Most Livable Cities? Questioning Those ‘Livability’ Rankings

Townhall ^ | 10/14/2018 | Colin McNickle

[caww]

There’s no way Pittsburgh is second! HAHAHA! That’s just not happening! Someone had to be paid a lot of Money to even consider it!

[SeekAndFind]

RE: There’s no way Pittsburgh is second!

They are ranked 32nd, not second.

[SeekAndFind]

I’ll follow up by saying you are RIGHT. They ARE 2nd .... IN THE USA, but this is a WORLD ranking.

[lightman]

Ping.

[Vince Ferrer]

One thing I don't think people remember or are just too young to have experienced is how much less polluted American cities are today compared to only a generation ago. All the industrial cities of the east were barely livable. The magnitude of improvement never seems to be noted in comparisons like this. Maybe it would be better to compare the same cities to themselves over time.

Pittsburgh in the 1950's:

Pittsburgh today:

[nwrep]

Great point. Same thing has happened in almost every big city. Los Angeles was clouded with smog through the early 1990s. Today the air is pristine compared to what it was a generation ago. The drastic reduction of air pollution is one of the environmental movement’s proudest achievements...

[FLT-bird]

My livability rankings depend on the availability of good barbecue, proximity to good college football, respect for gun rights, low taxes, drivability, lower population density/undeveloped land, proximity to good hiking and lack of cold weather.

The whole idea is of course, ridiculous. Everybody will have their own criteria.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

As much as people on FR HATE EPA for its overreach, you have to admit the improvement in air and water quality in the US has been astounding. Here in Silicon Valley, 35 - 40 years ago you couldn’t see the surrounding mountains on most summer days. There was a hideous brown cloud below 1,000 feet most summer days. Now it happens less than five days per year. The biggest source of summer air pollution now is forest and brush fire smoke blowing in from hundreds of miles away.

[Seaplaner]

My fair city (red state, of course) keeps coming up very high in "livability" rankings.

Thanks anyhoo.

WE WANT everyone to move to Pittsburg (or anywhere else.)

As an aside, Jerry Brown has not been our friend, here. Wayyy too many Cars w Cali license plates hereabouts.

.

[katykelly]

Ditto .

[Truthoverpower]

My town is no 1. Everyone knows it
Fairfax ca

[doorgunner69]

“Or are they essentially a meaningless exercise?”

Yes.

[Reno89519]

Where is the list of US and world cities?

[Vince Ferrer]

This was a typical fall/winter day in Denver in the 1980s. This was caused by a warm air inversion layer keeping the same air over the city, plus fine dust particulates from the gravel left on the streets after a snow. The cities clean up after snow much faster now, and we almost never see this anymore.

As much as people on FR HATE EPA for its overreach, you have to admit the improvement in air and water quality in the US has been astounding.

And oddly, the last people who will draw attention to all this progress is environmentalists themselves. My problem with environmentalists is that they don't recognize any other priorities, and they don't acknowledge their own success. Back in 1950 or so, Pittsburgh could make a big difference with a little money, say putting some scrubbers on smokestacks, and maybe pollutants would go from 1/100 parts pollution in the air to 1/1000. But then going from 1/1000 parts pollution to 1/10,000 is not nearly so easy or cheap, and going from 1/1,000,000 to 1/1,000,000,000 may not even be possible, might not even affect health, or might be so expensive it would even bankrupt the city. Maybe for the same money we could cure a disease and save more lives than cutting a barely measurable amount of pollution.

[doorgunner69]

The air in L.A. in the early 60's was insanely clear during the metro bus strikes, without all those diesels belching soot into the air.

Of course, no one wanted to make the connection back then, but it was obvious even to a 7th grader. Diesels = teamsters usnion and no one wanted to take them on.

The C.A.R.B. annual tests are just a scam. They will fail you on picayune visual crap even if your car blows 0% emmisions.

[dsc]

“The drastic reduction of air pollution is one of the environmental movement’s proudest achievements...”

At what cost in treasure and loss of freedom?

Far as I’m concerned, the greentards owe humanity trillions of dollars.

[Clint N. Suhks]

I thought this was good news till it wasn’t...

[Mr. Jeeves]

Well, we exported most of the pollution - along with the types of jobs that created it - to China. Many on FR now want it all back.

[TheNext]

Technology created Clean Air, not the EPA.

EPA over reaches and makes air dirty again.

1990s technology is clean air.

2000 & 2018 tech is junk.

Ban the EPA for dirtying our air.