Did you know that the average household spends 20% of its income on transportation? Would you like to participate in the the planning process that will guide transportation decisions and spending in Pittsburgh for the next 25 years? If so, we have a meeting for you.
MOVEPGH is a part of PLANPGH, the City of Pittsburgh’s first-ever comprehensive plan. The goal of MOVEPGH is to “[p]rovide a transportation network that is safe and efficient while meeting the City’s transportation needs.” The City expects the transportation needs of this area to grow because it anticipates a rise in population over the next few decades due, in part, to all of the favorable publicity the City is rightfully receiving. However, with all our great assets, the City has a fixed, established street network — as do most older cities. The plan must accommodate not only the needs of cars and public transit, but walkers and bikers — providing the the kind of wide range of transportation options that attract urban dwellers.
The planning process for MOVEPGH is being led by the Pittsburgh Department of City Planning. Nine top transportation planning and engineering firms from around the country are participating as consultants. But, they also want and need your input. On Thursday, MOVEPGH will conduct a public kick-off meeting for the transportation plan. Attend and add your voice to the process.
MOVEPGH Public Kickoff Meeting
WHEN: Thursday February 2, 2012, from 6 to 8 PM. WHERE: Building #3B (Porter Hall) off Frew Street on the Carnegie Mellon University Campus (Oakland). (map)
For additional information, please see the meeting flyer here. If you have special needs for attending this meeting, contact Patrick Roberts at 412-255-2224.
Pittsburgh institution, John McIntire, will be hosting three other Pittsburgh institutions this Saturday. The John McIntire Dangerously Live Comedy Show features local journalists, politicians, comics and celebrities saying the kinds of things you usually only hear off the record, but live on stage. The panelists for January’s show are nationally-known forensic pathologist and loquacious talker Dr. Cyril Wecht, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and syndicated award-winning cartoonist Rob Rogers, and our very own Councilman Bill Peduto!
The theme is Incivility Rules:
Lack of civility! When did we all start hating each other?
You see it on the roads with tailgaters. You see it with people who refuse to stop staring at their I-phones to actually speak. You see it in the over heated political discourse. We can’t stand one another. We’re aggressive. We’re dismissive. We’re condescending. (Or maybe that’s just McIntire).
You can expect a thoroughly irreverent and fun time as John and guests riff on the topic. Also, you get a bonus set of “honest absurdity” from featured comedian Gab Bonesso (named “The Best Comedian in Pittsburgh” by both Pittsburgh Magazine and Pittsburgh City Paper).
John McIntire Dangerously Live Comedy Show Presented by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust WHEN: Saturday, January 28, 2012, 10:30 PM WHERE: The Cabaret at Theater Square, 655 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15222 (map) COST: Only $5! *Ticket holders from any earlier show downtown gain free admission (based on seating availability; must show ticket stub for free admission).
There will be two information sessions held this week on the subject of Allegheny County property reassessments. Elected officials will answer questions about the assessments and the appeals process to help insure that property owners will have all the information that they need.
JCC Information Session of Property Reassessments WHEN: Monday, January 9, 2012, 7:00pm until 9:00pm WHERE: Jewish Community Center, Levinson Hall B, Kauffman Building, 5738 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15217 (map) WHO: State Representative Dan Frankel, Councilman Corey O’Connor, Councilman Bill Peduto
Information Session on Property Reassessments WHEN: Wednesday, January 11, 2012, 6:30pm until 8:00pm WHERE: West Penn Hospital, Wintergarden Auditorium (1st Floor), 4800 Friendship Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15224 (map) WHO: Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, State Representative Dom Costa, Councilman Bill Peduto, Bloomfield Citizens Council
The following video contains scenes from the 2011 annual Holiday Fete at the former Borders Books in East Liberty. Over 800 friends gathered to enjoy great music, food and drink as well as to share a common belief in a New Pittsburgh. This event has grown into more than a political fundraiser, it is a gathering of like-minded people who love Pittsburgh and want to see it reach its potential.
From all of us at People for Peduto: We wish you and your family Peace throughout the Holiday Season and Happiness in the New Year.
Are you a business or legal professional interested in the arts? Then the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council is interested in meeting you! They need business women and men who are interested in donating their professional knowledge to nonprofits through their Business Volunteers for the Arts program. They’re looking for people from all different areas — marketing, accounting, planning, IT, etc. — who are strategic thinkers. If this is something that you’d like to consider doing, they’re sponsoring an event on Monday which will give you ‘a look “under the hood” of the local arts scene’ and give you a better understanding of the needs and challenges of the local arts community.
Business, Meet the Arts! WHEN: Monday, December 12, 5:30-8 PM WHERE: Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, 810 Penn Avenue, Suite 200, Downtown (map) WHAT: Casual evening, Light food & drinks
Presenters include:
Vic Dozzi, CPA, Crawford Ellenbogen
Peggy Outon, Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management
El Coro Latinoamericano, founded in 1997, is a non-profit organization and Latin American choir. Their mission is to “build bridges among the Americas” through choral expression, cultural education and good will. Their repertoire includes romantic songs, boleros, tangos and valses from 17 different countries. On Saturday, December 10, 2011, they will present a holiday concert at the Frick Fine Arts Auditorium, University of Pittsburgh campus in Oakland (map). The concert begins at 7:30 PM and will be led by choral conductor Dr. Meredith Malone Armbrust.
