gutter flash, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from D’Arcy Norman’s photostream

The East End of the City experienced a major flood on August 19, 2011 resulting in the tragic loss of four lives on Washington Boulevard and untold financial damages for residents and business. While the events of August 19 served to focus attention on this issue, it is not a new problem. Over the past three years, many residents and business owners in my district have suffered more than $10,000 worth of flood damage on as many as six separate occasions. This is clearly unacceptable to all of us and must be addressed. To be certain, the problems on Washington Boulevard begin upstream in the watershed and must be addressed in a comprehensive strategy.

Therefore, I have called for a public meeting on Tuesday, September 6 at 6:00 PM at the Winchester Thurston School. This meeting will be co-hosted by my office and community and business groups in Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, Point Breeze, and East Liberty. The meeting will be an opportunity for residents to voice their concerns directly to the PWSA, the Mayor’s Office and county and state elected officials. It is important that the community be provided a public forum to stand up and tell their stories about how these repeated floods have affected them.

I hope that this forum will be the catalyst for a serious focus on these issues and a search for long-term, sustainable solutions.

September 6, 2011, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Winchester Thurston School
555 Morewood Avenue, Pittsburgh, 15213

The Street was a River I., a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from Andy.Schultz’s photostream

Bridge at Panther Hollow, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from KitAy’s photostream

Panther Hollow Run, Phipps Run, and Panther Hollow Lake not only comprise a beautiful recreational area — they are part of the Panther Hollow Watershed — an ecologically important component of one of the largest sewer sheds in Pittsburgh, the Four Mile Run Watershed. Panther Hollow Run and Phipps Run join just above Panther Hollow Lake which drains into underground pipe. The pipe also carries the the Four Mile Run stream and all of the water eventually drains into the Monongahela River.

Panther Hollow Watershed Map, from Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy flyer

This watershed only gets water from stormwater pipes — there’s no sewer overflow. This is, of course, a benefit to the lake and the citizens of Pittsburgh who enjoy it. However, the watershed does suffer from increased urbanization. Additionally, there are other ecological problems such as “invasive and non-native plants, soil erosion, elevated soil nitrogen levels, increasing deer populations, loss of tree canopy, and deferred maintenance of storm pipes.”

Ecological restoration was necessary and the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, the City, the Department of Public Works and many volunteers have made great progress in that direction over the past ten years. The Conservancy has also developed partnerships with local universities and agencies to track the state of the watershed. But, more needs to be done.

You can attend a community meeting in September that will be part of the overall watershed planning process. You’ll also get to preview pilot restoration project designs created by the chosen design team that will be installed in the park next spring. Anyone interested in water, parks or their community is welcome to attend:

September 8, 2011, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh
Levinson Hall B
5738 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, 15217

The Conservancy asks that you please sign up if you plan to attend by using the registration form on the Pittsburgh Parks website (click here), or by calling 412-682-7275, ext. 205.

Panther Hollow, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from michaelrighi’s photostream

#2 Pencils, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from kungfubonanza’s photostream

On August 4th, Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Linda Lane announced a proposed District Realignment Plan. The new plan would close seven schools (Fort Pitt PreK-5, Langley High School, Murray K-8, Northview PreK-8, Oliver High School, Shaeffer K-8, Stevens K-8) and seven buildings and open one new school. (click here to view the proposed changes). School Board approval is required to make these changes which would not take effect earlier than the 2012-2013 school year. The earliest the Board can vote on the District Realignment Plan is November 22, 2011.

The reasons for the proposed school closings are due to both declining enrollment and huge budget deficits. From their website:

Pittsburgh Public Schools, like districts across the Commonwealth and the country, is facing daunting financial challenges. When the District adopted the 2011 budget, the problem was smaller but still there – and showed an $8.7 million deficit for 2011 and forecasted a $53.6 million deficit for 2012.With the announcement of the Governor’s proposed funding cuts in March 2011, the District’s projected budget deficit grew to $68 million for 2012 and nearly $100 million in 2015.

There will be a Special Public Hearing on August 22, 2011 at 6:00 p.m. to receive public comment on the District Realignment Plan. This is your chance to make your views known. If you want to speak at this hearing, you must register with the Office of Superintendent of Schools by calling 412-622-3600 by Noon on August 22, 2011. You may also submit written testimony in lieu of appearing at the hearing via email to publichearing@pghboe.net or by fax to 412-622-3624 no later than 5 p.m. on August 22, 2011.

Pittsburgh Public Schools Special Public Hearing
August 22, 2011, 6:00 p.m.
Conference Room A, First Floor
Board of Public Education Administration Building
341 South Bellefield Avenue
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213

P1120132, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from wyliepoon’s photostream

You’re standing at a bus stop. Every couple of minutes you peer down the street. Then you glance at your watch. Then you look down the street again. Why? Because you and everyone else at the stop only want to know one thing: When’s the bus coming? Now, in Pittsburgh, there’s an app for that. Carnegie Mellon University has developed an iPhone app that provides real time information on Port Authority of Allegheny County bus and “T” arrivals. It’s called Tiramisu — which in Italian literally means “pick me up.” Tiramisu allows riders to use crowdsourcing not only to let fellow public transit users know exactly where a bus is, but also how full it is and more. From Carnegie Mellon News:

When a rider first activates the app, Tiramisu displays the nearest stops and a list of buses or light rail vehicles that are scheduled to arrive. The list includes arrival times, based either on historical data for that route or on real-time reports from riders. When the desired vehicle arrives, the user indicates the level of “fullness” and then presses a button, allowing their phone to share an ongoing GPS trace with the Tiramisu server. Once aboard, the rider can use Tiramisu to find out which stop is next and to report problems, positive experiences and suggestions.

