Feb 25 2009
I used to fantasize that trees could throw rotten apples at their offenders the way they did in "The Wizard of Oz." But then I began living in cities.
If trees could lash out at egregious behaviors against them, cities would be war zones of flying acorns, apples, sticks, stinko berries and whatever else manages to grow. Even in our parks, where roots and canopy should be able to stretch out, many old trees have been topped. Many stand in entanglements of girdling roots. So much old pruning looks like torture wounds.
Trees suffer silently, and all the people who esteem them put up with being called "tree huggers." It's a tough-guy ridicule that only shows how ignorant tough guys can be.
One rule we learned in Tree Tenders classes this month was that trees do not like being embraced. The real tree huggers damage trees by stringing lights tightly around their trunks and leaving so-called protective wraps around them long after planting.
I and 45 other people attended classes three successive Tuesdays at the Allegheny Center Alliance Church recently. We paid $40 and got three marvelous meals before learning more about trees than even some landscapers seem to know. This week, we each earned our certification and a T-shirt to wear to planting and pruning days in the neighborhood.
Friends of the Pittsburgh Urban Forest (FPUF) holds classes throughout the city every year and has certified almost 350 people so far. We are the tree ambassadors among our neighbors. We're the ones who will suggest to our dog-walking friends that dog urine is acidic and causes bark to fall away from the base of the tree. We have the chance to tell our well-meaning friends that a bike should never be chained to a tree, to admonish children not to gang up on a tree branch by tugging it repeatedly. A tree's bark is its skin.
Thanks to this non-profit and its partner TreeVitalize -- a project of the state, the county, the city, FPUF and the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy -- our little army of Tree Tenders can support the city's understaffed forestry department, which can barely keep up with tree maintenance.
Along with my North Side neighbors Marilyn Detwiler, Catherine Ryan, Kim Walkenhorst, John Engle and Larry Ehrlich, our class included Tiffany Merriman-Preston from Lawrenceville, which has a vibrant Tree Tender community and Sonia Grehian of Swissvale, who said she took the classes on the North Side because of the time of year, "before spring comes."
We Tree Tenders are the neighborhood branches of a recent movement of tree love. We will plant and nurture 20,000 new trees by 2012. In addition, the city will plant 100 American elms that are resistant to Dutch elm disease.
Last year, the first year of the collaborative, the group exceeded its goal of planting 1,000 trees by planting 1,250. This year's goal is to plant another 2,000 trees and train 250 new Tree Tenders. The classes, with a limit of 50, have been mostly full.
In our classes, we learned about the interior lives of trees, how they grow and how to prune them from Steve Miller, a professional arborist.
Phil Gruszka, director of parks management and maintenance for the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, taught us about the proper ways to plant trees.
Caitlin Lenahan, FPUF's coordinator of education and outreach, and Matt Erb, FPUF's arborist, told us about the diversity of our tree population and more about pruning, the causes of disease and the best times to prune certain trees. (The majority of street and park trees are maples and pears.)
Marijke Hecht explained the process of getting trees planted in our neighborhoods. (We apply for them at TreeVitalize, which has state funding.) Marijke plans planting dates, Lisa Ceoffe, the city's urban forester, works with Matt Erb on the proper selection -- the right tree for the right place -- and the Department of Public Works does "the heavy lifting" by digging the bigger tree pits, "not the little coffins they've been shoved into in the past," Marijke said.
"We want to think that 20,000 new trees will be thriving in 50 years," she said.
Phil taught us the "stick test." You use a stick to determine whether a tree needs water. "Pick up a stick, the size of a pencil," he said. "If you can push it into the soil and the stick comes out wet, the tree is overwatered. If there's a little resistance with small grains of soil attached, it's perfect." If you can't get the stick in the ground, he said, it is time to water the tree.
The previous practice of shoving trees into 24-square-foot coffins was such a waste of public money, since the trees in those conditions usually live just seven years, Phil said. "That's the classic definition of insanity -- doing the same thing over and over expecting different results."
Is it ever safe to rip leaves off a tree?" one classmate asked, and Caitlin said, "I'd say no."
The road salt that people lavish on their sidewalks interferes with the tree's nutrient collection. Even city crews are guilty, and that has to change if indeed the city is interested in the life of our trees. In Allegheny Commons Park this winter, salt on the walkways has been dumped in piles. It's bad for trees and for dog's paws. Phil said studies have been done that show beet juice is an effective ingredient in an organic alternative to road salt.
