This should honk off then negative posters on the board. (Pittsburgh: apartments, rental)

[airwave09]

Originally Posted by Hip Priest

These ads informing the nation of Pittsburgh's desirability should be of great concern to those of you who want the cost of real estate, as well as the general COL, to remain low in our region. If more and more people relocate here due to reading such articles, especially people from high COL coastal cities, then rent will increase, real estate prices will increase, and the overall COL will increase. There will be a great amount of demand, and depending on how popular Pittsburgh becomes, these increases could be significant. I, for one, don't want to see Pittsburgh become an expensive city packed full of yuppies. If I wanted to live in a place like that, I'd be in LA, Portland, New York, or Boston. Pittsburgh's desirability needs to remain a best kept secret.

I agree, we should continue to make the city better but also stop advertising to the outside world about how much good it is here now. We have already rebounded in a positive direction population-wise, so now all we really have to do is let natural momentum via word of mouth take it's course.

At the very least we need to upgrade our transportation infrastructure to the 21st century before we start gaining more people than that network can handle. You can already tell it is completely maxed out in many places during rush hours. Adding many more people without a plan to efficiently move them around is a recipe for disaster.

[The King of Um]

Originally Posted by airwave09

I agree, we should continue to make the city better but also stop advertising to the outside world about how much good it is here now. We have already rebounded in a positive direction population-wise, so now all we really have to do is let natural momentum via word of mouth take it's course.

At the very least we need to upgrade our transportation infrastructure to the 21st century before we start gaining more people than that network can handle. You can already tell it is completely maxed out in many places during rush hours. Adding many more people without a plan to efficiently move them around is a recipe for disaster.

Good points, especially about transportation. If all these people are to come (or, for that matter, even if they don't), we need to extend the T to the North Side and into the North Hills. We also need to run most of our buses more frequently, especially evenings and weekends. What we really need is frequent public transport, 24 hours a day, servicing city neighborhoods and inner-ring suburbs.

But I hope our population doesn't grow substantially. I hope things don't take off; I'd rather see very slow and steady progression. If Pittsburgh becomes a popular, trendy, crowded, expensive city, then it will cease to be what made it attractive to so many (myself included) in the first place. If we get to that point, we won't be Pittsburgh; we'll be Seattle east. So yes, we need to stop advertising. If we keep advertising and we become a popular, trendy place, which results in a big population increase, which drives real estate prices and the COL up significantly, we'll really cease to be a good place to live. A lot of people might have to look elsewhere, perhaps to the Midwest, because if we get to that point, we'll just be another expensive, overrated Northeastern city.

[selltheburgh]

Part of Stanton Heights was a golf course prior to the post WW2 housing boom.

[FreightTrainRunning]

Personally I hope that Pittsburgh's populations grows quite a lot. People pay taxes and more people pay more taxes. We have the infrastructure for a city of twice the population that currently lives here and the city is in a serious financial bind because of that (and other reasons like the pensions debt) and the only way that we're going to get out of that hole is to grow our way out of it.

So I'm going to keep telling people how great Pittsburgh is, just try to stop me.

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by GeneW

Personally I hope that Pittsburgh's populations grows quite a lot. People pay taxes and more people pay more taxes. We have the infrastructure for a city of twice the population that currently lives here and the city is in a serious financial bind because of that (and other reasons like the pensions debt) and the only way that we're going to get out of that hole is to grow our way out of it.

So I'm going to keep telling people how great Pittsburgh is, just try to stop me.

Part of the population decline is because families are nowhere near as big as they used to be. 70 years ago, a lot of homes used to have 5 or 6 or even more people living in them, today I can barley think of anyone living in a house with more than 4 people in it (at least in the city). I think an ideal population Pittsburgh should strive to could be about 400,000.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by GeneW

So I'm going to keep telling people how great Pittsburgh is, just try to stop me.

Be careful what you wish for. I've been told I'm pretty good with tying knots, blindfolds, and discipline!

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by Hip Priest

Good points, especially about transportation. If all these people are to come (or, for that matter, even if they don't), we need to extend the T to the North Side and into the North Hills. We also need to run most of our buses more frequently, especially evenings and weekends. What we really need is frequent public transport, 24 hours a day, servicing city neighborhoods and inner-ring suburbs.

But I hope our population doesn't grow substantially. I hope things don't take off; I'd rather see very slow and steady progression. If Pittsburgh becomes a popular, trendy, crowded, expensive city, then it will cease to be what made it attractive to so many (myself included) in the first place. If we get to that point, we won't be Pittsburgh; we'll be Seattle east. So yes, we need to stop advertising. If we keep advertising and we become a popular, trendy place, which results in a big population increase, which drives real estate prices and the COL up significantly, we'll really cease to be a good place to live. A lot of people might have to look elsewhere, perhaps to the Midwest, because if we get to that point, we'll just be another expensive, overrated Northeastern city.

Keep Pittsburgh weird, 'n at?

[The King of Um]

Originally Posted by HeavenWood

Keep Pittsburgh weird, 'n at?

I don't understand what you mean by "weird." What I mean is, I'd rather Pittsburgh be an affordable city, somewhat slower paced and friendlier than the coastal cities, without a plague of yuppies and trust fund hipsters driving the prices of everything sky high. Pittsburgh needs to remain what it has been for over 100 years: primarily a blue collar, working class city without pretense.

[LillyJo]

Most cities are not populated with blue collar workers because the blue collar jobs are no longer in the cities and those workers can't afford to live in the cities. Cities are very different today than they were 100 years ago when there weren't suburbs and workers didn't have cars. They had to live near their factory jobs in the city. There aren't many factories still in our cities. Once people had cars and could afford houses in the suburbs, they left the city for bigger yards and houses, fresh air, less crowding, and better schools. But you know all that.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by Hip Priest

I don't understand what you mean by "weird." What I mean is, I'd rather Pittsburgh be an affordable city, somewhat slower paced and friendlier than the coastal cities, without a plague of yuppies and trust fund hipsters driving the prices of everything sky high. Pittsburgh needs to remain what it has been for over 100 years: primarily a blue collar, working class city without pretense.

Keep Austin Weird - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia