Sorry to see the Civic Arena go (Pittsburgh, Indiana: asbestos, university)

[BrianTH]

So apparently having "vision" means being able to see only a tiny part of the past, and nothing of the present or future.

[airwave09]

Originally Posted by jay5835

The Civic Arena wasn't planned by people in h_'s or my generation. We were kids then. I'm not sure h_ was even born yet.

So h curtis is less than 50 years old? Well that's a surprise to me, he comes across as a codgy old yinzer in a lot of his posts... LOL

[airwave09]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

MOST people in Pittsburgh are too fat and lazy to walk down that big hill and then the thought of them walking back up it is a joke. It doesn't matter if they are purple.

Speaking of idiotic generalizations...

[AnneWest]

Originally Posted by Copanut

Number 1, you weren't born at Magee, so yinz ain't a yinzer. They said the same thing about the Syria Mosque, but the cost to keep it open and retrofit everything was too much. I love the Arena, but it's outlived its usefulness. Time to move on.

The Throw-away Society wins again.
I get it, really I do. I knew it would come to this point when they built that big bland box across the street.

We're becoming, more and increasingly more, a bland static country. Pick a mall, any mall across the US, and I bet you wouldn't know what city you were in. Same stores, same food court, same stuff sold.
Why fix something or keep it in repair? Throw it away, buy new. Build something there that looks just like ten other cities. Bah...

[BrianTH]

I get that this is an emotional issue for some people, but a lot of these comments indicate a lack of awareness of the long process that led to this point. Seriously, there were YEARS of people trying to come up with a viable reuse plan, and they could never do it. I guess some people just don't want to acknowledge this, but it wasn't just that the fix was in, or nobody but an elite few care about interesting buildings, and so forth. It was also that no one could come up with a viable plan for doing anything with the Civic Arena, and given the amount of prime land it occupies, that fact alone was enough to doom it.

[hnsq]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Not "everyone". Most! Yes, I did say that. What does that have to do with race?

Oh and I said, "that hill". When someone says that hill, it is geographical. There is a hillside there and it isn't all that small. There is also currently very wide nice sidewalks there, that are not used all that often except by the people who are trying to save a buck on parking.

Sure I am sad that the Pen's owner has no vision. We could have had an icon of a place, but now we just have a same old same old. Nothing special, just some building built by a very large polluter. I know it is over. I knew that years ago. Money people control all this stuff. If they don't want it the fight is over. They make all the decisions. We are just the people that had a place called a "Civic" Arena. CIVIC. Ah, those days are over for something built like that for the people. Civic. Almost a dead word these days.

curtis - you don't seem to get this. The Arena is a piece of crap. It is ugly, and is not a 'great vision'. No one other than a select few vocal old yinzers think it is a good structure.

Have some vision. Tear it down and make something that the city can actually be proud of, not keep something that is the equivalent of the ratty old chair that grampa loves, but everyone else can't wait to burn one day.

[UKyank]

While I dont think CEC should have ever been built (I find it a waste of public money to build places of business for private sports teams & then to give those same teams rights to all kinds of revenue) and I agree CEC is ugly & bland on the outside & regarding the inside, I'm not sure you could have fit another ad in the place.......but all that said, it is there, it serves a purpose, and the arena no longer does. No one has come up with a viable use for the building (after a long time given to come up with something) and the longer it sits the more $ it costs with no return so really the only option is to tear it down & put something useful in that area. Now i give it a 50-50 chance that the city will manage to F-up whatever they ultimately decide to put in the Arena's place, but having the arena just sit there & decay with no use being generated out of it is even more wasteful.

[markson33]

Originally Posted by hnsq

curtis - you don't seem to get this. The Arena is a piece of crap. It is ugly, and is not a 'great vision'. No one other than a select few vocal old yinzers think it is a good structure.

Have some vision. Tear it down and make something that the city can actually be proud of, not keep something that is the equivalent of the ratty old chair that grampa loves, but everyone else can't wait to burn one day.

I think that is problem. The Penguins aren't going to build anything that the city can be proud of. Its likely to be a parking lot for as long as they can get away with it. Maybe in five or ten years they will build a building to show that they are doing something. That building is likely to be an uninspiring suburban style hotel. Look at the north shore. After ten years we have one ugly hotel and two blah office buildings - oh and a government subsidized amphitheater.

In my opinion, the best vision is to tear down a portion of the igloo and redevelop it. The building itself is in bad shape, but you could do something really cool with it. The preservationists aren't saying that the building needs to kept in its entirety or for its current use. Do something that would be unique to Pittsburgh - maybe tear down half and use the other half as a hotel.

I wouldn't be opposed to tearing it down if I had any faith that it would be replaced with something better. Chances of that are slim and none.

[hnsq]

Originally Posted by markson33

I think that is problem. The Penguins aren't going to build anything that the city can be proud of. Its likely to be a parking lot for as long as they can get away with it. Maybe in five or ten years they will build a building to show that they are doing something. That building is likely to be an uninspiring suburban style hotel. Look at the north shore. After ten years we have one ugly hotel and two blah office buildings - oh and a government subsidized amphitheater.

In my opinion, the best vision is to tear down a portion of the igloo and redevelop it. The building itself is in bad shape, but you could do something really cool with it. The preservationists aren't saying that the building needs to kept in its entirety or for its current use. Do something that would be unique to Pittsburgh - maybe tear down half and use the other half as a hotel.

I wouldn't be opposed to tearing it down if I had any faith that it would be replaced with something better. Chances of that are slim and none.

I would think a parking lot or garage is much more appealing than the arena. At least that would serve a much needed function.

[trotter_rej]

We are not the only city going through this problem. The Houston Astrodome is sitting unused and decaying next to it's replacement, Reliant Stadium. It is arguably more iconic and certainly more well-known than the civic arena. When I lived in Houston I enjoyed going to games and events at the dome (I was a proud member of its largest crowd ever for Wrestlemania X-Seven), but its problems are the same as the arena's: narrow concourses, lack of luxury suites, aging structure, and, most importantly, a facility next door that does what it did better and more profitably. If there was something to do with either facility that could make money, I think someone would do it.