What Can Pittsburgh Teach Us?

Posted Monday, March 30, 2009

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More than 30 years ago, rust belt cities -- Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Cleveland and Detroit -- began to falter. Corporate headquarters relocated, steel mills closed, jobs disappeared. Few have found their footing in this post-industrial economy. But then there's Pittsburgh. The Places Rated Almanac named it the "Most Livable" city in 2007. This year, Business Week said it's one of the "Best Cities for Riding out the Recession." Our neighbor and rival seems a whole lot closer to economic boom times than Greater Cleveland. On the Sound of Ideas®, lessons from a Tale of Two Cities. Monday morning at 9 on 90.3.

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David Bergholz was the executive director of the George Gund Foundation for 14 years and has lived and worked in both Cleveland and Pittsburgh. He says the way the cities evolved could account for some of the differences today.

Guests

Scott Stephens, Senior Writer, Catalyst Ohio
Richard Stafford, Public Policy Professor, H. John Heinz III College, School of Public Policy and Management, of Carnegie Mellon University
Chris Thompson, Director Marketing, Communications and Civic Outreach, Fund for Our Economic Future