[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 7540-7541]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO MAYOR LUKE RAVENSTAHL

  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I would like to congratulate Pittsburgh 
Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, the residents of the city of Pittsburgh and all 
the citizens of southwestern Pennsylvania on Pittsburgh being 
recognized yet again, this time by Forbes, as the Nation's most livable 
city.
  I have been visiting Pittsburgh every few weeks for over 30 years and 
I have witnessed its transformation into a progressive metropolitan 
area. I am pleased to see people from around the United States and 
around the globe recognize the unique quality of life in the Pittsburgh 
region. The region has transformed shuttered factories and brownfields 
into attractive and bustling riverfront developments and a breathtaking 
skyline.
  People have always been aware of Pittsburgh's rich history from the 
days of the French and Indian wars to the Industrial Revolution and the 
birth of Organized Labor, but now people are seeing its transformation 
into the new economy as well. Steel mills are still here, but the 
region has also embraced and excelled in life sciences, robotics, green 
buildings, renewable energy and advanced manufacturing. This 
advancement has been spurred by world class universities and healthcare 
institutions, fueled by innovative entrepreneurs, and supported by a 
vibrant foundation and civic community.
  The Pittsburgh region enjoys an abundance of natural resources, 
outdoor amenities, world class arts and cultural institutions, low cost 
of living, low crime rates, low housing costs, and of course world 
champion sports teams.
  As many of my colleagues understand, we still face many environmental 
and infrastructure challenges with our postindustrial ``Rust Belt'' 
regions, and we must work together to support their rebirth and 
continued growth. I am pleased to recognize Pittsburgh and its people 
who exemplify so well the model for 2lst century economic growth and 
recovery in America.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Forbes article be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

          Pittsburgh Tops List of Most-livable Cities in U.S.

                          (By Francesca Levy)

       Each year Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business 
     attracts some of the brightest master's degree candidates in 
     the country. But the admissions staff occasionally has to 
     sway prospective students with their choice of top schools 
     who wonder why they should relocate to Pittsburgh, Pa. 
     ``Pittsburgh has a really great cultural scene. We have a 
     great ballet and a great symphony that travels the world and 
     performs to packed houses, and there's a restaurant scene 
     that's much more diverse than it ever was when I was growing 
     up,'' says Wendy Hermann, director of student services for 
     master's programs and a Pittsburgh native. ``And it's an 
     easier sell, now that the Steelers and Penguins won their 
     respective titles.''
       Indeed, Pittsburgh's art scene, job prospects, safety and 
     affordability make it the most livable city in the country, 
     according to measures studied. The city has rebounded from 
     its manufacturing past. Disused steel mills have been 
     repurposed into multimedia art centers, and amid a struggling 
     national economy, Google Pittsburgh, a test site for the 
     company's new high-speed broadband network, has expanded its 
     offices to accommodate more hires.
       Pittsburgh's strong university presence--the city has over 
     a dozen colleges or campuses--helps bolster its livability. 
     In fact, the key to finding the easiest places to live may be 
     to follow the students. Most of the metros on our list--
     including Ann Arbor, Mich., Provo, Utah, and Manchester, 
     N.H.--are college towns.
       ``Universities are large employers in their cities,'' says 
     Alexander Von Hoffman, senior fellow at the Joint Center for 
     Housing Studies at Harvard University. ``In the long term, 
     not only do you have that employment, but you have an 
     educated population, and you have a large youthful population 
     which tends to be a consuming population.''
       In compiling our list, we measured five data points in the 
     country's 200 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas: 
     unemployment, crime, income growth, the cost of living, and 
     artistic and cultural opportunities.
       To find out where jobs were available and incomes were 
     steadily growing, we ranked cities both by their rate of 
     income growth over the past five years and the current 
     unemployment rate, based on data from the Bureau of Labor 
     Statistics. The stronger the income growth trend and the 
     lower the unemployment, the higher each city ranked. Jobs 
     don't mean everything, though: A city is more livable if a 
     family's income goes further. Using cost of living data from 
     Moody's Economy.com, we ranked cities higher that had lower 
     costs for everyday goods.
       Some places are inexpensive, but still not desirable, so we 
     included a measure for crime, using the Federal Bureau of 
     Investigation's and Sperling's Best Places reports on the 
     number of crimes per 100,000 residents, ranking low-crime 
     cities higher. We also considered a thriving local culture 
     crucial to livability, so we gave higher rankings to cities 
     that scored highly on the Arts & Leisure index created by 
     Sperling's Best Places. We averaged the rankings for each of 
     these metrics to arrive at a final score.
       Ogden, Utah, No. 2 on our list, is home to Weber State 
     University. Unemployment in the metro is below average, and 
     incomes have increased by 3.4 percent over the last five 
     years. Provo, Utah, a city 80 miles away and our No. 3 most 
     livable, is home to Brigham Young University, the country's 
     largest private college. The metro has the highest five-year 
     income growth, 5.2 percent, of all the cities measured. 
     Lincoln, Neb., (No. 9), home to the University of Nebraska's 
     main campus, boasts the lowest unemployment rate , 4.9 
     percent, of all the metros we surveyed. Unemployment is also 
     at a low 5.9 percent in Omaha, Neb. (No. 5) home to a

[[Page 7541]]

     University of Nebraska campus and roughly a dozen other 
     colleges.
       Cities once driven by jobs in steel manufacturing, 
     railroads and textile mills suffered as those industries 
     dried up in the 1970s. But it's a mistake to write off places 
     like Pittsburgh, Pa., Harrisburg, Pa., and Manchester, N.H., 
     Nos. one, five and seven on our list, respectively. 
     Manchester, once dominated by textile mills, is revitalizing 
     itself, converting its maze of mills and foundries into 
     medical centers, museums and apartment buildings that now 
     drive the local economy. The city has the second-lowest crime 
     rate of all the metros we surveyed, incomes have grown 3 
     percent in five years, and at 7.7 percent, its unemployment 
     rate is below the national average.
       In only a few of our most livable cities does population 
     growth match prospects for employment and inexpensive living. 
     Provo saw an 8 percent population boom between 2000 and 2006, 
     and the head count in Omaha rose by 7.2 percent over the same 
     period. In most of the cities on the list, however, the 
     population has shrunk, or grown only by meager percentages, 
     suggesting that word about the quality of life there hasn't 
     yet gotten out. Being a well-kept secret is just fine for 
     some residents.
       ``I'm a big proponent of Pittsburgh,'' says Hermann. ``But 
     I don't want to spread the message too much.''

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