G-20 articles and discussion (Pittsburgh, York: hotels, schools, taxi)

[dugdogmaster]

Many demonstrators arriving for G-20 search for places to rest their weary heads

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09263/999528-100.stm
"Activists call for good jobs during Hill District march"

[dugdogmaster]

There's a cute lesson to be learned in this one at the end, I really like this read.

Sunday G-20 Forum: The accidental rioter

SUSAN PARKER, a woman with a record, offers advice on how to avoid trouble during the G-20 protests

[Hopes]

I stopped downtown this evening.

The Stanwix Street parking garage has signs all over the place saying that cars can't be parked along the exterior walls after 3pm on Wednesday.

Wednesday is going to be one hell of a day downtown. I'm wondering what Monday and Tuesday since 400 protesters were already protesting in Southside this evening.

[dugdogmaster]

They were on the Hill too, earlier this evening. I actually support that one, almost thought about driving down to take part in it, eh, but I'm sick. Sad only a few hundred showed up, they were expecting a couple thousand.

http://www.reuters.com/article/domes...58J1MR20090920

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09263/999528-100.stm

[BrianTH]

Here is an interview with Obama by the Post Gazette:

Obama calls Pittsburgh a model for the future

Again it covers old territory, but I thought this was well-said and correct:

As Pittsburgh looks outward, Mr. Obama said, it also deserves global attention for its place in the economy as America continues to recover from a lengthy recession.

"It gives me an opportunity to underscore the fact that our long-term success is not just dependent on what happens in New York or Washington or Los Angeles, but it's going to depend on what happens in cities like Pittsburgh," he said.

[dugdogmaster]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Here is an interview with Obama by the Post Gazette:

They got exclusive access, they had a few good articles up on their site after their interview with him, including full transcripts. I'm sure it's still there if you do a little digging in the site.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by Hopes

The Stanwix Street parking garage has signs all over the place saying that cars can't be parked along the exterior walls after 3pm on Wednesday.

Wednesday is going to be one hell of a day downtown. I'm wondering what Monday and Tuesday since 400 protesters were already protesting in Southside this evening.

It's only the Stanwix St side, not all exterior walls, but yeah, I'm trying to figure out my plan for Wednesday. At some point Wednesday afternoon it's going to stop being possible to exit like normal onto Stanwix. At that point exiting traffic will have to share the entrance way on Ft Duquesne with entering traffic. (Presumably by that point there should be hardly any entering traffic.) I'd rather get out of there before that happens, so maybe I'll just leave around 3, unless it becomes clear that it will be okay until later in the evening.

What's weird is this morning traffic coming in was lighter than usual, similar to Friday levels. I wonder how many people just bagged a whole week of work instead, planned a trip or something for this week? Tomorrow will be more telling of that. There certainly weren't fewer cars in the garage, but that's not surprising to me because some could be visitors (though after Wed they're going to be stuck until Friday night). There just seemed to be fewer on the road.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by greg42

It's only the Stanwix St side, not all exterior walls....

Why Stanwix Street? There's only Highmark over there. Unless they think the construction site is a target. Maybe they're planning to use Stanwix Street as a staging area for police vehicles.

Originally Posted by greg42

At that point exiting traffic will have to share the entrance way on Ft Duquesne with entering traffic. (Presumably by that point there should be hardly any entering traffic.)

I guess I don't even know how to exit onto Ft. Duquesne. The Ft. Duquesne entrance isn't even wide enough for two-way traffic.

Originally Posted by greg42

It's not wide enough for two-way traffic. I'd rather get out of there before that happens, so maybe I'll just leave around 3, unless it becomes clear that it will be okay until later in the evening.

I'm aiming for Noon or not going to work at all.

Originally Posted by greg42

What's weird is this morning traffic coming in was lighter than usual, similar to Friday levels. I wonder how many people just bagged a whole week of work instead, planned a trip or something for this week?

Many of my coworkers took the entire week for vacation trip since the company was taking too long to decide if we were closing or not. Since some companies are forcing workers to use vacation days, people chose to take the entire week to actually go away on a real vacation. Many Jewish families planned to leave Pittsburgh a week before Yom Kippur, which is on the 27th-28th, to avoid the G-20 and celebrate the holiday with relatives who live elsewhere.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by greg42

What's weird is this morning traffic coming in was lighter than usual, similar to Friday levels. I wonder how many people just bagged a whole week of work instead, planned a trip or something for this week?

Our son's daycare is Downtown, so all the parents had to deal with the G-20 issue, and I know some of them have in fact taken off this week for vacation.

[Hopes]

Forgot to mention, there was already added security around the subway construction site last night.

They said Wednesday will be a madhouse downtown with wall to wall protesters expected to be everywhere throughout the entire day.