Happenings in Pittsburgh!! (York, Butler, Economy: unemployment rate, buyers, asbestos)

[Stagger Lee]

Originally Posted by boylocke

Is Pittsburgh the green-city of the future? I don't know, but we are certainly pioneering the way!

Pop City - Thinking green: local companies win awards, Hillman fundraiser captures the hue

Pittsburgh has the most LEED designed buildings per capita in America. We have the largest, and soon the Tallest. The whole south side works is filled with LEED designed buildings. We lead the way in Green building technology with the help of CMU. The new PNC building will be the tallest when it is finished.

[oktaren]

It is pretty funny what people will consider "green" these days. To think an idea could become so watered down so quickly.

[guylocke]

Point Park is literally, almost single-handedly, transforming a huge section of downtown into a "hip, yet secure place" for young people to hang out. It is most definitely true, I've been down there a few times in just the last couple weeks.

Study: Move Point Park U. playhouse Downtown

A panel of experts laid out its grand vision for Point Park University yesterday, one built around a move of the Pittsburgh Playhouse from Oakland to Downtown and acquisition of two prominent buildings to help transform the campus into an urban academic village.

In a presentation, the Urban Land Institute panel urged the university to acquire the One Smithfield Street building at Smithfield and Fort Pitt Boulevard and the YMCA Building on Boulevard of the Allies to help accomplish that.

The One Smithfield Street building would become the new home of the Pittsburgh Playhouse and an "iconic theater complex" that would serve as the university's front door. The YMCA building would provide recreational space the university now lacks.

With the help of those acquisitions, the panel also recommended that Point Park create a "unique gathering place" for students along First Avenue filled with shops, housing, a student activity center and other amenities, the goal being to create a "hip yet secure space" to hang out.

The panel also saw the opportunity for limited retail opportunities on Wood Street, where most campus buildings are located and where Point Park could exert leadership in the corridor's revitalization.

"Wow!" Point Park President Paul Hennigan said afterwards. "I guess we know what we'll be doing for the next couple of years."

[guylocke]

I think this is wonderful news.

Pop City - Pittsburgh region positions itself as a large player in the alternative fuels industry

The alternative fuel industry in Pittsburgh received a big boost this month through a series of creative local initiatives that have helped to promote local biofuel stations and raise public awareness for green transportation.

And this is just the beginning.

Last weekend more than 2000 people turned out for the first Alternative Transportation Festival in Pittsburgh, a daylong event filled with free activities that advocated the use of alternative fuels, public transportation, hybrid and flex fuel vehicles and biking.

On Tuesday General Motors (GM) and Carnegie Mellon University, a leading ethanol research center, hosted a forum on biofuels to promote the use of E85 ethanol fuel, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gas. General Motors spokeswoman MaryBeth Stanek estimates that there are 10,000 GM flex fuel vehicle owners in Pittsburgh served by seven E85 stations.

Pittsburgh is one of the best positioned cities in the country for the production and distribution of biofuel thanks to its geographic location and role as a transportation hub, says Nathaniel Doyno, executive director of Steel City Biofuels and coordinator for Pittsburgh Region Clean Cities. Local companies are already investing in the infrastructure to make it happen.

[guylocke]

Here is some info on the beautiful new building getting ready to open in the near future at Duquesne University. Duquesne hasmany more plans to develop a lot more on the Forbes block, they own quite a few blocks of property there. A Barnes & Noble, grocery store, pharmacy, Starbucks, are all in the plans. The Starbucks and Barnes & Noble should be coming soon as I believe they will be at the bottom of the almost completed building.

Pop City - Duquesne University dedicates $3M skywalk, continues work on $30M Power Center

Duquesne University has dedicated its newest, and fourth, skywalk. Believed to be Pittsburgh’s highest pedestrian bridge, Duquesne’s 138-foot long Sklar Skywalk sits 80 feet above Forbes Ave., the main artery that runs through the urban campus.

The structure is a significant new component within Duquesne's major redevelopment plan, as it links the center of campus to the $30 million Power Center, a multipurpose recreational facility now under construction along Forbes. The $3 million skywalk will provide students and visitors with access to the center’s fifth-floor ballroom.

Designed by WTW Architects and constructed by TEDCO, the glass-enclosed skywalk features a steel superstructure, contemporary arch frame design, metal roofing, an aluminum window wall system, and an exposed aggregate concrete deck.

