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September 24, 2009
Pittsburgh: Lord, Take Me Downtown.
I'm just looking for a way to get into work. The irony of the third G-20 summit? Despite the worldwide plug Pittsburgh is getting, the summit short-term is bad for business in Pittsburgh. For a couple of days, anyway. This proud and enduring old steel town built modern America and much of the world. It has a bustling downtown area built on a narrow concrete peninsula, with fine corporate lawyers, tech start-up employees, bankers and Fortune 500 execs housed in gorgeous buildings, often older gilded age stock built at the turn of the last century. It also has a local economy that peaked circa 1946.
And Pittsburghers? Well, they all want back in the game. Based on the past two decades of admirable re-thinking and reinvention, they will likely get there. Although both geographically and culturally isolated, Western Pennsylvania remains a storied region of characters and character. These are tough and determined people. But right this minute the City is effectively shut down for business. Due to security concerns, today and tomorrow, you can't get down to, ahem, the US Steel Tower to contribute to the restoration of our faltering global economy. Are at least the bars in Southside open?
Posted by JD Hull at 11:15 AM | Comments (0)