Do You Think Pittsburgh Can Avoid A BOOM (Washington, Columbia: real estate, apartment)

[Blackbeauty212]

Lets Face it the Recession is pretty much the only thing keeping the city from taking off as the Next Boomtown...

We pretty much all agree that NOT being a Boomtown is what pretty much kept the city from becoming a disaster like the rest of the country.

With the ton of Good Press Pittsburgh is recieving, being on the mouths of everyone in Economic Media, weathering the recession better than any Major Metro city in the country, and almost every projection that matters indicating Pittsburgh is where its at and going forward.

My question to you is, once the Recession is over what's to keep Pittsburgh from becoming a Boom??? Is this something the Burgh itself can even control?????

[highway29south]

Huh? Pittsburgh has never had a "boom" no matter what the economy because it is more than the economy that keeps people away from here.

I would be extremely surprised if we had a sudden influx of people from the outside. My favorite thing to joke with my husband about is the "Pittsburgh Bubble"- in other words, no one leaves, no one comes in. Sure, there are people who go elsewhere sometimes, but hardly anyone comes in. And people seem to only leave if they are forced to for a job.

Where I live now, near the airport, everyone in my neighborhood and everyone I know from my kid's schools to my social circle all grew up here, live here and intend on dying here. They go to school here and know everyone here and they all give each other jobs, homes and other pats on the back. I have lived here 20 years and I have yet to meet more than a handful of people who grew up somewhere else. And the ones I do meet want to leave because of the closed circle here. They don't feel welcome. Sure Pittsburghers are nice. But they have their ways and unless you want to adapt to those ways, you are an outsider. Your way of doing things is not welcome.

The people I know do not want a bunch of outsiders coming in to live here. Outsiders mean change, and Pittsburgh is not big on change. Whenever I have tried to change something, I get met with a brick wall and looks that imply I am insane. No one wants to hear it. And everyone backs them up because they are either related to them, or grew up with them.

So, a boom? No way. A trickle, maybe. But no boom, at least IMHO

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by highway29south

Huh? Pittsburgh has never had a "boom" no matter what the economy because it is more than the economy that keeps people away from here.

Never? Ha! Ha! You clearly don't know anything about Pittsburgh history!

Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212

My question to you is, once the Recession is over what's to keep Pittsburgh from becoming a Boom??? Is this something the Burgh itself can even control?????

God I hope we can control it!

Let's make it our City-Data mission to chase people away!

[Blackbeauty212]

Originally Posted by highway29south

Huh? Pittsburgh has never had a "boom" no matter what the economy because it is more than the economy that keeps people away from here.

You missed my point entirely, my post talks nothing about the past, I'm talking about going forward.

[SteelCityRising]

I wouldn't be so quick to doubt your city. I'm amongst one of three young professionals I'm aware of (with the other two being from NH and PA) who are seriously considering a relocation to Pittsburgh. Why, pray tell? In my particular circumstance I'm earning a $41,000 salary and can barely afford a meager 1-BR apartment 20 miles outside of the District of Columbia in a suburb not serviced by efficient mass transit. My 7-mile commute to work can easily take an hour. In Pittsburgh I could take a slight pay cut, cut my housing costs in half, and be able to find a job downtown AND afford to live within walking distance of work in a rebounding city neighborhood like the South Side Slopes, The Strip, or the Mexican War Streets. I keep asking myself "Why am I struggling here when I can live the good life in Pittsburgh?"

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by highway29south

Sure Pittsburghers are nice. But they have their ways and unless you want to adapt to those ways, you are an outsider. Your way of doing things is not welcome.

Maybe it's because you and all your friends are Neanderthals.

I get so tired of hearing this crap about Pgh'ers not warming up to those that come to live here. BS, in my mind. I go out of my way to welcome anyone new in my neighborhood. Hell, 25 years ago when I lived in Greentree my wife, who was not my wife at the time, made sure that every out of towner in our apartment building that couldn't go home for Thanksgiving or Christmas due to work had a place at her table.

