Pffft. All you need is a loud and vocal minority to scupper anything. It’s likely that a majority of locals would have welcomed the Apple store. But tepid silence won’t win you anything.
Yes, it's similar to what happened in NYC recently, where a loud vocal minority of extremist leftists, socialists and demented activists caused Amazon to abandon their plans here, which would have meant many tens of thousands of jobs for the city and many billions in tax revenue. They will reap what they sow eventually, hopefully sooner, rather than later. Those people are mentally ill.
Good for them! As a Pittsburgh native I witnessed how much of Pittsburgh history was cleared away to make way for new-and-improved steel and glass (much like this proposed Apple store) renovation. That history can never be recovered.
One of the areas was "millionaires row" -- where Pittsburgh industrial barons built their mansions just prior to the invention of the automobile very near the city. Those beautiful, handcrafted mansions were almost entirely cleared out and/or gutted to make way for "progress". It is a sad loss...
I loved Pittsburgh! CMU graduate. But let me ask you, if millionaires row was so precious, why didn’t you or someone else think to buy some of the houses?
My years in school there in the early ‘80s were wonderful. But for many natives they were the dark days of high jobless rates after the last of the steel mills shut down. If a company offers to come in proffering construction jobs and then permanent jobs in the new buildings, I’d be hesitant to trash that company and turn those jobs away.
Yes, you are right: the 80's was time of " dark days of high jobless rates after the last of the steel mills shut down". And that was what spurred the desire to tear down the old and bring in the new (steel and glass) monstrosities. But it wasn't a choice between new jobs and old mansions (and such). It was simply a desire to tear down the old stuff and replace it with new stuff.
Nobody was turning down jobs.*
And fortunately many of those old structures were simply boarded up and are, today, being renovated (not gutted) under the direction of the historical society and brought up to modern standards while retaining all of their original artistry and charm.
* If you're comparing it to the Cortez/Amazon fiasco in NY, there is no connection there. Totally different.
That’s great to hear that people are investing in those once boarded up houses. Pittsburgh is such a beautiful city!
Maybe if Apple had taken that approach in Melbourne and offered to spruce up some of the more dilapidate buildings in the city, they might have won over the naysayers.
Well, the only odd thing I've read about Melbourne is their right-hook turns in the CBD. A convoluted two-step procedure. The friends I have in Australia say it doesn't make sense. I have other Aussie friends in both Sydney and Brisbane areas. Oh, the one couple that are my friends in Perth, both were born in Melbourne, got married there, and then moved to the Perth area.
If Apple really wanted to build a flagship store in Melbourne, they should have proposed building it in Sydney. Melbourne pollies clear all manner of legal obsticles and throw cash at anything just to move it from Sydney to Melbourne.
If Apple really wanted to build a flagship store in Melbourne, they should have proposed building it in Sydney. Melbourne pollies clear all manner of legal obsticles and throw cash at anything just to move it from Sydney to Melbourne.
Or Adelaide, they might stand a real chance of stealing it from Adelaide.
Too soon?
I'm sorry to have started some kind of fight over Melbourne, but I'm also sorry about the last time I spent over an hour and A$100 in a cab trying to leave there. And I never meant to say it was more conservative than, say, Queensland, but few places are. Maybe Tasmania on a wet weekend.
I didn't realise this was meant to be a "Global Flagship" store. I'm not surprised they've given up on Federation Square, though. Melbournians are very conservative and parochial. Comes from their inferiority complex over Sydney. Kind of like Chicago and New York.
Apple, if you're reading this, if you want to open a bigger store in Canberra, I'd be willing to go there. And at least a few hundred other people would, too...
Just don't put it in Perth. No-one wants to go to Perth.
Perth already has an excellent Apple Store, right in the centre of the city. As to the interstate chiaking, it's so old! Oz is a free country, live where you want to live and respect others right to do the same.
Reading over these comments, I didn’t realize there was such strong city vs city rivalries down under.
Yes there are. I have lived in Sydney and Perth and have visited all of our major cities, and many smaller towns (except for Darwin) many times. People live where it suits them, so what! Unfortunately, some people can't help but reduce everything to the level of a football league.
I didn't realise this was meant to be a "Global Flagship" store. I'm not surprised they've given up on Federation Square, though. Melbournians are very conservative and parochial. Comes from their inferiority complex over Sydney. Kind of like Chicago and New York.
Um, raised Chicago-area guy here, first I've heard of a Chicago-NYC inferiority complex.
I’m from southern Illinois and I wish Chicago would sink into Lake Michigan so we wouldn’t have to smell it down here.
You're claiming you can "smell" Chicago from southern Illinois? Ok, I guess we found where the inferiority complex is.
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Maybe if Apple had taken that approach in Melbourne and offered to spruce up some of the more dilapidate buildings in the city, they might have won over the naysayers.
Too soon?
I'm sorry to have started some kind of fight over Melbourne, but I'm also sorry about the last time I spent over an hour and A$100 in a cab trying to leave there. And I never meant to say it was more conservative than, say, Queensland, but few places are. Maybe Tasmania on a wet weekend.