The following articles include news stories and opinioin pieces about Pittsburgh's innumerable shortcomings. After reading some of these, you'll see why so many Pittsburghers are consumed with thoughts of gashing their wrists or taking long naps on busy railroad tracks. Remember, all of these reflect what Pittsburgh really is. You won't find them listed on any of the PR firms' condescending, fantasy-laden websites.
2006
2005
- Census: City shrunk again in 2004
- Magazine Ranks Pittsburgh Among Dirtiest Regions
- Where have all the techies gone?
- Especially bad for single men
- Pittsburgh Sucks for 40-Something Singles
- Pennsylvania power plants top pollution list
- Fragile bones in Pittsburgh
- �Pot pie� patching only a short-term solution
- Pittsburgh controller: City still in financial straits
- City�s debt looms large
- Air too dirty
- Pittsburghers, and deer, rarely roam too very far from home
- Pittsburgh 13th on list of 100 worst asthma cities
- Pittsburgh—God�s Private Toilet
2004
- Highway Report Card: Pennsylvania Has Worst Roads—Again
- Survey: More Smoke, Binge Drink in Allegheny County
- Singled out as the single worst
- The tragic cycle continues
- This is lonely town for singles
- Rivers City in the future of struggling Mon Valley towns?
- Pittsburgh Ranks Among Worst Cities for Spring Allergies
- Mon, Allegheny put on group's list of 10 most endangered rivers
- Pittsburgh�s Fiscal Crisis: How Did It Happen?
- Who is Leaving Pittsburgh?
- Shrinking tax bases crippling suburbs
- Pittsburgh airport second worst in loss of passenger seats
- City to increase parking tax to 50 percent
- Special Report: Pittsburgh in Crisis
- The 27 Most Wasteful Road Projects in America
2003
- �Brain drain� acute from Pittsburgh area, census shows
- Pittsburgh ranked one of worst cities for bike riding
- It�s no dirty secret—Pittsburgh air ranked among nation�s worst
- Pittsburgh�s Budget Crisis—Who�s to Blame?
- Taxes, stadiums, education quality linked to population fall
- City lays off record number of workers
- City families upset about pool, rec center closings
- Police layoffs: Recent hires to be first to go and they�re not happy
- Pittsburgh�s population loss continued in late �90s
- Giving Rant critic a hand
- Brace yourselves, Oslo
- He had to move to find a job
- Forbes Article's Right: Pittsburgh is the Pitts
- Dateless in a tough town
- Lonely life for singles
- �Authentic� Pittsburgh still tough for singles
- Steel City Blues
- Sperling�s rates Pittsburgh as eighth worst city for dating
- Youth is Stranger Than Fiction
- Ad Homonym
2002
- Experts work on marketing campaign, that builds steel image
- Banks Toss Blacks to Sharks
- Pittsburgh ranked as ninth-fattest city in America
- U.S. Steel bristles at PRA�s efforts to downplay steel
- Why this 24-year-old is leaving town
- Pipe Dreams: Sewage problems run deep in region
- Forbes: Pittsburgh is worst place to be single
- Pittsburgh Is A Pit For Singles
2001
- Steel city unforgiving to young people
- Pittsburgh is a Pothole Junkie Paradise
- Pittsburgh�s highways are �absolute worst,� engineers say
2000
- Scruffy man asking for millions raises male shyness question
- Pittsburgh Ranks Worst in Nation for Maternal Smoking
1999
THE ARTICLES
2006
Why We're Leaving Pittsburgh After Just Three Years
Enzo Walker and M.Z. Meineke
A Private CMU Site
No Date
This page includes 16 reasons why these people are leaving Pittsburgh. The site itself has many other amusing articles and multimedia relating to the stupidity of Pittsburghers and to how bad living here really is.
2005
Census: City shrunk again in 2004
Elwin Green
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
June 30, 2005
Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, the state's two largest cities, continue to lose residents, new U.S. Census Bureau figures show.
Pittsburgh's population slipped to 322,450 as of July 1, 2004, down from 325,599 a year earlier, a decline of just over 3,000, or 1 percent, dropping it to 56 among the nation's largest cities.
Magazine Ranks Pittsburgh Among Dirtiest Regions
Associated Press
June 17, 2005
A study by Reader's Digest being published next week ranks the Steel City near the bottom of the 50 cleanest regions in the county.
The Pittsburgh region ranks 48th, ahead of only New York and last-place Chicago.
Where have all the techies gone?
Ron DaParma
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
May 15, 2005
The engines keep starting, but the steam often has run out on the Pittsburgh region's efforts to grow major new technology companies.
Despite extensive economic development efforts, the region so far has yet to come up with a technology company that seems likely to do for modern-day Pittsburgh what the likes of industrial giants U.S. Steel and Westinghouse Electric accomplished in years gone by.
Thanks to a combination of factors -- corporate mergers and relocations and national economic downturns among them -- barely a trace remains of such once promising locally grown companies as Legent, Tarten, and Transarc.
Especially bad for single men
voiceofreason1
About.com forum: Worst City for Singles?
