dumpsters and the G-20

It’s heating up in Pittsburgh.   Hot and sweaty, I curse the fact that I have moved from a city with a beach to a city without one.

When I read this story in the New York Times in July,  I wasn’t hot enough to care.   But now it’s tantalizing.  Dumpster dipping.  Not dipping into a dumpster for treasure.  Lining a dumpster with a big black trash bag, filling it with water and dipping your body into it.

Hot in New York City, some enterprising developers came up with this “lo-fi” version of the country club on a rented lot. The ultimate low cost swimming pool, dumpster dipping is accessible to everyone with a plastic bag.  This is the mark of a great and creative city.  Ideas that would be laughed at in small towns are revered here in New York.

Plans for Pittsburgh’s G-20 Summit are heating up as well.  This week I learned that dumpster fires are a G-20 Summit sport.  I pondered the fate of the 30 or more dumpsters lining the alley behind my downtown home.  My home, by the way, is inside the G-20 security zone.   Ever cognizant of security risks, Pittsburgh is considering locking all of the dumpsters or hauling them away.    But wait!  If we filled them all with water there’d be no chance of fire, and we’d have a pool party in the making.

I know you think I’m being silly.    The point I’m trying to make is this.  We are aspiring to be a great city.  Great cities are full of creative people with innovative ideas.   Great cities do not shut down when the G-20 comes to town.  Great cities are not afraid of dumpster fires.   Great cities use their creative talent to find creative solutions that will make a lasting impression on everyone who comes here.

Let’s be great.

Photo by Yana Paskova for The New York Times