size. Go to Seattle! *shiver*

I get tired of "it's so much worse in this city or that city". It could be alot better here. People wait and let every ant cross the street. "Merge" means "wait untill the last minute, come to a complete stop, and then wedge your way in". Work on I-376 has been well publicized since its inception in the spring, but yet, people insist on continuing to take that route and sitting in traffic jams at 10pm at night. "Maintain speed through tunnel" means "applly your brakes" to many.

guylocke · 12-05-2007, 07:47 AM

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The strong economic growth has been in health care (large elderly population and top-notch hospitals) and education

Don't forget advanced research, robotics, engineering, IT, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, etc.

They are all doing very well in Pittsburgh.

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I get tired of "it's so much worse in this city or that city". It could be alot better here. People wait and let every ant cross the street. "Merge" means "wait untill the last minute, come to a complete stop, and then wedge your way in". Work on I-376 has been well publicized since its inception in the spring, but yet, people insist on continuing to take that route and sitting in traffic jams at 10pm at night. "Maintain speed through tunnel" means "applly your brakes" to many.

LOL. I didn't say there aren't some complete moron's on the roads in Pittsburgh, but I think it is perfectly appropriate to compare Pittsburgh to other cities. Just because I said Pittsburgh's traffic was nothing like other cities doesn't also directly imply that it can't be better. It's always easy to pawn things off like, well we're better than so-and-so! But for traffic, it's really true. I believe I saw it one the these very forums, but Pittsburgh is almost dead last in traffic problems out of the large US cities.

Seaharbour · 12-05-2007, 08:10 AM

My husband is an Engineer and we had to leave pgh for awhile till things picked up, the way it is now up there, he had several offers! WE actually got to pick and choose what job he wanted! So yea..FINALLY things have picked up for us here and his chosen profession! I mean its been a long time!