utterly opinionated

On January 12, cityLIVE! presents pop culture in the city of Pittsburgh.  Don’t you wonder what we are watching, reading and listening to – both good and bad?   We will discuss television, movies, printed material, the internet and music, and how pop culture goes from a niche phenomenon to a full-on pop cultural extravaganza. How have these influences changed Pittsburgh and the region, our population and our perception of ourselves in the larger world – both positive and negative, and is any of it within our control?

Our panel includes Pablo Garcia, from the Architecture Department at Carnegie Mellon; Emmai Alaquiva, of Ya Momz House; and Kathy Savitt, of Lockerz … and we will be moderated by Rob Rogers, editorial cartoonist and president of the ToonSeum.

Cocktails and conversation to follow.

Don’t let the cold weather keep you away.  Warm up with us.  RSVP here …

Back by popular demand!  We’ve gathered 10 more brilliant Pittsburgh minds to tell you about their funkiest, biggest, hairiest. most brilliant ideas for change.   Give us 30 minutes on December 9, and we’ll change the way you see the city at this cityLIVE! event.  Forget feasibility, funding or anything as ridiculous as consensus-building. We asked for ‘thought-provoking’ and ‘outside the box’.

You’ll want to meet our panelists after the show.  A glass of wine and a chat to polish off the evening. Hilary Robinson, dean of the College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University.  Raymar Hampshire, the young founder of sponsorchange.org.  Jon Rubin, CMU Art Professor and the man behind the wildly successful Waffle Shop.  Susan Everingham, the director of RAND’s Pittsburgh office.  Scott Faber, a developmental pediatrician at the Children’s Institute.  Alexi Morrissey, artist.   Priya Narasimhan from Carnegie Mellon’s Mobility Center and founder of YinzCam.  Janera Solomon of the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater.  LaVerne Baker Hotep from the Center for Victims of Violence and Crime.  Sean Jones of the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra.  They make for spicy conversation.

And to make sure that we don’t take ourselves too seriously, Chris Potter, the renowned editor of City Paper, will moderate with his unabashed and ascerbic charm.

You can read about last year’s event here. Greg Viktor will be writing a story again on it this year, in case you miss the event again.

But you won’t, will you?   See you there …

Streamlining city government:  What can we do NOW?

City County consolidation is a big, top down idea. We’ve worked on it locally for years now and are told there are many valuable efficiencies to gain from such a consolidation.

In the meantime, while we are waiting, are there ways to streamline government services from the bottom up? Should we wait for the big prize, or should we be chipping away at consolidating smaller chunks that may eventually add up to the big prize?

On November 4, a panel of experts will present and discuss their ideas for effectively streamlining government services today at the latest  cityLIVE! Pittsburgh event.  Our panel includes Kathleen McKenzie, deputy county manager for Allegheny County;  Moe Coleman, professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and Urban Studies;  Sala Udin, president and CEO of Coro Center for Civic Leadership; and moderating will be Laura Ellsworth, partner at Jones Day.

Sign up here and show your love!

As part of an annual its North American Tour Day to call attention to modernist design, DOCOMOMO US has designated Pittsburgh a Tour Day city. The tour will focus on key post-WW II buildings in the Golden Triangle, starting at the original ALCOA building at Mellon Square, including Miens Van Der Rohe’s Mellon Hall at Duquesne University and ending at the Portal Bridge at Point State Park. The tour will be led by architectural and preservation professionals.

Pittsburgh Moderns organized by the Pittsburgh Chapter of DOCOMOMO, is a group of architects, historians, and artists.  The tour is free and open to the public.  

This is a great opportunity to learn about a group of buildings that make Pittsburgh’s Downtown quite distinctive.

Join me at the first event of cityLIVE!’s third season,  as we examine how to brand (or not brand) Pittsburgh.

The eyes of the world are on Pittsburgh right now.  Not only is the G-20 Summit drawing world  leaders and thousands of reporters, but over the last year Pittsburgh has been constantly in the “good” news.   

How is it then that the response to our selection as the location of the G-20 Summit has been a resounding “Why Pittsburgh?”  David Francis reported (for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) that some people in Europe have “expressed concern that world leaders might not be safe in such a place.”

What must we do to shake an image that no longer fits our city?   Our moderator and panelists will engage in a feisty discussion on branding (or unbranding)  our city.

Panelists include Madhu Malhan, VP and director of creative branding, Publicis, USA;  Gloria Blint, president of Red House Communications; and Charlie Humphrey, executive director of Pittsburgh Filmmakers, the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and the Pittsburgh Glass Center.

Moderating will be Brian Bronaugh, president and executive creative director of Mullen-Pittsburgh.

Bring a friend and you both get a drink free! Show your love!  Show up ….

The Franktuary  has the right idea.  The Business Times reports that they plan to stay open as much as possible through the G-20 Summit.  They are located just a couple of blocks from the epicenter of the event.  Their employees will sleep in cots in the cathedral if necessary.  They will peddle their yummy hot dogs to dignitaries and protesters alike.  In fact, they sent a personal invitation to the President himself.  

