I've wanted to have a half bath on the first floor for some time now, but without tearing out the back staircase there is no room for it. There is a space under the front staircase where there's enough room for a toilet, but not a sink. I thought about having a urinal and a sink installed, but it seems a lot of bother for half the usefulness! I heard about the great toilets in Japan (where space is at a premium) with sinks on the top of the toilet tank. I presumed it was a special toilet that I'd have to ship from Japan for who knows how much, but alas, there is light! The device is rather an adjustable retrofit sink that will fit over most any toilet tank! It uses water right from the tank allowing you to pee, fush and rinse without using extra water. The best part, it's only $89 plus shipping! If you have a space that's not quite big enough, take advantage of an improvisation that Japan has known for years and save water too! LINK

Photo:Retail businesses in residential buildings help New Hope, PA thrive with sidewalk traffic making the area attractive to residents and visitors alike.

Neighbors Chime In On Zoning

Respondents to a recent City Home News survey like the idea of having small shops and other businesses being opened in residential buildings. From Greenwich Village to Savannah, small shops and offices in residential buildings help to keep a city healthy and vibrant. Good examples here are Ellsworth Avenue in Shadyside as well as Craig Street and Atwood Street in Oakland.

Eighty-eight percent of readers responded "yes" to the question of "Many cities have small shops mixed into urban neighborhoods, sometimes with boutiques in old houses. Should this be encouraged/allowed in Pittsburgh?" Just eleven percent responded "no."

Opposition to commercial uses in Pittsburgh partially comes from the idea that an existing commercial business would buy up houses and tear them down for parking if the houses were zoned for commercial uses. There are many examples of this happening. The solution may be to create a new zoning category for small retail businesses that don't occupy more than the typical ground floor square footage of a typical house, say 1,000 SF. They should not allowed to accomodate for parking, with the business relying primarily on foot traffic.

Another possibility could be an ordinance allowing artists who work in their home to hang a shingle and sell their products from their living room. This could apply to the entire city or just specific districts.

Also creating additional historic districts and protecting buildings from demolition could allow for commercial uses, encourage lively neighborhoods and prevent a suburbanization effect when properties are demolished for parking.

I agree with the majority of respondents when they say shops should be able to open in residential buildings, because single-use neighborhoods--places where there is primarily or exclusively housing-- is a suburbanizing affect of another sort. Photo: Imagine how Chestnut Street could benefit from small shops and galleries in the homes...

One of the great experiences in life can be bringing an old house back from the edge of oblivion. Its increasingly difficult these days to find a house with enough character to invest a lot of time and energy in. Dunn Real Estate currently has a home listed that in my opinion, has what it takes (if you do) to be a great home. Its a Victorian with a central hall, only four rooms and an attic, but the rooms are of a decent size. It needs everything from the interior to the exterior, but all of the details and charm are intact (if you can see through the mess). Not only that, but there's a view of downtown Pittsburgh. Check it out at Dunnrealtor.com or drive by 840 Vista Street in East Allegheny/Spring Hill.

Most respondents to a recent City Home News blog poll chose a food co-op over major grocery chains as their most wanted neighborhood addition. Thirty-one percent of respondents chose the co-op compared to twenty-five percent who chose Trader Joe’s. The chain called Wegmans tied with Whole Foods for third place, both with eleven percent. Giant Eagle Marketplace and ALDI tied for fourth place, each with nine percent. Two percent chose the “other” category. Forty four readers voted in the poll.

I had been aware of how much watering all these flowers was adding to the water bill, but never really thought there was something that could be done about it. This weekend I found an article about collecting rainwater. I thought about it for a minute and couldn't quite comprehend how exactly one does this. Yet, even a small city townhouse the amount of water that goes onto the roof and down the spout would seem considerable. Placing a (covered) plastic barrel at the bottom of your downspout with an overflow hole or hose at the top would likely allow the collection of enough water to at least keep the plants watered. These systems could also help in seperating rain water from sewer water in a city that has only one line in most of it.

Collecting rainwater isn't new of course. I remember a house on Ohio River Boulevard that had a large barrel in the attic that held a water supply before the days of indoor plumbing. A windmill ran a pump that sent the rainwater collected to the attic. A large underground cavern held the rainwater. "Rainbarrels" were also commonplace yard "ornaments" before the days of indoor plumbing.

