PITTSBURG chosen for G-20 conference: this city is a clean, green example of regeneration
- From: GLOBALIST <free.tuneup@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:02:46 -0700 (PDT)
Pittsburgh steeled to be host city
By Kevin Connolly
BBC News, Pittsburgh
The Pittsburgh Pirates are a symbol of the city's transformation
Summit venues are not chosen by accident.
When the Obama administration had to decide which American city should
host the G20 gathering, a great deal of thought went into the
selection of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
One White House team was on the phone to the Mayor's office making
sure the city had the right kind of convention facilities, the right
number of hotel rooms and a big enough airport to deal with the 33
national delegations which have somehow ended up being invited to this
gathering of the 20 richest nations on earth.
People who think of Pittsburgh as a smoky steel town ... they'll see
quite a different thing
Frank Coonelly, Pittsburgh Pirates
Another was ensuring that the Pittsburgh story told a positive story
about Obama's America.
And the White House thinks the city passed both tests with flying
colours.
The logistical effort required to host such a huge event is well under
way, as is the security operation designed to contain the protesters
who will inevitably assemble to make sure their concerns are somehow
written into the story of the meeting.
Revival
And the symbolism?
Well, the population of Pittsburgh seems remarkably on-message. Local
politicians, business leaders and folks in cafes and bars will all
tell you the same story.
Pittsburgh - the grimy old steel town that was a powerhouse of
American heavy industry and made its money under choking clouds of
smoke from its mills and mines - is no more.
Locals have been making their feelings clear about declining
industries
In its place is a clean, green example of regeneration. A city where
pleasure cruisers carry tourists between the wooded banks of its three
rivers and where people make a living in services such as health and
education or in hi-tech business.
No-one puts it better than Frank Coonelly, president of the city's
baseball team the Pittsburgh Pirates: "It's a remarkable
transformation, not just of the economy but of the city itself from an
industrial steel town to a city that now really is driven by hi-tech
and service sectors.
"People who think of Pittsburgh as a smoky steel town, when they come
in here this week they'll see quite a different thing."
It feels like the perfect message for the Obama administration to send
out from a city which is about become the backdrop for 1,000 TV
reporters from around the world.
Hidden costs?
On paper, Pittsburgh is a text-book example of how a globalised
economy works.
Old manufacturing jobs migrate to cheaper labour markets, so your
steel is made in India and China.
Everyone is closing up or moving out
Jim Economos, restaurant owner
Your population educates itself; then moves into the cleaner, more
sophisticated service sectors of tourism, healthcare and education.
The problem is that not all Americans agree these policies are working
in their interests.
Just a short drive from the city, in the Mahoning Valley of Northern
Ohio, plenty of people are troubled by the new world economic order.
While economists may shudder at anything that sounds like the opening
shots of a trade war, a meeting of the local United Autoworkers
Retired section in Lordstown was delighted by the news that the Obama
administration has imposed a tariff on imports of cheap Chinese
tyres.
Manufacturing woes
Dave Green, president of the Union Local 1714, argues that businesses
in countries like China can only undercut their American rivals
because they do not pay the same wages as US companies or operate
under the same environmental and safety regulations.
His point: America needs a manufacturing base and cannot afford to
allow more manufacturing jobs to migrate to lower wage economies.
Mr Green and his union back steps to protect US jobs
"Made in the USA used to really mean something," Mr Green says.
"It used to mean something to my grandparents and my parents as well
and we've kind of lost that. It's decimated our jobs here.
"Akron just 40 miles west of here used to be the rubber capital of the
world. Ride through Akron now, they make very few tyres. We want fair
trade, not free trade."
In nearby Warren they also see globalisation as a process in which the
upside to Americans - cheap consumer goods from Asia - is vastly
outweighed by the downside, which is a steady of haemorrhaging of jobs
to the very people who make those cheap goods.
In his family's restaurant, the Saratoga, Jim Economos lists the
industries that have closed.
"We used to make all the water fountains for the world, we used to
make compasses, we made kitchen cabinets, we made all the electrical
parts for GM and all different kinds of steel.
"Hopefully they'll be coming back, but everyone is closing up or
moving out," he adds.
Pros and cons
So, very close to Pittsburgh with its stirring symbolic story of
regeneration and post-industrial prosperity lies this other America of
the Mahoning Valley where they see the costs of globalisation in their
closed-down factories and derelict buildings on Main Street.
But will the city give a warm welcome to Warren's representative?
What they do not see for the moment is any benefit to balance that
cost.
As one local said: "We can't have an economy where we just serve each
other meals and dry clean each other's clothes. We have to start
making things again."
The hard-working chamber of commerce in Warren is sending a
representative down to Pittsburgh for the G20 talks.
It would be nice to think he might get a little face time with one or
two of the world leaders gathering there. He has a story worth
listening to.
.
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