In "Godfather Part II," Hyman Roth told Michael Corleone about his response to a situation he could do nothing about: "I let it go."

In real life, the boosters of the greater Pittsburgh area might consider the same advice regarding the region's image.

No doubt a number of resumes in our booster organizations and government offices have been updated to claim credit for the recent rating of our region as the nation's "most livable" by Places Rated Almanac. More recently, our region landed at No. 26 in the world according to The Economist magazine.

Perhaps our sales representatives can claim some credit. But if you take the factors that earned our region these lofty rankings, one by one, it quickly becomes evident that no single agency, company, government office, news medium, foundation or individual was responsible. Places Rated Almanac did not rank Pittsburgh in the top 20 in even one of its categories: affordability; transportation; jobs; education; climate; crime; health care; recreation and ambience (which includes cultural amenities, such as museums, performing arts and restaurants). But in comparison to the other 378 rated communities, the numbers added up in our region's favor.

For the longest time Western Pennsylvania has suffered from an economic messiah complex, always seeking one Big Enterprise that would deliver economic salvation. For the better part of a century, Big Institutions that were perceived to take care of Pittsburghers ascended and declined. Big Steel was the most dominant. Big Labor arose to counteract abuses of employees. Big Government grew from the popular notion that we had too little, an idea propelled (wrongly) by the Depression and (rightly) by the success of the nation's largest 20th century mobilization, World War II.

None of those Big Institutions exist today in their original forms, although the government remains big. But as Big Steel ceased to employ tens of thousands, the people who needed livelihoods turned to inflated promises of Big Health Care, Big Education and Big Tourism. Pittsburgh mayors and their short-sighted allies obsessed (and still do) over Big Pro Sports and Big Gambling, at the cost of competent attention to basic infrastructure.

In each cycle, the proponents of frantic efforts to pursue these saviors implied and sometimes blatantly stated that without these huge economic engines the Pittsburgh region would become Buffalo.

As each Big Institution failed to be all things to all people, civic boosters wrung their hands and called for more marketing studies. At the same time, average and not-so-average residents of the region went to work every day and did what they did a little better. Homeowners improved their properties and businesspeople worked a little harder. Unheralded civic, religious, community, neighborhood and social organizations made many small and a few big impacts, all of them important to someone in our region.

And there were factors that no one planned, organized or influenced. The largest single expenditure of each household is almost always the roof over its members' heads. Can someone tell us who caused Pittsburgh to have a housing market that is widely varied in style, diverse in geographic setting and, most importantly, approximately 40 percent less in cost than the national average? Would the person responsible for causing Pittsburgh's average income to increase faster than the national average in the early 2000s please announce how he or she performed this service to our community?

The most-livable ranking was not granted only to the City of Pittsburgh, but to the region, which is proud of its small communities and proudly calls Pittsburgh its major metropolis. It was earned by some 2.5 million people, not an elected official or marketing team.

In March, I was standing on the platform of the Washington, D.C., Metro, on business, waiting for the next train. It was delayed during rush hour, so I broke out a copy of the newspaper I had not finished before leaving Pittsburgh.

My concentration shifted when I heard a man and a woman behind me discussing Pittsburgh. One said to the other that, compared to almost any other place in the United States, Pittsburgh was an incredible value for housing. They said a couple more favorable things about Pittsburgh, and it became clear that both were ex-Pittsburghers, currently living in and around the beltway, and that they were sharing memories of a place they had enjoyed. So I turned around, held up the front page of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and said, "Thank you."

We had another 15 minutes to wait, and the conversation quickly turned to how the rest of the world does not know much about the advantages of living in the Pittsburgh region. We also agreed that it was our little secret. Who wanted a sudden growth spike that neither Pittsburgh nor any region would be equipped to handle? Let the other 298 million Americans build and advance their own regions, with hard work and patience. There are no economic messiahs.

So before embarking on a costly public relations push, consider the possibility that we earned our high ranking for livability by living every day as Pittsburghers.

There's a saying that it ain't bragging if you can prove it. But it's true that a braggart is a bore, and an insecure one at that. Besides, there are others singing the praises of 21st century Pittsburgh. Did you watch the Golf Channel during the U.S. Open?

Let it go. It will come back to us.