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Old 10-13-2014, 08:09 AM
 
Location: Currently living in Reddit
5,652 posts, read 6,942,078 times
Reputation: 7323

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I moved here under duress. I hated it the first few years. But because of what I what I was doing in both tech and food, most of my business/social contacts are 15-20 years younger than I am. They're all pretty positive and bullish on Pittsburgh. These are typically folks who are investing in the city, whether through starting businesses or personal time developing talent and business networks or grassroots social agendas. It's generally only when I talk with people my own age that I hear about all the negativity.

My issues with Pittsburgh these days are minor quibbles. Most of my issues have to do with Harrisburg.
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Old 10-13-2014, 08:53 AM
 
Location: Marshall-Shadeland, Pittsburgh, PA
32,604 posts, read 77,247,404 times
Reputation: 19066
Quote:
Originally Posted by callmevince567 View Post
I was born in Pittsburgh and I have lived in a suburb of Pittsburgh called Monroeville for 23 years. Pittsburgh can be an interesting place to live and it does have a lot to offer, but all the residence are in the following boat. They either leave, wish they could of left but never did, or like being there. Most of the people that want to stay are in the medical, engineering, or science related field and nothing against them , but most of them just want a normal family life and, they just want to do their 9-5 and go home. The reasons I am ready to leave the city and have been ready to leave for a while can be summed up in my list for disliking certain things in Pittsburgh:

1.) I don't like cold weather and it is a very cold city
2.) I want to be an entrepreneur and it's not an entrepreneurial state at all
3.) There is quite a bit of pessimism and negativity that people send to others that aren't the 9-5 working type of people
4.) People are way too concerned with sports and not as concerned with pressing issues
5.) Allegheny County has high taxes and it is considered a commonwealth so that means higher taxes.
6.) It is hard for me to get into my job field of accounting and finance at entry level. More medical opportunities
7.) lots of snow and tons of leaves to cleanup year round


This is only 7 things, but I am ready to leave. There are also good things about Pittsburgh. I hope this helps.
1.) We just had a very warm and dry September---the second-driest on record, as a matter of fact. Even now into mid-October the weather has been fairly mild. Summer was warm, and it was only oppressively hot on a select few days this year. Sunshine has been plentiful. Yes, it is rather depressing and dreary here with incessant cloud cover and biting wind chills from December through March. The same can be said for the entire northern 1/3 of the country (or the entire northern 2/3 of the country last winter).

2.) I'm preparing to open my own business here in the city. I've attended low-cost seminars at the University of Pittsburgh that are funded by the Small Business Association. I find that the tax structure/red tape here is no more oppressive that it is in many other areas.

3.) It's a generational/educational thing. I tend to resent the "old yinzers" so much because I rarely bump into a 50+-year-old native uneducated Pittsburgher who is upbeat, positive, and idealistic about this place whereas most of my educated contemporaries (Millennials, Generation Y) think this city is on a very sharp upswing. Most older people who grow up here do nothing but kvetch about how much greener the grass is elsewhere, as if they are totally oblivious to all of the construction cranes and money pouring into the city with each passing month.

4.) I'll give you this one. The obsession with sports here is incredibly annoying and nearly impossible to avoid if you don't like sports.

5.) Pennsylvania has high taxes. Allegheny County has high taxes. The city has high taxes. That doesn't necessarily translate into a low quality-of-life. Boston, for example, is tax-crazy, yet it's an amazing city. If you want a superior quality-of-life, then you need to pay for it. I'm actually a proponent of HIGHER taxes so we don't have to cross bridges that have been structurally deficient for decades or sit in incessant gridlock that is deplorable and embarrassing for a city of just 300,000.

6.) You should talk to a career coach if you can't find a job here to see what you've been doing wrong. I'm not exactly the most intelligent creature to grace God's green Earth, yet I had no trouble landing an entry-level position with PNC, which I hated due to the deplorable pay, unrealistic quotas, and pressure to work through lunches. All of the "Big Four"--PwC, Deloitte, KPMG, and Ernst & Young---have a presence Downtown, and all have been in growth mode. We have a more diversified economy now than we ever have had before, which is great since I see the "eds" bubble bursting here in about the next decade. There's already many colleges struggling to keep open (look at EDMC's constant layoffs---oh, and I had an interview with them, too, when I first moved here).