A value has been put on trees' benefits to property value and crime-reduction. Let's look at some real numbers, as determined by the U.S. Forestry Service. Our city's tree population provides $81 of benefit per tree per year for a gross total value of $2.4 million. They spare our storm sewers 41.8 million gallons annually, a value of $334,601 to the city.
And yet so many are planted and then left to adapt without being watered and pruned. So many are abused -- swiped by trucks, yanked on by thoughtless children, carved into with pen knives and suffocated in mulch.
Pittsburgh's Street Tree Commission conducted an inventory of its trees several years ago and was shocked to learn that the population was just under 31,000. They were expecting a count of 60,000. We would have to plant 90,000 trees to get up to the national average of city-tree populations, but the commission advised against trying to catch up to boast higher numbers because all those new trees would not have enough people to care for them.
That dilemma was one impetus for starting the Tree Tenders program.
"A little pruning in the beginning of a tree's life can set a tree up for a great life," Caitlin said.
We Tree Tenders now know what so many landscapers and developers need to know about mulching. Mulching is a vital part of tree care, but so much of it is not spread far enough out or thin enough.
Steve Miller told us is that "volcano mulching" around the base of the tree sets the tree up for disease and decay. That base is the tree's transition zone, and when the collar is buried in mulch, the tree reacts by putting roots out. To the tree, the collar is now underground, where roots form.
The city has been cutting concrete away from tree pits in sidewalks to give the trees more room to breathe and grow. The new pit standard is 30 square feet. It's hardly ideal but we are talking sidewalks. In my small part of the North Side, more than a dozen of our sidewalk trees now have bigger pits.
The day after I got my laminated Tree Tender card, I studied every tree on my walk with my dog through Allegheny Commons Park. I could spot the results of good pruning, bad pruning and no pruning at all. So many of them were not pruned properly early; so many of their crotches were sharp Vs instead of the desirable rounded U shape. So many had grown up confused by which offshoot was supposed to be in charge.
I suspect that all of us Tree Tenders are doing the same thing. Our eyes are a little sharper when we look at our big buddies.
"Now you guys are part of this clan," Marije told us. "You can go out and make sure things are done right."
If you want to be part of the clan, visit www.PittsburghForest.org or call 412.362.6360. The next course series is May 13, 20 and 27 at the Homewood Library, 7101 Hamilton Ave. You do not have to live in the neighborhood in which the classes are held.
Feb 25 2009
Bob Staresinic has compiled the top vote getters of his pizza survey, with 42 responses to an e-mail he sent several weeks ago asking for East End pizza recommendations. He wanted them to be within a short drive of his home in Highland Park. (See "Highland Park man wants a pizza your mind" further on down in the blog.)
"I have
not tried them all yet," he wrote.
The top vote getter was Pizza Sola,
6004 Penn Circle.
Second: Pizza Perfecta,
258 S. Highland Ave.
In a three-way tie for third place: Eddie's Pizza Haus,
1744 Chislett St.;
Vento's Pizza,
420 N. Highland Ave. and
Spak Brothers,
5107 Penn Ave.
In a two-way tie for fourth:
Pesaro's Pizza,
4324 Butler St. and
Pizza Parma,
217 S. Highland Ave,
These shops got one vote each:
Aiello's Pizza,
2112 Murray Ave.;
Pinos Mercato,
6738 Reynolds St.;
Minutello's,
226 Shady Ave.;
Angelo's Pizzeria,
4766 Liberty Ave.;
Sorrento's Pizza,
233 Atwood St.;
Bites & Brews,
5750 Ellsworth Ave.;
Manno's Market & Deli,
937 Mellon St., and
Mellon Market & Deli,
901 N. St. Clair.
The survey was broadcast on Highland Park's neighborhood Internet bulletin board asking specifically for East End pizza recommendations. Walkabout does not endorse any of the above. But just for the fun of it, let's take this survey city wide. Let's hear from North and Southsiders, West Enders and folks in the hilly neighborhoods like Brookline and the Perrys. Wherever you are in the city, post a comment.
How close to your home is the pizza you eat most? We'll post results at the end of March.
Feb 24 2009
Beechview is coming out of the Bernardo Katz era like a hostage, kissing the ground and taking in the sunshine of possibility.