I haven't tried this yet and I don't have a good idea of where one can buy a large plastic barrel locally. There are a number on this web site starting at about $109.00 plus shipping. If anyone knows where to purchase a rainbarrel locally or has a rainwater-collecting system, please let me know.

The Wall Street Journal recently publiched an article about green building running head into historic preservation. I have two basic thoughts on this. First, you don't have to get carried away with either, and second, like historic preservation, green living is a mindset rather than a strict set of guidelines that must be adhered to.

Regarding the article the author fails to consider that restoration itself is a green practice because it involves recycling and hey, you can have a much greater impact recycling a home than you can a plastic bottle. More, in the case of townhomes, I would be an uninsulated townhome attached on two sides could use less energy per square foot that a fully insulated house with five sides (roof) exposed. Its also about the size of your living space. An uninsulated smaller space will use less energy than a green palace that's way oversized.

Saving energy is great, but I don't think we need to get really crazy with the energy-saving stuff. Putting windmills in the yard, solar panels on the roof and collecting rainwater is nice, but doing the little things, insulating the attic and filling cracks matters most. There's a diminishing return when you go too far beyond that. Remember by living in an old house instead of a new one you're already keeping alot of debris out of a landfill.

I had replaced some of the windows in my home, and while they aren't bad now I wish I hadn't. I wasn't aware of the alternatives available then, and as the article points out there are even more available now. A company called Jeld-wen will create a new sash for old frames that's insulated. A local company called Allied Millworks will also build a sash to fit an old frame. No, in terms of energy-efficiency, they might not be as good as replacement windows with frames, but in terms of historic preservation they're not as good as old single-pane windows with wavy glass.

They are a good way to embrace two worthwhile fields of thought.

Western Pennsylvania and Ohio dominate a new list of the most affordable towns to live in. This ranking doesn't deal with cities specifically. Smaller communities near Pittsburgh include Penn Hills, West Mifflin and Brentwood. Maple Heights, Ohio
outside Cleveland also made the list as did towns in New York State and Michigan. My advice? Why live in Penn Hills when the City of Pittsburgh is so affordable? As Ed Koch once asked, "Have you ever lived in the suburbs? It's wasting your life."

Buffalo, New York was the destination on a recent day trip. Driving towards Buffalo from Erie, Pa is a treat. Traveling along a small road line with grape fields and early Nineteenth Century houses, one is confronted with our rural past. Its easy to enjoy the untouched countryside not marred by Wal-Marts and gas stations. I have not yet been to upstate New York specifically to visit vineyards, but I look forward to it. I've been to Buffalo several times before, crawled through the abandoned Central Terminal and gander ed at the magnificent city hall. Buffalo has beautiful architecture, but it's missing life--at least life downtown. I didn't notice much condo construction and old buildings in the central city are still being demolished. Central Terminal may be secure, but its still quiet.

I'm not writing this to Buffalo-bash, but I couldn't help but think Buffalo doesn't have much when compared to Pittsburgh. I think compared to a lot of similar cities, ours has undergone an unparalleled transformation. I would like to say that Buffalo has just as much to work with (as Pittsburgh) and is well worth exploring as a trip destination or a place to relocate to.

On the way back my friend and I stopped in Erie, PA for lunch. Now here's a nice center surrounded by "blah." The drive in is enough to make most travelers hit the pedal for the highway. Stay with it, the downtown has a number of early buildings, an attractive art museum, a great train station and some town squares. What it needs is building context and more streetscapes that aid the walkability. Hey Erie, build, build, build. Fill in the empty spaces!!! There's a lot in the right place to work with here too.

There's a parking space for sale in Manhattan right now, and priced at $225,000 and there's a waiting list. I'm not sure what all we can read into this-- a further indication that the gap between rich and poor in the U.S. is growing? Support for the idea that the super rich are congregating along the coasts (where they just might be moving into the path of global-warming related storms and flooding)? I don't know too many people, here in Pittsburgh anyway, who paid more than $225,000 for their home. I'd place the value of a parking spot here at around $5,000 in most neighborhoods. I'm sure there are plenty of people, even in Manhattan, who shake their heads wondering just who can plop down $225,000 on a parking spot. It's a good thing that most people in Manhattan don't need cars or parking.

Also, One of my clients sent along a quote from a recent Newsweek editorial, not about expensive parking spaces in Manhattan, but another obnoxious indulgence, monster houses. Quoting Robert H. Frank's new book, Falling Behind
.

rising affluence condemns us to self-defeating consumption contests. People want ever-bigger homes, because their friends have ever-bigger homes. But the extra pleasure of owning these grander homes is muted, because (yes) all our friends have them, too. Meanwhile, the added debt to buy the house may make us more anxious; and we may regret sacrificing some leisure-working harder to buy the bigger home.