May 15, 2005
A note to anyone reading these postings: Please disregard female opinions relating to being single in Pittsburgh. If you're even a remotely attractive woman, you won't have trouble meeting men here. Why? Because single men, especially those in their late 20s, 30s, and 40s, outnumber single available women by about 4 to 1. And if you're a male under 5'9", then FORGET IT. You might as well pack your bags and move to another place.
Pittsburgh Sucks for 40-Something Singles
David Ryder
Pittsburgh City Paper
May 12, 2005
How does a single forty-something man meet women in this city?
Unless you�re in your 20s, Pittsburgh is an absolute dating wasteland for an unmarried man. I can�t stand it any more. It�s like, if you haven�t managed to get or stay married by 35, you�re expected to die, or at least enter a coma until you�re old enough to start hanging out at the McDonald�s in Dormont on weekday mornings with the other 80-year-old men.
From what I�ve observed, the only acceptable ways to meet women in Pittsburgh are: a) hang out in a bar, and b) apparently there is no b. I hate smoke, so bars are pretty much out. I don�t feel screaming into someone�s ear over blaring music offers a good first impression, so that rules out clubs, too. Besides, there are few things more pathetic than a guy over 30 hanging out in a club.
Pennsylvania power plants top pollution list
Don Hopey
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
May 12, 2005
Five of the 10 power plants with the highest sulfur dioxide emission rates in the nation are in Pennsylvania, according to a new report by the Environmental Integrity Project.
The state's biggest sulfur dioxide emitters are Allegheny Energy's Hatfield's Ferry plant in Greene County and Armstrong plant in Kittanning; and Reliant Energy's power plants at Shawville, Clearfield County; Portland, Northampton County; and Keystone, Armstrong County. Four of the five are in the western half of the state.
Fragile bones in Pittsburgh
(No author listed)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
May 11, 2005
The Steel City is also the Most Fragile City, according to a new survey.
Pittsburgh came in first in a drug company-sponsored survey that ranked regions at the greatest risk of osteoporosis. The Boniva Fragile Cities Index is based on the numbers of osteoporotic fractures and doctor visits for low bone mass, and the gender, age, smoking status and race of the population.
The survey, which was released today, found that in 2004 more than 21,000 Pittsburgh-area residents were diagnosed with osteoporosis and more than 12,500 were treated for fractures.
�Pot pie� patching only a short-term solution
Jeremy Boren
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
May 11, 2005
Drivers who slalom the potholes on South Aiken Avenue should enjoy a sense of accomplishment -- they've just traversed one of the worst roads in Pittsburgh.
"They've been through here patching twice already in the past few months," said Raymond Hunley, 68, who has lived on the axle-warping thoroughfare in Shadyside since 1987. "When she drives, my wife says to me, 'I can't duck them all.' It's bad."
Pittsburgh's next mayor will be forced to deal with a pothole problem that grows each year the financially troubled city can't afford to meet its annual quota for repaving: 10 percent of its 800 miles of asphalt streets.
This year, the city has enough money to pave just 40.5 miles of roadway, an improvement from 28 last year and 26 in 2003, said Public Works Director Guy Costa.
Pittsburgh controller: City still in financial straits
Dan Nephin
The Associated Press
May 2, 2005
The city's financial health is not as rosy as Mayor Tom Murphy suggested last week, nor is it as strong as many would believe following changes made as a financially distressed city, the controller said.
The next mayor could have a difficult time dealing with the city's finances, Controller Tom Flaherty said Monday, when he released the city's comprehensive annual financial report.
"The city is not on sound financial footing," Flaherty said.
City�s debt looms large
Principal and interest now 25 percent of spending
Timothy McNulty
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
April 30, 2005
Pittsburgh spent $20 million more than it took in last year, eroding its already low cash reserves, according to a 2004 financial report by the city controller's office that also painted a gloomy picture of the city's long-term debt.
The city collected $382 million in revenue while spending $402 million. That chopped down the city's 2003 fund balance from $35 million to $15 million at the end of 2004, according to the report.
The draft Comprehensive Annual Financial Report was released by Controller Tom Flaherty a day after Mayor Tom Murphy painted a rosy picture of the city's finances for 2005, saying the city should end this year with a $12.3 million surplus.
The numbers in Flaherty's report did not include the city's new state-approved payroll and occupation taxes -- which were not effective until Jan. 1 -- or the spending cuts estimated from a new contract signed in March with the firefighters union.
Air too dirty
Brian Bowling
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
April 28, 2005
Southwestern Pennsylvania still has some of the dirtiest air in the country, according to an American Lung Association report released today.
Rachel Filippini, executive director of Pittsburgh's Group Against Smog and Pollution, said she's not surprised.
"There really hasn't been a lot of concrete improvements made in air quality," she said.
Based on data from 2001-03, the Pittsburgh-New Castle metro area had the fourth-worst level of microscopic airborne particles and the 17th-worst level of ozone, the 2005 report says.
Pittsburghers, and deer, rarely roam too very far from home
Brian O'Neill
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
April 10, 2005
We are not entirely like deer. Their population is growing. But this is the capital of Staying Put. The legend that we won't cross rivers may have been put to rest, but we nonetheless stand out in a nation of transients. The U.S. census found that almost one in five householders in the region has been in the same home for 30 years or more. That topped metro areas of more than 1 million people, and no other place was close.
