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Originally Posted by Private Dick
The author is actually the same guy who has been pushing the "Cleveburgh" region -- specifically referring to the very strong regional business ties between the two cities.
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Yes, but that doesn't mean he is right to do so. I think the "Cleveburgh" notion reflects an outdated sense of what sorts of economic and business ties are going to matter most to Pittsburgh going forward. Again, I don't think it is wrong to seek ways to facilitate more interchange with Cleveland, but that goal shouldn't be prioritized over facilitating interchange with the much larger East Coast cities with established and growing ties with Pittsburgh. In that sense, "Cleveburgh" implies an ill-conceived prioritization, because all of "Washburgh", "Philaburgh", and "Yorkburgh" are all going to be equally or more important going forward.
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Migration numbers/trends aren't really what we're looking at here
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Why not? We're interested in factors that might increase demand for intercity travel. Migrants tend to retain ties to their place of origin and are more likely to travel back and forth from that place. In fact, I grew up in the Detroit area, and I have certainly traveled back and forth to Detroit more than the average Pittsburgher, and certain people from Detroit have traveled here to see me more than the average Detroiter. And note that it works both ways--NY, Philly, and DC are the three largest sources of in-migration AND the three largest destinations for out-migration (although not in the same order).
Further, migration churn also leads to further economic ties--Jim Russell's Burgh Diaspora blog has been making that case for years, and in that sense migration churn is actually a pretty good proxy for which city pairs are likely to be experiencing increasing economic ties.
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Pittsburgh's case is nothing really abnormal from any other eastern city.
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Exactly right, and all the eastern cities have prioritized upgraded train connections to the other biggest eastern cities. That's why ACELA exists and is the most advanced passenger train system in the United States, and that is why it is perfectly normal for Pittsburgh's most important passenger train goals to be developing as good or better train service to DC, Philly, and NY as ACELA.
What would be "abnormal" is for an eastern city to make upgraded service to Cleveland its most important passenger train goal. Of course due to proximity, Cleveland is a bit more important to Pittsburgh than most other eastern cities, but overall, as with every other normal eastern city, collectively NY, Philly, and DC outweigh Cleveland notwithstanding that proximity.
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This is true, but I also think that Cleveland may still be PNC's largest market by revenue, and it is Ohio's largest bank.
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I don't think it is larger than NY, Philly, and DC combined. I also think you have to be careful with market shares--because markets like NY, Philly, and DC are so big, having a smaller share of those markets can still end up being more activity than larger market shares elsewhere.
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I would agree due to the increases in financial, but the majority of it is likely due to the natural gas industry. The number of engineers, scientists, "consultants", IT professionals, and lawyers the boom has brought to the Pittsburgh region in the last few years is amazing.
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This is definitely NOT true. The increase in these job fields began years before the natural gas boom. See here, resetting the start date to 1990:
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/SMU42...a_tool=XGtable
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I agree in general, but I don't think it is realistic to get a high speed rail line from Pittsburgh to NYC at this time.
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A high speed line to Harrisburg would also be a high speed line to NYC.
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But the idea of focusing on making an already strong regional connection with Cleveland even stronger via a rail system serves to strengthen the regional economy as a power in itself, and therefore making a connection from the East Coast power centers that much more attractive.
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That logic works both ways: a proper link between Pittsburgh and Philly and/or DC would make it much more attractive for a Great Lakes network to link to Pittsburgh.