Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Pittsburgh Gets a Tech Makeover

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 158 posts

Re: Pittsburgh Gets a Tech Makeover

#111

Post by Eridrus »

thesmallestcat wrote: post #61
javra wrote: post #50

Wow, this article really doesn't even at least mention some of the problems this new boom bring. Maybe ask long time residents of neighborhoods like East Liberty, Bloomfield, or Lawrenceville how happy they are that they got driven out by rising rents due to rich techies? The "revitalization" of Pittsburgh might benefit some, most of them relatively new to the city, but gentrification will hurt lots of its populace w…

What I don't understand is why so many young tech dude(tte)s seem incapable of integrating. Any place that experiences a tech boom will also experience a boom in luxury apartments, $10+ cocktails, tapas bars, on demand laundry and so on. This can't help but to displace the old way of living in an area, even if it does bring jobs. Is it so terrible to find, vet, and rent a normal apartment, do your own chores, and eat…

I think it just shows what most people would do if money we're not an issue, so rather than techies being unable to live normally, this is what normal looks like when people are not so constrained by money. I think NYC is a good example since it's not just techies, but rather how people like to live when they are less constrained by money.

Re: Pittsburgh Gets a Tech Makeover

#112

Post by nostrademons »

thesmallestcat wrote: post #61
javra wrote: post #50

Wow, this article really doesn't even at least mention some of the problems this new boom bring. Maybe ask long time residents of neighborhoods like East Liberty, Bloomfield, or Lawrenceville how happy they are that they got driven out by rising rents due to rich techies? The "revitalization" of Pittsburgh might benefit some, most of them relatively new to the city, but gentrification will hurt lots of its populace w…

What I don't understand is why so many young tech dude(tte)s seem incapable of integrating. Any place that experiences a tech boom will also experience a boom in luxury apartments, $10+ cocktails, tapas bars, on demand laundry and so on. This can't help but to displace the old way of living in an area, even if it does bring jobs. Is it so terrible to find, vet, and rent a normal apartment, do your own chores, and eat…

It's a power thing. When you immigrate to a new area and come in at the bottom of the social strata, you have no choice but to assimilate and work your way up. When you immigrate and come in at the top of the social strata, you change the social strata.

Local businesses can't help but cater to economic incentives. If most of the dollars coming in want luxury apartments, $10 cocktails, tapas bars, on-demand laundry, etc, that's what they'll get.

Re: Pittsburgh Gets a Tech Makeover

#113

Post by getemback »

Hydraulix989 wrote: post #97
getemback wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good luck finding a sunny day because Pittsburgh enjoys the fewest hours of annual sunlight of any major city, and continues to have air quality as bad as any other US city, being in the top ten worst according to the Lung Association.

Most people in California don't realize that the air quality in the San Francisco Bay Area is actually worse than in Pittsburgh [1]. Moreover, after growing up in Pittsburgh and living in Seattle, I can tell you that Seattle definitely has less sunlight (it's not even close) than Pittsburgh. So much less that my doctor had to prescribe my Vitamin D to address a deficiency I had when I moved there (after living in Pit…

Most people don't realize that because it's not true. The air quality of the combined statistical area of San Francisco is worse than that of the CSA containing Pittsburgh, but pollution in the expansive San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose CSA is centered elsewhere, whereas Pittsburgh is the pollution epicenter of its CSA. This is due chiefly to its geography, not some kind of moral failing. San Francisco has very favorable geography for air quality.

As for your linked article, that seems irrelevant. Nobody thinks Hanford, CA is an upcoming tech hub.

Re: Pittsburgh Gets a Tech Makeover

#114

Post by lod723 »

tomjakubowski wrote: post #110
theYipster wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've long found a third drawback, which may be linked to the access to capital issue, is Pittsburgh's geographical isolation compared to the Bay Area and other tech hot spots. There's no major international air hub (anymore) and flights even to nearby cities such as NY, DC, and Philly are relatively pricey with limited schedules. There's no meaningful international service either anymore. This is in comparison to SFO…

I realize this is off-topic, but I'm somewhat surprised by the consistent use of the Austin metro as an example of a "tech hub" in comments here, when a metro area in its own state (Dallas) had raised more in venture capital as recently as 2016. [1] Austin is certainly shifting their economy to be tech-dominant, but it's still a small economy relative to other US cities. What makes Austin a more important tech hub th…

Just speculating, but maybe it's because Google, Facebook, and Amazon have a tech presence in Austin and not in the other 3 metros you mentioned?

Re: Pittsburgh Gets a Tech Makeover

#115

Post by getemback »

autokad wrote: post #75
Game_Ender wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are assuming just because it's Pittsburgh pay from companies like Google, Apple, Amazon and Uber will not be competitive. If there is any discount on salary it's on the 10-15% range, not 50%.

software developers for amazon in Pittsburgh make between 56 and 107k, 78k mean (glassdoor). Sanfrancisco, its 76 - 131k, 102k mean.