Greater individual wealth does not bring greater collective welfare. Moving farther out into suburbia for a bigger home increases traffic congestion and our commutes. Roads grow more clogged, pollution worsens. We engage in behaviors that are smart for one, dumb for all.

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The National Association of Realtors says home sales should narrowly fluctuate narrowly with a gradual upturn. The national median existing-home price should ease by 1.3 percent to $219,100 in 2007 before rising 1.7 percent next year. The median new-home price will probably fall 2.3 percent to $240,800 this year, and then grow by 2.6 percent in 2008.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is likely to increase to 6.6 percent in the third quarter and then hover at that level through 2008.

This reinforces the fact that buying a house, whether its an investment or a home to live in, is a long-term investment. Not unlike the stock market, price declines only really matter if you are forced to sell. The value of investment properties must be weighed against the prospects for other investments, but an owner occupant has a much better chance of benefitting from homeownership as a home for this purpose must primarily be weighed against a cost without prospects for profit--renting.

Worried about housing prices declining? An article about the Chicago condo market I read this morning (on a condo-promoting web site!) made me wonder just how far down the market would go. By afternoon it had reached my inbox that if you live in Pittsburgh there was little reason to fear price drops. According to PMI, the Pittsburgh market has the least risk of declining.

PMI Mortgage Insurance ranks the nation's 50 largest metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) according to the likelihood that home prices will be lower in two years. The ranking showed Texas, Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania MSAs constitute the lowest ranked group-those facing a less than 10 percent chance of lower prices.

Nine MSAs-West Palm Beach, FL, Oakland, Sacramento, and San Diego, CA, Boston and Cambridge, MA, Detroit and neighboring Warren, MI, and Cleveland, OH-saw slight year-over-year price declines.

Of course this only matters if you're trying to sell a house, and the authors point out in their press release that buying a house is a long-term investment. "If you already own, you need to take the long view and have realistic expectations about how much your property may appreciate. Building equity in a home is still a great way to build wealth over the long term."

If there could be a better choice for a show to be the first performed in the Garden Theater since closing as an x-rated movie venue, it may be possible conceive of what, but I can't imagine conceiving of how. Quantum Theater's performance of the Collected Works of Billy The Kid was superb. I also enjoyed being in the audience and seeing inside the Garden for the first time in my life (I am telling the truth!!). I had anticipated getting a bite to eat at Max's before the show, but it was getting late and if its busy in there it can be slow. So we drove to Giorgio's on Western Avenue and then back. I didn't park near the Garden, I drove back home-- just to experience for the first time walking out my front door and down to the Theater. I am used to walking downtown for a show, but today I had the opportunity to go directly West toward the bright lights. I had a friend visiting a few years ago who saw the lights down the street. I told him it was a porn theater and he said "I'll be back." He returned sooner than I thought and lamented, "it's closed. What kind of porn theater closes at nine?" We blamed it on Pittsburgh.

Just now I bit on the skin between my thumb and pointer finger and then reminded myself I had just returned from the Garden. I don't think I touched much of anything, except a plastic wine glass and the sink faucet. The sink faucet? Ugh. From the bathroom stall I heard someone say "I think this is one place it might be better not to wash your hands!" Yea, the Garden was pretty dirty. Cobwebs are in place, plaster is falling off the walls and the lights are dim as ever (as ever I imagined they were of course). The audience couldn't sit in the theater seats, to the relief of many--it wasn't built for plays anyway. A steeper seating area was built near the front and we all got to sit on folding chairs.

Sure, maybe they should have cleaned the place up first, renovated it and had a grand opening. There's something endearing about having the Garden Theater appear in the event listings almost immediately after ending its former life, however. Continuity, continuance. That's good--unusual even. I can always tell when you walk into a house that has continuity. There's a lot that's lost when you walk into a place that's been gutted and rebuilt. It just doesn't have that organic feel that one that's been lived in for fifty or a hundred or more years has. The Garden has been there for a long time, and tonight, there we were. You couldn't help but think about what had gone on in there.

It's kind of like looking at a photograph of Billy The Kid. There he is, or was, and there we were. There's some truth to every tale, but much of it is imagination. After such a long time waiting, it was wonderful tonight to walk down the street towards the lights and imagine.