7.) I actually don't think we receive nearly enough snow for my personal preferences. We tend to get tons of "dustings" (1-3 inch) snow storms. We are usually just too far inland to get more than a gentle scrape from big Nor'easters, we're usually just too far south to be hit by Lake Effect squalls, and many east-to-west systems are moisture-starved by the time they reach us. You're seriously going to complain about raking leaves? I suggest you live in a place dominated by palm trees, then.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl View Post
Pittsburghers do tend to be a negative bunch and I am definitely guilty of it too at times. One really has to wonder how the weather plays into that due to the fact the one's environment can have a direct impact on their mental state. Oddly enough the "bad weather depresses people" thing is still somewhat of a stereotype in Seattle but is largely ignored here even though we are cloudier than Seattle. I guess it might be part of our local culture to say, "grow a pair ya jag" rather than to discuss it.

One thing I have noticed since I first posted in this thread is that (in my opinion) Pittsburgh has become a less friendly place. That wasn't mentioned in my first post but now I put that as number 1 of the things I dislike about the city. Obviously I won't be able to find an exact measurement of friendliness in a city but that's just my personal experience.

It's not just you. I've noticed the city becoming somewhat unfriendlier since I moved here in 2010, too. I moved here due to all of the "hype". "Pittsburgh is sooooo cheap! Pittsburgh is sooooo friendly! Pittsburgh is sooooo hip and happenin'." I've found much of the hype to be untrue. Pittsburgh is cheap if you're affluent and/or moved here from an area/city considered affluent by national norms. I've watched median rents for a 1-BR spike here consistently year after year since moving here while salaries have remained flat whereas we're now more expensive than may of our peer cities. In recent times I'll hold doors for people---lots of people in a row sometimes---and only be thanked by maybe one while the others just dawdle away on their Smartphones. The other day I greeted a woman as I walked into an elevator at the Clark Building Downtown, and instead of returning the greeting she whipped out her Smartphone. If I go running on the North Shore Trail maybe 50% of people will return my greeting (better than the 33% I experienced in NoVA, but still nothing to be anything but ashamed about). I'm guessing the people who think Pittsburgh is "OMG! Sooooo friendly!!!" don't get out much. I drive all over this city for 11-12 hours per day, six days per week, and interact with hundreds of people daily. The amount of passive-aggressive, undeservedly pompous, upper-middle-class white-collar white people, especially in the East End, is staggering. A lot of these people have never had to work a "hard" day in their lives and treat blue-collar workers as if they're "beneath" them. I thought we were a "blue-collar city"? Now suddenly it's okay to call blue-collar workers "the help" as we interrupt your yoga session?
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Old 10-13-2014, 08:58 AM
 
Location: Etna, PA
2,860 posts, read 1,876,161 times
Reputation: 2747
1. Poorly maintained infrastructure (potholes, bridges)
2. Poorly designed infrastructure (difficult merges, unnecessarily dangerous intersections, poor signage)
3. Very poor drivers (driving too slowly, fear of the tunnel monsters, stopping on yellow, merging poorly)
4. Geographic isolation (isolated regionally - nothing within two hours of Pittsburgh but mountains, Erie, and Cleveland - I miss the East Coast for sure; also isolated in terms of neighborhoods - everything is into ravines, can never see far)
5. The media here fails in their journalistic duty to act as public watchdogs/advocates and ask hard questions of elected officials. They're more interested in towing the party line and covering for those in power. Mike Tomlin faces tougher questions from the Post-Gazette than Bill Peduto ever has, or ever will.
6. Bill Peduto. More interested in establishing his bona fides as the Great Progressive than in effective, evidence-based governance. The silent majority of Pittsburghers don't share his vision of transforming this city into Portland.
7. The Silent Majority. The lower classes here are extremely vocal, particularly the racist "leaders" of the Hill District. They get pandered to. The upper classes of yuppies in the East End with time and money to burn are also very vocal in their Progressive agenda. The middle class here is not politically engaged. At all. A result of the Pittsburgh cultural mindset. Look at things like the August Wilson Center and the bike lanes being foisted on the region.
8. The Pittsburgh cultural mindset of the middle class. It's basically brain-dead. Die in the same neighborhood you were born in, don't cross rivers, take an ultra-exotic vacation to Erie, join the Catholic Church, vote for the same old candidates the Democratic Party machine throws your way, join a union but don't change the fact that its a company town, don't ask questions, and "Know your place".
9. The power of unions, particularly public sector unions. The way to fix issues within the Police Bureau isn't to mandate wearing service dress caps, or to mandate body armour is to be worn under uniform shirts - it's to fix the power of the union to make it impossible to weed out the bad apples.
10. East Enders. I have nothing in common with them, they have nothing in common with the rest of the County. Their lifestyle and mindsets are an island unto themselves. Unfortunately they managed to elect the Great Progressive, who Fitzgerald chose to attach himself to the hip with. Ten percent of the population now gets to set policy for the rest of the County.
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Old 10-13-2014, 09:05 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh
7,541 posts, read 10,196,392 times
Reputation: 3509
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelCityRising View Post
I drive all over this city for 11-12 hours per day, six days per week, and interact with hundreds of people daily. The amount of passive-aggressive, undeservedly pompous, upper-middle-class white-collar white people, especially in the East End, is staggering. A lot of these people have never had to work a "hard" day in their lives and treat blue-collar workers as if they're "beneath" them. I thought we were a "blue-collar city"? Now suddenly it's okay to call blue-collar workers "the help" as we interrupt your yoga session?