In the internal Google salary survey, controlling for level and tenure, salaries in Pittsburgh are within 10% of salaries in Mountain View. Moving to Pittsburgh is similar to getting an enormous raise. However "controlling for level" masks the fact that Pittsburgh is Siberia, far from the palace court where it is harder to be promoted to a high level.

Re: Pittsburgh Gets a Tech Makeover

#116

Post by carrendi »

smaili wrote: post #3

The author seems to place most of the credit for the recent 'boom' on CMU for its rich history in the Machine Learning and Robotics fields. So my question is, what happens when other top universities begin to catch up or even possibly dethrone CMU? Would Pittsburg still continue to attract talent and businesses?

I graduated from CMU (SCS) 15 years ago. The school is so far ahead of nearly every other CS school in the world in regard to machine learning/AI, it's laughable to think it will ever be dethroned. They have ties with DARPA and other government agencies that have deep pockets. They've also successfully courted every major tech corporation in the country. I have to applaud their board of trustees/president/provost. They know what they're doing.

The article paints a rosy picture of Pittsburgh, but I remember these types of articles appearing back in 2000. The state of Pennsylvania even had a campaign (commercials, marketing, etc) to try to convince college graduates to stay in the state. It didn't work. Most of the talent will eventually leave. All but 2 of my 30 or so friends from graduate/undergrad left after they finished their degree.

In my last semester I was dying to leave because the weather is absolute shit for half the year. CMU was really the only thing there that was worthwhile to me.

Re: Pittsburgh Gets a Tech Makeover

#117

Post by iak8god »

Hydraulix989 wrote: post #90
iak8god wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we ask everyone here to please continue to refrain from using the pejorative "rust-belt" Who is "we"? I spent the first few decades of my life in a great lakes rust belt city and this is the first time I've heard of anyone considering it a pejorative.

People actually from Pittsburgh do (I'm a fourth generation native, my great grandfather farmed tomatoes for H.J. Heinz -- look on a ketchup bottle): "Shame. It’s pretty thick in these parts, and it’s linked to the region’s nickname, 'The Rust Belt.' After all, rust connotes disuse, or of being left behind." [1] Hope that helps you see our point of view a bit more. [1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richey-piiparinen/…

Interesting. I've always viewed it as a slightly clever term connoting the region's heavy reliance on the steel industry in the past and the undeniable economic/demographic decline that followed.

I obviously don't know about Pittsburgh, but it is absolutely not viewed as a perjorative in some other cities typically considered part of the rust belt.

Re: Pittsburgh Gets a Tech Makeover

#119

Post by sumeno »

javra wrote: post #50

Wow, this article really doesn't even at least mention some of the problems this new boom bring. Maybe ask long time residents of neighborhoods like East Liberty, Bloomfield, or Lawrenceville how happy they are that they got driven out by rising rents due to rich techies? The "revitalization" of Pittsburgh might benefit some, most of them relatively new to the city, but gentrification will hurt lots of its populace w…

What's the alternative for those neighborhoods? They weren't exactly in great shape before the tech companies came to Pittsburgh.

Re: Pittsburgh Gets a Tech Makeover

#120

Post by closeparen »

thesmallestcat wrote: post #61
javra wrote: post #50

Wow, this article really doesn't even at least mention some of the problems this new boom bring. Maybe ask long time residents of neighborhoods like East Liberty, Bloomfield, or Lawrenceville how happy they are that they got driven out by rising rents due to rich techies? The "revitalization" of Pittsburgh might benefit some, most of them relatively new to the city, but gentrification will hurt lots of its populace w…

What I don't understand is why so many young tech dude(tte)s seem incapable of integrating. Any place that experiences a tech boom will also experience a boom in luxury apartments, $10+ cocktails, tapas bars, on demand laundry and so on. This can't help but to displace the old way of living in an area, even if it does bring jobs. Is it so terrible to find, vet, and rent a normal apartment, do your own chores, and eat…

In SF old housing stock is rent controlled. On the rare occasion that it pops up on the market, competition is fierce. Usually it doesn't turn over, because policies intended to prevent that turnover are working.

New luxury complexes have straightforward availability and rent first-come-first-served. The leasing office will make an appointment with you pretty much whenever, and if you apply, you get the unit. They're known quantities with Yelp reviews and everything.

If you're a newcomer with not much time and not much price sensitivity, which are you going to end up with?

FWIW, Victorians in good shape rent for more than luxury skyscrapers. Rich people do prefer them and they are, in fact, more luxurious. But buildings that throw around the word "luxury" are the path of least resistance.

You'd be hard pressed to find any luxury apartment as luxurious as an average 100-year-old single family home, yet for some reason only the former is an obnoxious wealth symbol.

Post reply on HN