Progress Pittsburgh

Last week as we left Loew’s and a sneak preview of Funny People, once again we found ourselves appreciating just how awful the design of the Waterfront is.  It’s as if the bad mall martians flew in from outer space, landing on one of the most key-critical, history rich and defining sites of Pittsburgh’s past, wiping it out – and in it’s place, leaving a bubble of bland, consumerism in an enclosure with little to no accessibility to the town from which is was annexed, not to mention, with little to no economic benefit as well.

And yet, I continued to wonder, as my husband was winding his way through this design-flaw filled space, how have we managed to do it again?  The Steelers have invited the very same developers, the same poor designers, to do their “magic” on a piece of public land central to our city’s north side.  Talking bad about the Steelers is kind of like insulting your mama in this town, but let me just point out that the Steelers are a privately owned commercial enterprise.  Why would a sports team have so much power and leverage in decision-making about public land?  After all, they are not elected, are they?  And why would this publicly owned land be sold for a song to a commercial enterprise with little to no public oversight or accountability?  Especially without any clearly defined benefits to people living in the surrounding communities the development will affect.  Aha!  you say what about about the over site boards, the Planning Commission and the Sports Authority– aren’t they publicly accountable?

Well, let’s just see:  The mayor appoints individuals to the Planning Commission, the Sports Authority, the Water and Sewage board, Port Authority oversight, and the Urban Redevelopment Authority, not to mention the the Zoning Board of Adjustment, the Historic Review Commission and the Shade Tree Commission. Millions, if not Billions, of dollars are in the hands of these individuals — not to mention the long term political and economic implications of their decision making.  Their appointments are supposed to be given rigorous scrutiny by City Council, and yet in the last July 2009 go-round, the Council gave the mayor 5-4 support without any hearings or review of his appointments.

At a May 2009 Planning Commissionmeeting, 170 people showed up, in the middle of a work day, to give testimony regarding the negative impact proposed development will have to their neighborhoods in Pittsburgh’s north side.  We are talking about the afore mentioned, Steelers proposed development designed by Continental Development of Columbus Ohio, the authors of the Waterfront.  Do you think the voices of 170 people made a bit of difference to the unelected, appointed members of the Planning Commission?  And do you think they made a difference to the mayor?  (who was essentially appointed and never has had to work his way through the rigors of an election campaign cycle, that is, be responsive to voters)  In the words of John Belushi, “noooooooooooooo”

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by what we are capable of tolerating, myself included. But there is some part of me that has to beg the question to my fellow participants in democracy, “Why are we putting up with this condition as a city and as a region?” We won’t tolerate pushing aside the democratic process of public accountability in our national government.  We proved that as a nation in our last election cycle.  But somehow, when this top-down, Executive dominant way of doing things that we associate readily with Bush-Cheney is at our own back door, we easily hold our collective nose and look the other way.   Just why, oh why, are we putting up with this condition?

P2pac invites you to a happy annoucement at a happy hour event. The PAC will annouce its first group of endorsed candidates at a happy hour next Tuesday, April 21st, at 900 Cafe and Lounge on the Northside. More information is available on the P2pac website. See you there!

RSVP on Facebook!

Can’t attend on Tuesday but want to support the PAC? Please consider making a contribution to our challenge to raise $2009 in 2009 here. We have already raised over $2000 to give to our endorsed candidates please help up continue to raise money to support candidates in 2009 and beyond.

P2pac invites you to its monthly happy hour (always the third Tuesday) at 900 Cafe & Lounge in the Northside. The evening will include P2tini’s, good conversation, and the annoucement of who the P2pac has chosen to endorse for the May 19th primary election.

Come and bring your friends for some politics and cocktails on the Northside. A $10 contribution is suggested; all funds raised at this event will go directly to support endorsed candidates.

900 Cafe & Lounge is a non-smoking establishment. It is accessible by the following buses: 16A, 16D, and 500.

Who: YOU!
What: P2pac happy hour(s)
Where: 900 Cafe & Lounge (900 Western Avenue, 15212)
When: Tuesday, April 21st; 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Why: because you are the change you want to see

In many ways, the race to represent district 4 on Pittsburgh’s City Council is largely shaping up to be a fight between Natalia Rudiak and Anthony Coghill.

