Contrasting “Pittsburgh tech is booming!” stories with “the rest of Pittsburgh is struggling” is always interesting … because those sorts of comparisons are done so rarely. But the comparison tells us and others something important about the region.

Read More »Building a #Pittsburgh Narrative

20,000 new residents for the City of Pittsburgh by 2025? Mayor Bill Peduto aims low, but that’s not the real problem in the newly-released “Welcoming Pittsburgh” plan. [Welcoming Pittsburgh plan here.] Still, I’ll start with that. According to Aesop, the mountain labored and brought forth a mouse. But like many recovering industrial cities, Pittsburgh may have to get used to hoping to meet low expectations. Over and over again.

Back when I was writing Pittsblog, immigration and what I called “population churn” were favorite and frequent topics on that blog, linking population turnover (not necessarily population growth) to economic development and diversification. Samples:

• 2005:  Emigration and immigration
• 2006:  Immigration and Productivity
• 2007:  Immigration Churn
• 2008:  Why Bother With Immigration?

In other words: Everything old is new again. The Mayor’s Office and the Downtown Powers-That-Be have re-discovered something that lots of people who are better informed than I am have known for a long time: Whatever the future of Pittsburgh may bring, the people who live here right now will need a lot of help in bringing it about.

You’re going to need a bigger boat.

Read More »#Pittsburgh Needs Bodies