And since we were married we carry on that tradition.

As to a boom in Pgh, not gonna happen until we get rid of the Democratic stronghold on the city and county.

This area has a lot to offer, we don't have an Ocean, we don't have a ton of sunny skies, but we have affordable housing and in my mind, a local population with a strong work ethic.

[ctoocheck]

My theory is that to control growth (and avoid a boom), the key is to keep most things adequately nice, while allowing others to be just crappy enough to keep people from coming in droves. I might prefer it be something else, but if local government has to be one of those crappy things... well...

[BrianTH]

If prices for housing in central neighborhoods don't come down quite a bit more on the Northeast Coast, and if there are lingering economic problems in some of the former Sun Belt boomtowns (both employment and real estate related), and if Marcellus Shale takes off like some think it could (even if just to significantly lower average energy prices in the region), and so on--yes, I could see a little bit of a population boom coming to Pittsburgh. But I don't think it would be unmanageable: the bottomline is we have a lot of excess capacity in almost every relevant sense, and it would really take crazy levels of sustained population growth to eliminate that excess capacity in the near future.

And no, there is pretty much nothing we can do about it anyway. People in this country have a right to move to wherever they think they can find the best opportunities for themselves and their families. So if a bunch of people decide that Pittsburgh is that place for them--well, we should welcome them, put them to work, and make do.

By the way, as a transplant to the City I have never felt unwelcome. And I am still a Lions fan, not a Steelers fan (not that anyone feels threatened by Lions fans--pity is the more common emotion).

[creepsinc]

Originally Posted by highway29south

Huh? Pittsburgh has never had a "boom" no matter what the economy because it is more than the economy that keeps people away from here.

I would be extremely surprised if we had a sudden influx of people from the outside. My favorite thing to joke with my husband about is the "Pittsburgh Bubble"- in other words, no one leaves, no one comes in. Sure, there are people who go elsewhere sometimes, but hardly anyone comes in. And people seem to only leave if they are forced to for a job.

Where I live now, near the airport, everyone in my neighborhood and everyone I know from my kid's schools to my social circle all grew up here, live here and intend on dying here. They go to school here and know everyone here and they all give each other jobs, homes and other pats on the back. I have lived here 20 years and I have yet to meet more than a handful of people who grew up somewhere else. And the ones I do meet want to leave because of the closed circle here. They don't feel welcome. Sure Pittsburghers are nice. But they have their ways and unless you want to adapt to those ways, you are an outsider. Your way of doing things is not welcome.

The people I know do not want a bunch of outsiders coming in to live here. Outsiders mean change, and Pittsburgh is not big on change. Whenever I have tried to change something, I get met with a brick wall and looks that imply I am insane. No one wants to hear it. And everyone backs them up because they are either related to them, or grew up with them.

So, a boom? No way. A trickle, maybe. But no boom, at least IMHO

I saw the thread title and wondered how many posts it would take for some ****ing yinzer to cart out the outdated cliches. Post #2.

I moved here. So did many other people. Enjoy your bubble, but know that it's your bubble, not ours.


Edit: reread the inane post I was responding to and realized it wasn't a "real" yinzer. Could have fooled me, and obviously did.

[Fiddlehead]

I think this thread is a legitimate concern. The value in Pittsburgh is astounding, and coupled with the lack of jobs in many places, and the speculative, gold-rush culture that has infested American capitalism (we don't need to actually invest in anything valuable or well-crafted, just the next bogus boom), it is a real risk. Keep and eye (or two) skinned and an ear to the track...

I would add that something massive may, and I repeat may, be poised to happen. The exodus to the West Coast has played out. Yes, California, Oregon, Washington, and the Rocky Mountain states have a certain appeal and mystique, but the negatives have grown exponentially in recent years, and the price to value ratios for those starting out, usually the first to head west over the last generation, have gone to the dogs. So, I would not be surprised to see the sheeple shift their herd mentality to your point of the compass. May not happen. But it could.