<p>It just goes to show, Pittsburgh is very much a city on the rise.</p>
<p>Another reason to go to Pitt over Case. . . . . :)</p>
<p>Just in case anyone was interested, I stumbled across this forum. It's a rundown of all the different building projects that are going on in Pittsburgh. I thought it was pretty cool:</p>
<p>Pittsburgh = 10th cleanest major city in the world.</p>
<p>My sides still hurt from laughing. I really enjoy it here in so many ways, but Pittsburgh is not a clean city. They haven't had the money for housing code or zoning enforcement, they admit they only pave 50% of the streets that they should.</p>
<p>I can't wait for spring each year just so the greenery will cover the trash on the hill sides.</p>
<p>Affordable? Absolutely.
Great place to raise a family? True
Largest per capita consumer of Ho Hos? Yep.</p>
<p>But a clean city? Sorry, no.</p>
<p>Pat,</p>
<p>That's a great Pgh development link! </p>
<p>So glad I live in the East End: can't wait for Bakery Square...</p>
<p>For the first time since 1985, Pittsburgh tops the list of the most livable cities in America. </p>
<p>Rand McNally judges 379 metro areas in America based on nine categories: Housing (or cost of living), transportation, jobs, education, climate, crime, health care, recreation and ambience, which refers to museums, arts, restaurants and history.</p>
<p>Also ranking in the top 10 were: San Francisco, Portland, Boston and Philadelphia.</p>
<p>The list marks the 25th anniversary of the most livable city ranking.</p>
<p>In that time, Pittsburgh has ranked only as low as 14th and is the only city to finish in the top 20 every single year.</p>
<p>Yunz goin' dahn to da parade 'n 'at? I'm gonna' git a turrible towel 'n wave it arahnd. Woo Hoo Pittsburgh!</p>
<p>Don't worry... the students at Pitt will not sound like the above.</p>
<p>Hey, yunz got Pittsburgh redded up!</p>
<p>I don't know where they get this Pittsburghese stuff. Nobody I know talks like that! (Although, I have heard a few of those phrases here and there, "dahn-tahn" most notably!) There's a funny little paperback book titled "Pittsburghese" that would be a cute gift for anybody who decides to come to Pitt.</p>
<p>Lfk,</p>
<p>Don't hear people talking like that? Git Ahtt!</p>
<p>Try Laurenceville, Bloomfield or Polish Hill. Or the "lifers", waitresses that worked at the same dives for decades. </p>
<p>Won't hear it as much in Oakland, Squirrel Hill or Shadyside. Still pockets on the "Sah Sad" though...</p>
<p>I do like the "YNZR" bumper stickers.</p>
<p>I don't want this to stray too off-topic, but I think Pittsburghese is wonderful. The US is becoming so homogeneous, it's nice to hear as well as feel a city's warmth and charm and Pittsburgh is particularly charming - intimate and friendly is a scarcity in large cities. My husband is a Berkeley and New Haven transplant and he absolutely loves it here.</p>
<p>I visited North Carolina and some schools in Minnesota over the past 2 years and believe me, I needed to concentrate to understand what the "true natives" were saying.</p>
<p>We noticed on our tour that the Pathfinder pronounced "Carnegie" with the emphasis on "ne", long e sound. In other parts of the country, the e is a short vowel sound, "neg". Anyway, Pittsburgh is a great place!</p>
<p>My Pitt freshman daughter likes Pittsburgh, but she has commented that the local music scenein Oakland isn't much, that if she wants to see bands she takes the bus out to other parts of town. </p>
<p>Anyone here familiar with the author Richard Florida? He writes about what makes cities desirable. . .and he left CMU. Even he seems "up" on Pittsburgh lately on his blog </p>
<p><a href="http://creativeclass.typepad.com/%5B/url%5D">http://creativeclass.typepad.com/</a></p>
<p>Let's hope the good times keep on for Pittsburgh!</p>
<p>Interesting on Mr. Florida, as he ripped into Pittsburgh on his way out of town...</p>
<p>Where is the local music scene? Haven't heard much about it from my D. Her sister loves going to clubs on the weekends for the bands. Near her school there are lots of, well, bars that have live bands every Thurs, Fri, and Sat night. One thing that keeps them hopping, which would be missing in Pittsburgh, is that the local law allows you to enter a bar at 18, even tho' you can't drink til 21. The under 21's show an ID and get their hand stamped, or sometimes it's the opposite and they put a paper bracelet on the 21 and overs, so only the right kids are drinking (yeah, yeah, i know about fake id's).</p>
<p>Anyway, it's the influx of all those $5 and $10 cover charges from the college kids that keep those places going strong. And a fairly large number of kids stick to the rules and are just there for the music.</p>
<p>When we first went to see Pitt, I had a guidebook that said there was live jazz at the Holiday Inn. But the hotel said it was discontinued about 2 years ago. Man, was I disappointed.</p>
<p>mercymom, that's interesting about the clubs, I've never heard of anything like that. Where does your other daughter go to school?</p>
<p>A sub-title from one of Richard Florida's articles. . . </p>
<p>"Why cities without gays and rock bands are losing the economic development race."</p>
<p>Our Pitt kids haven't found the rock bands. I'm not sure how great a predictor of city success I think that it. Here in NE Ohio, there are lots of bands, lots of busy performance venues, but Cleveland's not on any list of livable cities, only ranking high on that list of cities w/ lots of folks in poverty. </p>
