Pittsburgh Map, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from dmuth’s photostream

Want to know the percentage of renters vs. owner-occupied housing in Allentown? How about the population by age of Homewood South residents? Want to know how many in the West End are native born? Now, you have a tool to find out all that and more. The University of Pittsburgh’s University Center for Social and Urban Research (UCSUR) was created in 1972 to serve as a resource for researchers and educators interested in the basic and applied social and behavioral sciences. The UCSUR’s program in Urban and Regional Analysis has spent decades studying patterns of change in Pittsburgh neighborhoods. This month, they released a report titled City of Pittsburgh Neighborhood Profiles American Community Survey Five-Year Estimates 2005-2009 Data.

The report compiles data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) for the City of Pittsburgh’s 90 neighborhoods. ACS is a new program which replaced what was previously known as the “long-form” census. The ACS has a smaller sample size than the old long form allowing for data to be compiled on a neighborhood basis. It should be noted that because the sample size is so small, errors are magnified with smaller areas having the largest margin of error. Therefore, the report notes, “It is recommended that the data released by the ACS program should be used to understand the characteristics of specific geographic areas, and the data generally should not be used as a reference for the specific counts of individuals, households or housing units.” This shows up most notably near the beginning of the report (pages 5 and 6) where comparisons are made between neighborhoods. For example, the report compares the five neighborhoods with the highest and lowest percentage of households comprised of married‐couple families — I’m guessing there actually are some married couples in Chateau.

Still, the two-page profiles of each neighborhood are a fascinating read as a reflection of the characteristics of the residents who live there. Data has been compiled for each of Pittsburgh’s 90 neighborhoods in the following categories:

Population by Race
Family Structure (Household Type)
Place of Birth By Citizenship Status
Population by Age Group
School Enrollment
Household Income
Poverty
Tenure (Owner-occupied Vs. Renters)
Educational Attainment
Commuting
Migration

You can view the full report here. (You can go to the index on page three to find your neighborhood.)

TypeCon 2010 Los Angeles: Famous LA Traffic Jam, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from FontFont’s photostream

Sustainable communities promote sustainable living by providing people with access to affordable housing, increasing their transportation options, lowering their transportation costs, and at the same time, protecting the environment to better support local economies. Being able to live in a diverse community that is close to where you work and where you can purchase local produce and patronize local businesses helps the environment, the local economy and your pocketbook. Additionally, healthy, safe and walkable neighborhoods are communities where people want to live. With this in mind, two years ago, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) joined together to form The Partnership for Sustainable Communities.

The Partnership “works to coordinate federal housing, transportation, water and other infrastructure investments” to help accomplish sustainability. They do this through providing new funding opportunities, working to reduce barriers at the federal level, and by talking to residents and businesses in hundreds of communities. On June 16th, The Partnership for Sustainable Communities will celebrate their two year anniversary. They have created webinars which you can participate in to learn more about their efforts (listed below). You can also learn more about sustainable communities at Smart Growth America.

A Variety of Transportation Options:

DC Dupont multimodal, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from faceless b’s photostream

Celebrating Two Years of Partnership
What: Join the senior leadership of the federal Partnership for Sustainable Communities to celebrate the Partnership’s two-year anniversary and to talk about what initiatives are coming next.
Who: Beth Osborne, Deputy Assistant Secretary, DOT; Shelley Poticha, Director, Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities, HUD; John Frece, Director, Office of Sustainable Communities, EPA; and Derek Douglas, Special Assistant to the President for Urban Affairs (Invited)
When: Thursday, June 16, 2011 – 1:00 PM EDT
Where: Click here to register for this webinar. Call-in information will be sent to registrants.

Long Term Affordability Near Transit
What: A webinar that will highlight innovative affordable transit-oriented development initiatives across the country, including Austin, Texas and Fairfax County, Virginia – two jurisdictions that have put long-term affordable homeownership mechanisms into place to create and sustain equitable transit-oriented communities.
Who: Co-Hosted by Cornerstone Partnership, the Center for Housing Policy, and the National Housing Conference; Allison Brooks, Chief of Staff, Reconnecting America; John L. Payne A.I.A, Deputy Director for Real Estate, Fairfax County Department of Housing and Community Development; Kelly Weiss, Executive Director, PeopleTrust in Austin, TX; Moderated by Ryan Sherriff, Center for Housing Policy
When: Thursday, June 16, 2011. The two-part event begins at 2:30 p.m. ET with a 90-minute webinar that will provide an opportunity to listen to each speaker as well as ask questions.
Where: Register here

