Anyone here from Pittsburgh?

[DaveS]

We are considering a move from the Minneapolis, MN area to Pittsburgh.

This would be within my same company, and they will be footing the bill for relocation.

Our office building is right down town, on the river. They do give free parking though

I visited there one time, and it seems like a nice city.

I guess I'm just looking for opinions, recommendations, or "watch out for..." type stuff.

thanks in advance...

- Dave

[Joe DeFazio]

Hi Dave,

Though I am biased, being a native here, I love it. I've lived in several other places, so I do have a bit of a perspective on how it stacks up.

We have very friendly people, good cultural life and sports teams, affordable housing, lots of hills, rivers, and pretty scenery, as well as lots of senior citizens . Oh, yeah, and Pennsylvania cherry.

Feel free to pm me if you have any specific questions.

Joe

[TheRic]

.... good ...... sports teams.....

That part might be debatable.

I have never lived in Pittsburgh, my step-daughter went to Pennsylvania Culinary Institute, it's downtown / near downtown (not 100% sure what is considered downtown). Visited a couple of times. I never had a problem there, even when I wore my Cleveland Browns coat around town!! She liked living there, never really had anything bad to say about the place. She did become a Stealers fan, I'm sure to get back at me, and her brothers (Bengal fans), since she never was/is a football fan.

[crokett]

A Cleveland fan, a Bengals fan and a Pittsburgh fan in the same family??? Football season at your house must be mighty interesting.

[rja]

Other than 13 years living in New Mexico, I have spent most of my adult life in the Pittsburgh area. It has a nice city center with lots of cultural attractions, dreary weather, good sports teams, friendly people, primitive road system (compared to some other places), ethnic diversity, world class universities and hospitals. Free parking for you downtown is a definite plus.

Welcome, DaveS

[mineengineer]

I moved to Pittsburgh from Northeast Tennessee for my job seven years ago and I like the burgh alot. If you have any questions pm me and I will try to answer them. Lots of great housing and history here but some school districts are better than others if you have kids.

[ejs1097]

It's a nice place, I've lived here for the past 8 years. Like most cities though traffic is the most complaint. We have tunnels on the major highways going east from pgh and south/west. That can be a bottleneck but in realty it's about 15-20 minutes to get through, not as bad as compared to some cities. because of the terrain and hills though there is no highway belt system looping pgh.

Do you have an idea of where you are relocating to? the city itself has high tax rates. I live in the south hills, if you are considering there, I'd be glad to help you out or give you a realtor's name.

Rick: I'm sure the locals here didn't give you a hard time about your browns attire because they felt sorry for you and figure you've been kicked around enough

reminds me of an incident when a Stiller fan and Brown fan crashed head on in the night on a bridge in western PA. After realizing neither was hurt, they became friends and put their differences aside. The Pittsburgher found a undamaged bottle of Jack Daniels in the trunk and they decided to toast the new friendship. The Brown's fan went first and drank half the bottle, past it to the Pittsburgher and said, let's just call it even and go home. The Pittsburgher, threw the bottle over the bridge in the river and said, "Nah, I'll just wait for the cops".

[DaveS]

Thanks for the input guys... I appreciate it.

They are flying us out there to have us spend a day with a "relocation consultant" that will attempt to "woo" us to the area. I suppose "woo" is a strong term, it's just someone who knows the whole area and can answer specific questions, show us neighborhoods, etc).

