Pittsburgh: Fast Becoming A Ghost Town

This summer is an exciting summer to be a music fan. There are some fantastic tours out there, including Tom Waits, The Cure, Radiohead, and Nine Inch Nails. What do these concerts have in common? None of them are coming to Pittsburgh.

This summer, I will be making several trips to Cleveland (concerts, flights, entertainment). When the hell did Pittsburgh become a suburb of Cleveland you might ask? Pittsburgh is a city that is now 250 years old. The city took about 20 years to recover from the fall of the steel industry. And, for a brief time, it looked like the city was turning things around. New hospitals, attracting IT talent and companies and even started to become a bit of a hub for real estate vendor management.

But, it seems success was not in the cards for the 'burgh. Right now the city is honestly tredding dangerous waters right now, and I'm not encouraged by what I'm seeing.

• The airport's major airline has downgraded us to a regional airport. We are hemmoraging flights. And, it's even more difficult to grab a direct flight from the area. Not to mention the cost difference flying out of Pittsburgh vs. other airports.
• Just try to walk outside and hail a cab in the city. It is difficult at best unless you are at the airport or the convention center. If you're at a dining facility or watering hole, you are out of luck unless you call. Even then, it's dicy.
• There is no major vein of transportation. Bus lines are in a constant state of reduction, and the T has no presence in the airport corridor.
  By some estimates, the office parks in the airport corridor are now down to 40% capacity.
• Try living in the city, people are moving out in droves due to inflated tax assessments--on top of the already inflated tax base in the city. Personally, I would've thought the 3% wage tax (which is triple what you'd pay to live in the suburbs) would've driven them out.
• So, we've established that there's no public transportation and the taxes prohibitive to live in the city, right? Well, why not drive in? I'l tell you why--the friggin city has a 45% parking tax!
• But, if you do decide to venture into the county to shop anyways you'll be subject to the city/county extra 1% sales tax for the privelage of patronizing the few businesses that have stuck around.
• Why haven't more businesses stuck around you ask? Well, Pittsburgh was once ranked the 2nd most brutal city in the nation for taxing businesses. We've slipped to 4th or 5th most brutal, but honestly why would you want to have a business in a city that is going to brutalize you with taxes?
• But, why would that discourage qualified professionals from seeking employment in Pittsburgh vs. other cities. Oh, well, ther's a $100 Occupational Tax that employees have to pay just to work in the city--on top of their wage tax.
• Pittsburgh is a city, right? (for now) So, there's got to be a night life. Well, the city has done their best to chase out the night life as well. The city has implemented a ten percent BEER TAX.
• Well, I guess the city is resting on the tourists that come in for conventions, right? I mean they've taxed rental cars and hotels. But, on top of that the city openly encourages making it difficult to have a trade show at its state of the art convention center. I've done trade shows across the nation and there are very few cities that make it less desirable to exhibit at their convention center. The convention center shuts off elevators and escalators during setup. They harass you about carrying too much in or out the door. Why? Because they want you to have to pay to use their union labor. You can't stand on a ladder to set up your booth. You can't buld a booth over 6 feet. They hate if you try to carry things in and charge you through the nose to ship things in.

So, you ask, why don't people come to the city? Why can't we get more concerts? Why is Pittsburgh a ghost town on nights that there aren't Steelers, Pirate or Penguin games? Why is Pittsburgh slowly becoming a suburb to Cleveland? From where I sit, it looks like bloated government and greed.