The Pittsburgh G-20 Partnership (see the photos at that page):
"will welcome world leaders visiting for the Pittsburgh Summit with a diverse array of locally crafted gifts -- many of them hand-made. Unveiled today at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts in Shadyside, the gifts represent the vitality of the Pittsburgh cultural landscape and convey the key role it plays in our region's high quality of life." [emphasis added]Some eyebrows have been raised about the fact of the Obama administration choosing Pittsburgh as the venue for the summit, but it is definitely one of the most interesting cities in the United States which has made great strides in last decades, marked keenly by the Pittsburgh Steelers as reigning Super Bowl champions.
Gary Shapiro headlines at the Huffington Post that Pittsburgh Model Dramatizes Lessons for G-20 Summit and writes inter alia:
"A recent article in The Economist tracks Pittsburgh's rise from depressed steel town to innovation center. Jobs in the growing fields of bio-science, electronics and nuclear engineering have replaced manufacturing jobs so effectively that Pittsburgh's unemployment rate is nearly two percentage points lower than the national average.As written at the Wikipedia about Pittsburgh:Pittsburgh's experience offers a road map for American cities adjusting to manufacturing downturns and the new realities of the modern global economy. Pittsburgh experienced its manufacturing collapse sooner and more suddenly than the rest of the country, and has had more time to adapt to the new economic reality and thrive." more...
"In 2007, Pittsburgh was named "America's Most Livable City" by Places Rated Almanac.[13] Furthermore, in 2009, Pittsburgh was named most livable city in the United States and 29th-most-livable city worldwide by The Economist.[14] ...During my student days as an undergraduate at the University of Nebraska and before I went on to Stanford Law School, I spent my 1966 summer working in Pittsburgh and residing in the Pittsburgh suburb of Shadyside, so it is nice to see what was actually a "sunny" Pittsburgh neighborhood in "Shadyside" rise to the top of the world scene.
The characteristic shape of downtown is a triangular tract carved by the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, where the Ohio River forms. The city features 151 high-rise buildings,[8] 446 bridges,[9] two inclined railways, and a pre-revolutionary fortification. Pittsburgh is known colloquially as "The City of Bridges" and "The Steel City" for its many bridges and former steel manufacturing base."