Spin that however you like, but whether it's Pittsburgh's inability to attract newcomers or the native desire to stay close to family, it makes us more like deer than most people. The average American stays only eight years in an owned home, two years in one that's rented.
Pittsburgh 13th on list of 100 worst asthma cities
America�s Worst Asthma Cities
Jennifer Warner
WebMD Medical News
February 16, 2005
Knoxville, Tenn., tops the list of the 100 most challenging U.S. cities for people living with asthma.
Memphis, Tenn., and Louisville, Ky., took the second and third spots in the second annual ranking of U.S. asthma cities. Washington, D.C. jumped from number 50 last year to number five in this year's list.
Pittsburgh—God�s Private Toilet
I might not be a great speller, but at least I CAN spell.
chinenjim
My Life in Plaid
February 15, 2005
Fuck Pennsylvania and fuck it's little shithole towns like Johnstown. Pennsylvania should be nuked by its government's own arsenal. It would truly make this country a better place. Pittsburgh, PA sucks too. I refer to it as "god's private toilet." I'd rather live inside of a dumpster than live in that depressing wasteland of filth and poor-spoken GPC smoking rednecks. This is a WARNING to anyone even remotely considering transplantation to the armpit state of my birth: DON'T FUCKING DO IT! Besides, you will lose your job anyway within a few months. This is one of the few places in the country where the unions are in total control of everything (thus fucking up everything). My wife was an accountant at a steel mill, and the grunt high-school dropouts that were training to pour iron made TWICE the amount she did with her 4 year degree! So, when the mafia unions went on strike again, she lost her job, because the company couldn�t afford to pay her.....The laborers needed more money.
Highway Report Card: Pennsylvania Has Worst Roads�Again
Laura Crackel
Etrucker.com
December 2004
Texas covers 268,601 square miles, making it the second largest state after Alaska. Spanning those miles across dusty deserts and through big cities are the best interstates in the system, according to readers voting in this year�s Overdrive Highway Report Card survey.
Pennsylvania led the list for worst roads. It and Arkansas have been frequent contenders for this dubious honor in recent years, though Arkansas and Pennsylvania also took the top two places as most improved this year.
Survey: More Smoke, Binge Drink in Allegheny County
KDKA/Associated Press
KDKA.com
September 30, 2004
According to a new survey from the county health department, more Allegheny County residents smoke and binge drink than those who live anywhere else in the state -- or even the nation.
After polling 5,000 households, the Allegheny County Health Department found that 27 percent of residents reported smoking, compared to 25 percent statewide and 23 percent nationwide.
Singled out as the single worst
Samantha Bennett
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
July 14, 2004
Pittsburgh has pulled off a hat trick of dubious distinction. For the third year in a row, it is the absolute worst city in America for singles.
Once again, Forbes.com ranks us No. 40 among the 40 largest U.S. metropolitan areas. Even Cincinnatians have more fun.
In the words of Elvis Costello, "I used to be disgusted. Now I try to be amused."
I am something of an expert on being single in Pittsburgh. I have been here and single for a decade now, and I have it down. Which is good, because I could easily stay single in Pittsburgh for another decade.
The tragic cycle continues
Davide Dukcevich
Forbes
June 25, 2004
The tragic cycle continues. Each year, we publish our ranking of the best cities for singles, and, despite our hopes and prayers, Pittsburgh finishes dead last. E-mails from angry Pittsburghers wish SARS on our newsroom. The following spring rolls around, and, despite all the outrage of the previous year, Pittsburgh gets drubbed on our singles poll. The poll results, combined with a horrible job growth projection, paltry nightlife offerings and dearth of singles, conspire to make Pittsburgh finish last on our best cities for singles list. Again. And with that, we expect renewed threats to our well being.
This is lonely town for singles
Michelle Massie
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
June 25, 2004
We made it onto another "best/worst" list.
For years Pittsburgh was considered one of the most livable cities in the nation. It was a dream city -- low cost of living, world-class cultural arts, a center of education, great neighborhoods to raise your kids, you name it, Pittsburgh had it.
Even with these attributes, Pittsburgh has come in dead last on Forbes Magazine's list of "America's Best Cities for Singles."
For the third year in a row.
Rivers City in the future of struggling Mon Valley towns?
Jeffrey Cohan
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
June 20, 2004
With apologies to TV junk dealer Fred Sanford, will failing Mon Valley municipalities clutch their hearts and wail, "I'm coming to join you, Elizabeth Township"?
That's a question raised by a radical proposal that won't go away. The idea: Merge 39 municipalities in southeastern Allegheny County and call it Rivers City.
If it came to pass, the beleaguered Mon Valley would become the third-largest city in the commonwealth, rather than a collection of oddly shaped and fiscally struggling cities, boroughs and townships.
Pittsburgh Ranks Among Worst Cities for Spring Allergies
Top 100 Worst Cities for Spring Allergies
Beth Turner
Parents.com
April 26, 2004
If you suffer from the sneezing, itching, and watery eyes that come with spring allergies, you might want to blame your hometown.