On the way out I took a photo of the seats. "The good old days," someone joked.

Pittsburgh's 2002 base-year system for assessing property values has been thrown out. While the system was far from perfect, the decision is a blow to hundreds of thousands of homeowners and would-be purchasers who continue to have little idea what their taxes might be. The system may have been difficult to comprehend, but it was a system and thus provided some stability. Investments, markets and all things financial do not like instability. It has been said that companies can operate in an economically controlled environment such as the former Soviet Union or pre-1990 China, they just don't do so well when conditions are subject to change on a whim. That's not so unlike the tax system today in Allegheny County. Residents, potential residents and builders are unable to foresee for any period of time into the future what exactly their taxes will be. The system needs to be solidified as quickly as possible. Unfortunately for those desires its now the Pennsylvania State Government we're dealing with. Update: ONOROTO SAYS "No Reassessments."

BREAKING NEWS!!! Tax breaks designed to attract home builders to Downtown and 28 neighborhoods won City Council's OK yesterday.

In addition to Downtown, eligible neighborhoods for the tax break are: Allentown, Arlington, Beltzhoover, California-Kirkbride, East Allegheny, Elliott, Esplen, Fineview , Hays, Hazelwood, Homewood North, Homewood South, Homewood West, Knoxville, Larimer, Lincoln-Lemington/Belmar, Lower Lawrenceville, Manchester, Marshall-Shadeland, Mt. Oliver, Perry South/Perry Hilltop , Sheraden, Spring Garden, the Strip District, the Upper Hill District, Upper Lawrenceville, Uptown and the West End.

Reports indicate the tax breaks also apply to substantial improvements to existing properties. What that means exactly is what I'll be trying to find out.

Full Story in the Tribune-Review

Its Not Easy Being Green and Big At the same time “green” is the buzz of the real estate industry, the size of American homes is getting bigger. While many are choosing renewable materials, the square feet of space and the amount of materials it takes to construct a home has continued to increase.

This is the result of viewing the concept as “green” as buying one thing instead of another—using bamboo instead of oak. What’s lost on this monster home greening is the space that needs to be heated increases, the footprint of the home increases and likely the distance it takes to travel to and from the home increases. That may be buying green, without thinking green.

I was in a hotel watching one of those real estate shows on cable. There was a house somewhere that had been remodeled and expanded using renewable materials like cork, stone and raw wood. The agent was excited because its easy these days get green for something that looks like green.

It was clear this home was three times the size it had been when the well-intentioned couple started down the green road, and it was located on a large, wooded lot that might have required owning an SUV to access.

According to the National Association of Home Builders, the average home size in the United States was 2,330 square feet in 2004, up from 1,400 square feet in 1970. That means we’re heating and air conditioning more than twice the space we did during the oil crisis of the 1970s. We have more wiring to such electricity, more gas pipes, more heating ducts, more spaces to insulate with green insulation, more appliances, more floors to vacuum, more countertops to clean with green products.

Green is not just about what we buy, it’s about how we live. Green is about how far we live from our work and shopping, its about how often we walk or use mass transit, its about how much space our home occupies and about how much energy we use getting around. Sure, being green is about buying and building with renewable resources, but its also about re-use and restoration and about being conscious not only of what we buy and do, but how much we use.

This doesn't have much to do with City Home News, but rather concert halls and the great one we have in Pittsburgh. I've been to quite a few now and I always thought that no lobby anyway I've seen can match Heinz Hall. Tonight at the Tony Bennett concert he relayed that after touring halls around the world with Lena Horne, she took him by the hand and pulled him into one lobby--the Heinz Hall lobby and said it was the most beautiful in the world. I haven't seen them all, but I bet Tony and Lena have seen most. Enjoy it Pittsburgh, we have the best.

The Why of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh is the most livable city again, at least according to Places Rated. It's also been listed as number three in a list of cities of the future. I remember once a few years back being told by a fellow in the Bahamas that I was from the "future" when I told him I lived in San Francisco. Now San Francisco is only second most livable and doesn't even rank on the cities of the future list.

The rankings that place Pittsburgh at the top are actually pretty consistent. Pittsburgh has never ranked lower than 14 and been named "most-livable" twice. Just last year the Economist Intelligence Unit named Pittsburgh, tied with Cleveland, as the most livable.

So how do we explain the frequent response of "why" when local find out they have a visitor in their midst.

