On Wednesday, Councilman Peduto presented the findings from a six- month study investigating the feasibility of creating a commuter line system in Pittsburgh. This city line would connect Hazelwood on the Monongahela River to Lawrenceville on the Allegheny River. It would pass near The Technology Center, Schenley Park, CMU and Oakland, The Baum-Centre Corridor, Bloomfield and Lawrenceville.

Just as this line was critical to the rise of Pittsburgh’s industrial age, it is now the lynchpin in a transit-oriented development plan for our new economy. Oakland is a job creator, and it needs the help of this line to allow those jobs to expand to neighborhoods that have not seen growth in a long time. This line does just that, and it does even more.

This commuter line has the capability of creating a much larger, regional commuter rail system and a multi-modal transportation vision for Southwestern PA. It connects to the Norfolk Southern line, which runs through the Mon-Valley, to Greensburg and beyond. It connects to the AVRR line, which connects the Allegheny Valley to Armstrong County and Downtown. It creates the possibility of having park-and-ride garages off of Route 28 and the Parkway East, as well as a link downtown to the T-line (which would connect south) on Second Avenue. Finally, it also connects with the MLK Busway connecting many neighborhoods and eastern suburbs.

In short, we need to build this line – NOW.

View Councilman Peduto’s Presentation

Yesterday, Councilman Bill Peduto introduced six bills intended to increase environmental standards in the City of Pittsburgh. These bills are modeled after the initiatives laid out in the Pittsburgh Climate Action Plan, which Councilman Peduto helped to create.

If passed, the new green legislation would:

1. Codify the Sustainability Coordinator.
2. Codify an 11 person Sustainability Commission with representatives from Council, Mayor, and many City Departments.
3. Energy Audit – Require the City to do an energy audit of municipal buildings every 10 years.
4. Green Purchasing – Create a resolution calling for New Sustainable Purchasing Guidelines to be developed by administration.
5. Green Roofs – Create 2 categories of green roofs (greater than 5 inches of soil/more than 5 inches), and create guidelines for green roofs.
6. Recycling – Call for recycling cans on city streets, and increase recycling enforcement levels. It would also create the first steps toward a blue bin recycling program, and step up recycling in commercial, office and municipal buildings .

Visit the links below to read the legislation.

Energy Audits
Green Roofs
Recycling Changes
Sustainability Commission
Sustainably Purchasing Resolution

Read more:
Peduto Pushes Green Legislation – Pittsburgh Post Gazette

Who is Guyasuta? He was a Seneca chief who led the French and the British through the wilderness of western PA.

Six years ago, Councilman Peduto captured his spirit and created a Fellowship for young and young hearted Pittsburghers to help form public policy through a unique process. This year you are invited to be a part, as we study triple bottom line economics and see how it can be utilized to revitalize our neighborhoods. The fellowship is looking for young, committed residents of Western PA that plan on staying in the area for at least the next 2 to 5 years.

The first presentation of the fellowship this year, The New Deal/ A Better Deal – A Context For Historical Change, will take place on Thursday, October 29, 2009 6:30pm – 8:30pm at AVA Lounge, 126 S. Highland Avenue, 15206.
Just email pat@jacksonclark.net to sign up or learn more, or visit www.guyasutafellowship.com.

At the beginning of October the International Urban Development Association held their INTA33 Congress in Taiwan to discuss the topic of “Innovative Urban Environments.”  The mission of INTA is to bring together public and private urban practitioners in a series of conferences, seminars, peer-to-peer panels and yearly conferences to promote an exchange of ideas, and to create strategies to work towards achieving the goal of sustainable development.

Councilman Bill Peduto has been involved with INTA since 2003.  He was granted a scholarship by the group to travel to The Hague in the Netherlands to study “regional governance” from a global to local perspective with this organization. In 2005, Councilman Peduto joined the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation in welcoming them to Pittsburgh.

INTA helps us all to understand that the problems facing cities are the same worldwide, and so are many of the solutions.

