[gtbassett]

Guys for the record, Cleveland and Pittsburgh are very related economically, demographically and geographically. In fact some have coined the term Cleveburgh to describe these two close metros and their co-dependence on each other more so than surrounding metros such at Columbus or Philadelphia. It's not comparing apples and oranges to compare Pittsburgh and Cleveland, they're both former heavy industrial metros of roughly 2 million people with similar demographics and trends. Pittsburgh is slightly ahead of Cleveland in the recovery phase just because of the massive fallout of the steel industry collapse of the 1980s while Cleveland suffered a slower decline thus are experiencing a slower recovery.

I have hope for both of these cities. The Rust Belt will inevitably be repopulated with young people looking towards a future with less automobile dependence considering many parts of these cities were built for and can sustain car free living.