Shinerbock, I'm curious about your hatred for Pittsburgh. Have you ever been there, especially in the last 20 years? The city (the section with the Point) isn't exactly a garden, but we've all agreed that very few cities proper are great.
Pittsburgh has their Sports Arenas on the North Shore & in the next county. The housing is one of the least expensive in the country - a house that sold in Chicago for over a half a million dollars would sell in Pittsburgh for less than $75,000. I currently live in a suburb that borders on the next county, and I would be hard put to find such a great neighborhood (everyone MUST have at least a half an acre) for so little money!
The cost of living is roughly half of NYC, DC, Chicago, Atlanta, and almost anything in California.
I've lived in NYC, outside of DC (McLean - would move back there or to Alexandria, if the $$ was right) and Pittsburgh, and trust me, Pittsburgh's hard to beat for the money & the convenience! Unless, of course, your eyes are tightly shut, and you're choosing to believe the ancient stories of mills that haven't been around in lifetimes!