One hundred cities across America were recently identified by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) as the 2004 Spring Allergy Capitals, which means they have the highest number of people suffering from various allergies, per capita.
Mon, Allegheny put on group's list of 10 most endangered rivers
Don Hopey
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
April 14, 2004
Twelve years ago the state did an aquatic survey of the Kiskiminetas River, a tributary of the Allegheny that forms the boundary between Westmoreland and Armstrong counties, and found a frog.
One frog.
Today that river, once notable for rocks stained iron-orange by acid mine drainage, contains bass, walleye, perch and trout. The water quality improvement was accomplished by the installation of dozens of mine acid treatment facilities set up by watershed organizations and the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Pittsburgh�s Fiscal Crisis: How Did It Happen?
(No author listed)
IssuesPA
April 2004
How did Pittsburgh get into the current fiscal crisis? What will it take to get out? The state already is playing a role in the City's future and likely will have a role in any long-term solution. There may be lessons here for other Pennsylvania municipalities on the brink of their own financial crises.
Pittsburgh's fiscal crisis didn't happen overnight.
It's the result of decades of population decline, outdated state policies, and a series of mayors and councils trying to balance a budget of escalating costs linked to a shrinking tax base. Throw in a regional economy with a base that's shifted from industry to service - especially services such as education and healthcare delivered from tax-exempt properties. Add pressure to retain existing jobs and attract new and expanding businesses, which has led to more tax exemptions, abatements and other incentives.
The outcome? A city in crisis.
Who is Leaving Pittsburgh?
Lena Andrews
Carnegie Mellon Center for Economic Development
April 2004
Pittsburgh�s population loss has been well documented. The city has lost half of its population since 1950 and continues to shrink. The MSA, which has fared better than the city, had 58,000 more out-migrants than in-migrants between 1995 and 2000, a substantial increase over the first half of the decade. Migration is one part of population change; the other component is births and deaths. (For more on this topic, see The Root of Pittsburgh�s Population Problem).
In order to understand migration, it is important not just to look at the net data, but to look at who is leaving and who is coming. Recent census migration allows for analysis of the population that lived in the region 1995 but not in 2000 and vice versa. This paper examines the demographic characteristics of people that left and moved to Pittsburgh between 1995 and 2000.
Read more... (163KB PDF)
Shrinking tax bases crippling suburbs
Jeffrey Cohan
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
March 7, 2004
The city of Pittsburgh can find comfort in one thing as it writhes in the pain of deficits and debt: A lot of its suburbs are hurting, too.
It's no secret that eight Allegheny County municipalities had been designated officially distressed before Pittsburgh joined the state's Act 47 club late last year.
But the list of struggling municipalities does not stop there.
Pittsburgh airport second worst in loss of passenger seats
Mark Belko
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
January 13, 2004
Fueled by cutbacks by dominant carrier US Airways, Pittsburgh International Airport suffered the second-largest decline in scheduled passenger seats among major airports between December 2000 and December 2003.
Scheduled passenger seats -- the industry's primary gauge of capacity -- dropped 34 percent at the airport the past thee years, the U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General's office said in a report released yesterday.
The decline was the second worst among 31 major airports, topped only by St. Louis at 59 percent.
City to increase parking tax to 50 percent
Timothy McNulty
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
January 13, 2004
Pittsburgh City Council members yesterday said they will hike the parking tax to 50 percent to retain employees who otherwise would have been laid off and to restore some services that were cut in the budget they adopted last month.
In exchange, Mayor Tom Murphy agreed to give up his proposal for higher taxes that would go into effect at midyear and not to veto council's new version of the budget. However, he won't sign it, either, letting it become law without his signature.
Special Report: Pittsburgh in Crisis
Marisol Bello, Jim Ritchie, and Dave Copeland
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
About 2004
Unless its leaders make significant changes, Pittsburgh is in danger of going broke, a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review investigation shows. The city's staggering $1.68 billion debt equals almost 15 years' worth of property-tax collections, the investigation found. Pittsburgh's finances were so bleak in 1995 that it barely escaped bankruptcy by selling its water plant for $96 million. The city has used proceeds from that sale and has borrowed money to plug multimillion-dollar holes in its budget. The sale alone won't be enough to save the city, municipal finance experts said.
The 27 Most Wasteful Road Projects in America
Mon/Fayette Expressway and Southern Beltway
Cost to Federal Taxpayers: $500 million
Taxpayer.net
About 2004
The Mon/Fayette Expressway (Expressway) is a proposed 68-mile highway from Interstate 68 at Cheat Lake, West Virginia to Interstate 376 at Monroeville and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Southern Beltway (Beltway) is a proposed 30-mile sister artery that would run south from the Pittsburgh Airport to intersect with I-79 near Canonsburg, and then east to connect with the proposed Expressway near the Monongahela River. Both would be new four-lane, limited-access tolled highways. The estimated direct cost of building these remaining segments is $4.2 billion, excluding interest.
�Brain drain� acute from Pittsburgh area, census shows
Exodus second highest among 276 metro areas
Gary Rotstein
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
November 4, 2003
It is possible to be young, educated, single and attracted to Pittsburgh -- just not very probable.