The adjoining 126,000 square-foot Power Center will house a two-level Barnes and Noble, juice bar, restaurant, two gyms, classrooms, fitness facilities, and a ballroom. DRS Architects is designing the five-story project; contractor is Gendeco. “We’re eighty-percent done. We hope to have an opening January 1st. We designed it to apply for LEED-Silver certification,” says George Fecik, with Duquesne University. “It’s the first building on the Forbes block. We consider it the anchor point. It’s at the entrances. We're looking at what else we can put there—there will be more developments.”

[oktaren]

Originally Posted by boylocke

I think this is wonderful news.

Pop City - Pittsburgh region positions itself as a large player in the alternative fuels industry

at least they use the term "alternative" and not "clean" or "green"

[guylocke]

Another company moving its corporate headquarters here.

RTI International Metals moving corporate headquarters to Pittsburgh, hiring 20 (broken link)

RTI International Metals will move its corporate office from Niles, Ohio, to Pittsburgh early next year and plans to initially hire 20.
For company CEO Dawne Hickton, the move will mean a shorter commute from her Thornburg home and a closer proximity to the Pittsburgh International Airport for clients visiting the corporate office. The move will also give Hickton the distinction as the second woman CEO of a publicly held company in Pittsburgh.

“We hope the larger metropolitan base will draw the kind of people we are looking to hire,” adds Richard Leone, spokesperson.

RTI is a leading U.S. producer of titanium mill products and fabricated metal components for the global market with revenues last year of $505 million. The company employs 1400 worldwide. The R&D and manufacturing facility will remain in Niles, Ohio. A location in Pittsburgh has not been finalized, Leone says.

[guylocke]

This really bring backs memories!! The Pittsburgh Zoo is doing very well!! They have more traffic now then they have ever had!! Who new??

Pittsburgh Zoo to get 250K from state

The Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium announced this morning that it will receive $250,000 from the state on Thursday to support its new Water's Edge exhibit and new Animal Health Center.

The grant brings the Zoo's Grow Wild Capital Campaign to $18.1 million. Since the Water's Edge exhibit opened in November -- housing polar bears and sea otters and features an underwater tunnel -- the zoo's attendance has increased 27 percent. Zoo officials expect to reach 1 million visitors by the end of the year, which could make it Western Pennsylvania's most-visited cultural attraction.

"With community support, the Zoo is continuing to grow, and through new exhibits like Water's Edge our visitors can make a connection with the animals and learn ways they can help preserve and protect the natural habitats where they live," zoo President Barbara Baker said in a news release.

[guylocke]

This has been mentioned now in several threads, so here's the news about it!

'Burgh goes virtual on Google

Smile, Pittsburgh -- you're on Google-vision.

Starting today, Pittsburgh joins the list of 14 cities that Internet users can tour online by using Google Maps' Street View. The service, which launched in May, offers three-dimensional, photographic views of cityscapes that a user can navigate street by street to locate everything from apartments to gas stations to theaters.

With Street View, dragging and dropping the icon of a human figure onto a highlighted street will pull up a photo of the street, placing the user in a virtual world in which it is possible to move forward, backward, to the side -- even to rotate 360 degrees.

The city has been on Google's radar screen since the company opened an office in the Collaborative Innovation Center on Carnegie Mellon University's campus last November.

Check out street view here: Google Maps

[guylocke]

Last week US Air dropped a bombshell on Pittsburgh (again) that it would be slashing more jobs and many flights due to them losing money in the Pittsburgh market (which is odd since our traffic is up 2 million people this year, sounds like an internal problem to me). Anyway, after the scare, fears were put at ease a bit when Southwest announced it was already in negotiations to fill a great many of those voids by doubling or even tripling its presence in Pittsburgh as it has found the Pittsburgh market to be one of its strongest and fastest growing (how ironic).

This may be good news in the end as it means more competition and lower air fares for Pittsburgh travelers which has already been the case the more US Air decreases it's presence here.

Southwest 'interested' in adding Pittsburgh flights - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Ding! Southwest Airlines soon could offer more flights out of Pittsburgh International Airport, taking up the slack after US Airways cuts.

“We’re definitely interested in adding flights,” Whitney Eichinger, a spokesperson for Dallas-based Southwest, said this morning. “Even before the cuts at US Airways, we were interested.”

US Airways announced last week that it will slash 108 daily departures from Pittsburgh to 68 on Jan. 6. In the process, US Airways and affiliates will eliminate nonstop flights to 19 cities, including big-city markets, such as Chicago, Denver and Toronto, because the airline says it loses money serving Pittsburgh.

Southwest Airlines entered the Pittsburgh market two years ago and currently has 23 daily flights out of Pittsburgh, Eichinger said.

Here is a video feed on this news that is more informative.

kdka.com - Video Library