What is your most "not favorite" thing about Pittsburgh (Allentown: top neighborhoods, sales)

[TechieTransplant]

To go along with your favorite thing, what is it that you don't like?

There isn't much for me, but the things I don't like are big.

I'm going on my third year living in the city, moving down from Erie in late 2006. I believe every year I have lived down here, Pittsburgh drivers have been rated most polite. It's a good thing that they are not rated on intelligence though, because it would be an embarassing last place finish.

I am in sales so I am talking to people every day, and am often told I know my way around better than a lot of people who have lived here all their lives. So, complaint #1 is that people don't seem to know multiple routes to where they are going.

I jokingly but seriously say that Pittsburghers favorite past time is sitting traffic. That kind of correlates with the comment I made above. Complaint #2 is it's not enough for people to sit in traffic all week long, but lets jam all shopping centers and eateries and wait in line for two hours on the weekends. I understand wanting to get out and do things on the weekends, but I don't understand wanting to go to a location where you know the wait will be long. That's why I love living in the city and love living in a walkable neighborhood.

Complaint #3, stay off of your brakes on the interstate......there's no reason to come to a complete stop on a highway unless you are forced to stop by an accident or ordered to stop by a police officer or fire fighter. I often chastise the Mt Lebanon PD on how agressive they are, but one thing I've come to appreciate, is when some kind of roadwork is going on, they are always there to keep people moving along. I wish the PSP where at the tunnels during rush hour doing the same.

Complaint #4, why wont people go around someone who is turning left? I've never seen this before. I was driving through Mt Lebanon about a month ago and sitting at the last red light in the "Beverly Shops" area. I saw the light turn green, but we sat, and sat and sat, and I pulled to the right, and here we have 7 cars waiting for someone to turn left at 8 am on a Saturday morning.....why? There was more than enough room to pass, which I did, then everyone wants to tail gate me and flip me off. All because, of course, I used common sense and desire to keep traffic moving.

Complaint #5...the saying in Pittsburgh "You can't get there from here"....yes you can, you have to put some time in to finding alternate routes to your destination. I-376 is not the only road in Pittsburgh.

Complaint #6.....why do people who live in the city and work in the city insist in sitting in the unbelievable traffic in and out of downtown? There is no reason to not be on a bus or train.

My other non traffic complaint is the disrespect showed by dog owners towards other users of the city and county parks. Sooner or later these people need to be shown they aren't the only users of our beautiful parks.

So, a lot of complaints, but all centering around one major gripe.

[By~Tor]

* The length and lack of synchronization of trafic lights along major arteries. - - - Stopping at EVERY light along Rt. 51 from Brookline all the way to West Mifflin is a huge waste of gas, time and patience... and I'm sure there's many other areas just as bad... Synchronize the lights to turn green when you get there, because there AIN'T THAT MUCH traffic coming in off the side roads to justify the current length of wait time...

[Mugatu]

My main gripes involve traffic/drivers as well.

1. Slow drivers. Pittsburghers often drive like they are out on a "Sunday drive" and often drive well under the speed limit. Nothing really WRONG with it, but I've never seen this in any other city. Most drivers in other cities usually average 5-10 over the speed limit. I'm simply not used to this passive way of driving. It's frustrating to catch EVERY red light because the car in front of me won't move! Which leads to By-Tor's problem. No lights are synchronized, and this area has the LONGEST light cycles I've ever seen.

2. Merging. Pittsburgers simply do not understand that the on-ramp is actually an acceleration lane. They often slow down or come to a complete stop on the on-ramp. However, I blame this behavior on those weird on-ramps that have stop signs. If someone learned to drive here they may think stopping is normal on an on-ramp. Those stop signs on on-ramps are so freaking dangerous!

3. Drunk PENN-DOT engineers. Well, they must have been to design some of these roadways! lol The suicide Squirrel Hill on-ramp has been mentioned many times in this forum. I live west of town and have to deal with that ridiculous route 22/30 interchange near Robinson. Traffic merging on and off the highway have to merge at the same place. So cars trying to get on the highway have to fight with cars trying to get off at the same exact spot. It's quite comical.

