Michael P. O'Connor

Sorry Mike. I love Pittsburgh so much I moved a few states over and calling it “$h|tsburgh” now. It’s a dead city. 7th fattest (used to be 2nd) and 2nd oldest (avg. age of resident) per capita or something close. The only job opportunities is with UPMC that runs the city. The steel mills killed off one of the two uses for this city – the second being the three rivers, giving good access via boats (doesn’t matter much due to airplanes in modern times). Drive around 2nd Avenue in Hazelwood, that’s what the city is all about. CMU is the only tech-related area in the city and thats mostly due to government contracts. Over 2/3 of the CS graduate department in Pitt are asians where most plan to return to their country (I asked!). Young people are leaving the city left and right, though it’s tough to move from a slum into a better city for a better job. The city is in denial about itself and will eventually turn into something thats inevitable. Since UPMC and medicine runs the town, Pittsburgh is trying to lure in retirees to the area. The only problem is Boca Raton has better weather, otherwise they’d stay. They’re trying with their “shady side medical shuttles” (funny how you don’t see them in a poor area). You of all people don’t need to be reminded about the corrupt politicians in UPMC, Pitt, and Pittsburgh. Remember when they tore down the gorgeous Panthers Stadium and the crappy 3 rivers stadium? Now they have two stadiums so close to each other that you can throw a ball between the parking lots. What is really so great about Pittsburgh? It’s a nice place to visit, the downtown area looks good, PPG, Point Park, but other than that, what else is there? Not too long ago, Pennsylvania ranked as the worst place to start a business out of all the other states. It’s an alright place to retire, but I suggest you move on in the future.

What culture? Sure, there is some, but ask most people and it’s a good bet to say that active people always do something that involves driving, drinking, or going to downtown/oakland. I doubt opera, poetry, or cinema (not movies) is up there. If you think it’s clean, you never swam in any of those rivers (I don’t suggest it). Walk around Squirrel Hill, a supposedly good area, and there’s trash on the street. Low cost of living is due to nobody wanting to live there. If nobody wants to live there, housing costs go down. I just sold a house there, it would have fetched 1.5 million dollars here, but I sold it for less than a tenth of that. When we bought it ten years ago, the price of the house barely kept up with inflation! I agree that unions aren’t good for the city, but without unions you’d have mass layoffs with no reason, so some unions are good to have (not ones in PGH though). Good luck with google and intel, I hope it won’t fall through like walmart in downtown (or is that back on?). What I miss about pittsburgh is the friendships I had there, not the actual city, its “character”, or anything else about it. I miss the friends and hanging out, but that’s part of college.