What’s the matter with Pittsburgh?

Editor’s note: This is the first in a five-part serious on various efforts to revitalize… Editor’s note: This is the first in a five-part serious on various efforts to revitalize Pittsburgh.

The city of Pittsburgh will spend $93 million on debt payments in 2006.

Dan Gilman, a spokesman for Councilman Bill Peduto, said that debt payments account for 22.5 percent of the city’s total budget, adding that Pittsburgh’s lack of resources has a negative effect on city neighborhoods.

A 2004 report revealed that in addition to debt problems, Pittsburgh has trouble attracting young, single, educated people.

The Coro Center for Civic Leadership New Generations Program’s study on college and university students in the Pittsburgh region found that while 18,885 college-educated, single people between the ages of 25 and 39 left the Pittsburgh metropolitan area from 1995 to 2000, only 11,441 new ones moved in.

That equals a net loss of 7,444.

Jim Futrell, the director of market research and analysis for the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance, said the idea that Pittsburgh has a low graduate retention rate is “not necessarily true.”

“It’s not really a retention problem, it’s a retraction problem,” Futrell said.

Futrell said that cities such as Austin, Texas, and Raleigh, N.C., gain six young, educated residents for every four students they lose after college graduation.

He said that in Pittsburgh, for every two students that leave after they graduate from college, the city only gains one.

Jackie Nameth, the manager of the Regional Internship Center of Southwestern Pennsylvania, said one of the problems keeping students from staying in Pittsburgh may be the lack of available entry-level positions.

“[They] need the opportunity to find a job,” Nameth said.

Nameth said that students with internship experience are more likely to be hired for jobs after they graduate than those without.

Nameth said that 40 percent of students who received internships through the RIC were offered full-time jobs at the company with which they interned. She said that 90 percent of the students accepted those job offers.

She also said that students need to feel like they are a part of Pittsburgh.

“Students have to do something to get engaged in the city,” Nameth said.

That means more than being the part of one neighborhood, Futrell said.

“College students spend four years in Oakland, and never leave Oakland,” Futrell said.

Last summer, Nameth’s company held a program to familiarize local interns with Pittsburgh. The interns were shown around the area by doing activities like going to Pirates games and kayaking.

Gilman said that Pittsburgh is working on restoring Downtown in an effort to boost the city’s appeal. He said that Downtown empties out after each workday.

Futrell said that 100,000 workers and students are in Downtown Pittsburgh daily.

Gilman added that multiple residential construction projects are being planned for Downtown.

“I think, without a doubt, residents are a key component to any city,” Gilman said.

In particular, there are plans for restoring Pittsburgh’s Cultural District Downtown, Gillman added.

Futrell described the projects as “rehabs of older office buildings.”

“The Cultural District is a national model for using arts to revitalize an area,” Futrell said.

Pittsburgh’s future growth may depend heavily on the construction Downtown.

Gilman said that Point Park University has plans to build new residence halls and student apartments on Second Avenue.

There is also a luxury condominium building under construction along the Monongahela River, according to Futrell.

“I think the foundation that Downtown is dead is wrong,” Futrell said. “Compare Pittsburgh to other mid-size downtowns. There’s actually a lot of activities going on.”

Nameth, who is originally from Ohio, said that the negative perception that many native Pittsburghers have of their city is wrong. She said that outsiders really like Pittsburgh.

“A lot of people I’ve met that transplanted here really like the city,” Nameth said.