Bigger news than the G20
Sent in from the NS peanut gallery ok...... we have now officially entered the Yunzer twilight zone. Read the HuffPo on the Best and Worst Places for New Graduates...
Seriously, I'm not making that up. I can't even repeat it, you will have to go read it yourself. Where are those Forbes folks with their best places for singles ranking?
update: I was joking, but look what forbes now has on America's most livable cities. What is that picture they have there? Looks like a bike trail?? A bike trail in the city??? Oh, nevermind.
Seriously, I'm not making that up. I can't even repeat it, you will have to go read it yourself. Where are those Forbes folks with their best places for singles ranking?
update: I was joking, but look what forbes now has on America's most livable cities. What is that picture they have there? Looks like a bike trail?? A bike trail in the city??? Oh, nevermind.
posted by C. Briem at Thursday, April 29, 2010
8 Comments:
The recession has clearly normalized the quality of respondents to HuffPost's business reply mailer and rewarded our mediocrity. We've been crowned Ms. Congeniality because all the other contestants are bi-polar...
On the other hand... life was a mess 30 years ago. Everything collapsed, after a century long relationship. Protracted bout of depression with mismanagement and self-inflicted wounds. Now we may have a poor credit rating, but who doesn't at this point? Had a good cry, and reddup ourselves. The kids will love this mature and classy city...
Interesting that we're rated the top city and our closest neighbor, Cleveland, is rated the worst. Sure, unemployment is higher there, but I can't imagine the disparity between the two being so high that every other city is between us. Is it truly that different, or are these rankings bunk?
Cleveland's economy and demographic trends are way worse... and have been diverging from Pittsburgh for years.
That said... 16 months since this "new graduate" finished grad school in Pittsburgh... and I'm working minimum wage. Hooray for No. 2!
We'll really know we have made it when a blurb like this doesn't start with "Pittsburgh seems an unlikely place for a renaissance, but . . . ." In other words, this is yet another entry in the genre of recent Pittsburgh coverage that has the basic framing: "Pittsburgh--you think it is crappy but it is actually pretty nice!"
And it is great and all we are getting that positive coverage, but you don't see people having to frame positive articles about places like Boston, Minneapolis, Denver, Portland, and so on like that.
So all this is indicative of the fact that Pittsburgh is still dealing with over 100 years worth of negative branding. And it may still be a long time yet before authors writing for a national audience don't feel compelled to acknowledge that negative branding.
On the other hand, at this point that negative branding may be the only thing keeping Pittsburgh from becoming flooded with new residents at a pace it couldn't handle particularly well (I tend to think slow growth is the ideal, not rapid growth). So perhaps it isn't a bad thing overall if it lingers.
"negative branding may be the only thing keeping Pittsburgh from becoming flooded with new residents"
There's an insight you don't encounter very often.
Probably because it is ridiculous.
Perhaps, when The List has been completed, I will start "Top 100 factors ahead of negative branding on the list of things keeping InsolvenCity from becoming flooded with new residents."
The List-Makers' List is going to take a while, though.
There's some overlap between the two lists, so that should have time.
I'll admit I am prone to overstatement for comedic and/or rhetorical effect.
Then again, I've had many conversations with my friends in hyperexpensive cities, who despite good incomes are struggling to afford a lifestyle for their families that meets even their minimal requirements, let alone what they had once been expecting that good jobs could provide.
I've pointed out to my friends how even with the expected pay cuts, in Pittsburgh they could easily afford a lifestyle beyond their current dreams. And likely retire early too if they were decent savers.
And their response has generally been along the lines of, "Yeah, but its Pittsburgh."
These are people without much detailed familiarity with Pittsburgh. Many have never even been here. But there is nonetheless some strong image of Pittsburgh in their mind, such that in order to explain why they won't even consider a life here, they think all they have to say is something like, "Yeah, but its Pittsburgh."
In any event, there is no way to test what people like my friends would do in the absence of the "Yeah, but its Pittsburgh" effect. Still, I'd sugegst it is a bit unrealistic to think people elsewhere typically have anything like a Top 100 List of specific complaints about Pittsburgh in mind. But it would be interesting to commission something like a brand perception survey to find out.
Harrisburg, Trenton, NEBRASKA... I'm not sure I want Pittsburgh to be associated with the rest of that rather lame "Most Livable" list. This appears to be another list that rewards mediocrity.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home