A week ago, the community group Pretty Up Beechview announced their endorsement of Natalia Rudiak.

More »

Remember the big debacle last year regarding a certain LED billboard on a certain transportation center (at the corner of Grant and 11th Streets in Downtown Pittsburgh)? (See this, that, or the other post from last year.) Well, lucky for us, we have a say in the issue. As the City prepares to develop policy to regulate activity involving digital billboards, a public hearing will be held on March 11th to allow citizens to provide input.

The issues involved with digital billboards are as follows:

• Where should they be allowed? They have a greater impact on their environment than traditional billboards because they glow rather than being flat images.
• How many should be allowed? They are being used to replace traditional billboards because they bring in more revenue and cost less to operate than traditional billboards.

Please consider voicing your opinion on LED billboards on Wednesday, March 11 at 5:30 p.m. in the first floor conference room of 200 Ross Street. Think about is this way: would you want to see an LED billboard from your house?

For more information, see this post.

Image by PMAHCC via FlickrWe looked on the city of Pittsburgh website, but there is no sign up for a newsletter.  Thought other might want to see the update from Mayor Luke Ravenstahl.

+++++++++++++++++++

CITY OF PITTSBURGH
“America’s Most Livable City”
Office of Mayor Luke Ravenstahl

Dear Neighbors,

Over a six month period during 2007, I hosted 10 Neighborhood Forums throughout the City.  I, along with all City directors, engaged in dialogue with more than 650 residents during the forums.  I reported on the state of the City, while challenging residents to envision their neighborhoods 10 years ahead, laying the groundwork for future initiatives.  My Office of Neighborhood Initiatives collected and analyzed the feedback from each of the forums, highlighting the top three issues and concerns: 1) public safety; 2) blight; and 3) economic development.  My staff has attended community meetings and block watch events throughout the past year following the forums and has continued to analyze feedback on issues of high priority and concern with residents.   Public safety has remained a recurrent issue at neighborhood community meetings. More »

A new blockwatch network called Pittsburgh Safe Neighborhoods Network has kicked off and started a blog where materials are available and they’re encouraging block watch folks to share information.

Chris Ivey, a Pittsburgh based filmmaker who works on films all over the world has been working on a second installment to the documentary East Of Liberty.

Chapter 2 is titled the Fear of Us.  I have had the opportunity to watch many pieces of this documentary over the past 2 years.  This is some of the stories of a neighborhood that aren’t often heard.  The first chapter of East of Liberty was screened in London last spring.

The Fear of Us will be at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater Feb 29-Mar. 2.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNfhGhIgk8M[/youtube]

For more clips and footage about East Liberty and other Pittsburgh neighborhoods click here.

In an article in Tuesday’s paper, the decentralization of Housing Court is being painted as a solution to building inspection issues. The efficiencies of a centralized system allow for more inspections to occur. The theory is that the neighborhood system will benefit neighborhoods because active neighbors know the District Magistrates and are therefore more likely to get convictions but the inverse is true in that landlords could know the District Magistrates and be more likely to go unpunished.

Tuesday’s article is also interesting in that it discussed potential City legislation to put more responsibility on landlords. Overall, it’s a great concept but there are some serious challenges to be considered with increasing evictions, like where do those people go? Pushing people around, like what has happened with the demolition and net decrease of public housing units, doesn’t solve social problems (like crime or drug use). This is evident in the problems that people associate with Section 8 housing, which would fall under the City proposal, because the program has picked up people formerly in public housing.

So, we need social programs to go with our housing ones and a regional approach to problems so that one place doesn’t suffer because of another place’s policy. What’s new?

As you can see we have been doing some house keeping here at the Progress Pittsburgh blog – trying out some new colors and features.
Comments are Fixed – we had been wondering why there were no comments, for some reason comments were not working.  The issue has been resolved so please comment away!

Neighborhoods – we are working on compiling a list of neighborhood specific blogs, websites and list serves.  Is there a blog in your neighborhood?  How do you connect to others in your neighborhood?  P2 wants to know.  Please leave a comment below with the info so we can update the neighborhoods page.

Also if you look to the right you will see a new feature New in the Neighborhoods – this is a running list of new information on other neighborhood blogs.