ghost town or host town?
This is spirit I admire. They understand that there may be an opportunity here, that this is an historic moment, and they want to be part of it. Can the rest of Downtown Pittsburgh listen up?
Over the last month I’ve been interviewed by a stream of reporters. They all ask the same boring questions. Are we closing our doors for the week of the G-20 Summit? Are we preparing for the brief storm that will be? Are we frightened? What do we think will happen?
I’m bewildered by these questions. How much time does one need to prepare for a 48 hour blizzard? Not long at all. We’ll make sure there are some tools handy so that repairs can be made to our downtown buildings. We’ll make sure our tenants make sensible plans and move their cars a little further away if they need to drive. We’ll make sure we shop for food the weekend before, just like we always do. Is there anything else we can do?
While the media throws fat on the fire and ensures that the fear festers, I find myself excited and unafraid, just like the Franktuary. Here is an opportunity to be seized. While hosting the G-20 Summit may not markedly change Pittsburgh’s slow and steady transformation, it might ignite something. The world will be watching and they will not see what they have been expecting to see. They will be astounded by views of an architecturally significant and beautiful Downtown cradled between rivers, river trails and green hillsides.
Surely we don’t want them to see a ghost town.
I’m staying. Will you?
Tags: city, event, pittsburgh
September 10th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Eve, I don’t think it ’s the media that’s creating fear. It’s been a clear lack of leadership within the city and county. Many of us suggested months ago that conversations begin so there would be a plan for protesters and a way for everyone to be moving forward together, a way to highlight Pittsburgh as a community where difference is allowed and supported. Instead, the Feds have lead with fear and the city and county have permitted this to be the main picture that has been portrayed about G-20. Visionary and vibrant leadership would have had a different intent, a different process and a different outcome. Very sad.
September 11th, 2009 at 7:27 am
I completely agree with you, Eve. After all, how best to showcase the pulse of the city, than to let normal activity go on, or better still, flourish? Would we want world leaders to see a city festooned, bedecked, and yet, out of character? In my part of the world (India), chaos is stitched into the ethos of any city/ semi-urban area. Though we do have stringent (sometimes somewhat absurd) security measures associated with dignitaries, we also have people going about their lives in a country that thrives on noise and absence-of-order. Pittsburgh, let everyone see us in our full glory!
September 16th, 2009 at 7:44 am
I work at PPG and we are not allowed to come in to the building during the G-20. Everyone is encouraged to stay away from Downtown. I live in Squirrel Hill and can’t help being curious about what is going to be going on Downtown. Why is everyone so afraid? I plan on riding my bike Downtown that week to check things out, how can I not? This is going to be exciting to see what all the fuss is about. I just wish they were not shutting down the city. If I can make it there, I will be sure to stop by Franktuary. It’s nice to hear that places like this are not only staying open but embracing the event. Good for them!
September 18th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Good on ya, Eve! (See, I speak a little Oz.) And good on Franktuary, too. I hope more shops and offices will stay open. The secret is just to remain flexible.
March 13th, 2010 at 11:08 pm
[...] ever-so-clever letter to President Obama following the G-20 Summit. Franktuary made the brave (and lauded) decision to stay open for business during the G-20. It was a move that they lost money on, and [...]