Regarding Immigration, Get Back to the Forefront Pittsburgh

Immigration has become topic Number One in the world, or at least in the first world’s media eye, with immigration reforms continuing to be a political hot potato in the US and mass migration from the Middle East and Africa perhaps leading to epoch changes to Europe’s demographics in ways seen only occasionally in world history.

Population migrations have occurred throughout history from the time Asian peoples crossed the Bering Strait into North America to the waves of southern and eastern Europeans who doubled America’s population within a couple generations and literally changed the perceived face of America in the Industrial Age.  So the 21^st century’s migrations should not surprise us.  It’s not a question of if we will allow these mass population movements; it’s a question of how established natives handle their new neighbors.

During the Industrial Age, Pittsburgh played a front and center role by being a prime destination for those “huddled masses yearning to breathe free”, as well as wanting to make a decent living for themselves in a new world.  That seems to be what today’s immigrants are seeking as they stream north from Latin America to US Sunbelt cities, and from the Middle East and Africa to northern Europe.  I want to see Pittsburgh reestablish itself at the forefront of places that more than just welcome; that actively seek, immigrants from troubled places.

These days, “everyone” in the region including Pittsburgh Mayor Peduto, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, every major higher-ed institution, every business-led association, and countless not-for-profit organizations chant the somewhat exaggerated mantra that “Pittsburgh is not diverse enough”, whatever that really means.  But if by one definition it means the region needs to attract more foreign-born residents then …let’s do it.  Usually the opportunity for a better life and a higher living standard are what attracts in-migrants be they from any geographic source.  Strikingly Western Pennsylvania has failed at that effort since World War II ended.  So maybe a different approach is what’s called for.

Assuming that different approach is needed, my challenge question is “Who is going to step up to the plate and work with legal authorities, the US federal government mainly but also international NGOs, to make it known that Pittsburgh wants you to move here?”  It’s really as simple as that.  If lack of diversity is a bad thing, all the high paying and high profile “directors” in diversity positions writing op-ed pieces deprecating our region will solve nothing.  One more local government commission or study on the subject will result in …one more report.  And because there is a defined and legal gatekeeper to immigrants from outside the US borders [the US federal government], there’s a defined procedure whereby any one of these diversity proponents with a law degree or human resource training should be able to develop a program to put Pittsburgh, again, at the forefront of immigrant destinations.

Stick to the Game Plan

Let’s face it.  The reason anyone starts a blog site is a bit of ego, some hubris, and lots of need to get things off their chest.  Guilty as charged.

So with that as an introduction I need to say that I believe there are so many good things happening in Pittsburgh now, and the City finally, FINALLY, has taken on a more optimistic spirit, with local cheerleaders aplenty, that besides an occasional special shout out to something of particularly exciting import, I am left with pointing out areas I perceive as lacking.  If you, the reader, can stand for that on a periodic schedule, thank you and read on.

A September 4, 2015 article in the “Post-Gazette” headlined “Tech industry driving office growth in Oakland and beyond”.  Duh uh.  The “tech industry” is about the only thing, other than healthcare, driving office growth anywhere, in this country at least.  Forty years ago or so the various economic development groups in Pittsburgh all realized the best path to revitalization was using Pittsburgh’s higher education community to build up a “technology” sector.  While that decision was prescient in hindsight to most of us and merely “on trend” to the really smart folks who lived economic development, something interesting happened on the way to building a technology based economy: “technology” became the economy.

Technology is THE engine of the 21^st century economy.  Heck, it’s the engine of our lives.  I realize that sounds like a platitude these days, akin to lending insight into the obvious, but it’s the reality that needs a full hearted embrace by the larger community.  “Dem mills ain’t comin back”.  Sorry but take a look at any employment report for Pittsburgh or the US in the last 20 years and it will tell you there’s a continual decline in our manufacturing sector overall.  Within that sector however it’s the “high tech” manufacturing that shows at least some income growth.  And that’s the story of all sectors.  Technological advances drive steelmaking, auto manufacture, healthcare, finance, retail, communications, and on and on.  If you can name it, it is an industry that is growing because of technology advances.

So let’s dispense with any lingering reverse snobbery in this region that still believes men and women who work in offices and research labs are somehow not as “authentic” as guys who 50 years ago sweated at much physical risk in a steel mill.  Technology IS today’s industry.  And everyone else is in a sector meant to serve the larger purpose of technology.  But I’ll leave that line of thought for a future screed.