Friday, May 14, 2010

Picking Pittsburgh's Brain

About 340 business and community leaders from Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky spent three days in Pittsburgh this week to see if what's working here would work in their region.

Dan Barbercheck is president of the Red 7E advertising firm in Louisville. In past years, he’s visited Minneapolis and Indianapolis, and besides learning from the other cities, he finds networking opportunities with his fellow travelers rewarding.

Barbercheck says Louisville is smaller but also a river town with an industrial past, although Pittsburgh's decline and rebirth seem more dramatic. What stands out here, he says, is the foundation support and large financial commitments from community groups and heritage companies to make sure Pittsburgh "not only survives, but thrives".

Even though Louisville and its county merged several years ago, he thinks there may be a more unified vision for the future here in Pittsburgh, with everyone who spoke to his group espousing common goals.

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