4. The people. Pittsburghers are the best AND worst thing about this city. While they can be the most friendly, warm and welcoming people I've ever met, they can also be very sheltered, simple-minded and negative as well. Many of these people have never been anywhere else, so they think Pittsburgh is the worst place on earth, rather than seeing it as the hidden gem of a city it actually can be. And for a city with a tough reputation, there is nothing tough about the people here at all. They whine about everything! It's too cold, too hot, too snowy, too cloudy...every drive is too far, the city has sooooo much crime, it's sooo dangerous, there's nothing to do here...blah, blah, blah....

5. Steeler fanaticsm. It's just too much at times.

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by Mugatu

2. Merging.

I agree, I think "Merge" means "Stop" to people around here.

5. Steeler fanaticsm. It's just too much at times.

I agree, we had fun celebrating on Super Bowl Sunday, but when you walk in to Macy's in South Hills Village and they are playing the last Super Bowl on tape in their Steelers clothing area, thats old.

[Tallysmom]

Really? People only know one what to get where they are going? Luckily I was raised my father -- king of "I know I can get there by turning right -- let's see if we can do it by turning left...."

My one major gripe about Pittsburgh would be people thinking people with the Pittsburgh accent are stupid. You would never head to Maine and think the people that spoke with their accent were stupid. You would never head to Minnesota and think that either. Or the South.

But when we hear someone speaking like a Pittsburgher... out comes the stupid yinzer card.

There are accents and colloquialisms abound in our large country. Even though it's not the most pleasant of accents (yeah -- it isn't) it is OURS, and should be cherished. The last thing I want is a homogeneous country -- how dull would that be?

[ExPit]

Its limitations. Pittsburgh is a city that never quite grew up. It had its glory days in the 30's and 40's, when American steel was king, but it never quite reclaimed its all-world status since then. Granted, it's done better than other rust-belt cities, but the powers that be either think small in Pgh, or because of corruption or some deep seeded inferiority complex, Pgh hasn't lived up to its potential, and every time I'm home, which I just was, I'm like Bobby Kennedy, I look at things that never were and ask, "Why not?"

[khyron]

The price of Steelers games, and the difficulty, should one have the money, of even buying tickets. I know it's supply and demand and just how the NFL is here, but I just don't roll that way.

I know this is heresy to say out loud and fully expect to be flamed and have my sanity questioned, but I'm sorry...for me, the ability of regular average people to actually just go see a game for fun is directly related to how much enthusiasm I can hold for a team or sport. I know everyone likes to complain about the Pirates for example, but as a newcomer to this town, I found quickly that I can go hang out and have fun with friends at a baseball game for the same price as going to see a movie (with beer and way better food options). You know what? I'd rather do that and watch the home team lose more often than they win. I guess I just enjoy and value different elements of the experience.

The only way I'll ever see the inside of Heinz Field is to see Pitt play, and I really look forward to doing so at some point (regret that I didn't make the time this season). I fully support the Steelers in my heart, they are a part of the soul of my new town and I understand that, but I just can't get nearly as psyched up for anything so economically elitist. In fact, it just makes me sadder that in such tough economic times, Steelers tickets are just one more mistake that tons of working class folks make when badly budgeting their money. When I stop to think about how much high interest credit card debt the Superbowl probably incurred among our population, it almost depresses me beyond enjoying our victory (and trust me, I was running up and down Carson St. slapping people five and screaming like a lunatic that night).

I love Pittsburgh, I'm so glad I came here, please don't hate me, but this is how I feel.

[otters21]

I love Pittsburgh and all it's ethnic unpretentious neighborhoods and friendly folks. However the one thing I hate to see is the decline of some the south hilltop neighborhoods such as Allentown, Knoxville and Mt. Oliver ( both the city neighborhood and borough). I really hope those areas improve.

[sr1234]

The Liberals and Pittsburgh Cheerleaders who keep voting for the same corrupt officials. Talk about a bunch of koolaid drinkers! This city is run by old school politics and organized crime. It is an Oligarchy style government. Pittsburgh has been dying for decades but the voters would rather keep ignoring the fact. The voters here are a bunch of sheep.

[highway29south]

I agree with the other posters, but my main complaint is the trash. It's everywhere. I can't tell you how many times I've had to slow down on the highway to avoid hitting a piece of flying trash. And the number of people throwing cigarette butts out their windows is awful. It's sad because it's preventable and would make the city so much nicer if people would just stop being lazy and find a trash can.