Look, I have not mentioned Border Guard Bob in like... months at least. Yet I must admit it was the vanity news filter that caught this... CoolCleveland.com:
Rust Belt Cities: Invest in Odysseus, Not Barney Fife
BTW, for the anti-Bob perspective (or is it the pro-Bob perspective?) I am really quite fascinated with the negativism on this site:
http://leavingpittsburgh.com/
Like all things Pittsburgh, it all ties together. As referenced in the first link, when I wrote on Border Guard Bob a decade ago it was remarkable the unsolicited comments I received from around the region, and around the nation even, from folks who found it incomprehensible that there was any positive spin on the story of Pittsburgh. For some there was no equivocation. The Pittsburgh story, as it were, was bad then, and would undoubtedly be bad forever. No doubt Pittsburgh is far from perfect, but it is the severe pessimism of many that always gets me thinking.
The Border Guard Bob story really is about 15 years ago now. It is remarkable to consider that the very idea of Bob was once thought to be a no-brainer. When I first commented on how bad an idea the concept was the immediate, and supposedly unassailable, response I got was "the focus groups loved it." No doubt a focus group of Pittsburghers. It all really reflected a deeply rooted insecurity. The "Pittsburgh angst" I think I once called it all.
While times have changed, there is a
severe strain of nabobism that persisted for long. Much of that has abated, but I still get strong blasts of similar sentiment from many... though I suspect it is a shrinking cohort. Still, that 'leavingpittsburgh' site encapsulates it and appears current. I notice similar sentiment pop up elsehwere. While I am loathe to resort to the ad hominum, and have no doubt many share the negative thoughts, I really wonder if some have a vested interest in propounding negative PR. Curious in some ways, but still.