10/28/14 - 11/4/14 Arts and Urbanism Roundup

Pittsburgh

Oakland-Downtown Pittsburgh transit plan full of promises but short on funding (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

Suburban Pittsburgh leaders push for bicycle lanes (Pittsburgh Tribune Review)

New Ohiopyle Visitors Center offers spectacular views (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

American Theater Magazine looks at Pittsburgh's site specific Quantum Theatre (American Theater Magazine)

Frostburg, Maryland

Two public sculptures unveiled on Allegheny Passage Bike Trail

Pennsylvania 

A growing force in PA: Independent voters 

Cleveland

The rise of the Cleveland Museum of Art (Belt Magazine)

Ohio Magazine features walkable Cleveland suburb of Lakewood as one of the states best hometowns (Cleveland.com)

Republican National Convention sparks inflated rental market (Cleveland.com)

PlayhouseSquare lights up for Winterfest 2014 (wkyc.com)

Shipping container architecture trend expands in Cleveland (wkyc.com)

Akron

Devo co-founder, Mark Mothersbaugh and film director, Wes Anderson consider concept of surreal theme park in Akron (Time Magazine)

Other Urbanism and Architecture News

Share of first-time home buyers hits 27 year low (Wall Street Journal)

NFL Teams harness stadiums as museums (New York Times)

Great Lakes cities found at the intersection of walkable and affordable  (Great Lakes Echo)

Why middle class Americans can't afford to live in liberal cities (The Atlantic)

The case for trailer parks : Pre-fab homes grow as affordable quality housing option (National Journal)

Smartphones vs. taxi drivers (Reason)

Is the U.S. ready for seniors who want to stop driving? (Streetsblog)

Judge slams door on Uber in Nevada  (KOLO8 News)

Where are the world's most dangerous transit systems for women?  (CNN Travel)

New York City transit ranked safest for women among 16 major metro systems (Metro)

Why Minneapolis' beautiful bike freeways are totally the best (Grist)

Are walkable neighborhoods and bike lanes only for the creative class? (Public CEO)

Tiny houses have a not so tiny problem (Fast Company)

Tiny houses save Orlando owners money (Click Orlando)

Documentary to explore racism in transportation planning
(Streetsblog)

In violent Venezuela bulletproof everything (Yahoo News)

Ten little cities near D.C. with awesome urbanism (Greater Greater Washington)

Other Arts and Archeology News

Alberto Giacometti's Chariot sculpture expected to break record, sell or over $100 million (CNBC)

Chris Ofili's thumping art history lesson (New York Magazine)

The Getty unveils unpublished cache of Joseph Cornell's letters (Hyperallergic)

Columbian art is having a moment  (The Art Newspaper)

Documenting caves used in the Irish War of Independence

Basquiat's unseen notebooks coming to the Brooklyn Museum (The Art Newspaper)

Fake Monet forgeries hit the auction block (Artnet)

Crowdsourcing may be transforming the film industry (Wired)

Amelia Earhart plane fragment identified (Discovery News)

Snow In A Real Livable City

OK, I noticed pretty quickly here how generally reluctant people are here to those who make even mildly critical remarks about the city and how it's run. You can't fool everyone all the time, so this condition quickly leads to war between those who want to look on the "bright side", and those who hole up on a hillside and call in to radio hosts to tell people the city sucks.

The truth I think most people know, is that the city is very beautiful and could be very livable if it was run better.



I mean sh-- Snow happens, and for the most part it should not cause a city that many problems-- even in large amounts, especially one in that does get some regular significant snow.

OK, I have to admit to finding it somewhat funny and sick that the city needs national guard troops to help shuttle people around and help with emergency response. Yes, many people live in out of the way places, on narrow winding streets (and that's a subject in itself) but--hello many of these streets were blocked and too narrow to be plowed because of parked cars.

The adult thing to say when a major storm is known to be coming is --get your car off any narrow street or it will be towed. Get your car off any major snow route or it will be towed. Move your car to one side of the street so we can plow and the other side the next day, so we can plow.

There is no such thing as a city without any chance of a lot of rain, or snow or some other natural problem and there can be no livable city run by children. (just look at yinz pension fund)

What are Yinz living in a Rob Rogers Cartoon here? Be back with more thoughts about snow.