The U.S. Census Bureau took its best stab ever at measuring "brain drain" from cities across America, and the report released yesterday appeared to provide credence for hand-wringing over the region's ability to attract skilled and creative young workers.
Of 276 metropolitan areas, only Gainesville, Fla., showed a greater net loss between 1995 and 2000 of migrating individuals who were single, between the ages of 25 and 39, with at least a bachelor's degree. Pittsburgh lost 7,444 more of such individuals than it attracted, which was 20 fewer than the hometown of the University of Florida.
Pittsburgh ranked one of worst cities for bike riding
Bike group hopes to inspire mass support
Gwen Arbuckle
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
September 3, 2003
It's 6 p.m. Friday on the corner of Bigelow Boulevard and Fifth Avenue in Oakland, and drivers are ticked off. The light is green, but no one is moving.
Traffic slows to a stop while a pack of cyclists, unicyclists, skateboarders and even folks on in-line skates blow through the intersection -- ignoring the now-red traffic signal.
"What is this? Is this a (expletive deleted) parade?" screamed one driver. Several more tapped their horns in agreement.
That's not a parade. It's the Pittsburgh Critical Mass ride, a party-on-wheels celebrating cyclists' rights. The cry is clear: "We aren't blocking traffic, we are traffic," riders claim.
It's no dirty secret—Pittsburgh air ranked among nation�s worst
Karen Roebuck
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
August 20, 2003
Perhaps the clearest thing about the air in the Pittsburgh area is that it's bad.
So says another report, this one from the Surface Transportation Policy Project, a national nonprofit organization that ranks the Pittsburgh metro area as the sixth-worst in the nation, behind a quintuplet of California metro areas, based on the number of unhealthy air pollution days.
The group's "Clearing the Air" report was released Tuesday, on the heels of two critical reports by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The Pittsburgh metro area had 134 days of unhealthy air quality from 2000 through 2002, according to the report.
Pittsburgh�s Budget Crisis—Who�s to Blame?
About.com: Pittsburgh Blog
August 11, 2003
The City of Pittsburgh's current budget crisis has been a long time coming. But with no one seemingly willing to make or support necessary tough decisions is the city doomed to continue in its downward spiral?
Staggering under the weight of a $1.68 billion debt , the City of Pittsburgh is obviously doing something wrong. But what? According to numerous experts, it is compilation of problems.
Taxes, stadiums, education quality linked to population fall
Eric Montarti
Pittsburgh Business Times
August 8, 2003
A local news story that seems to have slipped quickly off the radar screen pointed out that Pittsburgh's population continues to decline. This is understandable, perhaps, since there are other matters getting the lion's share of attention and since the population fall is not a new development.
The numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau show that Pittsburgh had a net loss of 6,665 people from 2000 through 2002. As of last year, the city's population stood at 327,898, down 2 percent from the 2000 total. If this rate continues, the 2010 Census for Pittsburgh would stand at roughly 301,000.
City lays off record number of workers
Timothy McNulty
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
August 7, 2003
Mayor to pink slip 731, including police; close pools and drain savings account
Mayor Tom Murphy announced yesterday that he is laying off 731 city workers, closing a police station and spending nearly all of the city's $28 million savings account to hold off bankruptcy for the rest of the year.
Murphy said he hated making those decisions, but was forced to because of the state Legislature's inaction on his proposals to offset a $60 million budget deficit with new taxes and state aid.
City families upset about pool, rec center closings
Carmen J. Lee
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
August 7, 2003
Lamont Johns grew up in the Hill District and remembers playing basketball at the Ammon Recreation Center on Bedford Avenue and working as a lifeguard at the Ammon pool.
As he picked up his son, Rico, 13, from a day of summer activities at Ammon yesterday, Johns was shocked to hear that both the center and the pool are slated to close as part of Mayor Tom Murphy's spending cuts.
"What are these people going to do? What are these kids going to do? This is keeping them out of trouble. ... He's throwing them out in the street. That's crazy!" said Johns, of Wilkinsburg. "They're going to pay one way or another."
Police layoffs: Recent hires to be first to go and they�re not happy
Jonathan D. Silver and Timothy McNulty
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
August 7, 2003
Minutes after Mayor Tom Murphy wrapped up a news conference yesterday announcing unprecedented police layoffs, one of the affected officers stood in his Downtown union office angrily punching number after number into his cell phone.
Each call went to a different colleague as soon-to-be-ex-Officer John Rouse spread the word among his brethren: I'm losing my job, and so are you.
"Devastating," said Rouse, an 18-month veteran of the force, when asked about the impact of being laid off. "We've given everything to do this job for the city of Pittsburgh."
Pittsburgh�s population loss continued in late �90s
Region showed net loss of nearly 58,000 from 1995 to 2000
Dan Fitzpatrick
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
August 6, 2003
Pittsburgh continued to lose population in the late 1990s, as some 58,000 more people left the region than entered it, according to new Census figures.
The region's recovery from the massive manufacturing job and population losses of the 1980s turned out to be inadequate to keep many people from chasing opportunities elsewhere during the dot.com boom in the late '90s.
