Neighborhood Trolley, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from Matt Bargar’s photostream

As Pittsburgh continues to receive increased attention from those publications that measure and list, the inevitable conversation locally turns to how we could do a better job in redefining our image. For most of the country, we are still mired in an image of our industrial past. The best way to strip away that perception is by being a leader in green initiatives and discovering ways to assist our growing new economy.

But, others see it more like an advertising campaign — a way to “brand” Pittsburgh through imagery. Well, we should know better — substance is always stronger than image. But, if we are to go down the gilded road of marketing and positioning then we should at least learn from the words of a true ‘Burgher — none other than Mr. Rogers. I found this article very informative and hope it can serve as a guide for Pittsburgh and those who try to capture the uniqueness that so many others are discovering.

Piggy savings bank, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from alancleaver’s photostream

These are excerpts from the October 21st edition of Bill Peduto’s twice monthly newsletter. You can read many posts about the parking-pension issue at Reform Pittsburgh Now. You can sign up to receive the newsletters here.

FAQs About Pensions

Many of you had questions regarding the city’s pension plan and many of your questions were the same. Let me try to address the major questions. Many of you wanted to know why the city is not trying to change the pension plan for present workers. First, I don’t believe you should break a promise and we have promised our present and past employees certain benefits. Secondly, the PA State Constitution prohibits any municipality from changing pension benefits to municipal employees. (You can read the rest of this article here.)

Why a State Administered Plan is Needed for Pittsburgh

So where do we go from here? The plan to lease our assets for 50 years did not resolve our pension crisis. Like a bucket with a hole in the bottom, the only thing it would have done was to buy us more time. But, with a system that bleeds over $30 million a year, it would only be about a dozen years before we would have spent all the money JP Morgan was offering. We would have been back to where we are now and would have the highest meter rates in the country. (You can read the rest of this article here.)

St_Pauls_Cathedral (5), a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (2.0) image from camrich345′s photostream

On September 6th, Pittsburghers joined Bill Peduto and special guests on a leisurely bike ride around Oakland and Pittsburgh’s East End as part of the Pedal Paddle Peduto Hike and Learn Series. Peddle Paddle Peduto is a series of three hiking, biking, and kayaking trips around Pittsburgh. Participants learn about Pittsburgh’s history and the vision for its future by key organizations involved in building the city’s next renaissance.

On this particular ride, they visited the religious institutions that call Oakland and the East End home. You can sign up for future Pedal Paddle Peduto events at Venture Outdoors.

Here’s a recap of that outing:

This is an excerpt of an article from Bill Peduto’s twice monthly newsletter. You can read the rest of it at Reform Pittsburgh Now (Part I, Part II). You can sign up to receive the newsletters here.

A lot of folks have asked me to explain to them what is going on down at City Hall with the Parking-Pension issue. I realize that most of you have some understanding from the media, but you still have questions and want to know what each of the different proposals will mean to you. Hopefully, I will be able to give you some information to better understand the issue and to know there are no easy solutions – and most don’t solve anything.

Please take a moment to take a poll on Pittsburgh’s parking assets and let your voice be heard.

Meet the trio responsible for our new website which will help to keep people informed, involved and interacting with others as we help build a New Pittsburgh.

John Carman
John developed and designed the new BillPeduto.com website. He is a communication designer and social media consultant who has been podcasting and blogging since 2005, and in 2007 he founded Avenue Design Studios as a web design and social media marketing firm.

Avenue Design projects range from building websites with embedded social connectivity, to managing blogs and social networks, to producing audio & video podcasts. Importance is placed on maintaining brand consistency across all media. In 2009, John incorporated AJAX Street, a software development company, along with co-founder Scott Connelly as part of the AlphaLab startup incubator program.

Chris Ivey
Chris is the website’s videographer. He’s an award-winning filmmaker/artist/documentarian who had received recognition for his short film works at the Tokyo Video Festival, Carolina Film Festival, Cin (E) Poetry Festival. He also won the Addy Award for Best Broadcast Campaign for commercials he directed for Jones Soda and the Washington Wild Things Baseball Club. Mr. Ivey has also shot notable works for Del Monte Foods, WBZZ-B94FM, music videos for artists J-Live, Soma Mestizo, 3 Generations Walking, Baleen, a documentary on the late Leroy Irvis for the University of Pittsburgh, and most recently the “East of Liberty” documentary series. You can view his YouTube channel here.

Maria Lupinacci
Maria is the site’s blogger. She’s a graphic designer, web designer and copywriter. Her work has appeared in Variety, Mediaweek and LA Weekly, among other venues. In Pittsburgh, she’s best know as the distaff half of 2 Political Junkies, which the Pittsburgh City Paper has called “one of the oldest and most-read political blogs in the city” and which is listed as one of four of the best state political blogs in Pennsylvania by The Washington Post’s The Fix.