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?

cityLIVE! Pittsburgh is celebrating the start of it’s third season.  Three seasons of excellent panelists, engaging topics, delightful networking and free wine. Come hobnob with some of our funders and panelists at my loft downtown on September 16, from 6 – 8 pm.  Help us to build a fantastic third season.  $100!   It will go a long way.  

RSVP to eve@nowall.com

RAGBRAI (Register’s Annual Great Ride Across Iowa) is a week long ride from the west to east end of Iowa.  Every year, in the last week of July, 15,000 riders participate.   Seriously.  15,000.

My friend Seth Gernot rode it last week with VIRGIN tattooed down his calves.  It was his first time, but definitely not his last.   The 450 mile journey crossed Iowa from the Missouri River to the Mississipi.   Although the days are long, the intent is not to finish them fast.   ragbrai is a celebration first and a ride second.

The towns on the route were small, as small as 2,000, but they rolled out large quantities of food and alcohol.   Seth ate 13 different kinds of pie on the ride.  He stretched the limits of his spandex shorts.

15,000 tourists in the state of Pennsylvania wouldn’t be bad would they?   They could ride from Pittsburgh to Philly and visit every country fair and hamlet on the way.    They could eat pierogi, hot italian sausage sandwiches and drink local beer.

I want to stretch the limits of my spandex shorts.  I’ll do it in Iowa if I have to.  But I’d love to do it in Pennsylvania first.

From August 20 to 23 I’ll be biking the Great Allegheny Passage with Venture Outdoors.  I made the trip all the way from DC to Pittsburgh last year.  August’s trip starts in Cumberland and ends in Pittsburgh, the easiest, smoothest and prettiest section of the trail.

We’ll  pass through historic coal towns, wind our way along the Casselman, Youghiogheny, and Monongahela River, visit Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater and Ohiopyle State Park. Sleep under the stars (or in a B & B), eat wonderful catered meals, and share the company of other cyclists that see life as an adventure.

Will you join me?  We’ll have a blast!

Finally.  The Federal Government wants to develop greater inter-city connectivity through the development of high speed rail corridors.   If you are interested in hearing more, the US House of Representatives will be hosting a hearing in Pittsburgh on expanding passenger rail service.  

Come to the US Post Office and District Courthouse located at 700 Grant Street,  Room 6A, at 10 am on Monday, June 22.

photo by freefoto.com

I’ll be joining Councilman Bill Peduto and others for an educational bike tour along Pittsburgh’s downtown streets and riverfront trails. We’ll talk about Pittsburgh’s history, unique architecture and urban planning, with a slight political twist.  

Join me?  Sign up at Venture Outdoors.   Bring your own bike or rent one.  You won’t regret it!

My CEOs for Cities “cluster” has tackled a few big projects.   This week will be a very big one.

On Tuesday we are hosting an event as part of a 51 city tour that CEOs for Cities is organizing to talk about The Talent Dividend.  We’ve asked leaders to attend who cover a broad spectrum of interests from architects to university heads.  What they have in common is their deep commitment to the city of Pittsburgh.   We need them to seize the opportunity that this city dividend offers. 

City Dividends is the latest research to come out of CEOs for Cities and quantifies some very real opportunities for cities.   They calculate the monetary gain top metro areas would enjoy if they were to increase their college attainment by one percentage point (The Talent Dividend), reduce vehicle miles travelled by one mile per person per day (The Green Dividend) and reduce the number of people in poverty by one percentage point (The Opportunity Dividend).  According to CEOs for Cities, Pittsburgh would see an additional $1.8 billion pumped into its economy annually simply by accomplishing The Talent Dividend.  

That’s a lot of money.   There’s a lot we could do with it.  

We have a history here of losing a lot.  Jobs lost, people leaving and a city reduced in size to half is the story that is most often told about Pittsburgh.  We have also accomplished a remarkable amount.  Just last week the Economist ranked Pittsburgh the most livable city in the U.S. 

Still, there is more to do.  Our workforce is not as skilled as it could be.  Our population is far less diverse than other cities.  We don’t have enough high school graduates who go on to college.  This leaves us at a great competitive disadvantage.  We must have all of these things in place in order to compete for new business.  Ultimately this will allow our city to be reborn. 

A one percent increase in college attainment is a very big goal, too big for any one person to tackle.  As I review the enormous range of talent, experience and background assembling on Tuesday I wonder whether perhaps together they can do what no one of them can do alone.

How does YOUR environment impact YOUR health?  What is more important – the products you use every day, or the effects of your outdoor surroundings?
 
We’ll review a typical day of two of our favorite citizens and 1. unveil the kinds of things they are exposed to every day – in their daily habits, their home and their neighborhood, 2. learn about the impact our world has on US, and 3. give suggestions for changes you can make that will impact YOUR health.

Panelists are Jane Houlihan, from the Environmental Working Group, and Amanda Parks, co-owner of Equita. Our case studies are Justin Strong, co-founder of the Shadow Lounge + AVA, and Heather Arnet, executive director of the Women and Girls Foundation. Our moderator is Josh Knauer of Rhiza Labs.

Cocktails and conversation to follow. Join us!   RSVP

@ The New Hazlett Theater, 6:30 pm, Wednesday, 17 June 2009