What Pittsburgh can teach the rest of the country (Penn Hills: neighborhood, living in)

[gortonator]

Originally Posted by pghdude28

No but it is a sign they don't care. From the street potholes to the smoking and love handles, people around here pride themselves on being stagnant and mediocre. I think Pittsburgh can teach the world that it is okay to be stagnant and mediocre. That is part of the local culture here. For others who are more fitness oriented and health conscious, they feel like a minority here.

I am. Extremely. Fitness conscious.

And I don't. At all. Feel like a minority.

Why do you?

Are these sentences? Short enough for you?

And of course we have the simple fact that you know nothing about anywhere else in the world because you are a stagnant, lifetime Yinzer yourself who will probably never move anywhere. But let's not let such mere facts get in the way - that would be bad.

Wouldn't it.

[Copanut]

Great White North!!!

[Sealtite]

Originally Posted by Copanut

Great White North!!!

The North Hills are rather nice indeed.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by gortonator

I am. Extremely. Fitness conscious.

And I don't. At all. Feel like a minority.

Why do you?

Are these sentences? Short enough for you?

And of course we have the simple fact that you know nothing about anywhere else in the world because you are a stagnant, lifetime Yinzer yourself who will probably never move anywhere. But let's not let such mere facts get in the way - that would be bad.

Wouldn't it.

The East End and affluent suburbs are filled with fit, health-conscious people. But in all fairness, the richer, more educated, and whiter you are, the more likely you are to be in good shape. Pittsburgh is more than just white people and the region as a whole still has a strong working class/blue-collar ethos. It's kind of like the apocryphal UWS Manhattanite, whom, upon hearing that George W. Bush was elected president, said, "How can that be? I don't know anybody who voted for him!"

I still think Sealtite is stretching this one thinner than a vegan gluten-free pizza topped with fair trade, environmentally sustainable tofu, but as I said before, I'll find the stats and post them on the morrow (ideally).

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by HeavenWood

The East End and affluent suburbs are filled with fit, health-conscious people. But in all fairness, the richer, more educated, and whiter you are, the more likely you are to be in good shape. Pittsburgh is more than just white people and the region as a whole still has a strong working class/blue-collar ethos. It's kind of like the apocryphal UWS Manhattanite, whom, upon hearing that George W. Bush was elected president, said, "How can that be? I don't know anybody who voted for him!"

I still think Sealtite is stretching this one thinner than a vegan gluten-free pizza topped with fair trade, environmentally sustainable tofu, but as I said before, I'll find the stats and post them on the morrow (ideally).

This data's a little tougher to find in one place (at least as far as reliable primary/secondary sources go).

Just to get the ball rolling, here's weight/physical activity data. Unfortunately, there's no numerical rank, so the percentiles I've placed here are visual estimates (plus Cleveland comparisons just for the man of 63 z's).

Pittsburgh = 35.0% healthy weight (low end of the middle third) > Cleveland = 34.4% healthy weight (high end of the bottom third)

Pittsburgh = 35.7% overweight (looks like the 40th %ile) < Cleveland = 40.9% overweight (among the very top--#11 to be exact)

Pittsburgh = 29.3% obese (high end of the middle third) > Cleveland = 24.7% obese (high end of the bottom third)

Pittsburgh = 23.6% physically inactive (looks like the 55th %ile) > Cleveland = 22.7% physically inactive (looks like the 45th %ile)

***

So overall, while Pittsburgh is more "fat" than it is "thin," it's still pretty close to the middle as far as American cities go (though America is still a fat nation). Interesting how Pittsburgh and Cleveland have fairly similar healthy weight/physical inactivity levels, while the two basically split the difference WRT their overweight/obese distributions.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by gortonator

I think your estimate of 8 months is a little on the low side. I'm with pghdude28, it's at least 13 .... . And why don't we just plant evergreen trees everywhere and get rid of those darn natives that shed leaves in our extensive parklands and state parks. We could have a mass tree-chop-a-thon so we have year round greenery, because April to November is simply not enough for any self-respecting city. Imagine if that happened in a world class city like New York or Boston

Comments on news article/videos are the sewer of the Interwebs. Not like these highly respectable forums we collectively contribute to with our erudite, informed commentary.

Time to get the bus to downtown, and fight off the hoards of racist old poor dumb people who hang out at Market Square. It's hell out there, folks. Hell ... I tell ya!

Agree with the bold, but OTOH, that Huffpo article was enough to make me barf. They really didn't cover any of the negatives. They recently did a similar story about Minneapolis which garnered similar responses.

Originally Posted by pghdude28

I think Sealtite has most of it covered. Just this past September, Pittsburgh was ranked the 3rd most stressful city to live in. If the quality of life is so amazing here, why are we top in terms of stress? Do any of you realize the negative health consequences from stress? Forbes wrote a similar article back in 2009.

Pittsburgh Ranks In Top 10 Of Most Stressed Cities In Nation « CBS Pittsburgh

None of these lists are worth a crock of compost! 10 Best Cities to go Fly a Kite! Read it!

Originally Posted by Sealtite

He's one of the most stressed people in the city and I have an anger issue. So I guess we're including unsolicited amateur psychological evaluations to the arsenal of "gotcha" comebacks?

That is one thing that really bugs me about many posters on CD, on many different forums.

Originally Posted by ny789987

I disagree. Living a healthy lifestyle is much easier here than in the other places I have lived. For one, unlike the NYC metro area, I don't have to work 70 hours a week to afford a jumbo mortgage on my modest home bordering the ghetto. For outdoor recreation, this place is unparalleled. The parks here are really good (North/South parks are especially unique) and how the city is transforming the river fronts is really commendable. People can be trashy (I especially dislike how people around here tend to litter), but if you are inclined to live an active and cultured life here it is relatively easy.

Seriously? Have you ever been out west? The Pittsburgh area is great for water sports, but not much else.

Mountain Parks | Denver Parks and Recreation
Winter Park Resort - Official Ski Resort Website - Winter Park, Colorado (Owned by the City of Denver)

[ElijahAstin]

^BTW Kat, I'm not sure if you saw the link I posted, but Denver's quite the healthy place. At the top of the list as far as healthy weight people go, and next to the bottom in terms of obese and physically inactive people. The overweight %age is on the higher side, but that's probably because there's so few obese people.

[ElijahAstin]

Pittsburgh could use improvement as far as life expectancy goes. It's 21st out of the 25 largest metropolitan areas (78.2). While things are not quite so bad on a national level (78.2 is on par with #35 Michigan), 78.2 is still fairly mediocre (that's mediocre, not ABYSMAL).

Data is available here.

[pghdude28]

Originally Posted by HeavenWood

Pittsburgh could use improvement as far as life expectancy goes. It's 21st out of the 25 largest metropolitan areas (78.2). While things are not quite so bad on a national level (78.2 is on par with #35 Michigan), 78.2 is still fairly mediocre (that's mediocre, not ABYSMAL).

Data is available here.

I think that is pretty accurate. While Pittsburgh is not at all great, it isn't exactly abysmal either. Simply put, Pittsburgh is mediocre.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by pghdude28

I think that is pretty accurate. While Pittsburgh is not at all great, it isn't exactly abysmal either. Simply put, Pittsburgh is mediocre.

I'll give you a 159 for that one on the LSAT scale. On the lower side, but still not bad for a yinzer.