It is hatching a neighborhood plan. The Urban Redevelopment Authority is refocusing on credible business proposals after losing hundreds of thousands in unpaid loans to Mr. Katz, a developer who defaulted and disappeared.
Since last summer, a troupe of young residents has created a piece of the action, taking to the streets to pick up litter and plant gardens. They have named their effort Pretty Up Beechview (PUB) and established the last Saturday of the month as clean-up day.
The PUB patrol meets at 9 a.m. where Beechview and Broadway Avenues come together. They encourage anyone to join in. If spring ever comes, they will resume their guerilla gardening, making zinnias pop up where only billboards and weeds bloomed before.
Max Hurwitz and his wife Bethany, Ron Baraff and his wife Christy and Amy Bianco, Rachel Romano and Anna Loney are the core members who plan activities, contribute their own money and print fliers. Another dozen people volunteer on clean-up Saturdays and another six people are involved as stewards of their own blocks.
At first, the group felt that people were looking at them disapprovingly. But the PUB patrol has proved its commitment by turning out every month. "I think people thought we would do this for a while a stop," said Mr. Hurwitz. "We are hearing less of people saying, 'Why are you doing this? It'll just be dirty tomorrow' and more thank yous and 'Do you want some water?'"
"People have even brought us bags," said Ms. Romano, who has recruited litter patrols among students at neighborhoods schools.
PUB raised almost $900 at a live-music event Feb. 13 at the Smiling Moose on the South Side. Ms. Romano said the group plans to use the money to buy plants and gardening supplies and attend Tree Tender classes, which Friends of the Pittsburgh Urban Forest and TreeVitalize offer throughout the city. (Stay posted: a blog about tree-tender training and upcoming workshop schedules is coming.)
Prettying up Beechview is just the beginning of PUB's scheme. After contributing their own plants for gardens in two empty lots on Broadway, they want to start a plant swap to involve the entire neighborhood, said Ms. Loney "Also in the realm of possibility is to promote vermiculture and green-roof initiatives once buildings start to be developed."
For more than five years, Mr. Katz, who returned to his native Brazil owing more than $700,000 to the URA, held out the promise that he would do to Beechview's main drag what he did along parts of Washington Road in Mount Lebanon. But he failed to bring anything upscale or otherwise to Broadway except a Mexican restaurant that turned over twice before dying. At the same time, his residential tenants throughout the neighborhood drew complaints from home owners.
The money world of development usually says "that's nice" to beautification efforts and pats them on the head. But people who tend to trees and flowers and picking up trash give any neighborhood more bang for the buck. They're the people who make the conditions that make the developers look twice.
"We're one of those neighborhoods that's sitting on a precipice, that could tip either way," said Mr. Baraff. "The point of all this is to reclaim Beechview."
For more information, visit www.cleanupbeechview.blogspot.com.
Feb 23 2009
Had Shakespeare known of a place like the North Side, he might not have had Juliet ask of Romeo, "What's in a name?"
You have to be careful what you call things on the North Side. It is 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 or 19 neighborhoods, depending on whom you ask. People get mad if you call it the North Side when there's a shooting there instead of identifying the neighborhood where the shooting was. They get mad if you call it the North Shore to encourage tourists north of the train underpasses. And they get mad if you call it the North Side when they think it should be Allegheny, the city that Pittsburgh annexed in 1907 and renamed the North Side.
The conversation flying back and forth on Internet chat sites now is fueled by rancor over the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's naming of the branch that is scheduled to open this summer on Federal Street.
This week, David McMunn, president of the Mexican War Streets Society, secretary of the Central Northside Neighborhood Council and corresponding secretary of the Allegheny City Society, urged residents to make their displeasure known that the new building will not be called the Allegheny Regional branch but Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh-Northside.
"The hospital kept its original name -- Allegheny General Hospital (not North Side General Hospital)," he wrote. "The YMCA kept its Allegheny Branch moniker as well. Join with me in keeping historic names attached to our public spaces."
A lightning strike in 2006 damaged the historic former Allegheny regional branch, a grand Richardsonian that the city owns and remains unused. Library administrators decided not to continue branch operations there but to build a new, easier-to-maintain and more cost-efficient branch on Federal Street. That made people mad, too.
Most North Side residents -- at least those who were heard from at meetings -- grudgingly came around to the new design after months of contentious meetings with architects from Loysen + Kreuthmeier and library officials.
