Relocating to Pittsburgh? ...A word of Caution (Harrisburg, Carlisle: college, living in)

[mrswoogie]

YAY! I am tired of the sweltering sun beaming on me, The sun isn't so healthy what with skin cancer and squinting eyes and all. so even if the poster was right who said there is hardly no sun, so what! that is not a concern for me, I am natural tan anyways I avoid the sun all the time and havent had a suntan in years. I will still have solar panels on my roof anyways.

[stevo6]

Chinenjims response on page 3 is pretty accurate. After living here for 10 years I see a couple major positives and drawbacks FOR ME.
On the plus side you have a largish city with all the opportunities that brings AND a low cost of living AND a relatively safe environment AND you can be kayaking, hiking, skiing, fishing, hunting, canoeing - you pick- in about an hours drive. When I lived in NYC it took me an hour just to get to Hoboken!
It cannot be overstated how unique this scenario really is!

On the downside (I'm not going to mention taxes because even though they are huge, the cost of living is still pretty low) I would say a general backwardness among the born-n-raised, which has a dampening effect on how progressive this community can be. The good news is that this is changing.

We are like most of Pennsylvania towns- just bigger! We are a product of our geography: hills seperated neighborhoods forcing a redundancy of services but also produced coal, which supported the steel industry which built us up but also left a legacy of deteriorating infrastructure (after the city shrank) and a not so educated working class culture.

[stevo6]

Originally Posted by Need_affordable_home

The OP's opinion is valid and well heeded. I will refrain from saying anything bad about Pittsburgh as ive never visited the city. Ill just say that ive read your opinions and have taken that into consideration. I want to ask how does Oil city compare to Pittsburgh?

You need to visit before you make any commitments! Oil City is a small gritty town on the edge of the "wilderness".

[OutaFL]

Everyone's viewpoint is from their own unique perspsective. What is 'small' to one is big to another. What is 'gritty' to one is urban vitality to another (as opposed to bland suburban plain-ness.) In my own unique perspective, Pittsburgh has about 8 times more things to do, and I can buy property for 1 fifth as much as it would cost in South Florida, and there is much less crime per capita. Ignorant locals?? guess WHAT: they are EVERYWHERE!! I am not looking to hang with them in my future city anymore than I want to be with them where I am now.

Read these forums extensively and you will see this: well-traveled people from other places are very pleasantly surprised by PGH, despite the fact that so many locals relish putting down their city. It almost seems like an obsession to some. Life is what you make it - and it helps to get a larger perspective. That is why so many who left PGH have returned.

[stevo6]

Originally Posted by OutaFL

Everyone's viewpoint is from their own unique perspsective. What is 'small' to one is big to another. What is 'gritty' to one is urban vitality to another (as opposed to bland suburban plain-ness.) .

Yes- there are pros and cons to all places, and we're not going to agree on them. I was trying to be objective without sounding too negative. I really like Pittsburgh, and I could be happy in Oil City too, but the two are like night and day in terms of opportunities. I might like to retire in a place like Oil City!

You are right about people returning to Pittsburgh. Its a comfortable place to live.

[dweller]

Originally Posted by OutaFL

Everyone's viewpoint is from their own unique perspsective. What is 'small' to one is big to another. What is 'gritty' to one is urban vitality to another (as opposed to bland suburban plain-ness.) In my own unique perspective, Pittsburgh has about 8 times more things to do, and I can buy property for 1 fifth as much as it would cost in South Florida, and there is much less crime per capita. Ignorant locals?? guess WHAT: they are EVERYWHERE!! I am not looking to hang with them in my future city anymore than I want to be with them where I am now.

Read these forums extensively and you will see this: well-traveled people from other places are very pleasantly surprised by PGH, despite the fact that so many locals relish putting down their city. It almost seems like an obsession to some. Life is what you make it - and it helps to get a larger perspective. That is why so many who left PGH have returned.

Census population figures for the city of Pittsburgh continue to show a decline in the population. Perhaps the people you are talking about who have returned are those who have populated the cheap suburbs which comprise 91% of the population of the total census Pittsburgh metropolitan area (the city of Pittsburgh population divided by total metro area population is the lowest ratio of city to metro area population in the country). Pittsburgh is practically all suburbs at this point, the city itself is ranked 54th in population now at 325,000 and the remaining suburbs and small satellite towns have 1.7 million. Having been around the city off and on for 10+ years, I can tell you the city has died in favor of cranberry township and the north hills. People like Pittsburgh because it is family friendly, its "plain vanilla", and it doesn't give you the headaches of a normal city, because the city itself has evaporated for the most part. If you are looking to settle down with a family, Pittsburgh is great. If not, then Pittsburgh is not great.
People tend to get old really quick here- having babies right out of college, they talk about hunting all time, they have an obsession with professional sports, they are obsesesed with the holidays- everything shuts down, and Pittsburgh is very segregated. There are no streetside cafes, restaurants with outdoor dining areas, and the streets are generally dead at night and the nightlife is poor, even though there are 1.2 million people in allegheny county and even more outside. The strip district has really died down and Oakland (Forbes Ave) has completely died. Forbes ave area used to have all sorts of live music venues and bars but now there is practically nothing.
Different races don't mix much at all. Pittsburgh is very white with some areas of segregated black population. The hispanic population is virtually non existant. There really isn't much racial diversity when you look at the area as a whole.
If you ask me, these aren't the traits most cities have and alot of this bothers me about Pittsburgh. When you watch the news its always about sports, weather, sports again, what houses burned down, and who's tomato plants got knocked over. When you watch news in other cities you feel more big city stuff and you get much more international news, even with metro areas of similar size (about 2 million). Generally, Pittsburgh is good if you want to live in an area with a lot of people with a small town mentality, but this isn't particularly attractive to me. However, I am sure it is to many.

