Pittsburgh="One Butt-Ugly Town"

[urbanophile]

Gerbil,

You might not like what the guy had to say today. He talked about meeting a Broncos fan in Pgh in "a skyscraper (for Pittsburgh)". Needless to say, Pittsburgh's skyline is taller than Denver's.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news...4401948,00.html

Of course the peopl in the chat who pushed the "steelers as a religion" stereotype were not exactly helpful. What exactly were they trying to prove, I wonder?

Well they are a religion. I can't think of that many more cities in the entire country as crazed about their football team as Pittsburgh. I was in Rio with during the 2002 playoffs and there were a few "Stillers" fans in our tour group. On a bright beautiful sunny day in Rio, all these people wanted to do was find the closest sports bar to watch the game - and they did and spent the entire day glued to the TV. Never mind the fact that for many of them this was their first time in South America and this was the first sunny day after a spell of rainy days and we were right by the beach - the Steelers were more important. Also, I can't think of fans as close-knit as Steelers fans. I've met Australians who are rabid Steelers fans. There really is a "Steelers nation".

I don't know what it is. Perhaps its because Pittsburgh has taken its knocks throughout the decades and has been through some hard times but the Steelers were a major point of pride throughout that. They are sort of the city's ambassadors. In fact, for most people across the nation, the "Steelers" are about the only thing they know about Pittsburgh - for better or worse. On one of the "I love the 70's" specials on VH1, they did a segment on the Steelers dynasty and one of the commentators (from LA) said (paraphrasing) "That was like Pittsburgh's last hurrah. After that we never heard from Pittsburgh ever again. It was like they had a big going out party and then they decided to disband the city." (I'm sure that commentator heard from a bunch of Pittsburghers after that ).

[TheGerbil]

Gerbil,

You might not like what the guy had to say today. He talked about meeting a Broncos fan in Pgh in "a skyscraper (for Pittsburgh)". Needless to say, Pittsburgh's skyline is taller than Denver's.

Yet another outright lie. What a jerk! If I hadn't already sent my letter I would put something in about that for sure.

Well they are a religion. I can't think of that many more cities in the entire country as crazed about their football team as Pittsburgh. ... There really is a "Steelers nation".

I know that. But I don't like the stereotype that all Pghers feel that way. And when someone seems to believe that stereotype, I think it is a bad idea to push the stereotype on them even more.

[Evergrey]

Pittsburgh's tallest: 840 ft.

Denver's tallest: 714 ft.

# of 500 footers in Pittsburgh: 9

# of 500 footers in Denver: 7

[mjcatl2]

One Mellon Ctr is actually taller than Denver's tallest.

[PghUSA]

Soooooo Forbidding guys, we should all have squat buildings now I guess lol.

[urbanophile]

The latest installment in the misadventures of the Rocky Mountain News journalist in "smoke-stained" Pittsburgh.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news...4405346,00.html

[PghUSA]

Seems this guy is trying to do damage control big time . . . at least he says we are some of the nicest people on earth!

I just don't appreciate the fact that now we have a Lexis-Nexis pop up stating: 2006, Pittsburgh Butt-Ugly. I thought we got over that back in 1950!

[TheGerbil]

Sigh. He makes it sound like every building you see here is soot stained. What will people think?

I mean, really, the few buildings I can think of that still have visible smoke-stains were left that way on purpose, and the rest are clean by now. But of course he didn't mention anything like that. I am very sick of the guy.

At least the Steelers won, so that might make him shut up a bit

Edit : I am starting to wonder if they are going to print my letter (or anyone's letter) about this. I see none in their paper yet, and they haven't responded to me about mine. Have you had any luck PghUSA?

[mercurypa]

While I do think this article was unfounded, I would agree that we have a bit of an asthetic problem here. I think if people took a little bit better care of their properties our city would really shine. How about neighborhood coalitions that had clean-up days, and encouraged residents to repaint, plant shrubbery and keep their property clean? What about some tax incentives for propety improvement? I really believe that Pittsburgh is on its way up, so this could only help the cause!

Just keep your side of the street clean and soon everything will sparkle!

I know a bit sugary, but hey sometimes this town needs a little sugar!

[Evergrey]

I agree, mercurypa... I do think Pittsburgh is incredibly beautiful... but unfortunately it seems a lot of people don't take pride in their community... and some areas are littered with... well litter... and crumbling buildings... and overgrown weeds... these are common urban problems that have resulted from 50 years of active anti-urban policies and societal trends.

but if you saw the aerial views of Denver during the AFC Championship game... you got to realize just how lucky Pittsburgh is to have such a great urban fabric.

[PghUSA]

I agree Merc, however this comment was justified by stating that Pittsburgh is "Paris like" in that we save buildings and structures that "new age" cities like Denver would bulldoze in a minute. Also given as justificiation was the fact that Pittsburgh is **** because it just isn't like Denver, that's all. It is a total load of crap if you ask me. Now I'm going back to look at that darkcastle like view of our "horror movie" like downtown skyline . . . yeah this is a smart writer!

[wanderer34]

I wouldn't worry about what anybodys about PGH. The more the Steelers, the less the haters will gloat and moan!!!

[mercurypa]

I think this article shows how some people can take Steelerism a bit too far. Not such a cosmopolitan attitude. The teacher should be fired. We are in America right?

