Pittsburgh's Future

cool pod, i'm in pittsburgh as well, if you ever want to collaborate on something let me know.

i have lived downtown at pointpark university dor 3 years and this place is dead every night after 6pm this is a ghost town nothing is open maybe a few bars like mentioned but even those close at 11

there are no grocery stores nott really any attractions and not really any reason to want to live here i wish i didnt (downtown not pittsburgh)

I'm from Milwaukee. We are in a similar situation to Pittsburgh with one critical exception. We already had a good base of jobs downtown. However, as Pittsburgh attempts to foster job growth I hope they do not overlook the importance of creating a more innovative economy. Something that will attract and retain young, creative talent. We are struggling with that here. Here's a test: walk the college campuses in the immediate area and ask kids if they plan to stay in Pittsburgh when they graduate and why or why not. Their answers will go a long way in providing direction on what types of companies Pittsburgh, or any city for that matter, should convince to stay or break ground.

There is a very similar problem occurring in Fresno CA. Perhaps even worse. Up until the mid 1980's this town was a small Ag based sleepy square town, but as more migration from southern CA, northern CA, and the pacific Northwest came for cheaper cost of living, the sprawl of urban development has separated Fresno into sections of gated communities and upscale Sierra Nevada foothill living, leaving our center somewhere south and forgotten. No one lives there, except the homeless & motel living hustlers trying to survive.
There has been a movement to re-vitalize downtown, however nothing seems to be working. As an artist one feels a deep sense that now one wants culture in this town, they just want to be left alone with there SUV's and Flat Screen TV's in Gated Communitites.
Its a shame to know what people are missing out on, as this forces the backbone of Fresno's arts culture to move to LA or SF.
Some say change is on the horizon, yet they have been saying that for years. We now have a Public Arts Council. My Undergrad degree is in Public Art from CSU Monterey Bay - mentored by MacArthur Fellow: Dr. Amalia Mesa-Bains, & they don't seem to understand any of the ramifications, strategies, or cultural considerations when dealing with this issue.
I have truly been inspired by current to do something about this and I am trying, however there is an underlying pull to go where your artistic services are accepted, understood, and desired.
I think Fresno is a perfect model of what can go wrong in a community when self-interest commercial development is followed by self-interest up-scale gated-community housing that leaves its cultural tree rings dead in the center.

Thanks for the input reading my rant, and I would love to show you what I am ranting about, but must get access to a cam. . . .

Hey guys,

Thanks for watching. The pod posted here is Current's recut of my pod, which you can watch here:

http://current.com/items/86564031_steel_cities_of_the_future

Kind of curious what you guys might think of the changes they made.

Interesting... At least it ain't the Pittsburgh in "Land of the Dead"...

Interesting pod. It was a little low on character, though, I thought. Sure, the pod inherently had to take a news based approach, but perhaps to give another angle on the story (and a different face to identify with) perhaps you could have found someone who did live in the downtown area and see why and how they lived there. Maybe that'd be a chance for us to see how things have improved instead of just having it told to us. Also, was there any particular reason the piece wasn't narrated? I wonder if you had chosen to talk instead the pod wouldn't have had a little more life. Just my two cents! Great information, though, and a great quote in the end there (about Pittsburgh versus New York) to spark thought about what exactly does one want/need from their city? Well done.

The city constantly make stupid decisions wear else could a city be famous for having three rivers merging to make one and have basically no attractions there ? They give tax breaks to business and build buildiings for them to only have them leave 4 years from that . We finally geta big attraction to come to the downtown area and they try to drive them out before they get there with the casino .I hope and pray we are finally getting our act together but Pittsburghers are afraid of change in a bad way .

I really liked this pod...It drew me in mostly because I am moving to Pittsburgh this summer..I am from State College, PA, and I'm going to Pitt starting this summer...I think everything this pod said was very true, but I don't think that it is necessarily a negative thing. The city is becoming a much more hip place, and I think that the city still has a lot to offer that a lot of rural PA just can't. with that said, it also doesn't have a lot of problems that larger cities such as Philadelphia or New York has. I think slowly the city is becoming a wonderful new definition of it's former self

I live in Pittsburgh and I have to say, you covered the issue fairly well without making the city (as a whole) look bad. Some of the shots, especially the last ones are lovely.

Another interesting tid bit, Pittsburgh is the only place in the country to have been named 'Most Livable City' twice. At least there are some interesting things happening in East Liberty and Bloomfield. Keep it up, I love seeing pods about my hometown :)

i heart Pittsburgh but its true. the downtown is dead.

Great job in this Pod!!! It makes me want to visit!

Interesting pod. I was traveling on a greyhound bus and had a 4 hour layover in Charolette, NC from 2AM-6AM. I know thats late but it was a weekend. The station is just out of downtown, amongst a sea of football stadium parking lots. The weather was good and I went searching for a gas station to get some cigarettes. I couldn't find one, and couldn't find a single person anywhere, not even homeless. I was amazed at this considering the apparent size of the city. I eventually entered a hotel lobby to ask for directions. I walked a mile and half or so to the gas station and then returned to the greyhound station and encountered: the gas station attendant, the hotel clerk, and the people at the bus station. Coming from Atlanta this was unexpected, but all in all, it was a pleasurable experience.

great pod. it struck a cord with me b/c we live in Scranton Pa and are facing nearly identical dilemmas. We desperately need downtown housing and there is a current downtown revitalization going on, but so far the city's only answer has been up-scale lofts. The problem is no one would want to pay that sort of rent for the lack of amenities it offers. We are in the process of starting a downtown food co-op(sagemarket.org), in the hopes of supporting our local economy. Good luck with p-burg. It seems like the 'post steel/coal boom economy' cities all have the same job ahead of us- bring the life back to town!