Understanding Mixed-Income Transit-Oriented Development
What: This event will focus on introducing participants to the benefits, strategies, and challenges of mixed-income transit-oriented development and will introduce a useful tool, the “Mixed-Income TOD Action Guide.”
Who: Center for Transit-Oriented Development
When: Tuesday, June 21, 2011 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM EDT
Where: Click here to register

Mixed-Income Development:

B-dairy tnhome with SFD PDX, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from faceless b’s photostream

Pedestrian Street:

Pedestrian Street – Athens, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from UrbanGrammar’s photostream

Walkable Communities:

Housing Community, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from www.urbancityarch.com’s photostream

Carnegie Library 2, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from Sean_Marshall’s photostream

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (CLP) will be hosting a series of community meetings in five neighborhoods (North Side, Lawrenceville, Beechview, East Liberty & West End) during the month of March. CLP wants to share information on their funding status and discuss how together we can sustain and grow our libraries. Space is limited and registration is required for these meetings. You can register by contacting Maggie McFalls at mcfallsm@carnegielibrary.org or at 412-622-8877, or you can register online at the links provided below.

Thursday, March 3, 2011
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
CLP-Allegheny / North Side (map)
1230 Federal Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15212
You can register online by filling in the form here

Monday, March 7, 2011
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
CLP-Lawrenceville (map)
279 Fisk Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15201
You can register online by filling in the form here

Wednesday, March 16, 2011
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
CLP-Beechview (map)
1910 Broadway Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15216
You can register online by filling in the form here

Tuesday, March 22, 2011
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
CLP-East Liberty (map)
130 S. Whitfield Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15206
You can register online by filling in the form here

Wednesday, March 30, 2011
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
CLP-West End (map)
47 Wabash Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15220
You can register online by filling in the form 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:

A new report by the Keystone Research Center shows that Pennsylvania has begun to invest in sustainable development across the state.  Between 2003 and 2008, Pennsylvania’s three major economic development assistant programs invested more aid per capita into older cities and towns than into “outer townships.”  KRC also released data on how the state’s major metropolitan areas distributed the business subsidies they received, and ranked that data in order from the most investment into older communities to the least.  Of the 9 areas examined, Pittsburgh was tied with Lancaster for 6th, behind Erie, Reading, Harrisburgh, Philadelphia and Scranton – Wilkes Barre.

To learn more, read the report.

The Creative Neighborhood Revitalization Taskforce, a group of students at The Ohio State University, are among the many speaking out for sustainable development and investment in older communities.  It is imperative that the Pittsburgh region begins to focus on reversing our cycle of sprawl and decline, and emerges as a leader in Pennsylvania and the nation in the practice of revitalizing our older communities through smart growth practices.  Watch a video created by The Creative Neighborhood Revitalization Taskforce below.

Last week, Councilman Bill Peduto sent a letter to the Library Board of Trustees containing a timeline of the events since last October surrounding the announced closing of several branches, and the commitment that the City of Pittsburgh made to provide $1.24 million in funding between 2009 and 2010.

Read the Letter Here

A $1 million allocation to the Carnegie Library was included as a line item appropriation in the City’s 2010 budget.  Mayor Ravenstahl says that this funding was contingent on the passage of the Student Tuition Tax, however it was never removed from the final budget, which has already been approved by both the Mayor and City Council.  City Council continues to pledge it’s support to the library system, and today introduced legislation intended to provide the rest of the $1.24 million that was promised to the Carnegie Library.

Learn more:
Pittsburgh Council Considers More Library Money
Mayor Balks at Giving More Money to Libraries
City Dangles $640,000 Before Library System

The announcement by the Pittsburgh Carnegie Library system that some of the neighborhood branch libraries will be closing has been met with much public outcry, and has sparked discussions about the role of libraries in our communities.

Bookless Libraries, an article published on Inside Higher Education’s website highlights the debate about the role of the library in the 21st century.

In the age of technology, can libraries be replaced by online substitutes? Or are the “bricks and mortar” of the library essential to it’s definition? These are the questions debated in this article, which discusses the different perspectives on the library as a community center, or simply as a place to locate information.

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.

On Sunday, Pittsburgh Police Officers and Pittsburgh teenagers met at Mellon Park for the third annual Battle of the Badge basketball tournament.

Neighborhood teams from around the city came together for a day of basketball, live music and food.  Local businesses donated prizes food and raffle prizes, and The Marilyn G. Rabb (MGR) Foundation ran an art station.

The winning team came from Career Connections Charter High School.  Read more about the event here.