Soloists and guest artists will include:
Tone/Overtone (Rachel Rue, flute, Keith Cochran, accordion)
Undertones (Barbara E. Johnson, Richard Johnson, Michele Rothert, Ernesto Contenti)
Pianist Aida Olarte of Bogotá, Colombia
Coro Latinoamericano Juvenil de Pittsburgh (Latin American Youth Choir) led by Founder/Music Director Rachel Matos
Come celebrate the season with a performance of a variety of carols and other selections with lyrics in Spanish and Portuguese. Additionally, there will be a presentation of their annual COROLA Award. The award is given to an outstanding member of the community who has contributed to the cultural enrichment and well being of Pittsburgh.
October 2 is the day of Mahatma Gandhi‘s birth. It is also the day that the United Nations General Assembly declared to be the International Day of Non-Violence to honor this pre-eminent leader of the Indian independence movement who achieved his goal through a strategy of non-violence. Gandhi inspired the world — in the political, philosophical and spiritual realms — through his pioneering use of “satyagraha” which he defined as follows:
Truth (satya) implies love, and firmness (agraha) engenders and therefore serves as a synonym for force. I thus began to call the Indian movement Satyagraha, that is to say, the Force which is born of Truth and Love or non-violence, and gave up the use of the phrase “passive resistance”, in connection with it, so much so that even in English writing we often avoided it and used instead the word “satyagraha” itself or some other equivalent English phrase
The Asian Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh will celebrate Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday and his teachings this Sunday with cultural performances, inter-faith presentations, and more. The day will also include a lecture by Dr. Uma Majmudar, Gandhian researcher and published author. “Gandhi’s Legacy of ‘Satyagraha’ in the Modern World” will explore the meaning of that philosophy both as used by Gandhi and how it pertains to our modern times.
Along with The Asian Studies Center, sponors for this event include Sri Venkateswara Temple, Alliance for Humanitarian Initiatives Non-violence and Spiritual Advancement, Hindu Jain Temple, Sunday Morning Forum of the First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon Multicultural & Diversity Initiatives, Gujarati Samaj of Greater Pittsburgh, Chinmaya Sanjeevani Ashram, Rotary Club of Monroeville, the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Association for India’s Development (AID), and Silk Screen.
CELEBRATING GANDHI: THE MAN AND HIS TEACHINGS WHAT: Annual Mahatma Gandhi Birthday Celebration WHEN: Sunday, October 2, 2011, 3:00 – 5:00 PM WHERE: Frick Fine Arts Auditorium, University of Pittsburgh
As required by Congress, every four years the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reviews its rules about media ownership. The Commission is expected to complete their 2010 review this fall. In the last review, the FCC set aside an all-out ban on newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership — allowing mergers to be made on a case-by-case basis. Media consolidation — whereby a larger share of the mass media is owned by progressively fewer people — is the opposite of diversity. While it’s often said that the public owns the airwaves, real ownership of what is broadcast is in the hands of less and less people. This is, of course, especially concerning when it comes to protecting the public interest in terms of in-depth investigative reporting and quality local news. Add to that the attempts by Congress to end funding for PBS stations (including, now, a “super committee” charged with trimming the federal budget who will weigh cuts to public media) and you have a citizenry who should be rightly concerned about who really owns the airwaves.
If you share these concerns, you’re invited to attend a public forum on Monday, September 26. Free Press and SaveTheNews.org is holding the “Owning Our Airwaves: A Community Dialogue with Media Policymakers” community meeting that evening. You can speak about the state of the media with Rep. Mike Doyle, Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps and others. Event co-sponsors include Carnegie Mellon University, Common Cause, Pittsburgh Black Media Federation, SLB Radio Productions, Inc., Tube City Community Media, Inc., and Urban Green Growth Collaborative.
What: Owning Our Airwaves: A Community Dialogue with Media Policymakers When: Monday, Sept. 26 at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6:30. Where: McConomy Auditorium, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh Who: Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood, President and CEO of WQED Multimedia Deborah Acklin, Khari Mosley of the Urban Green Growth Collaborative , Chris Ramirez of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Jon Peha, Carnegie Mellon University and Marge Krueger, Communications Workers of America.
You can find out more information about this event and R.S.V.P. here.
Pedal, Paddle, Peduto returns in 2011 with the City Lights Paddle on Wednesday, September 21 from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. The Pedal, Paddle, Peduto Hike and Learn Series consists of three educational, outdoor adventures. Pedal, Paddle, Peduto is hosted by Venture Outdoors — Pittsburgh’s premier outdoor experiences organization. During each outing, you’ll learn about our city’s history and the vision for its future with Councilman Bill Peduto and special guests.
Participants in the City Lights Paddle will join Councilman Peduto, architect Rob Pfaffmann, Tom Baxter from Friends of the Riverfront and Sean Brady from Riverlife for an evening paddle in Downtown Pittsburgh. It’s a five mile, round-trip paddle with stops for discussions of future city development from the perspective of the waterfront, riverfront trails and rivers. Imagine watching the sun setting over the beautiful Pittsburgh skyline from the unique vantage point of a kayak on the river! It will truly be an unforgettable experience for anyone who loves Pittsburgh.
City Lights Paddle
Date: Wednesday, September 21 Location: Kayak Pittsburgh – Downtown (near PNC Park) Difficulty: Moderate Time: 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM Cost: $33.00 non-member / $25.00 member
You can register online here or call call 412-255-0564, ext. 0.
You can find out more about the other events in the Pedal, Paddle, Peduto Hike and Learn Series here.
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