I just read the article in the post gazette regarding PNC. I’m not going to discuss any particular company, but what I will chime in on is that it is not ANY company‘s fault that downtown Pittsburgh has fallen apart and no one comes downtown anymore. They have continued to build more housing instead of investing in stores for people to shop. The crime is worse downtown. People have been as--ulted and shot in broad daylight. The whole downtown smells like mari--ana and ur--e. It is an embarrassment of a city and I can’t believe that the NFL draft is coming here next year.
And my final comment… regardless of what company you work for, forcing employees to come downtown is not going to help the economy or boost our city because people are struggling with the money that they are making, and can’t afford to go out and eat every day or park every day. A lot more people are probably using public transportation. I know I couldn’t afford to pay $25 a day to park. In the summer when I would come into work, I used to walk downtown on my lunch but now I’m afraid to. I stay in the building during my lunch. Just off the top of my head I recall a man walking around downtown with a machete, and also a different man was as--ulting women and exposing himself. As a woman, men in leadership positions need to understand the fear that women have of getting as--ulted. Thankfully, this has not happened to me, but I know someone that this happened to downtown. She is traumatized.
If the mayor of the city is going to put pressure on local companies to bring their employees into work to boost the downtown economy, it is not going to work. We are not all millionaires that can afford to go out and eat every day and shop at Larimer‘s. They have removed all of the cheaper, eating places like McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Arby’s and others. To eat lunch at one of the restaurants downtown plan on dishing out at least $30 for a meal. We in the middle class do not make enough money to do that.
Please note these views are of my own opinion, and I am not speaking on behalf of anyone else, trying to represent a company or speaking on behalf of any particular company.