When the announcement came, many were surprised to learn that Pittsburgh was selected as the host city for the G-20 Summit that begins Thursday
After all, when you think of international power houses, you naturally think of cosmopolitan settings like London, Beijing, Paris, or New York, cities, in other words, glowing with muli-cultured sky-lines and polyglot communities
With a foreign-born population of 6.8 percent, well under the national average (12.8 percent), and a 90 percent white population-Pittsburgh doesn’t readily come to mind as a site to bring together leaders from 19 of the world’s largest economies.
In addition to its lack of cultural diversity, the latest U.S. Census Bureau figures show Pittsburgh’s population down to 313,668, ranking it as the 59th largest city nationwide, having lost 2,450 people between July 1, 2006 and July 1, 2007. And Pittsburgh, like most major cities from coast-to-coast, has been stung by this historic recession; unemployment stands at 7.7 percent, while below the national average (9.5 percent), not since 1994 has unemployment been so high in Pittsburgh
Still, it’s worth remembering that this city of southwest Pennsylvania once attracted a number of immigrants during a population boom in the 19th century.
Between 1860 and 1880, 177,000 people were added to the cities population, many of whom were immigrants. In fact, nearly seven out of 10 living in the city were second generation immigrants, while three out of 10 were foreign-born.
According to Nora Faires’ essay on immigration to Pittsburgh [``City At The Point: Essays on the Social History of Pittsburgh’’] three-fourths of Pittsburgh’s immigrants in the 19th century came from Ireland and Germany, the rest from Great Britain, while the cities population itself exploded, nearly tripling between 1880 and 1930 from 35,00 to 600,000.
By 1910, nearly 26.4 percent of Pittsburgh 530,000 residents were immigrants; and a flourishing 62.2 percent were first or second generation immigrants. During the same year, 21,000 Poles and 14,000 Italians entered Pittsburgh.
Immigrants from China also left their mark on the city. Feeling the brunt of discrimination, Chinese immigrants were restricted to their own enclave, in what became known as the ``Chinatown District'' near Second Avenue and Grant Street, located in downtown Pittsburgh. In 1930, Pittsburgh boasted 185 Chinese laundries and restaurants.
At the turn of the 20th century, Pittsburgh even had its fair share of residents from the Middle East. By 1920, immigrants from Syria and Lebanon rose to over 1400, settling in the ``Hill District’’ where many could be found peddling dry goods and other wares that often were carried on their backs. The ``Hill District'', moreover, became the area were Synagogues were erected by Galician and Romanian Jews in the 1890’s.
Unfortunately, the immigration wave that looked so promising at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries, began to recede precipitously around 1930. By the end of the Depression, the foreign-born population was sliced to 111,000 or 16.2 percent of the city’s population; and by the 1970’s, when most new immigrants were settling in multi-cultured metropolises like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and San Antonio—only 46,000 residents or 7.4 percent were living in Pittsburgh.
When most of these cities were beginning to absorb more Latin American immigrants-- Pittsburgh lagged well behind. Fewer than 400 Mexican immigrants, for example, lived in Pittsburgh during the 1980’s, while the city’s Asian immigrants (which include China, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, the Philippines and Vietnam) numbered less than 10,000. Pittsburgh’s foreign-born population for much of the 1980’s, in fact, hovered around 13 percent of the population. Pittsburgh did little to attract the Hispanic community in the last two decades.
The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2008 Community American Survey, which encompasses the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, shows the foreign-born residents are primarily concentrated among Germans (733,930); Irish (476,436); Italians (401,759) and Polish (215,000) immigrants
And so for visitors, foreign representatives, and journalists rolling into Pittsburgh this week for the Summit, the city will hardly be mistaken for New York, known for its wide assortment of cuisine from just about any nationality around the globe. But neither will visitors being disappointed. According to a recent Dun & Bradstreet report, out of an estimated 304 restaurants in Pittsburgh, you will find 78 that are Chinese, 45 Italian, 11 Mexican, seven Indian/Pakistan, seven Japanese, four French, three Vietnamese, one Lebanese, one Korean, and three Sushi bars. American cuisine will additionally be well represented for foreign visitors. Pittsburgh has 149 Pizza restaurants, 11 steak, (seven Barbecue), 49 coffee shops, 30 ice cream stands, 14 Seafood restaurants, and four hot dog stands.
Visitors to Pittsburgh may also be surprised to learn that far from being a dying city, a mere shadow of its former self-``The City of Bridges’’ has revitalized itself away from steel and toward the future—with a new emphasis on health care, education, green technology, and research and development.. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre (UPMC), for example features an $8 billion global health enterprise, employing 50,000 individuals, while developing business relationships with countries around the world, including Italy, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Cyprus, and Qatar. With 35 universities in the metropolitan area, more than 70,000 work in research and development. The Economist reports Pittsburgh’s health-care services have nearly tripled since 1979, which have created more than 100,000 jobs; a positive development that didn’t go unnoticed by Forbes Magazine which has named Pittsburgh one of the fastest growing cities for job growth.
Nothing points more to the remarkable strides Pittsburgh has made with green technologies than the David L. Lawrence Convention Center (DLLCC), the headquarter for this year’s Summit, a facility which prides itself in being the nation’s first green convention center (75 percent of which is lit by natural daylight, 35 decrease in energy cost), while Pittsburgh ranks in the top ten in the country for the number of green buildings
Small wonder, then, that President Obama offered the following statement for selecting Pittsburgh as the setting for the G-20 Summit. ``Pittsburgh stands as a bold example’’ the President wrote, `` of how to create new jobs and industries while transitioning to a 21st-century economy.’’
-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
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Websites to Keep in Mind:
The Pittsburgh G-20 Resistance Project
Global Pittsburgh—Connecting Pittsburgh with the world
The City of Pittsburgh’s Website
``Ancestry'' Report of the Pittsburgh Metro Area (From the U.S. Census Bureau)
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