The library's spokesman, Suzanne Thinnes, says she regrets this contention now. "We wanted it to be a great thing for the community," she said, adding, "We definitely want to hear from the community if they feel strongly either way."
She said the decision is to call it CLP-Northside. "It is what we are calling it internally." The name on the website www.carnegielibrary.org is still, for now, Allegheny/Northside.
"During community meetings, we heard [of preferences for] both. There were those who were adamant that it remain and also people who felt it was time to change it to 'North Side' because it is a new building," she said.
Would the new branch, were it not Allegheny called, retain that dear perfection which it owns without that title?
We'll find out. Meanwhile, let me know what you're thinking on this topic.
Feb 22 2009
When I first met Chris Ivey several years ago, he was getting ready to launch his first film in a series he was calling "East of Liberty." It was ambitious -- he was chronicling the changes of one of the city's biggest and most complicated neighborhoods.
He saw just how complicated it was as he embarked on a project for East Liberty Development Inc., a successful non-profit that has guided East Liberty's renewal.
ELDI hired him to film an outdoor celebration of new housing. The city's suits and neighborhood movers and shakers and some nearby residents turned out. The event's turning point, for Chris, 36, and for a lot of people who had lived in the doomed high-rises, was a paintball attack on East Mall, a high-rise that was going to be razed. Chris sensed discontent among residents during the fun people were having vandalizing what had been their home.
From that point, Chris zagged in a direction of his own: Chronicling the changes in East Liberty as seen through the eyes of its most troubled residents -- displaced poor people, youth and young men of whom he says "They were not born to be drug dealers." Many people were alarmed at the changing face of the neighborhood.
He followed his first film, "East of Liberty: A Story of Good Intentions," with "East of Liberty: The Fear of Us." It dealt with people "who were feeling left out of the redevelopment loop." The community development group cast a wide net to get neighbors involved in the planning, but a lot of people -- those who fall through the proverbial cracks -- most certainly fall through the mesh of a net.
Chris is holding a fund raiser tomorrow night, Monday Feb. 23, at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater, 5941 Penn Ave., to pay for making his fourth film as he is finishing his third, "A Community Without." The suggested donation is $25.
"Fear of Us" will show at 7 p.m. for $5; doors open at 6 p.m. A question-and-answer session afterward will be filmed for use in future films. The fund-raiser will include scenes from upcoming films, and copies of the first two chapters of "East of Liberty" DVDs will be on sale for $75 each.
Chris said the Q-and-As are "a good way of keeping up the dialogue continued to spur more discussions and actions [for] true community development."
"Race, class, ownership, crime and social problems are all still issues," he said when we talked today. "The fourth film, 'In Unliveable Times' will focus on the youth culture, from the point of view of youth who are not experiencing renewal. "The gang culture is still thriving" in spite of the "new look" of East Liberty, he said. "A lot of kids talk about their goals, and it's all about survival."
Aside from the "East of Liberty" series, he is also working on a North Side documentary called "The Big Gamble," about the impact the new casino may have on that neighborhood's most troubled people.
For more information about Chris' documentaries, call him at 412-523-4793 or email him at hyperboymedia@gmail.com. And check out the website www.eastofliberty.com.
Feb 19 2009
For city people whose best friends have wet noses, the lucky few can walk them to a land of freedom, where Thor can roughhouse with Rufus, Gracie can wander with her nose pinned to the ground and BooBoo can chase a ball.
Chris Lugo wants that for his 2 1/2-year-old poodle-pug, Dexter. Michael and Julie Devine's 9-year-old mutt Pepper is "a little older and a little crotchety," said Michael, but she'd love to roam around a big space and smell all the fecund deliciousity of a dogland. These people have chosen Lawrenceville like so many other recent transplants from other cities, but there's one amenity missing.
Frick Park, Allegheny Commons Park and Riverview Park are so far the only places in the city where residents can legally let their dogs off leash. The photo of the off-leash dog area in Allegheny Commons Park on the North Side, above, gives Lawrenceville's dog owners a hint of what they may enjoy someday.
Mr. Lugo and a group of about 20 people in Lawrenceville started a petition around last year to get an off-leash park from the city. They are also looking into cheap private properties. They're now trying to raise money for their cause.