As a driver who delivers meals to elite east enders from Pittsburgh's snootiest eateries, you have a different view of the city than most of us do.

Real Pittsburghers don't do yoga, aren't pompous and for most us, the folks you're interacting with might as well be from a different planet.
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Old 10-13-2014, 09:13 AM
 
1,445 posts, read 1,961,989 times
Reputation: 1190
Quote:
Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam View Post
As a driver who delivers meals to elite east enders from Pittsburgh's snootiest eateries, you have a different view of the city than most of us do.

Real Pittsburghers don't do yoga, aren't pompous and for most us, the folks you're interacting with might as well be from a different planet.
Why exactly are people who do yoga not "Real Pittsburghers"? Is there some test for being a real Pittsburgher and somehow participation in a popular exercise program precludes you from that designation?
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Old 10-13-2014, 09:18 AM
 
Location: Stanton Heights
778 posts, read 834,363 times
Reputation: 869
I grew up here and have always been bullish on Pittsburgh. Even in high school when all my friends were crowing all about how they couldn't wait to leave this backwater town (it was the late 80s, so it was still kind of a backwater), I just couldn't muster that same enthusiasm for leaving. I've boomeranged twice (and both moves away were necessitated by jobs, not just becuase I wanted to leave) and I still will tell anyone willing to listen what a great town this is. And getting better all the time.

Frankly, if you only just got here in the past five years, you really have no business being nostalgic for "the good old days." When my parents and I moved here, when I was 3 years old, unemployment was well over 15 percent, and climbing. Rusting steel mills lined the banks of the Mon from Honestead to downtown. The rivers were filthy, the population was depressed (you newcomers don't know from down-in-the-dumps Pittsburghers), the cultural scene was miniscule and foodies were limited to Bageland bagels and Le Mont. I remember the Beehive coffee house opening round about 1990 and we were all so impressed at the bohemian atmosphere and a real! live! coffeehouse! LIke they have in New York!

I have always loved it here because it's my home and I'm comfortable here (and as a Pitt brat, I spent most of my time in Oakland which has always been a fun, vibrant part of town), but it used to be a hard place to feel optimistic about. And sometimes it was hard to love. But I'm proud to be a Pittsburgher, and always will be. The kind of economic turn-around this city has seen is something everyone who stuck it out here through the 70s and 80s should be proud of.
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Old 10-13-2014, 09:24 AM
 
Location: Marshall-Shadeland, Pittsburgh, PA
32,604 posts, read 77,247,404 times
Reputation: 19066
Quote:
Originally Posted by GeneW View Post
Why exactly are people who do yoga not "Real Pittsburghers"? Is there some test for being a real Pittsburgher and somehow participation in a popular exercise program precludes you from that designation?
If you do yoga and aren't smug about it, then good for you because you're one of the few that don't try to elevate yourself above others for partaking in that activity by smacking it in our faces via social media.
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Old 10-13-2014, 09:26 AM
 
1,445 posts, read 1,961,989 times
Reputation: 1190
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelCityRising View Post
If you do yoga and aren't smug about it, then good for you because you're one of the few that don't try to elevate yourself above others for partaking in that activity by smacking it in our faces via social media.
What if you don't do yoga and are smug about it, as you obviously are.
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Old 10-13-2014, 09:41 AM
 
1,653 posts, read 1,575,531 times
Reputation: 2822
Plenty of nonpretentious people do yoga in this town. Old people, too. They just don't mention it, so there's no way to count noses and figure out how many are the "nice" vs the "mean" yogis. This "real Pittsburgher" stuff is beyond silly, people are multifaceted creatures and a person can like both sports and fine wine.
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Old 10-13-2014, 09:49 AM
 
Location: Stanton Heights
778 posts, read 834,363 times
Reputation: 869
I have a feeling that SCR if he ever met me would never believe I'm a "real" Pittsburgher who has lived here for many decades. I don't give a toss about the Steelers and I have been known to do a spot of yoga. And I live in the East End!
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