Learn more about INTA33

The Group Against Smog and Pollution has named Councilman Bill Peduto one of  ”40 Environmental Heros”  in recognition of his leadership on environmental issues.

GASP sought nominations for the title in honor of their 40th anniversary. The group will recognize these leaders at the 4oth Anniversary Celebration tonight, from 6pm – 9pm at the Union Project in Highland Park.  Tickets to the event are available online at the GASP website.

At the beginning of October, an initiative called the “Breath Easy, Stay Healthy” campaign was introduced with the goal of reducing the fine soot pollution in Pittsburgh’s air.  This fine soot is the main cause of Pittsburgh’s number one ranking as the “Dirtiest Air” city for two consecutive years.  This initiative was introduced by Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (PennFuture), and joined by leaders from the Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP) and Clean Water Action, along with Dr. Evelyn O. Talbott of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health Department of Epidemiology and Allegheny County Council President Richard Fitzgerald.

Councilman Bill Peduto will also be a part of this campaign with his “Code Green” initiative, as he begins to work on greening the City’s laws in accordance with the Pittsburgh Climate Action Plan.  These amendments will work to cut both air pollution and greenhouse gas emission in Pittsburgh.

To learn more about the ”Breath Easy, Stay Healthy” campaign, read the PennFuture press release.

A recent article in The New York Times also discusses the issue of air pollution, but looks at how a reduction in air pollutant emissions can lead to an increase in polluted waters.  Read the article here.

Councilman Bill Peduto will be one of the sponsors the Three Rivers Bioneers conference that will be held in Pittsburgh this weekend. The mission of the conference is to foster a local movement of citizens and organizations who strive to cultivate sustainable communities in the Three Rivers bioregion through social justice, ecological health and innovative solutions.  The conference will take place from Friday, October 16 to Sunday, October 18 at the Pittsburgh Project.

The keynote speakers of the conference are Greg Boulos, the Western Director of the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, and Khari Mosley, the Director of Green Economic Initiatives for G-TECH strategies.  Other speakers broadcast via satellite from the National Bioneers Conference include Andrew Weil and Michael Pollan.

For more information, or to register for the conference, visit the website.

On Saturday, Councilman Bill Peduto was the keynote speaker at Pittsburgh Podcamp 4 at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. His speech focused on the emergence of e-democracy and how individuals can help change pittsburgh, the democratic process and the world through technology and new media.  Read more about this event in this Pop City article.

Podcamp is a community unconference that allows people to come together to discuss, and learn more about social media.  There have been 3 previous Podcamps in Pittsburgh, and Councilman Peduto has attended them all.  To learn more about Podcamp, visit the website.

Last Saturday, Councilman Bill Peduto spoke to the Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania Township Commissioners Association, presenting to them his plan for LED street lights in Pittsburgh.  The organization is made up of council members and other government leaders from local boroughs, whom come together to discuss issues within their respective boroughs.

Councilman Peduto’s goal is to make Pittsburgh a model for LED lighting, which can then spread to the boroughs around the City.   Read more about Councilman Peduto’s plan for LED lighting in Pittsburgh in A Bright, Green Idea for Pittsburgh

View Councilman Peduto’s presentation here.

Last Saturday, Councilman Bill Peduto served as a judge for The Waffle Shop’s Visionary Ideas for this World or Another Event.

The event asked for submissions of visionary ideas for the future, and asked participants for extravagant proposals such as “visionary schemes for things like: how to survive the end of the planet, a way for animals to run governments, a cloning system that reinvents history, or an entire alternate universe of your own design.”

Ten participants were selected from the submissions to pitch their idea in a short presentation to the judges and the audience.  Participants could be local, national or even international, and could pitch their ideas to the judges in person, or using a “body double” that connected with the participants via Skype and spoke on their behalf.

The winning submission came from Vanessa German, with her presentation on “The Power of Imagination.”  Follow the links to read more about the event in The Tartan, and learn more about The Waffle Shop.