With a soft opening tonight at 7 p.m. and tomorrow from 7 to 11 p.m., Zombo Gallery at 4900 Hatfield St. is holding a sale of dog-themed art to begin amassing the several thousands of dollars the dogpark committee estimates it needs.
"We're a bunch of dog lovers who run into each other and wish we had a place where our dogs could roam and socialize and not be as aggressive" as when they are unsocialized, said Mr. Lugo.
The group wants to use city land or buy property that requires little to no financing, said Mr. Lugo. It hopes to raise $5,000 to $8,000.
The Devines opened Zombo Gallery last year after a move from Portland, Ore. Mr. Lugo relocated from Chicago.
"People are coming to Lawrenceville from all over," saiod Mr. Devine. "We think that as the diversity of Lawrenceville grows, so will the diversity of its dog population."
Some people choose a neighborhood primarily because it has an off-leash area. Nothing like giving manic Mookey an hour of chasing and scampering before leaving him alone for eight hours in his crate.
But there's a side benefit for the dog's people. As dog owners on the North Side and near Frick Park know, an off-leash park is also a social scene, a "third place."
"Dog parks are for people as much as they are for dogs," said Mr. Lugo.
Feb 19 2009
Groups love to meet on the Central Northside. They meet in a church, a school, a senior center, the YMCA and, at the drop of a hat, on stoops and sidewalks for parties. But the round of meetings that just started will test this gather-some bunch.
It will take the neighborhood on a journey toward a masterplan it has never had.
After a tumultuous changing of the guard last year, the Central Northside Neighborhood Council's board continued the initiative of the director and community organizer it ousted last fall -- Michael Barber and Aaron Churchill. The board has not discussed their dismissals, citing confidentiality, but the work they did formed the foundation for a series of 21 meetings.
Last fall, the Central Northside Neighborhood Council hired a team of heavy hitters to grease and lead the process. In December, it introduced the team, headed by Robert Pfaffmann + Associates architects, to its general membership. The neighborhood meetings started last week.
One goal, said Randi Marshak, head of the masterplan steering committee, is for this process to unite a neighborhood that became fractious over issues of housing and the homeless in 2007 and 2008. "It's great that we have Pfaffmann group because they are neutral," she said. "Some people say we need more low-income housing, some say we need less. But what is the truth? Where is the data? Our team will present that data, and we will have some hard information to go on."
Funders like it when neighborhoods have masterplans. It makes it more comforting to lend or grant them money if they have a sense of direction. Masterplans also help developers because the city's permitting and zoning processes go more smoothly with a neighborhood sanctioning the development.
Whether the neighborhood is capable of consensus will be the challenge.
One criticism of the bulk of new board members is that they are not all- inclusive and favor gentrification at the expense of long-time low-income residents.
If that remains to be seen in general, the board has embarked on a masterplan calling for all voices.
Ms. Marshak said the council mailed out 2,000 fliers to residents, asking for their participation. Sheila Washington, a consultant to companies on social behaviors, such as racial and ethnic tolerance in the workplace, has spent many days in local coffeehouses introducing herself to patrons.
Rob Pfaffmann and Carl Bergamini of Pfaffmann + Associates have snagged residents to take them on tours of the neighborhood. Pat Clark, a demographics consultant who has helped several neighborhoods build master plans, has been working with Bob Gradeck at Carnegie-Mellon University on demographic mapping. The other members of the team, Christine Brill and Jonahtan Kline from the Studio for Spatial Practice, are working on issues as varied as traffic, youth needs and use of space.
Working groups will meet on four subsequent Wednesdays and then March 16, a Monday, to discuss public safety and transportation, architecture and urban design, residential development, the economy, jobs and retail and, finally, the Garden Theater block and its development. That will take care of the first of three rounds of seven meetings each at the Allegheny Universalist Unitarian Church on North Avenue and Resaca Place at 6:30 p.m.
This week, about 35 people turned out in the church basement for the initial "public safety and transportation" working group.The residens identified areas of bad lighting, difficult traffic patterns and dangerous intersections.
"Can't we get some speed bumps in the alleys?" one resident asked.
"Speed bumps are actually not permitted," Mr. Bergamini told him.
"But potholes are acceptable!" a woman piped up.
Next week's group will attract people interested in architecture and urban design. On March 4 is the "residential development" working group meeting, March 11 the "economy, jobs and retail" group. On Monday, March 16 is the "Garden Theater block" working group. Then the team will call everyone together to give a summary report and ask for feedback. The second and third rounds of meetings on Saturdays will begin solving problems the neighborhood has identified and run three to four hours.