They know why, we don't.

I guess if Pittsburgh were a laundry detergent, the most popular would be the most sold. That's apparently not the case with cities though. It was only a few weeks ago the news came that some sixty thousand people voted with their feet and left Pittsburgh between 2000 and 2006. Had they stayed to see the rankings they might still be here. Despite last year's rankings, folks also left Cleveland.

Maybe they didn't know what they had.

While many are leaving, or dying, others are coming in. I see them all the time in the real estate industry. Folks from California, Maine, Florida, Maryland, New York and elsewhere, in numbers are looking at Pittsburgh. Just because the population numbers are going dowwn, doesn't mean tumbleweeds are going to be blowing along Grant Street. Its just that the number coming in isn't at a point where the tide will turn and result in a net increase yet.

Those coming in know the why of Pittsburgh. It's certainly got a look to it. Streets wind up and down green hillsides the sun rises over three rivers and shines on a cluster of steel and glass skyscrapers. Neighborhood streets and a downtown theater district bustle with activity. Housing is inexpensive and it has some of the best sports teams and cultural institutions in the world.

I stopped by a house on Troy Hill a friend (from Oregon) had bought. They were energetically tearing it apart. "This is great," my friend said. "Thanks." I told them Pittsburgh has a lot of neat stuff, like houses and infrastructure, it just needed more people with some energy.

They know what they have.

It's hard to keep that energy level when you've been here a few months or years, and that's our challenge. Sometimes folks who have been here for years look at the energetic newcomers and shake their heads. They know how it is and their quiet world is interrupted. Sometimes Pittsburghers ask "why" when they should be asking, "why not?"

Hey folks, we gotta believe, we gotta be welcoming, and we gotta change.

Each time I travel I am re-energized about Pittsburgh--I am reminded of the why of Pittsburgh. I'm writing this from Nashville, Tennessee. Its sunny here and the city has a lot of energy. There's no shortage of construction--the number of condos going up in downtown Nashville make the construction in downtown Pittsburgh look pale in comparison. Parts of the downtown are lively and there's a beautiful park along the Cumberland River. Still as I walked along Broadway (Nashville's Broadway), past the concert stage, Tootsie's Orchid Lounge and looked out at the General Jackson paddle boat on the Cumberland, I couldn't help but think experience lacked something compared to what I see leaving Heinz Hall and walk across the Roberto Clemente Bridge towards a late game at PNC Park. Even better are the nights when the symphony runs long and you can hear the boom of fireworks from inside Heinz Hall.

A few blocks from PNC Park and I'm in some of the best neighborhoods in most any city in the country. Row after row of Victorian and even civil-war era townhouses, brick and stone, a beautiful Art-Deco hospital, all surrounding a park bigger, even if less appreciated than Boston Commons. These are features the urban Nashville wannabees can't dream of having.

Just looking at data, all this may not have ever been seen by the folks who named our city most livable once again. Yet we're still #1!.

We don't always see what we have from inside. To us its just Pittsburgh. Its the tunnels and the bridges and the Steelers. Wake up! Pittsburgh really is a livable city, even the most livable city-- more than we could ever expect from a city of its size and cost is here and somehow it gains the recognition as most livable sometimes in spite of ourselves. They know the why of Pittsburgh. We need to rediscover it.

A little more on Allegheny CenterThe urban-renewal experienced by urban America from the 1950s onward is generally accepted today as failed policy. Where once urban streets were closed off to auto traffic and traffic loops and underground garages added, a new paradigm would bring back a street grid. Today “restoring the grid” is an often-heard catch phrase when taking about re-revitalizing urban areas.

Allegheny Center in Pittsburgh is one such place. In the 1960s, the “center” of a city once known as Allegheny was redeveloped. All but a few buildings were removed and replaced by apartment buildings, office towers and a retail mall. Allegheny Center was to be a city within a city.

The street grid was removed from Allegheny. Through-traffic was prohibited, instead directed onto a circle that swept around the center. The center then was a park-like space. Apartment residents and mall residents could access the mall, and keep their cars in lots on the outer-edges of the circle. Those who were not residents of Allegheny Center could access the retail mall either by walking into the park area or by parking in a garage located under the retail mall.

While Allegheny Center today is far from vacant, the city within a city is without retail. Most of that had closed by the early 1990s. By the turn of 21st Century talk began of opening the East-West axis in the center to vehicular traffic. More recently proposals to “restore the grid” have come forth. In the case of Allegheny Center, a full restoration of a grid would mean significant demolition of buildings that are occupied, generally attractive, in good repair and not a half-century old.