<p>Florida does stress tolerance as a necessary attribute for a creative city. How would anyone rate Pittsburgh in that area--racial climate, gay community acceptance, attitudes toward recent immigrants? These aren't necessarily things our college kids pick up on.</p>
<p>I would rate Pitt as average among major cities for overall acceptance. It ain't San Francisco, but from what I've seen, gays and minorities are treated pretty equally. I think that's even more true around the colleges.</p>
<p>I always thought the Pittsburgh music scene was pretty good. Check out this article-
<a href="http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_183641.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_183641.html</a>.</p>
<p>And once the new arena is built, it should be even better. Some of the top tours have had to pass over Pittsburgh because Mellon Arena couldn't accomodate them, technologically.</p>
<p>Would agree the Pittsburgh music scene is better than represented here. Maybe the Oakland focus is the challenge. Some possibilities for local or niche music are Mr. Smalls (Millvale), Brillo Box (Bloomfield/Friendship), Quit Storm (Friendship) and numerous places on the South Side.</p>
<p>I would say the city of Pittsburgh, or at least the East End, is very open to the gay community and more resistant to minorities.</p>
<p>I just compiled this for another thread, but I'm going to post it here too because it was hard work.</p>
<p>Pittsburgh rankings:</p>
<h1>1- "Places Rated Almanac," best place to live</h1>
<h1>10- Forbes' World's Cleanest Cities</h1>
<h1>28/331- "Cities Ranked and Rated"</h1>
<p><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4625179/%5B/url%5D">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4625179/</a></p>
<h1>1- PNC Park, best ballpark</h1>
<h1>2- USA Today 10 Most Beautiful Places in America</h1>
<h1>17- Cleanest city in the world by William M. Mercer, a San Francisco-based consulting firm</h1>
<h1>18- Expo Magazine’s Bargain Destinations for travel and tourism</h1>
<h1>6- Travel Channel ranked the Carnegie Museum of Natural History as among the "Best Museums for Dinosaur Sightings."</h1>
<h1>2- Kennywood Amusement Park voted the second best amusement park in the country by readers of Theme Parks Magazine.</h1>
<h1>3- Pittsburgh has been ranked the third-best mid-sized city for art lovers, according to readers of AmericanStyle Magazine</h1>
<h1>1- Pittsburgh’s Original Hot Dog Shop in Oakland has "America’s Best French Fries" and "America’s Best Hot Dogs" according to AOL City Guide</h1>
<h1>1- Pittsburgh’s South Side neighborhood received the Urban Pioneer Award, one of three national awards, by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.</h1>
<h1>9- one of the smartest places to live in America by Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine</h1>
<h1>1- Pittsburgh International Airport recognized for having one of the best airports in the country and scored top honors in three out of five airport categories.</h1>
<h1>5- Child magazine ranks Carnegie Museum of Art number five in the nation as best art museums for kids</h1>
<h1>1- Pittsburgh ranked highest in the nation in The Economist Intelligence Unit's livability survey</h1>
<h1>1- American Style magazine best arts scene among mid-sized cities</h1>
<h1>19- Most-Educated Cities in the United States</h1>
<h1>9- Pittsburgh ranks as the ninth-safest major metropolitan area in which to conduct business and avoid major natural disasters and terrorism. A survey by Risk + Insurance magazine and AIR Worldwide Corp. (a Boston-based consulting firm) ranked the safety of major U.S. metropolitan areas based on their susceptibility to major business disruptions such as weather disturbances, earthquakes and terrorism.</h1>
<h1>14- Pittsburgh’s University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) is ranked one of the top medical facilities in the nation. U.S. News & World Report’s edition of America’s Best Hospitals ranks UPMC 14th out of 176 hospitals.</h1>
<h1>1- The Pittsburgh Steelers training camp in St. Vincent’s College, Latrobe has been ranked the number one NFL training camp in the nation by Sports Illustrated magazine’s Peter King</h1>
<h1>1- Pittsburgh has been included in Delicious Living magazine’s 2005 Impressive Cities list</h1>
<p>Top 25- CNN Money America's Smartest Cities
<a href="http://money.cnn.com/2006/08/29/real...ties/index.htm%5B/url%5D">http://money.cnn.com/2006/08/29/real...ties/index.htm</a></p>
<h1>5- Reader's Digest Best Places to Raise a Family</h1>
<h1>2- Best Cities for Families. Cities Ranked and Rated rates Pittsburgh #28 overall, one of the best for families</h1>
<p><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4625179/%5B/url%5D">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4625179/</a></p>
<h1>4- Sperling's Best Cities for Seniors.</h1>
<h1>2- Collegia, Inc. ranks Pittsburgh #2 among college cities of its size, #4 overall</h1>
<h1>10- Mercer Human Resource Consulting Best Quality of Life of American Cities</h1>
<p><a href="http://www.finfacts.ie/qualityoflife.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.finfacts.ie/qualityoflife.htm</a></p>
<h1>1- Esquire Magazine's Cities That Rock</h1>
<p>Pittsburgh Awards
<a href="http://www.visitpittsburgh.com/stati...?contentID=141%5B/url%5D">http://www.visitpittsburgh.com/stati...?contentID=141</a></p>