re: #469 Ian G.

I’m glad there are still successful business magnates like Gilbert who want to invest in the rust belt. Detroit (and other places like Cleveland and Buffalo) need him.

Whoever transformed Pittsburgh from the steel city that collapsed decades ago into the tech and medical city that’s growing today needs to be consulted big time on how to turn around the rest of the rust belt.

Pittsburgh’s recovery took decades and also benefited from the seeds already being there like the top-flight medical facilities already there around the University of Pittsburgh. Plus non-steel industries that were hi-tech oriented and survived the downturn (PPG, ALCOA*, etc.)

Beyond that there are satellite steel industry towns up and down the valley that still are heavily boarded up and depressed like Braddock. Some have been recovering with their former mill sites going over to retail or other uses like Homestead.

* - ALCOA doesn’t have any active operations there. But their HQ is in Pittsburgh and their main research center is about 20 miles outside the city. The closest operation they had to the city was a small aluminum powder plant near New Kensington, but that was sold off in the early 90s.