[OutaFL]

"People tend to get old really quick here- having babies right out of college, they talk about hunting all time, they have an obsession with professional sports,"

That sounds quite sad. I could make blanket statements about various groups/types of people here in South Florida, and they would be gross generalizations as well. Personally, I doubt I will be discussing hunting or become obsessed with sports wherever I decide to live. PGH may not compare to the 'coolest' cities (with all the attitiude that comes with that title - along with absurd property prices) but PGH has got WAY more going on than the city of 84,000 i live in, in South Florida. Here, all we have is attitude, high prices, yet nothing else to justify them, aside from sunshine palm trees and hurricanes.

[chinenjim]

Mrswoogie, while I understand the fact that you have lived in two crappy places (DC and Baltimore) please don't get the wrong impression about Western PA being a cozy little mush mecca. It's not. You mentioned summers and clean, less humid air. Actually, the summers blow here. The air is so humid most of the time that it feels like you are drowning. As for snow, it doesn't happen as much here as you (and most out-of-towners) would like to believe. Actually, we're lucky if we get two 10+ inch storms a year. I think that global warming has had a major impact on the weather here. I have actually seen transplanted palmetto trees in people's yards around here. While they look pretty out of place up here in the mountains, they still live!

When it does snow, don't expect it to be the storybook fluffy white Santa Claus snow you were describing. Usually within 24 hours of a rare snowstorm, the snow (even out in the country) starts to turn from white to yellowish, then to a blackened frozen crusty soup. That's because of the pollution here. All the coal dust from the triaxles and the smog is to blame.

Winter time here is an annoying season. It rains nearly every day, snows rarely, and is generally cold and miserable. You will also notice that area residents seem to go into "shutdown mode" from Thanksgiving until Easter. Everyone walks around in a football and alcohol induced coma for five months. Nobody spends money, and many industries grind to a hault. Pittsburghers are notorious for using the term "wait till spring". They use it as an excuse for spending ANY money they don't have to. I sometimes think that Pittsburghers like to pretend they live in a place that gets terrible winter weather. That's probably why most people from other areas think the winters here are so fierce, which is far from the truth.

I never said I like Pittsburgh. Keep in mind that I live over 30 miles east of the city, however people here are pretty much the same as they are near the city. The actual city is only part of the Pittsburgh expierence. As for downtown, I HATE IT. It is dirty, the people are bizzare and socially retarded as a whole, too many meathead jock college a**holes, the barscene is a football-fan co*k party as well. The Pittsburgh night life is a black hole of misery. For a guy, It's difficult to avoid a confrontation or an all-out fistfight. As I said before, most Pittsburghers are socially retarded. When I was single and utilizing the bar scene, it was a common occurence for me and my friends to wind up in fights down there. It was however very uncommon for us to meet women who had any reddeming social value or intellectiual depth. Pittsburgh women are crass, abrasive, tastless, classless, tactless, rude, full of themselves and obnoxious as a whole. Perhaps this is why pittsburgh is the worst city for singles in the USA. Tampa is second worse, but I've been there and at least they have pretty girls who wear something other than Penguins and Steeler jerseys when they go out on the town.

Living in the Pittsburgh area has some unique advantages, but it also has MAJOR DRAWBACKS. That will be the title of my next post. MAJOR DRAWBACKS OF LIVING IN PITTSBURGH. I'm sure it will be a hit with outapa among the other Pittsburgh haters here as well.

[Need_affordable_home]

Question: is there at least some good shopping in Pittsburgh? If there is, I may decide to live 30-60 minutes away and commute there for my shopping needs and buy anything that isnt available locally in the town I choose. How many malls? Any other good stores that arent found elsewhere? Is there amusement parks and the like?

[OutaFL]

Question: Why do Pittsburgh haters live in Pittsburgh? Moderator cut: linking to competitors sites is not allowed

Also, check out Pop City - Home Page - Pop City Media for something besides PGH hate.
Some people actually leave Pittsburgh and return. What does that say? You can read about them at popcitymedia.com

I have learned that some people enjoy hating and complaining more than anything else. I suppose its easier than doing something about it.