Pittsburgh

Leo brought up the depressing state of Pittsburgh, I and others seconded it. Over at Reason Pittsburghian (? I have no fucking clue what they call themselves) Bill Steigerwald dismisses his city as the "Most Livable City."

The almanac didn’t subtract livability points for the City of Pittsburgh’s high tax rates, decades of moronic management, and the millions in subsidies handed to the Steelers, Pirates, and Penguins for their new playpens, as well as to national retailers whose outlets that then went belly up.

Pittsburgh is in a death spiral. It’s bankrupt. Its school district spends $16,000 a year per kid. Its parking tax is the highest on Earth: 50 percent. City police and firefighters irresponsibly pad their numbers, salaries, and pensions—and openly trade their mayoral votes for sweetheart contracts. Meanwhile, local school and property taxes are among the highest in the country. So are public bus and taxi fares. And, oh yeah, highways are congested, in bad shape, and under-built.

Full article here.