The Census Bureau's new figures show that 149,474 people moved to the six-county Pittsburgh metropolitan area from 1995 to 2000, while 201,471 left for other parts of the country -- including other parts of Pennsylvania.
Giving Rant critic a hand (third letter from the top)
Tom Interval
Pittsburgh City Paper
July 31, 2003
This letter is in response to Megan Branning's defensive commentary ["Forbes fields criticism," July 3] about my June 18 Rant, "Forbes Article's Right: Pittsburgh is the Pitts."
Megan, here's what I want you to do:
1. Place your right hand, palm inward, on the right side of your head.
2. Place your left hand, palm inward, on the left side of your head.
3. Squeeze firmly with both hands and shake your head as hard and as fast as you can.
Are you still in profound denial about Pittsburgh's shortcomings? If so, repeat steps 1 through 3 and read on.
Brace yourselves, Oslo (second letter from the top)
Monica Skraly
Pittsburgh City Paper
July 3, 2003
I can't help but notice the ongoing debate here on the detriments of Pittsburgh life versus defenders writing in to rally some form of respectable civic pride. Despite my own history of writing an anti-Pittsburgh rant and reaping almost three weeks of venomous calls from locals too stupid to present a rational argument but unfortunately smart enough to find my listed number, I seem to be among the very few with the sheer cojones necessary to get real with the truth -- unsanitized by self-preserving tact or political correctness.
Even though I am now underway with plans to relocate to Oslo, Norway, I know I can dig just a bit deeper and give a little bit more to my efforts at public enlightenment before I leave by speaking that which others are too polite to admit publicly. The truth is that Pittsburgh totally bites the big one.
He had to move to find a job
icecat21
About.com forum: Worst City for Singles?
June 25, 2003
I actually have experience in this discussion. I am 27, unmarried. I have lived in western PA since I was 5. My girlfriend and I graduated from UPJ (University of Pittsburgh - Johnstown) in 2000. Neither one of us could find a job anywhere near Pittsburgh. It would have been nice to stay around family and friends, but with in a town with no entry-level job market, it is kinda tough. Look in the classifieds, unless you have 5-10 years of experience, they wont look at you. Not exactly appealing to a recent college graduate. And they wonder why all the 20-somethings are leaving.
Forbes Article's Right: Pittsburgh is the Pitts
Tom Interval
Pittsburgh City Paper
June 19, 2003
I can picture my funeral.
As people kneel before the casket, scanning my colorless body, which is clad in a $2,000 Armani suit, they'll whisper, "Tom never had a bad thing to say about anyone or anything."
Of course, they'd say that only if they were drunk, delusional or overly polite to my grieving relatives. And the suit -- it'll probably be a $175 Wal-Mart clearance-rack special.
More than likely, if my funeral guests have anything to say at all, it'll be something like, "The grouch always hated Pittsburgh. That's all he ever complained about."
And they'd be right. Well, sort of.
Dateless in a tough town (second letter from the top)
Joe Giacobello
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
June 17, 2003
Surprise! Forbes magazine has once again listed Pittsburgh as the worst city in America for single people. ("'Authentic' Pittsburgh still tough for singles," June 6, 2003)
I would like to congratulate the writer, Davide Dukcevich, for his integrity, calling the shots truthfully and accurately -- two years in a row.
Of course, the propaganda that I'm constantly hearing from the Pittsburgh PR firms tells a much different story. They say that this is an exciting, upbeat area with a wealth of activities and social opportunity.
Lonely life for singles (third letter from the top)
Tom Interval
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
June 17, 2003
Regarding Steve Massey's June 8 "Singularly Dull" blurb about Forbes magazine ranking Pittsburgh as the country's worst place for singles, it's easy for Massey to write "Singles, shmingles" when he obviously hasn't been single in this city.
It's an extremely lonely life for singles in Pittsburgh, especially for men who don't fit most women's notion of what a "perfect" guy should be. I've lived here all my life, and it took me literally years to finally meet a quality woman I would even consider settling down with. The rest of the women here A) are married; B) "just wanna have fuuuun"; C) look, walk, and speak like tough, tobacco-chewing men; or D) have a brain as small as the period at the end of this sentence.
�Authentic� Pittsburgh still tough for singles
Dan Fitzpatrick
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
June 6, 2003
In Pittsburgh, it's still tough to be single.
Such was the message yesterday from Forbes magazine, which announced that Pittsburgh once again was the "worst" U.S. city in which to be young and unattached. It was Pittsburgh's second year at the bottom of Forbes' "Best Cities for Singles" list -- a list comprising 40 of the country's biggest metropolitan areas.
Steel City Blues
Davide Dukcevich
Forbes
June 5, 2003
NEW YORK - If you want to know what New York City's trendiest bohemians will be wearing in the coming months, don't bother looking at the runways of Paris or Milan. Look instead at a very different runway: Pittsburgh's Penn Avenue on a Saturday morning.
There, between the accordionist pumping out "Lady of Spain" and the Italian sausages dangling in storefront windows, you'll find fashion trends that are just now catching on in Brooklyn's hip Williamsburg neighborhood: Sweat-stained baseball caps advertising a tow-truck company, Wrestlemania VII T-shirts and a scattering of mullet-cuts.