[radhak]

had lived in Minneapolis, then close to Philly. so some general stuff :

- shorter winters. and no extremely-low-temps either.
- busier people, hence less time for friendly chats with casual acquaintances(but that might be philly)
- less mosquitoes. lots less. (only somebody who lived in MN can understand the mosquito problem there)
- less (or harder to get to) of jazz festivals, and other 'intellectual' stuff (gay pride parade, anyone?)
- more wood. cheaper wood.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

I've only spent a few weeks in Pitt but I was really impressed. I was expecting an old burned out steel city. The downtown area is very nice. Lots of cool architecture. Good schools. They just signed a deal to keep the NHL team. Some folks in PA aren't big fans of Pitt as it is a money dump for the state. It took a lot of resources to revitalize the area. Pitt airport and their relationship with US Air was a major drain. Overall Pitt seems to be on the way up.
As far as the comparison as noted by radhak, I think a lot of that is Philly stuff. Pitt has its fair share of extremely low temps. People tend to be much more laid back in Pitt than Philly. No mosquitoes in central PA, but boy do we have the flies! Not too sure about Pitt as a cultural area, but I can't imagine Minneapolis is a mecca of fine arts. Definitely more wood.

[Alex Franke]

I visited some friends there for about a week (I think) back in the late 80's. I remember there being a lot of bridges, and a great selection of bars. In fact, I remember walking INTO town on a number of occasions, but walking back OUT of town -- well, the memory is always a bit hazy there.

In any case, those friends always say they'd never live anywhere else. I imagine the town just has a lot of character -- the type of town that just drags you in and makes you want to belong there... It's all circumstantial, though. Like I say, I was only there for a week, and sober maybe only half that time.

I bet it's a good place to live if you like ketchup, too.

[TheRic]

Here are two bonuses that I happened to think of.

1. Your be a lot closer to the grizzly warehouse.

2. Your be a lot closer to Jeffery when he is selling those fantastic power tools deals he gets, like a PM2000 for $475.

[Kristofor]

Not too sure about Pitt as a cultural area, but I can't imagine Minneapolis is a mecca of fine arts.

Okay, going to sound like an off-topic homer here but I'll toss a couple linkies: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/desti...-culture_x.htm

http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2005/12/04/twin_cities/

I didn't put in the one from the New York times as it requires registration to read it. (I would not rank Minneapolis 3rd like the guy in one of those articles, but having traveled to most of the large US cities I would say it's in the top 10.)

Pittsburgh is one city I have not been to, but I have read a number of positive stories about it having something of a renaissance and redevelopment boom these days and being much cleaner than in the past.

If you like your company, think that it will be good for your career development, and it works for your wife and kids too why not give it a shot? If you don't like it you could always move back in 5 years. If you love it, that cheap cherry makes it all the better!

[os1kne]

I grew up in Pittsburgh and after college, I moved to Dallas for 10 years. Moved back to Pittsburgh 2 years ago. My opinion is probably a bit biased, but here it goes.

- there are a lot more cultural activities than I expected before I moved back. A lot of Italian, German, Polish, Irish, Serbian, and other influences - diversity. I liked Dallas, but the cultural stuff was mainly Hispanic - not that there is anything wrong with that, but it's nice to see a variety. (I haven't found a good Mexican restauant here yet).

- there is a lot happening to revitalize Pittsburgh. For many years, young people fled the city to pursue employment after college (sadly, much like I did) - this made the average population get much older rapidly. You will find that the average age of the population around Pgh to be one of the oldest in the country. The rapid decline of the steel industry in the 80's also caused people to leave in droves.

- many people from around the country seem to believe that Pgh is dirty and dingy. It may have been this way in the 1970's, but no more.

- Pittsburgh is a great place to live, people seem to have a strong sense of community.

Good luck!

[68KANE]

I'm originally from the South Side (pronounced Sou side) of the 'burg' and I used to love it. After living in the south and getting used to subdivisions and the slower pace, I can't say as I would move back there. I've gotten used to little/no snow and a bigger home for a smaller price.

There are some fantastic people up there, great diversity of food and I feel, better educational system. The roads are kind of scary though, if you're driving anything bigger than a midsize car. The cobblestone streets in some areas don't look like they would accomidate a Ford Escort let alone my Tundra. Also, the effect of rocksalt on your vehicles is bad. In closing, I'd say there are alot of reasons to love the place and just a few to dislike it.