Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
A city once known for billowing steel factories, Pittsburgh wows first-time visitors today with crystal-clear rivers and a first-rate arts scene. The city's Golden Triangle sits at the junction of three rivers, a favorite location for anglers, boaters, and kayakers. Natural history and art are on display at the Carnegie Museums while the Andy Warhol Museum hails Pittsburgh's most famous artist. Pittsburgh is at the center of the region in southwestern Pennsylvania; the metropolitan population is about 2.4 million.
Once the steel capital of the world, today its economy is largely based on healthcare, education, technology, robotics, and financial services. The downturn of the steel industry left no steel mills within the City of Pittsburgh and only two remaining in the county, though more than 300 steel-related businesses remain in the area. By contrast, the region supports 1,600 technology companies, ranging from a Google campus to small startups. The city has redeveloped abandoned industrial sites with new housing, shopping and offices, such as South Side Works and Bakery Square.
While Pittsburgh faced an economic crisis in the 1980s as the regional steel industry waned, modern Pittsburgh is economically strong. The housing market is relatively stable despite a national subprime mortgage crisis, and Pittsburgh added jobs in 2008 even as the national economy entered a significant jobs recession. This positive economic trend is in contrast to the 1980s, when Pittsburgh lost its manufacturing base in steel and electronics, and corporate jobs in the oil (Gulf Oil), electronics (Westinghouse), chemical (Koppers) and defense (Rockwell International) industries.
The city is headquarters to major global financial institutions PNC Financial Services (the nation's fifth-largest bank), Federated Investors and the regional headquarters of BNY Mellon, descended from Mellon Financial and the Mellon family. Major publications often note Pittsburgh's high livability compared to other American cities, with the city claiming the top overall spot in the United States in recent "most livable city" lists by Places Rated Almanac (2007), Forbes (2010), and The Economist (2011). In 2012, National Geographic named Pittsburgh one of the best worldwide travel destinations.
Beechview Merchants Association
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