A Flawed But Lovable City Hated By The Miserable
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8/15/2021
I'm a Gen-X, blue collar man who has lived here his whole life. And I'm talking the city proper. I've almost never been a suburbanite. I honestly don't know where else I'd want to live.
Pittsburgh is imperfect. It has problems many other large cities have. Pollution, crime, etc. But those problems are only magnified elsewhere. Pittsburgh is alternately gentrifying and ghettoizing. That's happening everywhere.
As far as diversity goes, black people make up a quarter of the population and only maybe 12-13% of the national population. That means blacks are overrepresented here. Whites make up 66% of the population and 72% overall. Whites are underrepresented here. Plus, have these haters been to certain neighborhoods? Asians, Arabs, and Hispanics are growing in numbers here in Pittsburgh.
It seems as though Pittsburgh's haters have their own personal homesick shyness self esteem issues. They also tend to lean towards rabid right-wingers or identity-obsessed leftoids who detest white workers Or they're neoliberal militant black people aspiring to become demagogues who crave power and wealth. Or they're not making friends here, have had bad experiences or whatever.
I have news for yinz. All the more diverse big cities have much higher crime rates, cost of living, and segregation. Chicago is a perfect example. You want homelessness out the wazoo? Go to LA or SF. NYC is more diverse yet segregated than we are. Walk around Bensonhurst if you're not orthodox jewish and see what happens to you. All big American cities have sordid racial histories, and they're all more sordid than Pittsburgh's.
There's always lily-white Portland. Nobody bags on them. It's ok if your white population is well-off, hipster,"woke" and therefore not "problematic" i suppose.
You can't do much about the weather right now except halt off global warming. Seattle and Portland are gloomy, rainy cities too. California is sinking. Wildfires, earthquakes, smog. My allergies will attest to air quality, but that's a global problem. Green energy, people. That's happening here too. It's a lot better than it was decades ago. Want pristine air? Move to flyover land. Or fight for change. Our water is better than it used to be too. Chicago and Michigan have worse water. Nobody complains.
Pittsburgh has crime, but its still safer than most other cities. I've not had too many violent incidents here, I've never been robbed or beat up or shot at in my 40 plus years here.
Cost of living is going up, but my mortgage is cheaper than rent in a lot of places. I live modestly and make a fairly comfortable middle-class income.
Good jobs are hard to find for anyone unless you're in the good old boy network. I've had that problem too, especially in trying to escape currently unsatisfying (to say the least) job.
Does Detroit have a diversity problem? Oh wait, it's mostly black.
By the way, we're getting a black mayor soon, elected mostly by whites I might add. So much for Pittsburgh whites being racist, evil monsters.
And yeah, a lot of Pittsburghers can be parochial and bigoted. Just like in Boston or Philly. There's people like that everywhere.
And we can be clannish. That's because we're family-oriented and tend to stay put. Why wouldn't they? Ever heard of the Seattle Freeze? I've found it's not quite that bad. Get involved, make friends. Avoid the jagoffs and knuckleheads. Or ignore them. If an oddball like me can find a tribe here amongst the basic barfly yinzers, so can you. My parents live just a few miles from me. I see them a few times a week instead of once or twice a year. All I have to do if I want to see them is walk or just hop on a bus after work and have dinner with them. 10 minute drive as well.
Dating is a drag here too, but again, that's everywhere. Go out and talk to people instead of trolling dating sites. Stop being an incel. If you're uncommon, go find uncommon people to be with. Ya gotta find them. They won't jump out at you. Ignore the sourpusses. You probably don't wanna hang with them any more than they wanna hang with you.
I have a supermarket, two drug stores, and a slew of ethnic restaurants within walking distance. I can also catch a bus or trolley anywhere within a short walk. As a non-driver I find our public transit to be adequate but needing some improvement for sure.
Yes, Pittsburgh is a sports town. So is LA, NYC, Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, you name it. I'm only a casual sports fan myself. It's never bothered me.
Diet? Cuisine? Other cities have wacky, unhealthy food options too. So what? Don't like fries and slaw on your sandwich or salad? Eat a bean burger. It's not as if people don't put slaw and fries on pulled pork sandwiches and hot dogs. Nobody gripes about that. And we have an array of fine pizza parlors around. NY pies are overrated. Our food scene is only growing and getting more acclaimed. Read the memo. We're so much more than Primanti Brothers. Just like there's more to Philly than cheesesteaks. I'm never at a loss for good dining here, and I can find it just a short hike away. Or just cook for yourself? It's cheaper and more responsible.
I'm sorry you can't get sushi at 2am you entitled prat. Yes, Pittsburgh is not a 24/7/365 town. That's why we like it. It's relaxing. Hustle and bustle and constant input and activity gets old. Again, we're family-oriented. Hang out with some friends. Oh wait. You don't have any because no one likes you. Move!
We have museums galore. Pre-covid, there were concerts every night. Every type of music you could think of. Local, national, international acts. I was going to between 20-40 shows a year. And they're coming back. Cultural wasteland? You're wrong. Pay attention. Look around. There's fun to be had in Pittsburgh. Fests and everything. Stop expecting Pittsburgh to hand-feed you happiness. Ya gotta work for it and find it yourself.
I don't know what Pittsburgh's haters want our city to be. Mostly non-white with an affluent white educated professional-managerial minority who stays isolated in their own part of town yet self-righteously and hypocritically touts the capitalist scam of anti-racism? Or all-white and rich and conservative? Or all-black and run into the ground by the Black Misleadership Class? We aren't going to change to suit carpetbaggers. If you hate the working class and the gains it has made, this isn't the city for you. Go worship Ayn Rand and Robin DeAngelo and Richard Spencer and Tucker Carlson and Ta-Nehisi Coates elsewhere. We're more of a Bill Haywood/Adolph Reed/Noam Chomsky/Cornel West kind of town. Get used to it.
Ya want more gentrification, drugs, crime, pretentiousness, and tribal strife in other cities? Go live in them. We don't want any of you. Pittsburgh belongs to the Silent Majority, not the two wings (neoliberal and Trump-groupie) of the petty bourgeoise.
I'm sorry we keep topping the lists. Have some cheese with yer whine.
Karl | Pittsburgh, PA