Young people are fleeing in droves! (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh: fit in, neighborhood, high school)

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by pghdude28

Compared to Scranton, Pittsburgh is the place to be!

It's also "the place to be" compared to Reston, Virginia, for what it's worth.

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by DaBurgh

Copanut, how far back does this go n'at??

For me, mid 70's. I had quite a few friends leave for Houston and Atlanta.

[bradjl2009]

How I feel with a couple posters when I see what they write.

Charlie Brown Teacher Speaking - YouTube

But back to topic, there is a definite sense of pride and wanting to live in this area amongst young people that wasn't there even 10 years ago. I think it may have to do that those of us born in the late 80's and after are the first generation to never know or have much family that worked in the mills or manufacturing since they were all mostly gone by then.

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by Gee Whiz

A decade or so go, DC and Northern Virginia and other newer areas were considered to be the "cool" cities. Now, the cool cities are the older ones with walkable neighborhoods that are the real deal, and not some yuppified re-creation of Main Street USA. I remember being in my twenties in the late 1980s hanging out at Doc's in Shadyside during Happy Hour. We used to have some good conversations about Pittsburgh's potential. Negativity at the time was running rampant in these parts in those days. Yet, we young movers and shakers still loved this city. We were out of college and although we did not know everything, we had traveled a little bit to see that not everywhere had all that Pittsburgh had to offer. We realized that Pittsburgh was a unique city with it's own charm and character. Unfortunately, we had a bunch of buffoons on City Council, who rubber stamped everything that their elderly constituents wanted in their district, rather than convincing some of them that sometimes change is good. Fortunately, there are some young and progressive members of Pittsburgh City Council and this will bode well for a changing demographic in an ever changing city.

Most of those people have now either died or are probably past 80. A lot of the old council members were finally kicked out starting 10 years ago as well.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

How I feel with a couple posters when I see what they write.


Charlie Brown Teacher Speaking - YouTube

Sorry. I know I'm verbose. I wish I knew how to be succinct. I don't.

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Sorry. I know I'm verbose. I wish I knew how to be succinct. I don't.

No there are others I meant.

[ferraris]

SCR, I think you're overall point that the city in general is attractive to young educated professionals is correct; but do you have any data to back it up? When I think about my own experience with coworkers, nearly all of them have lived in suburbs; a good number of them even outside of Allegheny County. And I'm talking about people under 30; mostly without children even. The main reason I've heard given is "taxes". In fact it seems like almost every one of them just generically believes that taxes would be higher for them here, without actually doing the math. I think in reality they just prefer the suburbs and generally "feel" that the taxes make the city not worth living in. So that's why I'm asking if you know of any data; I don't want to simply "feel" that young professionals prefer the city, I want to be sure of it.

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

bear in mind that over half the city lives in the East End, so, by that logic, the majority of the city is faring rather well.

That reasoning isn't sound. You could come to the exact opposite conclusion by saying that since the Hill District, Homewood, East Liberty, Garfield, Hazelwood, Larimer, East Hills, Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar, and Uptown are all in the East End, and half of the city lives in the East End then the city is faring rather poorly.

[lprmesia]

Moved here in 2006. To clarify, I moved here because I loved the city first, the economic opportunities came second and kept me here (and my how lucky did I get with home values). Despite the naysayers, it's pretty easy to find work above the $9-$13/hr range here if you have a little bit of experience. Most of the people I know that are getting paid in that range keep themselves in that range, not because of a lack of opportunity. Also, where I come from, the $9-$13/hr range jobs don't exist anymore (*cough* Toledo *cough*).

[pghdude28]

Originally Posted by lprmesia

Moved here in 2006. To clarify, I moved here because I loved the city first, the economic opportunities came second and kept me here (and my how lucky did I get with home values). Despite the naysayers, it's pretty easy to find work above the $9-$13/hr range here if you have a little bit of experience. Most of the people I know that are getting paid in that range keep themselves in that range, not because of a lack of opportunity. Also, where I come from, the $9-$13/hr range jobs don't exist anymore (*cough* Toledo *cough*).

When I was at Pitt, we had a substantial number of students from Philly. I was friends with a lot of them and their main reason for being in Pittsburgh was for school and no intention of staying after. I would say most found the 'Burgh to be okay. Some loved only Pitt, but found the city depressing. My one friend said "I'm not staying here. The weather is terrible-- rains everyday, nothing real exciting to do around here, few jobs in my field, and weird locals." Nothing real special or enticing to stay. After they graduated, most of them moved back to Philly but would often visit. A few did stay after to work but ended up moving after a few years. Short shelf life in the Burgh.

[gortonator]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Sorry. I know I'm verbose. I wish I knew how to be succinct. I don't.

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