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06024/643226.stm

[blueblackcat]

While I do think this article was unfounded, I would agree that we have a bit of an asthetic problem here. I think if people took a little bit better care of their properties our city would really shine. How about neighborhood coalitions that had clean-up days, and encouraged residents to repaint, plant shrubbery and keep their property clean? What about some tax incentives for propety improvement? I really believe that Pittsburgh is on its way up, so this could only help the cause!

Just keep your side of the street clean and soon everything will sparkle!

I know a bit sugary, but hey sometimes this town needs a little sugar!

There are neighborhood coalitions, volunteer groups, all kinds of things. There is only so far this can take you before you realize that what you really need is cold hard cash. One major problem is that many of the neighborhoods started out poor to begin with. Many of the houses in Pittsburgh are close to or over 100 years old and they were built to serve Pittsburgh's workers during some of the most violent and oppresive times in the city's history, when the avreage salary was at the level of what we think of as developing nations today. A good 1000 of such properties are condemned and still standing, and about 300 new ones condemned each year. The city's financial problems actually cut the money for the amount of houses that can be demolished each year so it can barely keep up with newly condemned houses, even for basic things like plywood to board up windows or someone to come mow the lawn. No matter how you slice and dice it, the only real solution is to set aside things with historic value and steadily continue to rebuild the rest. But every city has some unkept areas, and in total I think Pittsburgh has fared a lot better than huge parts of cities where people are sitting right now and calling Pittsburgh "ugly"

[TheGerbil]

This is what I think: Some cities have a central area where tourists spend most of their time, and keep that area clean and shiny. They have blight, but it's in neighborhoods visitors don't normally see.

In Pittsburgh, the shiny tourist neighborhoods and blighted neighborhoods are side by side. Right next to Station Square is some kind of factory thing (what IS that, exactly?). Right near the the North Shore are blighted sections of the North Side. We don't corral all of our tourists into one part of the city, so they see the parts of the city which in other places might be out of sight and out of mind.

By the way, I just saw this interesting article about Detroit. I would LOVE to see a similar one about Pittsburgh when we host the All-Star game this summer.

[urbanophile]

This is what I think: Some cities have a central area where tourists spend most of their time, and keep that area clean and shiny. They have blight, but it's in neighborhoods visitors don't normally see.

In Pittsburgh, the shiny tourist neighborhoods and blighted neighborhoods are side by side. Right next to Station Square is some kind of factory thing (what IS that, exactly?). Right near the the North Shore are blighted sections of the North Side. We don't corral all of our tourists into one part of the city, so they see the parts of the city which in other places might be out of sight and out of mind.

By the way, I just saw this interesting article about Detroit. I would LOVE to see a similar one about Pittsburgh when we host the All-Star game this summer.

I don't think anyone woud think of Pittsburgh as being blighted (if they were to actually visit). Most cities in the Northeast and Midwest have substantial areas of blight. Pittsburgh is one of the few that doesn't. The only areas that come close to the level of blight you see in other cities in the NE and MW are the Hill District, East Liberty, and a few areas around East Liberty. There's nothing in Pittsburgh like the South Bronx (which is improving greatly, by the way), North Philly, much of Baltimore, the eastern half of DC, Cleveland's Hough District, much of Detroit, the south side of Chicago, etc.

Also, while "gritty" is often used to describe Pgh, I think Pgh is hardly gritty compared to most other cities in the NE and MW. Go to parts of NJ and Detroit if you want to see grit.

The thing about Pittsburgh is that alot of the areas, while not blighted and not dirty, are not exactly in the best state of repair. You'll see bridges that appear ready to collapse (and, according to the PG, some of them are), weeds growing out the sidewalks, etc. In other cities, details like that are better taken care of and, unfortunately, some visitors see a weed-strem sidewalk and a rusty old bridge and get a bad impression of the city.

The other thing about Pittsburgh (the thing that is the most characteristic about Pittsburgh) are the poorly renovated homes. A huge part of that derives from the fact that much of the city consists of 100-year old wood frame houses. Over the years, people have renovated these homes to save on heating costs (something that wouldn't be done in the South and the reason why cities like Charleston have maintained their old looks). Such renovations, unfortunately, included covering up the wood siding with ugly insulbrick (whoever invented that should be hanged!) or aluminum siding that often clashes with the style of the building. Also, since replacement windows often don't come in teh same size they did 100 years ago and since the big windows used back then would cuse draftiness, many homes have had their windows repalced by windows that are smaller and which also clash with the style of the building.

Now obviously people have a right to renovate their hoems any which way they want. I'm not saying anything about that. However, I'm saying that visitors to Pittsburgh often notice these things and remark on them. That said, perhaps the city could use this to its advantage and say that such renovation jobs are a quirk of Pittsburgh (and indeed they are).

[Evergrey]

Great post, urbanophile.

It is true... that despite losing 50 percent of its peak population... the amount of "blight" and "decay" in the city of Pittsburgh is remarkably low... especially when you compare to Detroit, St. Louis, Cleveland, Philly, Baltimore... and even smaller cities... like just about any city in Ohio (Toledo, Canton, Youngstown, Springfield, Dayton, etc). Pittsburgh's urban fabric has remained in tact for the most part... there are few "bombed out" areas (the small California-Kirkbride neighborhood comes to mind). And even the so-called "bad areas" of Homewood, Hill District and East Liberty... are much better than the "bad areas" of other cities. Much of the reason those three 'hoods are considered bad are due to ignorance and the misguided urban renewal programmes of the 60s.