The polling place weirds me out a bit. It’s at the old folks’ home and they were so surprised to see me when I was there last, that it made me feel bad. When the volunteers shook my hand vigorously and thanked me multiple times for “being a good citizen” I asked if the turnout had been bad. Another volunteer said it was just unusual to see young people there, and another said he thought it was more that the younger people in the neighborhood are mostly students not registered locally. “I hope that’s all it is,” we said together.

I’m not entirely convinced. My neighborhood is an odd mix. We’re the bar district — more bars per block than anywhere else in the city, and at least a few years ago, the East Coast, iirc. The residential portion of the area is mostly elderly couples who’ve lived here with their families since the days the abundance of bars were serving factories instead of a vibrant nightlife. They’re angry about pretty much everything. Our police district has been stretched to cover several other communities, and so there aren’t as many beat officers keeping the drunks from peeing on their steps and yards. I don’t think there are more drunks than usual, honestly. This is to be expected when you have less police presence. They’ve only recently started talking about that though, which is very strange to me. The local rag, The South Side Reporter, is always going on about “the student problem” and there’s even a form you can fill out on their website if you’d like to complain about your student neighbors. Recently during a community meeting to yell at a developer replacing an abandoned police station/squat¹ with some condos, the developer was asked what he planned to do about keeping parents from renting/buying his units for their student children. They wanted it written into the contract that this was not allowed. (Who can even afford that luxury?) Keep students out, they insist. It’s mind boggling, to me, how anyone could think that they have a right to pick and choose their neighbors. That’s what gated communities are for, not urban communities. Perhaps they really shouldn’t be so surprised that more young people aren’t voting (or staying²) in Pittsburgh.

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¹ Probably the coolest building around, that I wish had been preserved and repurposed instead of torn down. Anything done to it would be an improvement and make it safer, though, and should be welcomed.
² We have the youngest mayor in the country, and I really wish he was working on this. Make this city desirable and the other problems will be solved along the way. He surely must’ve played SimCity growing up! This is basic stuff.