They Came, They Saw, They Stayed!
Summary: Big news! Pittsburgh has more people now! Woo-hoo! Reporter: Jodine Costanzo, WPXI Channel 11 Airtime: 1 minute, 38 seconds on March 24 Highlights: * When a woman on the street reacts to the big news: "I'm very surprised." Costanzo reinforces that sentiment: "And so were most others today when we told them about the latest census figures for the seven-county Pittsburgh region. More people moved into the area than moved away in 2009, for the first time since 1991." * When Costanzo introduces us to this character: "Christopher Briem is an economist with the University of Pittsburgh Center for Social and Urban Research. He says in 2000, the region lost more than 5,000 residents. In 2005, we saw a decline of almost 9,000. Last year, including domestic and foreign migration, there was a population gain of more than 3,000." * When Costanzo asks, "So how significant is this for the region? 3,000 might not sound like all that much, but when you look at our history, it is a big deal." * When Briem says, "We've seen out-migration as the norm for many decades. So, just the fact that we'd break even would make news; that we were a little positive is that much better." * When Costanzo reports, "Briem credits the region's economy for the growth. He says Pittsburgh has been faring better than other areas during the recession and the numbers bode well for the future." * When Briem analyzes, "It's taken 25 years to move past the decline of steel. I mean, the decline of jobs in steel, it didn't happen overnight, and the repercussions lasted a decade or two. I think we're now really moving beyond the impact of such a severe loss of jobs." * When a man on the street offers, "We've lost a lot of the manufacturing jobs. There's more technical-related jobs that require higher skills, so we could be on the upswing." * When Costanzo cheers us on at the end: "A trend worth building on: moving onward, and upward." What We Learned: Watch out, Fresno -- Pittsburgh is catching up! Unanswered Question: Can you name all seven counties in the Pittsburgh region? News Value: 7. Oh, Pittsburghers, what will you complain about now? (I'll be happy to help you out with that one.) You can read all about these U.S. Census numbers at Chris Briem's informative and entertaining blog, nullspace2.blogspot.com.