The difference, of course, is that while cheeky New Yorkers are just recently donning Member's Only jackets to prove their postmodern credentials, Pittsburghers have been wearing them without irony since 1989--a decade after these items were first in style.
Sperling�s rates Pittsburgh as eighth worst city for dating
America�s Best (and Worst) Cities for Dating
Sperling�s Best Places
About 2003
Hooking that hottie is hard enough without the odds stacked against you, so the city study experts at Sperling's BestPlaces have identified for you "America's Best and Worst Cities for Dating."
The study is based on criteria that include percentage of singles ages 18-24, population density, and dating venues per capita such as concerts, coffee shops, bars, bowling alleys, etc., and includes 80 metro areas in America.
Youth is Stranger Than Fiction
Chris Potter
Pittsburgh City Paper
About 2003
Perhaps we made a misstep with the cover-story parody we ran in last week�s issue. It wasn�t that we misled those readers who believed the story was real. It wasn�t that we cruelly subjected the region�s youth-retention and marketing efforts to ridicule. No, it was that we didn�t ridicule them enough.
A lot of people liked our parody, but some didn�t notice that it was a parody at all. Some even said that our fictional panel of young people -- who proposed turning entire neighborhoods into works of performance art, suggested creating first-class seating on city buses, and advocated cricket as the inner-city sport of the future -- sounded too much like people they actually knew. The parody, it seems, sounded a bit too real.
Ad Homonym
Why civic booster slogans all sound the same
Chris Potter
Pittsburgh City Paper
About 2003
Not that anyone�s paying me to come up with a campaign to attract more college students to Pittsburgh, but if they did, I�d recommend we adopt the college-friendly slogan: �Pittsburgh: Home of the 50-cent Jell-O shot.�
And that�s why no one pays me to come up with slogans. When you�re trying to market yourself, it seems, you shouldn�t promise much or to be too specific.
Experts work on marketing campaign, that builds steel image
Dan Fitzpatrick
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
November 3, 2002
The year U.S. Steel shut down the Mon Valley's once-mighty Homestead Works, economic development official Jay Aldridge joked to The Washington Post that one way Pittsburgh could shed its "Steel City" label would be to alter the name of its football team.
Instead of the Steelers, "maybe we should rename them the 'Pittsburgh Softwares,'" he said.
Aldridge's deliberately facetious suggestion, made in 1986, captured the psychological struggle involved in the crafting of Pittsburgh's post-industrial image.
Banks Toss Blacks to Sharks
Rich Lord
Pittsburgh City Paper
October 2, 2002
In the drive for lending fairness, Pittsburgh banks appear to be stuck in reverse. That�s the conclusion suggested by a study released Oct. 1 by the national Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, which examined lending data collected by the federal government nationwide. ACORN found that in 2001, African Americans in the Pittsburgh area were 2.3 times as likely to be denied mortgages by banks than were whites. That�s worse than the year before, during which African Americans were 1.8 times as likely to be turned down. Surprisingly, the disparity was greater the higher the income levels of the applicants: Upper-income blacks were denied mortgages 3.5 times as often as upper-income whites.
Pittsburgh ranked as ninth-fattest city in America
Weighted Down
Rich Lord
Pittsburgh Magazine
October 2002
"Pittsburgh is a fat city," says Madeline Fernstrom. As director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Health System Weight Management Center, Fernstrom has spent 20 years trying to change that. She's paddled against a rising tide of fatty foods, titanic portions and declining physical activity. And though she's helped many an individual win the battle of the bulge, she and her allies are losing the war. Southwestern Pennsylvania, like the rest of America, is just getting fatter.
U.S. Steel bristles at PRA�s efforts to downplay steel
Christopher Davis
Pittsburgh Business Times
September 13, 2002
U.S. Steel Corp. isn't happy about the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance's efforts to take the steel out of the Steelers.
The nation's largest integrated steelmaker said it is considering withdrawing financial support from the nonprofit economic development group based on comments made by PRA president Ronnie Bryant and senior vice president of marketing and communications Pamela Golden during a recent meeting with the Pittsburgh Business Times editorial board.
Why this 24-year-old is leaving town
Elizabeth Currid
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
July 20, 2002
I have lived in Pittsburgh for the past six years. And while my stay certainly hasn't set any records, these years have been some of the most transitional and monumental of my life.
I've strolled through the Strip District markets on Saturday mornings, run the Pittsburgh Marathon, watched Fourth of July fireworks at the Point, hiked through Frick Park, graduated from Carnegie Mellon (twice), explored the art of Andy Warhol, visited Fallingwater, gone to my first Pirates game, marveled at the view from Mount Washington and watched sunsets on Flagstaff Hill. These are experiences that many of you have also shared. They are also experiences that make Pittsburgh distinct and wonderful.
Pipe Dreams: Sewage problems run deep in region
Don Hopey and Jeffrey Cohan
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
July 14, 2002
Fawn sewage officer Val Thickey is not a man who goes with the flow -- especially when it used to dump raw sewage straight into Bull Creek.