Feb 17 2009
Preservationists are busy these days. With visions of wrecking balls dancing in their heads, they are finding a refuge in a city ordinance that sets down rules as to what is and isn't worthy of historic status and, thus, preservation.
Juxtaposed against the very recent nomination of the West End's Old Stone Inn, which is at least 216-years-old and was pending a demolition permit, the Allegheny City Society nominated the 1902 Workingmen's Bank at East Ohio Street and Madison Avenue in 2007 (photo above and to the right) when it too was pending a demolition permit.
City Council heard testimony this week from almost 20 people favoring its historic status and one against -- the attorney representing the owner, the developer Lou Lamanna, whose intent is to demolish the building and build a retail-housing complex in its place.
The building that was originally the city's first bank for German immigrants who worked in North Side factories anchors a corner in what is Deutschtown or Spring Garden. Both neighborhoods claim it because it's on their borders and speaks to what is left of a neighborhood that used to be joined. An horrific destruction of community made the world safe for commuters when the North Side leg of Route 279 was built, and both residents and preservationists have been rushing forward to cry "enough!"
"If you vote not to approve the designation, this magnificent building will be demolished," said Michael Coleman, president of the Allegheny City Society, which nominated the Beaux Arts building for city historic status. "The current owner is a developer with experience in building strip malls. This neighborhood deserves a better fate than having a Route 8 version of its gateway."
Katherine Molnar, the city's preservation planner, said the building was built in the Beaux Arts style by the world famous Chicago architect Daniel Burnham, who also designed the Pennsylvanian as a train station Downtown. She said an add-on to expand the bank in 1921 was done with compatible design.
Councilman William Peduto advised that past revitalization efforts that "gutted most of East Liberty, tore out the guts of Allegheny City [the North Side] and the Hill" failed to see "the potential of what those old buildings could be." (The image at right is the building's original look, minus its addition.)
William Blick, attorney for the owner, said his client has suffered economic hardship in the time the nomination process has taken. He said the architects and engineers who assessed the building for his client determined it does not have enough integrity to merit preservation. Residents said it was not until recently that Mr. Lamanna made cursory contacts with them, providing no details of his plans or opportunities for them to have a say in what ends up on that corner.
Mr. Blick said there is "not yet" a proposal to make public.
Elaborating later, Paul Mazeski, an attorney for Mr. Lamanna, said his client has waited for a year and a half to demolish the building and that the neighborhood seemed to be behind his ideas earlier. "The problem with providing details is that we were going to start from scratch and were interested in federal historic status because you can get tax credits. But the building has been turned down [by the U.S. Department of the Interior]. If you look at other buildings that are landmarks, they are pretty much as they were before," which he said this building is not. "We're a little fed up. Here you are, trying to do something" and because of the time the process has taken, "it's more expensive and we're not going to get tax relief."
He said his client was interested in the property because of the location on the corner, near Routes 279 and Route 28. "Anything you put there has got to be an improvement over what was there," he said, meaning the ARC House.
Thomas Rosselot, a resident of Spring Garden and a member of the Community Alliance of Spring Garden, said the community alliance "is not anti-development at all, but we were not being given the opportunity to engage him in an important parcel at the gateway [of the neighborhood]."
Ruth Dailey, spokesperson for the community alliance, said a neighborhood plan "calls for collaborative process of redevelopment. The plan is a public declaration that guides development."
Councilman Doug Shields encouraged Mr. Blick to ask his client "to do some work with the community."
ARC House has been vacant for about 10 years, since it was used for drug and alcohol rehabilitation, and one could argue that a plan for use of the space is progress. But progress is a grayer concept in these frugal and greening times.
"The greenest building is an existing building," architect Rob Pfaffmann told Council. "We should always be looking to preserve our buildings for reuse. Demolition causes a ripple effect. Every time you lose a building, initiatives are lowered.
"We are doing work now on [a masterplan for] the Central Northside. We all hope to see the same kind of restoration approach we have seen in the Homewood Library, the Armstrong Cork Factory and the Pennsylvanian," which now houses luxury apartments.