Tiramisu screenshots

Tiramisu was developed by researchers in the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Accessible Public Transportation (RERC-APT) and supported in part by CMU’s Traffic21 initiative. RERC-APT is a collaboration between CMU and the University of Buffalo which focused on the transportation needs of people with disabilities. It’s critical, for example, for riders who use wheelchairs to know if a bus is crowded or if there’s ample room for their needs. Of course, most people would love to know more real time information about their bus, so the idea has been expanded for all riders.

Tiramisu is available free through the iTunes AppStore. It’s currently compatible with the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad and it requires iOS 4.0 or later. The developers promise that it will also soon be available for Android smartphones as well. While it was still being tested, it was found that even a small number of riders on a route could provide useful information and that participants in the pilot studies continued to use it even after the formal study ended. That said, the more people who use the app, the better and more useful this tool will become. Therefore, you’ll get the most out of this free app by letting all of your friends and coworkers know about it too.

Tiramisu is part of a larger trend for cities to work with game developers to use smartphone apps and games to improve communities. An article from American City & County describes how New Yorkers were able to use The Commons game iPhone app to report problems and submit suggestions to improve city services. And, in Macon, GA, officials worked with developers to create Macon Money which rewarded participating residents with currency to spend at local businesses in order to spur local economic development and to help tear down social divisions.

New hybrid electric bus, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from HerrVebah’s photostream

Switches?, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from feesta’s photostream

UnSmoke Systems Artspace hosts The Lost Pittsburgh School exhibit, lecture and performance series from August 6 – 27. Councilor Bill Peduto will be one of the featured speakers (details below). While the artwork is real, the artists listed on the project’s website are archetypal and reflect our region’s industrial roots and changing economy. The work itself includes environmental and conceptual outdoor art and the website includes geotagging via Google Maps for some of the works featured in the show. Here’s a description of The Lost Pittsburgh School by novelist Stewart O’Nan:

For over 30 years, the city that made the weapons which defeated the Confederacy, the Kaiser and then the Nazis, that provided the steel for all the cars from Detroit and the beams for the Chrysler and the Empire State Buildings, that gave the world Gertrude Stein, Billy Strayhorn and Andy Warhol — the city that endlessly inspired W. Eugene Smith — was known exclusively as the home of a football team. Except to those who lived here, and even to many of them, the city itself was invisible.

In those underground years, the artists of what has been dubbed The Lost Pittsburgh School took on the project of self-definition, glorying in the radical changes to the city’s landscape. The work is a nearly unfiltered reflection of the moment. Decay and chaos rule.

Actor and writer David Conrad, who is one of the organizers of the project, describes members of this heretofore lost school of art as “imagined exemplars of an era, vehicles to help us reconceive what is art, and what is Pittsburgh.”

Thus, we get artists like “Gil Dugita” who’s “never held a job outside of a bar or a non-union construction site” and who has five children by four different women. “Gil” is obsessed with light and the color white and he “regularly buys out the supply of Bell and Mason White from TT hardware on Carson St. on Pgh’s South Side.” Then there’s “Danilova Navratilova Malloy” who received a degree in fine and industrial design from Carnegie Mellon and worked as a civil engineer until the economy and the legacy of her grandfather — a master of ceramic and glass design from Bratislava — caught up with her. She became one of Pittsburgh’s finest mosaic and stained glass artists.

The Lost Pittsburgh School exhibit, lectures and performances can be seen for free each Saturday at 7:00 PM (the exhibit can also be seen by appointment during the week: info@unsmokeartspace.com). This Saturday, August 13th, will feature lectures by Charlie Humphrey, Executive Director of the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and Pittsburgh Filmmakers; Bill Peduto, Pittsburgh City Council Member; and Doug Shields, Pittsburgh City Council Member. The UnSmoke Artspace is located at 1137 Braddock Ave., Braddock, Pa. 15104.

“Gil Dugita”

Work by “Danilova Navratilova Malloy”

Brushes, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from john_a_ward’s photostream

The Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council needs you! The Arts Council is an “arts service organization” which means they exist not to create art, but to help others do so by offering many levels of support for artists. They have a membership of over 250 organizations and nearly 3,000 artists. They need your help because the walls of their new office are screaming for art. Of course that art does need to consist of work by local and regional visual artists. Better still, not only do they want to display your art, they want you to sell your work. “Art on the Walls” is a bi-annual, solo exhibition opportunity for individual artists in the greater Pittsburgh region. The exhibition is free and is open to the public during regular business hours.

They do need to be able to display the work on their walls so they’re looking for printmaking, photography, fiber, painting and drawing formats. (Lightweight sculptures will be considered if they can be hung.) Your application must be received by 5:00 PM on Friday, August 19, 2011. Click here to apply.