He's been working hard for nine years to get the tiny township in northern Allegheny County connected to sewers, but despite a crusty can-do attitude, he's only a little more than half done.
Last month, he was finishing up the latest project, a $300,000 job on Donnelville Road that ties another 35 homes to the sewer system and will cost each property owner $3,400.
Forbes: Pittsburgh is worst place to be single
(No author listed)
Pittsburgh Business Times
June 7, 2002
If local leaders are wondering why so many young people leave Pittsburgh, they may want to consider that fact that the city is a bad place to be single.
That, at least, is according to Forbes magazine, which ranked Pittsburgh the worst out of 40 major cities for singles. In fact, Forbes thinks Pittsburgh is so terrible a place to be single, it wrote an entire story about it, "Pittsburgh is a pit for singles."
"Pittsburgh may be the best place in the world to watch a football game," the magazine says in the story's opening paragraph, "but it's the worst place in America to be stuck with a lonely heart."
Pittsburgh Is A Pit For Singles
Davide Dukcevich
Forbes
June 6, 2002
Pittsburgh may be the best place in the world to watch a football game, but it's the worst place in America to be stuck with a lonely heart.
The Steel City is unforgiving to the unattached, coming near the bottom of all of the criteria we used to rank the best cities for singles. Pittsburgh was 33rd out of the 40 metro areas we examined in our singles ratio (see "Best Cities For Singles"). This should not be surprising when you consider that Allegheny county, where Pittsburgh is located, has the oldest population of any county in the U.S. outside Palm Beach County in Florida. Almost 18% of Allegheny's population is over 65, compared to 23.2% of Palm Beach.
Steel city unforgiving to young people
Forbes.com Staff
Forbes
May 10, 2001
The Steel City is unforgiving to young people on the make. The area is one of the five most expensive on our list, while its expected job growth is the third slowest. On the positive side, the city hosts a thriving student population and has some 11 colleges and universities, with Carnegie Mellon being the most famous. Still, it's almost incredible to believe that Andy Warhol went to college in the area.
Pittsburgh is a Pothole Junkie Paradise
Kimberly and Albrecht Powell
About.com
April 1, 2001
Clarification: The opening paragraph is meant to be SARCASTIC. Click Read more... for the complete picture.
Where can you find the best roads in the nation? Hold on to your seats! A recent survey conducted by the National Highway Commission puts Western Pennsylvania at the top of the list. Citizens across America were asked to rate their satisfaction with both the major highways that they use and the existing transportation system and options their communities offer. These included city streets, country roads and highways. Attributes which respondents were asked to comment on included visual appeal, safety, bridge conditions, travel amenities, pavement conditions, work/construction zones, maintenance response times and traffic flow. The survey also polled participants on related issues such as ease of navigation of area roadways.
Pittsburgh�s highways are �absolute worst,� engineers group says
Joe Grata
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
March 9, 2001
A civil engineer says Pittsburgh has "the absolute worst" highway network he has seen in the United States for comparable cities.
Chris Ryan, president of Geo-Solutions Inc., Monroeville, made his comments as a designated local spokesman for the American Society of Civil Engineers' "2001 Report Card for America's Infrastructure," released yesterday at a news conference in Washington, D.C.
The report cited inadequate roads and bridges as one of three top concerns for the region out of 12 topics assessed nationally by the ASCE.
Scruffy man asking for millions raises male shyness question
Samantha Bennett
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
September 27, 2000
So I'm walking along Stanwix Street the other day, and a skinny, scruffy guy approaches me and says, "Excuse me, miss, but have you got $14 million on you?"
I had to laugh. I mean, I have education debt that would make a corporate sponsor think twice. I'm 34 years old, just a few short decades from retirement and my net worth has yet to be a positive number.
"I'll take a check," he offered.
That pretty much made my day. I had to give him credit (because I didn't have my checkbook on me). First of all, he was at least creative and bold. None of this paltry "85 cents for the bus" nonsense. If you're going to get turned down anyway, why not aim high?
Pittsburgh Ranks Worst in Nation for Maternal Smoking
(No author listed)
Tobacco Free Times, Vol. 1, No. 1
University of Pittsburgh
2000
Pittsburgh ranked worst in maternal smoking in a recent study by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Of the 50 largest cities surveyed, Pittsburgh has the highest rate of maternal smoking. In 2000, 23.3% of the total births in Pittsburgh were to mothers who smoked during pregnancy. That compares to maternal smoking rates of 1.5% in Miami, which ranked #1 with the lowest rates in the country, and a 14% maternal smoking rate in Philadelphia, which ranked 30th. Pittsburgh ranked last.
Read more... (100KB PDF)
Western PA has the fourth-roughest roads in the U.S.
Roads improve but still rough
Dan Fitzpatrick
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
June 6, 1999
Western Pennsylvania�s roads rate better than a year ago, but they�re still not as smooth as those in similar-sized regions around the country. In fact, the state-maintained highways and interstates in the Pittsburgh area are rougher than state roads in 10 of the 15 PG Benchmarks regions. Only roads in Seattle, Milwaukee and Denver are worse, according to the most recent "international roughness index" provided by the Federal Highway Administration.
