by Eric Miller
Pittsburgh is trying hard to be at the center of something in the coming years. Looking at the boom ignited at Stanford University that spread throughout Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 1990's, Pittsburgh is hoping to be the next center of information technology or bio technology or magnetic levitation technology, or some other kind of something that might stick to the wall it's thrown at.
It has competition. Boston and Cleveland and Atlanta and Washington and countless other cities are hoping that something just as large as the plastic bubble that gave the sky over Silicon Valley a rosy tint for more than a decade will color the local sky green. San Francisco and San Jose themselves are attempting to pin down new economic hopes after the burst of the dot.com bubble.
While the researchers and scientists plug away at research that can be applied as technology and turned into money, politicians, recruiters and developers are working towards providing potential employees and residents with the quality of life they expect if this or that town ends up being the next economic emerald city.
In fact, historians and researchers credit the boom that occurred in Silicon Valley to several factors besides supplying the knowledge that was needed to send the ball rolling down the economic alley. In addition to the knowledge, the Bay Area was able to supply the entrepreneurs ready to try and make a buck from the information, and it was able provide the quality of life needed to attract and retain the talent that would keep the motor moving.
With both feet set at different times in Pittsburgh and San Francisco and with frequent travel between the two, my experiences are providing me with some insight into what one has and the other can offer. After spending a few years in San Francisco, Pittsburgh can be refreshing. After spending a few months in Pittsburgh, San Francisco can be refreshing.
While the space of time it takes before a pause is needed might indicate that Pittsburgh has more to learn from San Francisco than vice-versa, it certainly doesn't mean the Golden Triangle has any less to offer than the Golden Gate.
I am not going to spend any time telling you that Pittsburgh needs to become like San Francisco, New York or anywhere else. It is and always will be Pittsburgh. Notice I said it didn't have anything LESS to offer than the Golden Gate. Still there are things that the Golden Triangle can learn from San Francisco in order to become better at being itself.
Spending a few months back in Pittsburgh recently, it didn't take long to learn what I'd been missing. The rivers for one thing. Yea, San Francisco has an ocean, and it's nice, but usually cold there. It's nice to be able to sit and look at the water--and there's usually more to watch when looking at the rivers in Pittsburgh than at the ocean in San Francisco.
Then there's the steel fabricating plant on Neville Island I see from my window. You might at this point think this is sarcasm. No, I'm serious. We've spent too much time making a joke about industrial America instead of romanticizing it. I'm not for pollution, but I love to see the white clouds and fiery exhaust come out of those stacks.
The third thing I missed was brick and stone buildings. They seem somehow more real, if reality can happen in degrees. And the housing in Pittsburgh is affordable. I bought a house in Pittsburgh for less than most people pay in a down payment on a Bay Area shack.
Speaking of degrees, I also missed the snow. In fact, I thought how lucky I was that it happened to snow really hard on a Sunday when I didn't have to work, not at my paying job anyway. I packed up my bag and headed for a bus and spent the day trekking through Mellon Square and Point State Park, taking pictures and reexperiencing the chilled toes I had known all too often as a child.
I'm really not being sarcastic here. Why is it that snow is wonderful when we think of Aspen or the Alps, but bad when we think of Pittsburgh? Snow is not bad weather, it's variety.
Pittsburgh has it goin' on. The hills and the rivers and the jogging trails, the skyline that easily outdoes San Francisco or San Jose, the theaters and the houses-- there's a lot to offer here.
It's not the big things that Pittsburgh needs to overcome to gain this quality of life thing that the folks in the marketing towers and city planning offices are working hard to figure out. It's the little things.
Returning after a few months back in the 'Burg, I quickly recalled what it was I liked about San Francisco. First, there are easily dozens of restaurants and coffee shops and retail stores within a few short steps from my San Francisco door. Of course not every neighborhood out here (yeeehhhss, I'm writing this from San Francisco) is like this, but most of Pittsburgh isn't. Yes, most every type of food that's available in San Francisco is available in Pittsburgh, but it's probably not available in your Pittsburgh neighborhood. And if you know anything about Pittsburgh you know that it has lots of rivers and bridges and that folks there don't like to cross them.
