Pittsburgh's Livability: It's The Small Things

"In the first "Star Wars" movie, Obi-Wan Kenobi advised Luke Skywalker to 'let go.' In real life, the boosters of the greater Pittsburgh area might consider the same advice regarding the region's image."

"No doubt a number of resumes in our booster organizations and government offices have been updated to claim credit for the recent rating of our region as the nation's "most livable" by Places Rated Almanac. More recently, our region landed at No. 26 in the world according to The Economist magazine. Perhaps our sales representatives can claim some credit. But if you take the factors that earned our region these lofty rankings, one by one, it quickly becomes evident that no single agency, company, government office, news medium, foundation or individual was responsible. Places Rated Almanac did not rank Pittsburgh in the top 20 in even one of its categories: affordability; transportation; jobs; education; climate; crime; health care; recreation and ambience (which includes cultural amenities, such as museums, performing arts and restaurants). But in comparison to the other 378 rated communities, the numbers added up in our region's favor."

Thanks to Todd Henry