Mark Fatla, executive director of the Northside Leadership Conference, spoke "as an individual" on behalf of saving the building. "Preservation is the on-switch for development," he said. The ARC House "meets the criteria, satisfies code and is good planning."
Before the meeting adjourned, Councilman Bruce Kraus addressed the attending crowd of about 35, most of whom testified.
"I never cease to be amazed at the dynamics of community involvement," he said. "It makes me very proud to see all of you here today. Thank you for being engaged."
Council expects to vote on the nomination no later than March 13.
Feb 10 2009
Highland Park’s only pizza parlor closed last summer, leaving Bob Staresinic in the lurch. The pies from Pizzaburgh on Bryant Street were good, he said, but most important was that he could walk to get them from his home on Mellon Street.
He absorbed the separation and went without pizza for a few months. When he was ready to get back out there, he found Pesaro’s in Lawrenceville, where his brother lives. Then he decided to cast a wider net.
On Highland Park’s neighborhood Web site — a virtual bulletin board neighbors use to find plumbers, offer goods for sale and announce events (see Highland Park site in Walkabout's blog roll at left)— he recently posted his Pizza Survey. Within a day, he had 30 replies.
“Hello Neighbors,” it began, “With the loss of our last pizza shop on Bryant Street, I am looking for a place to get some good pizza. I thought Pizzaburgh’s was great, and I really miss it.
“I know I can’t walk to a shop and carry my pizza home anymore, but I am willing to drive a little to get it. I assume others are looking for the same thing I am. I want it to be close/convenient, so it is not cold by the time I get home.
“So I am taking a survey of where to get pizza" within a 10-minute drive of the former Pizzaburgh. "Once I get a bunch of answers, I will let you know the results. Thanks for your input. Bob”
Pizzaburgh’s owners could not be reached, but its demise, leaving Bryant Street with no pizza, begs the time-honored question: What do neighborhoods want?
David Hance, director of Highland Park’s community development non-profit, said recently that most neighborhoods “wish they had fewer pizza shops and more quality restaurants.” His group is trying to bring more retail, including restaurants, to the three block corridor off Highland Avenue.
In countless forums over many years throughout the city, residents who plot the future of lagging business districts lament the common sentiment, “We need something besides pizza!” And yet many places are short even on pizza choices. A pizza joint's closing wreaks its own havoc.
It may be one-dimensional, but it's a dimension many of us like to live in.
Here at Walkabout, we decided to do a little survey of our own, a sort of Pizza Census. With too many neighborhoods and too little time, we decided against counting in Downtown or Oakland, where there are many pizza joints. We chose a dozen or so neighborhoods, ones with straightforward business corridors and that, we thought, probably did not have more than a handful.
Bob got us started with responses to his survey. He heard from fans of Pizza Perfecta and Pizza Parma in Shadyside, Pizza Sola, Vento's and Minutellos in East Liberty, Angelos in Bloomfield, Spak Brothers in Garfield and Eddie's in Morningside.
“What’s interesting is nobody has mentioned any of the chains,” he said. “They seem to be” looking for local pizza. "That seems to be what people are saying.”
The first neighborhood in our Pizza Census was the obvious -- Bloomfield, our city's "Little Italy." It would be the bellwether against which to judge what is and what isn't a glut of neighborhood pizza joints. Or so we thought.
Driving up Liberty Avenue, after counting just two, we drove through again, this time scanning furiously for hidden doorways and small signs. But Pizza Italia and Angelo's Pizzeria were all we found. A call to Karla Owens, the former head of Bloomfield's merchant's association and now the Main Street coordinator of its development corporation, confirmed the two. She said Grinders has a pizza hoagie and Del's has a pizza night and that the Pizza Hut on Baum is technically in Bloomfield, but joint-wise, yep, just two.
"I'm not sure Little Italy is just about pizza," she said.
Fair enough. Bloomfield is about a great range of dining and take-out options, which is what Karla, David Hance and all neighborhood leaders want for their business districts. It's what we all want -- to be where we have choices.
Between Bob's survey and our Census, it appears that East Liberty, Squirrel Hill and Lawrenceville have the healthiest balances between pizza joints and other eating options, meaning they offer choices among pizzas and lots of diversity in sit-down restaurants. Squirrel Hill and Lawrenceville have six and five pizza joints, East Liberty four.
Of our pre-selected neighborhoods, Carrick and Brookline each have three, Allentown and Garfield have two each and the following neighborhoods have one: Central North Side, Deutschtown, Hazelwood, Beechview and Arlington. Of those, only Deutschtown has numerous food options.
