The 20 Minute Good Life-Where in Pittsburgh?

[Tinare]

Originally Posted by Copanut

Yeah, for all of one week, tops.

And every 10 years or so at that...

[onwardandupward]

Originally Posted by Hopes

As for the US Open, I think prospective buyers should know that their lives will be turned upside down with gridlock traffic when the US Open is at Oakmont.

There was no gridlock during the 2007 Open - the organizers set things up in such a way that there were huge parking areas outside of Oakmont, with shuttle buses that ferried people in and out. Parking on people's lawns and driveways in Oakmont was forbidden this time around - you couldn't even park on the streets of Oakmont near the Country Club - you had to get parking passes from the boro to park in front of your own house. There were definitely more people in Oakmont during the Open, but no gridlock.

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by fleetiebelle

I thought so, too, and I'd never even heard of Cuyahoga Valley NP until I started poking around after the Burns miniseries: Cuyahoga Valley National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

You may not have heard of it becaues it was not designated as a national park until 2000.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by ferrarisnowday

Didn't East Liberty have it's economic downturn hastened in the 70s due to attempts to redevelop it with Penn Circle? I'm just saying that these gentrification plans can be dangerous and backfire.

Oh sure. That is why I referenced the last couple decades--roughly from the 1950s through 1980s or so, urban authorities were using a set of tools that often backfired, and plenty of that went on in Pittsburgh. It has only been since then that a more reliable set of tools has been developed and implemented on a fairly widespread basis (and even today, there are still plenty of urban authorities still making the same old mistakes).

[BrianTH]

On the subject of parks:

I have fallen in love with living in cities, but I also grew up spending summer and winter vacations in a cabin on a lake right next to undeveloped forests. So while I can recognize that an urban wilderness park is not really the same thing, I also think they are great assets for people who otherwise like cities but crave at least some connection with nature on a regular basis.

[Fiddlehead]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

On the subject of parks:

I have fallen in love with living in cities, but I also grew up spending summer and winter vacations in a cabin on a lake right next to undeveloped forests. So while I can recognize that an urban wilderness park is not really the same thing, I also think they are great assets for people who otherwise like cities but crave at least some connection with nature on a regular basis.

Sure, to each their own. Cities certainly have their beauty and interest, quite aside from parks and open spaces. In fact, due to many personal choices and economic factors, America is pretty urban overall. Sure folks in the West have access to more open landscape, but to be honest, our cities often leave a lot to be desired. So, the notion of multiple scales of parks, from small, local, and accessible to grand, pristine, and remote are all part of the greatness of a country, IMO.

One of the things that has me pondering this topic is that visitation is going down at our national parks. Many cultural and economic factors are no doubt behind the pattern, and one them appears to be early exposure to nature. Most American national park visitors are over 40, above average in education and income, and white. They oftern cite early exposure to camping with parents as the thing that hooked them.And the same is absolutely true of folks who work in parks. Very lily white culture for some reason, often fired up on camping in the car camping heyday of the 1950-70s or granola crunching wave of the 70s and early 80s. An interesting phenomenon that I am exploring, and so all these places are of interest.

I would add that national parks have moved to the East over time, but it has obviously been a bit harder with the smaller portions of the public domain in the East. In the Pittsburgh area, it would seem the big river parks of W. Virginia (New River Gorge, Bluestone River) would be of interest. Also, I hear that the Adirondack State Park at 6 million acres in Upstate New York is a fine place.

[shutdownthefed]

nice! I think I'll be drinking there daily when I move up there