Time For a Long Overdue Talk About Pittsburgh"s Waterfront Stadiums

No time to do a long post about this yet.

To a very large extent, the shift in my posts towards local planning and design issues reflects a disgust and foreboding about the impact of ant-urban policies. 

Pittsburgh as a small city, with specific geographic constraints simply can't afford to waste taxable property.

When I arrived 11 years ago,  the average city resident might have thought the city was lucky to have any development, or economic activity of any kind. Without our benevolent team owners, who would want to visit, work or live in our ugly, post industrial city. What is good for them, surely must be good for us? Um.... perhaps not.

With parking on North Shore in flux, developer gets extension on apartments

After two years, a developer might be allowed to build a 9 story 250 unit apartment building next to PNC Park IF They Replace 531 Parking Spaces Lost.

Which is more important to the teams, surface parking for occasional fans or actual taxable development?

"The stadium authority is required to replace parking under its option agreement with the Pirates, the Steelers and Continental to develop the land between the two sports facilities."

Meaning that taxpayers will likely have to pay for another huge expansion of another huge, hideous parking garage. 

No surprise that actual, livable residential construction is booming in the East End and other places far away from the stadiums.

Meanwhile the specter of gentrification becomes more visible.

Recent Penn Plaza evictions highlight East Liberty's severe lack of affordable housing 

Duh, who would have seen this coming? Certainly, not the new so called, progressive mayor who has so far kissed the ring of any and all team demands.

Pittsburgh task force on affordable housing to convene Thursday

“It’s critical because if we’re going to be an inclusive city and a city that allows for all income ranges to live here and prosper, you’re always going to need some affordable housing,” he said. “It’s really a conversation that is very timely, that is very needed.”

Followed by a call for the same kind of subsidies and policies that have helped make housing so affordable in New York, Boston and San Francisco.

How about  the city, state and federal government start by not helping sports teams turn the city into a parking lot for occasional fans. 

Ofcourse! It's Pittsburgh! "Steelers Pick Up Roles as Batman Movie Extras"

Tomorrow....Batman filming moves to the stadium....and Steelers are Batman movie extras.Ofcourse! Post Gazette article here

Great Talk About Personal and City Brands @ Urbanophile

The subject of who should or could control an urban brand, has been filtering around in my head for awhile and now Urbanophile has a post about it.

Readers of the blog, know I'm pretty sceptical about major taxpayer investments in sports teams (or any other private business). Mostly, this is about risk VS. potential reward. In terms of land use, stadiums are hard to fill most of the time and require huge parking footprints, but all of this I've brought up before.

Another, risk is the way concentrated investments like this tie a local brand to so few people or entities any of which could quickly turn toxic or choose to leave town.

Pittsburgh hit a brand lemon with Ben Roethlisberger but we seem to be surviving. Even worse, is watching the way so much of Cleveland's brand has now been tied to LeBron James, a sports figure honestly so huge and bankable that Cleveland has little chance of retaining him if money alone is the only factor. He holds all the cards and now they have to hope he stays.

LeBron's impact on the local advertising market is so great that some people wonder if The Cleveland Plain Dealer can even survive without it. It really seems to have been the plan of every major Cleveland institution, from the sports teams to The Symphony, to the Cleveland Museum, to The Cleveland Clinic to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to reach a scale and importance that might enable it to be called "too big to fail". Not many places have gambled so much on so few and so far it hasn't worked out.

Even worse, is that many of the other talented, hardworking "players", in the region see this kind of thing and have to secretly resent it.

Urbanophile's suggested strategy is likely a lot wiser.

"It strikes me that as with corporate brands, cities should do a market scan of their town and build an inventory people there like Fischer who are doing really cool stuff. Then you try your best to promote them, following the principle of “first do no harm” of course, and also encourage them to associate themselves with the city in some way, so that people at least know where they are from. Then if something cool like these maps goes viral, the city can pick up a bit of cred along the way. Most cities have lists of all the famous people who are originally from there. Wouldn’t it be nice if they were equally or more so focused on those who are still around that are doing cool stuff today? Done right, and in a non-heavy handed way, this could potentially be a win-win."

What interesting emerging innovators, talents and small business folks do you think carry the Pittsburgh brand? Same with Cleveland? What new ones are you watching?

Great Steeler Shrine In Post Gazette

Believe me, if you live here, you've seen your share of Pittsburgh Steeler shrines and Man Caves (not all made by men)but the one in today's post is above average for sure and likely borders on good folk art. It includes a good story too.

Like all real shrines, it combines holy relics, objects of devotion, proof of sacred moments or miracles and the physical manifestation of it's creator's love and devotion.

"More hand-painted miniatures. No. 92 is body-slamming a Browns fan. Several years ago, linebacker James Harris (who wears 92) did just that to a drunken Browns fan who ran onto the field."

Two seats from Three Rivers Stadium

Steel beam from Three Rivers Stadium

Chef's hat that was signed by former Steelers wide receiver Antwaan Randle El

Huge photo of the Ice Bowl signed by some of the greats who played in the game

"And then there's the pickle slice that one of the DeLuca boys tossed against the stadium wall one day after removing it from a hamburger. It, or a facsimile, stayed there for years. Before Three Rivers turned to dust, "we scraped it off the wall, took it to Kinko's and had it laminated," Mr. DeLuca said.

There's a red-white-and-blue football that his mother, the late Violet DeLuca, hid in 1965 to stop him from throwing it against the walls.

"The day she was on her death bed, she told me there was a football hidden inside a plastic seasonal coat bag" in the closet, he said."

The photos are great but I wish for more closeups of Deluca's hand painted figures and other stuff.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10009/1026824-30.stm##ixzz0c8npQUs5

A Critical Game Against The Browns: How Humiliating

Standing in the bitter cold wind, with our backs up against the lake with our season on the line-- against Cleveland. Who would have thought it would come to this?

Football's Price

GQ has a very, very heavy story on the price some football players may have payed for their time in the game.

"Let’s say you run a multibillion-dollar football league. And let’s say the scientific community—starting with one young pathologist in Pittsburgh and growing into a chorus of neuroscientists across the country—comes to you and says concussions are making your players crazy, crazy enough to kill themselves, and here, in these slices of brain tissue, is the proof. Do you join these scientists and try to solve the problem, or do you use your power to discredit them?"

A lot of lead characters in this story center around Allegheny county and ex Steeler greats like Mike Webster.

Still haven't read all of it yet.I may post further on this.