Bob Staresinic's search for the best pizza close enough to his home continues. He usually goes for the simple pepperoni pizza, but he has high standards. He works in training and tech support for a software company and has lived in Highland Park since 1972.
"Why Pizzaburgh was so good?" he said. "They put something on the crust. It was very tasty. I like when the pizza has a fluffy crust, and theirs did."
But, of course, to some pizza aficionados, fluffy crust is anathema. There's a pizza for every palate -- deep dish or fingernail thin, loaded or spare, white or tomato-based. Some even have walnuts on them.
Walkabout, and Bob in Highland Park, would like your feedback. What's your neighborhood's pizza-joint count? What's your favorite pizza in Pittsburgh and why? Be descriptive, and, if you would, let us know if they deliver.
Feb 04 2009
John Altdorfer, a freelance photographer, was riding his bike downtown one day about two years ago when he began having mechanical trouble.
A young homeless man offered help. He knew how to fix bikes. As they talked, John asked him what homeless people need most. Not Mad Dog 20/20 or food. They have sources for those. What they need, the young man said, is clean socks.
"Yeah," he told John, "you can't believe how bad your feet stink after wearing a pair of socks for four or five days straight especially in the summer."
Flash forward: At a coffeehouse one afternoon, John punches some keys on his laptop and up pops a truly gross photo. He takes pictures of homeless people to show their world as what it looks like to him — “absolutely miserable.”
It’s a wonder he could eat his cinnamon roll, just inches from the photo of a homeless guy’s feet on the screen. They looked like monster feet created by special-effects technicians in Hollywood or by kids playing with clay. They were encrusted, discolored and grotesquely distorted. One of the toenails had ingrown so badly it had begun to outgrow. It looked like a pop top.
Even the prettiest feet are weird looking; these should have been in the emergency room.
Which is exactly the reason so many people began giving John socks when he put out the call for donations among a group of photographers he knows on Flickr. He made the case: A spare buck or two or some serious public money?
“Even guys who would normally say ‘Let their feet fall off’ brought me socks,” he said. He collected more than 650 socks the first time and 450 the next. Each time, he calls Mike Sallows, who he has known since they were in elementary school together at St. Mary's Catholic School in Glenfield. Mike has worked in homeless outreach for 22 years and distributes the socks for both Operation Safety Net and Native Outreach to the Homeless.
A package of off-brand white crew socks costs about the same as the cappucino I was sipping. A trip to the emergency room costs thousands upon thousands, depending on whether its for frostbite, ulcers, infections, gangrene or an amputation.
Dr. Steve Conti, a foot and ankle surgeon at Allegheny General Hospital, said an amputation and the hospitalization and care that results can cost upwards of $100,000.
Asked who pays the bill, he said, "You. The taxpayer."
He said a pair of clean socks will not prevent a trip to the emergency room, but socks are a component of the foot care most homeless people need.
Dr. Conti's son Matt started an organization called Hearts to Soles three years ago to raise money for shoes for the homeless. It now has 40 sites in almost as many states, several in Pittsburgh. Dr. Conti and Ted Colaizzi, a pedorthist, visit places where the homeless gather to check feet, including the Jubilee Kitchen Uptown and the Light of Life Mission on the Central Northside.
"Some guys have nails that are unbelievable," Dr. Conti said. "We have to bring in power tools."
He said the homeless are more susceptible to foot problems because they are more vulnerable to health problems in general. They are more likely to have an addiction or mental illness and be less vigilant about their physical health, he said. "The chance of having foot trouble is based on the host [the body]. Another risk is the environment. These people are bad hosts [to their bodies] and their environment is miserable."
Last year, in a partnership with Catholic Ministries, Dr. Conti's team did foot check-ups at the ministries' downtown health center while the men also got flu shots. He said the homeless men "came in droves. I'd like to bring the concept of a health fair to all 40 of our sites this year. Since we would have a captive audience, we could do a full health screening."
The missing piece, and a most vital one, he said, is an effective way to impress prevention on this population. "If you do a story and someone out there has expertise in that, it would be great," he said.
Meanwhile, John Altdorfer has begun collecting his third big bag of socks to give to Mike Sallows. If you have socks to donate, contact John at johnpa2@mac.com.