[colindean]

> Low cost of living: Sure, it's low compared to SF, but it is increasing at an alarming rate. Just look at how quickly housing prices have been rising the past few years. Maybe this isn't something to worry about - maybe it's just a sign that Pittsburgh is a place people already want to move to.

I find it to be largely opportunistic at this point. A correction of sorts, as the real estate was underpriced significantly in areas that 10 years ago were very rough. Middle class and upper middle class business owners saw opportunity to open storefronts in an area that may have been a little risky, but the caution turned out to be unnecessary. Those areas are booming now.

> I visit Pittsburgh at least once every other month, and most people I meet there, unfortunately, are pretty racist.

I'd be very interested to hear where in the city you are encountering this. I'm not saying it doesn't happen. I'm not saying it happens rarely. I know it's not really in the touristy areas, at least AFAIK.

[cmonfeat]

I lived in PGH for 5 years and, unfortunately, I think he's right that there is a huge amount of racism in the area. It definitely wasn't most people I knew, but among people that grew up in the area it's definitely a thing.

Pittsburgh is one of the least diverse metro areas in the country (http://www.post-gazette.com/business/career-workplace/2015/0...) and it really is eye opening how segregated the city is when you live anywhere else. I discussed this with most transplants I knew there and they agreed. I think the effect of this was pretty apparent for my entire time there.

This makes me super sad, because I absolutely love PGH and am a huge booster of it. The lack of diversity was far and away the biggest draw back of living there for me.

[colindean]

Go out a county in any direction and the culture leans racist. But in Allegheny County, with a few exceptions, the level of racism seems more-or-less passive, a.k.a. Wendy Bell Racism (https://duckduckgo.com/?q=wendy+bell).

I'm not saying that it's not a problem where it happens, but I guess I have the fortune/privilege of observing it so rarely despite living in an suburban borough that is 29.25% White, 66.51% African American according to the 2010 census. I admit that I don't patronize its lone business district very often.

In the city, though, I don't have incidents in my memory that I can cite as evidence that racism is "huge" in Pittsburgh. Big incidents are in the minds of many, e.g. Jordan Miles incident (https://duckduckgo.com/?q=jordan+miles) and to my knowledge and memory, are the exception, not the rule. Then again, I spend most of my time in the East End, which is pretty segregated.

I do concede the lack of diversity in Pittsburgh's tech scene though. The only quantification I have of it is C&S's meetup attendance, which is approximately 10% people of color on average (women = 20%). The number of PoC attending have been slowly but steadily increasing but the number of women fluctuates. We're working on encouraging both demographics to attend!