The second thing I miss about San Francisco when I am in Pittsburgh is the mass transit. I have noticed some remarkable improvements in Pittsburgh's system recently, including the introduction of 24-hour bus service and more often than not on-time service. Still, the city lacks a major rail connection between its major parts--Northside, Downtown and Oakland.
Third, I miss the energy that San Francisco has, which seems to happen anywhere where a lot of people come and go. You gotta laugh with if not love Pittsburghers, but all the coming and going just gives places like San Francisco some chutzpa that "my grandmother lived three houses down" places don't have.
If I was running the place, here's what I'd do. Take it with as many cases of Iron City as you like.
1) Cut the promotions. Boosterism can be a cover-up for self-loathing and the buzz starts at the bottom. If you want to plant the idea about checking out Pittsburgh, it's gotta be done through footwork--in chat rooms and college placement offices. More importantly it's got to be done by people in those places where the people you want to attract are.2) Quit trying to recall the Pittsburghers who left. They left--get it? They said "Ha ha! I'm already gone!" So what? They might be back, they might not. If they don't come back they have more of an opportunity to become a prophet of Pittsburgh and tell others about the city. Repeat after me right now, "Anyone and everyone is hereby welcomed and invited to become a Pittsburgher."
3) Do whatever it takes to make international people and minorities--especially immigrants--feel welcome. Designate some area "Chinatown" and erect a gate over the street. Organize Chinese New Year's and Cinco de Mayo celebrations. Focus on programs to help foreign students in Pittsburgh feel at home and become integrated into the community at large.
4) Build a fixed-rail link from Downtown to Oakland. If the students who come to study don't leave the Oakland campuses, they won't get to know Pittsburgh or feel it is their town. A light rail extension may be costly, but if we believe there is to be a future, then we must build for it. A modern, rapid fixed-rail transit system that connects all major points is something any city needs to facilitate mobility and growth.
5) Consider connecting major tourist destinations with a real streetcar system. Portland, San Francisco, Tampa, Memphis, and perhaps soon Philadelphia have realized their mass transit systems can also be tourist attractions. Pull the streetcars out of the history museum or purchase new ones and put them on the streets. A route? Perhaps Southside to Northside via downtown.
6) When building on the amazing recent progress made in making downtown a better place, increase the focus on housing and include retail stores that people need on a daily basis. A full service grocery store and a discount retailer like Target will be a necessity. Corner grocery stores and "green grocers" with fresh vegtables and specialty products would be a bonus.
7) Make Pittsburgh's entryways look pretty. The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy has made great strides with their flower plantings along the area's roadways, but they can't do it all. Take Ohio River Boulevard for example. It was built to be a grand boulevard, but it's a mess. Perhaps it would take a major rebuild or only new codes requiring curbside sidewalks and plantings, but these gateways are less than golden and must be improved.
8) Clean the litter off the hillsides and trim the brush. Pittsburgh's hillsides and stairways are one of its under-respected resources. I was familiar with Pittsburgh's stairways when I first visited San Francisco to discover a similar phenomenon. The difference? The areas surrounding San Francisco's stairways were covered with flowers and shrubbery, and tourists carrying glasses of red win traversed their treads. My first thought was, "Spring Hill could be like this." After they're all cleaned up (and lighted), make a walking map and make it available.
9) Encourage retail growth in neighborhoods. A healthy mix of stores and residences makes the streets more active and safe. In neighborhoods with more street traffic and stores, add more streetlights. Neighbors, if busy city streets keep you awake there are plenty of quiet places in the suburbs.
10) If you thought I would bring up property taxes, my thought was you already did. No, the final salty suggestion I'll offer is to try and be positive about your city and stop trying to shed the smoky image. There's nothing wrong with a steel town. Being built on steel is frankly a lot better than being built on imaginary stock options. Quit trying to shed an old Pittsburgh and usher in a new one. Pittsburgh is what it was, is and will be. Learn it, live it and love it, and others will too.
Eric Miller This article originally published in PittsburghLIVE.
