The suburbs keep looking better and better

So if there is so much demand for Downtown housing, why does the mayor want to bribe people to live there?

Ravenstahl has said he supports subsidies for affordable housing and tax breaks for those who move Downtown.

But it's a thought that doesn't sit well with some city residents who already feel overtaxed.

"I pay for my house. Why should I pay for someone to live here?" said Dan Johnson, 36, of Bloomfield, as he walked to work Downtown. "I don't think that will fly here."

Unfortunately, Mr. Johnson, I'm afraid it just might fly here, whether people like us like it or not. Pittsburgh isn't exactly synonymous with good government, and here is example number 5,679,456. As Sam at AntiRust points out, there is at least some overlap between the market for Downtown housing, and the market for housing elsewhere in the city, as the above referenced Tribune-Review article notes:

Heather Miller sold herself on buying a new condo Downtown. A Cranberry native who lives in Mt. Washington, Miller already shops in the Strip District and works as a site coordinator in the old Union National Bank building on Fourth Avenue, which is being converted into The Carlyle. That place will have 61 luxury condos.

Last I looked, Mt. Washington is inside the city limits. I fail to see why it makes sense to spend tax dollars to allow Ms. Miller to move across the river.