Original plans for the City of Allegheny show a checkerboard of sorts of squares placed some distance from the Allegheny River. The layout of Allegheny appeared to be a fresh breath of order in a chaotic landscape, especially when looking across the river to the chaotic street patterns of rival city Pittsburgh.

The center four squares of the thirty-six square grid were reserved for public use and included a park, a space that would come to be occupied by a neo-classical city hall. The idea of public use was strong and one of the squares seemed well-suited to Andrew Carnegie’s desire to construct the first public library in the United States. The fourth square would for many years be occupied by a market house.

In contrast to many of its eastern counterparts and cities along the Ohio River, Allegheny resembled a New England town, complete with a public square and public buildings at the center. It stood in contrast to the chaotic, commercial cities with irregular street grids and commerce and industry as their central focus.

In the 20th Century Allegheny grew to be more like neighboring Pittsburgh. More and more of the squares came to be occupied by commercial buildings and the density increased to the point to where any resemblance to a New England town was lost. Department stores, diners, theaters and other commercial enterprises served the needs of the growing city.

Today when nostalgic talk about “restoring the grid” is uttered, it’s the commercial Allegheny that’s referred to, not the spirit of the original city.

Yet as we see with retail development today, the places it occupies go in and out of fashion. Entering a department store our grandparents might have known is an anomaly. When city planners started looking at Allegheny in the 1950s, many of the stores had become vacant, underutilized and deteriorated. This is a normal process in the retail cycle. Likewise the mall that was to replace the commercial Allegheny Center existed for some decades before its time too had ended. We look at it today as a failure, yet the mall at Allegheny Center lasted longer than many of the strip mall businesses in our suburbs and longer than many of the businesses in our downtown—without the street grid. Its this portion of Allegheny Center that most needs attention rather than the entire complex.

That doesn’t in any way negate the value of the street grid. The parts of the Allegheny City Center grid designers wish to restore today are in fact still in place. The issue is not the grid exactly, but the facilitation of automobile traffic through the grid. Part of the grid is off limits after mall hours (the mall is now an office building) and that is indeed an impediment to the vitality of Allegheny City Center.

A testament to the value of such a grid design with central squares is the fact that remarkably, despite attempts of complete destruction by powerful forces, the central four “public” squares of Allegheny essentially exist today. More it should be added that the original plans for Allegheny did not provide for interior intersecting “streets”. Any sort of vehicle it appears would have had to go around the central four squares in a diamond pattern.

The original Carnegie Library building is still there. While the city hall was demolished when Allegheny was annexed by Pittsburgh, a planetarium was built in its place and now is occupied by the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum. The square that was home to Diamond Park is still a park space, although the current design aesthetics are less than appealing to those with classical sensibilities. Sadly the space formerly occupied by the Market House is now partially occupied by an apartment building, but there is ample green space around the building to preserve some sense of it as a public space. The center of the space is a crossroads for pedestrians visiting the center, from apartment dwellers to visitors to the Children’s Museum, the adjoining New Hazlett Theater and the various office buildings.

Its not so important to "revive" the Allegheny City Center of any specific time period. While the retail portion needs work, it is important to recognize, however that the original Center of Allegheny for a large part is intact. It just needs some refining and reaching for its aesthetic roots.

Pittsburgh is a triumph of the better than average place. Excelling at all of the nine categories once again put Pittsburgh at the top of the Places Rated Almanac. It's the first time any city has been at the top twice, the first being 1985. Pittsburgh's worst ranking since 1981 has been 14th. The guide is traditionally published every four years. The last edition, however was eight years ago. San Francisco ranked number two and Philadelphia five.
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I'd like to briefly respond to the Mayor's new efforts aimed at keeping young people in Pittsburgh. In its recent report the census bureau didn't mention young people leaving as a reason for our continued population loss since 2000. The Mayor is not the first person to see the bank robber and shoot the teller, however. For years we've been talking about ways to keep Pittsburghers from leaving when what we're missing compared to other cities is in-migration. Healthy young people move around and healthy cities have a constant flow of in and out migration. If you want to keep young Pittsburgher's here, you need a committee of one: a Fidel Castro-style dictator. If you want a healthy, living city we need to look outside ourselves and find ways to encourage in-migration as well as out-migration.