Pittsburgh’s had quite a summer. First the Travel Channel named the place one of the best All-American vacations. Then The Economist ranked Pittsburgh the “most-livable” place in the continental United States. And now we’re even being recognized for our night life!

Women’s Health and Yelp teamed up to find “the fittest, artsiest, foodiest, and just plain coolest cities on the rise in America.” Pittsburgh made the top five for nightlife, based on beer. The reviewers say “the city’s brew territory has exploded in recent years, with, as of press time, 10 buzzy microbreweries joining old-school icons such as Penn Brewery and Church Brew Works. With creative and wacky new flavors trending, brewery tours and tastings are main nightlife events.”

There was plenty of proof at the big NEXT Pittsburgh event last week at AlphaLab Gear, sponsored byImaginePittsburgh.com. The event featured libations from breweries, hard cider makers, and even a whiskey distiller, all pretty much within walking distance from Lawrenceville to the Strip District. A young, entrepreneurial crowd packed the place to hear a panel of exciting young companies talk about innovation in this venerable industrial town. Presiding over the event was Dennis Yablonsky, CEO of the Allegheny Conference, who shared his take on Pittsburgh’s transition from a town where getting a good, respectable job only meant going to work in a mill, to a place where young people are more and more willing to take risks and young companies are taking hold.

“Pittsburgh is basically the city that Portland wants to become,” or so says Michael Anderson, news editor of BikePortland.org. He was here last week for the big Pro-Walk, Pro-Bike, Pro-Place conference, along with hundreds of other activists and enthusiasts from across the country who are trying to make cities less dependent on the automobile. A Portlander’s take on Pittsburghmay surprise you.

Thanks in part to all the great press – including fresh perspectives from international, national and some new regional journalists who participated last week in an IT-focused “Tech Crawl” media study tour hosted by the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance – the world is still beating a path to our door. I’ll share updates and articles from the Tech Crawl as they come in. I understand the group was taken aback by the tech revolution underway in our region. It’s hard to believe that it has been more than five years since the G-20 Summit opened the floodgates in terms of global attention in 2009. In addition to media visits, more than 50 international delegations have come calling trying to understand civic transformation, Pittsburgh-style. And along the way, we’ve hosted more than 30 domestic civic leadership visits, too. Next on tap? Tampa Bay is bringing a delegation of more than 100 people on a benchmarking visit next month.

A few months ago, thanks to the American Middle East Institute (AMEI), I received an invitation to travel to Cairo (that’s Egypt, not Illinois) to address a business forum to talk about civic leadership and the transformation of Pittsburgh. Due to a conflict I couldn’t go. They asked if I could do it by video, so I clambered up on Mt. Washington to record our story. If you’ve got about five and a half minutes to take a look, here it is.

WTAE-TV did a more comprehensive take on our region’s economic transformation Monday night, when it ran “Chronicle,” an hour-long account of everything and everybody it took to rebuilt the economy and what’s left to do. If you missed it, don’t worry… it’s available on demand here.

AMEI is gearing up for its 7th annual Business Conference in Pittsburgh on October 28. OASIS is a high-level gathering of Middle East Ministries  and American and Middle East  corporate and university decision makers focused on growing business opportunities between the United States and the countries of the Middle East. This year’s themes are:  Oil & Gas, Renewables, Smart Cities & Infrastructure, Health & Pharmaceuticals. You can register here.

Visitors are also on their way here this week from Puerto Rico. You may have heard that Wednesday, September 17 was Clemente Day in Major League Baseball. It’s the day that each Major League team nominates a player who best exemplifies Robert Clemente’s qualities as a humanitarian. Working with numerous partners, MLB and the Pittsburgh Pirates, we figured there was no better time to cap our year of outreach to Puerto Rico. We call it ¡Hola Pittsburgh! In June, working with the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, we presented the legendary salsa  band from Puerto Rico, El Gran Combo, as part of JazzLive International. In August, we launched a “Baseball and the ‘Burgh Weekend” a sweepstakes to win a trip to Pittsburgh for the Pirates’ season closing weekend.  Although the promotion was open to pretty much anyone who lives outside the region, the winner turned out to be from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Zaideth Muñiz-Lugo will be flying up on Friday for Saturday’s game with the Brewers. She’s an electrical engineering student at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez

She’s also going to have a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet Roberto Clemente’s widow, Vera, and his sons Luis and Roberto, Jr., who are in town for the Pittsburgh premiere of “Clemente: The Legend of 21.” The musical opens Friday night at the Byham Theater and runs through Sunday. Please help us to spread the word;  it would be great to pack the house for all four performances. You can buy ticketshere.

The baseball sweepstakes is just the latest milestone in our ongoing efforts to put Pittsburgh on the radar screen of the thousands of young professionals from Puerto Rico who are moving to the continental United States each year. Educated in finance, health care, and engineering, they’re a great fit for the more 26,000 open jobs listed on ImaginePittsburgh.com. Given our region’s aging demographics, we’re going to have to attract more people even as we try to educate and train more people who are already here to fill the jobs that are in-demand.

Our “most-listable” summer can only help.

Thanks, as always, for your commitment to our region and for helping to spread the word,

Bill