Wow. Not having to drive into work and fight traffic, not having to find a babysitter… that all sounds terribly inconvenient.
And if you think Pittsburgh is a dump, then you obviously have no been to many other major cities. Go scope out Philly, Baltimore, Indianapolis, NYC, Louisville, St. Louis… etc.
Pittsburgh is a sparkling gem compared to most other major cities. very low crime, low poverty level, hardly any homeless… yeah there’s construction going on, yeah there’s some grafitti, yeah the roads aren’t perfect… but Pittsburgh is an OLD city, not designed for the 21st century. All in all we’re leaps and bounds above almost any other city out there.
Better Public Safety/Public Works and Manufacturing are definitely goals to strive for, but those things are a BYPRODUCT of what I’m trying to say. When you have the “summits and casinos”, then you will lure in more businesses and people. More of that = more tax dollars. More tax dollars = better public safety/public works. When people want to move here, live here, retire here, start families here, raise their kids here, build their businesses here, etc… thats when you will see new manufacturing jobs and such start to spring up. The fact that we’re making the significant improvements that we are, despite this global recession really speaks volumes. Mark my words… Pittsburgh will be the new hotness in 3-5 years. Maybe 5-10.
You say that like it’s a bad thing. The best thing that could have ever happened was those old mills being turned into mixed use complexes. The city of the 21st century doesn’t want industry downtown… and it shouldn’t. The city should be like it is now… where you go to see a game, go to school, work a white collar job, shop, see a play/musical, museums, aviaries, conservatories, cultural districts, etc.
We can have our industry, but it should be in the smaller towns outside of the city. The Monessens, Neville Island’s, etc. Keeps the traffic, eyesores, filth, etc out of the direct city. The blue collar workers can live in the cheaper housing in the small town where their job is. Don’t have to fight traffic/waste time and money commuting.
We are going to be so fucking tits when the economy turns around in 6-12 months.