My trip to Pittsburgh (Plum, Butler: hotel, buy, casino)

[DirkNiblick2]

Well, I noted that the Rolling Stones were playing in Atlanta and a colleague of mine said they also played Dallas. In good natured ribbing he said they would not play in Pittsburgh. Turns out they would, so I checked ticket availability and there were plenty. I then checked on Priceline for a hotel and flight and found a good deal. So I booked all three. After more than 4 decades, I was going back to Pittsburgh!

The concert was really great, but you had to stand in line in the stadium to get a wrist band if you were at field level. Seemed to be that they should give the wristband when you buy the ticket. The line inside the stadium caused unnecessary overcrowding in the passageways.

I thought I had a brilliant plan for leaving. I’d just head over to the casino where they would undoubtedly be taxis. Problem was , just about everyone else had the same idea. People poured into the casino which was clearly good for their business as the tables were packed. The guy directed the overwhelmed taxi line had a good idea, he checked where each taxi was going and tried to pack it. Which is the reason why I managed to get back to the airport hotel. I might have been there all night otherwise as 28X had long finished service for the day.

I liked the casino. I’ve been to Las Vegas and it’s as good as any casino there. Only thing I didn’t see was a wall of TV monitors for sports betting.

I liked that my hotel (Hyatt) was connected to the airport. Not convenient to get into town but getting to the hotel and catching my flight back was not a problem. The airport is pretty good, it was the first American Air Mall and it still has a good selection despite losing its hub status. I was able to find my way around but signage could have been a bit better. The Visit Pittsburgh both is a good idea as may cities have tourist information at the airport, but I never saw it manned.

Took me a while to figure out how to use 28X to get into the city. I bought a 10-fare card for 2 zones but it didn’t give me a discount. I would have preferred a 3-day pass with unlimited rides, but it wasn’t an option. The T going out to the airport would be a huge plus from the standpoint of visitors. The bus ride was pretty long and Robinson Township isn’t much to see. It does have a good selection of restaurants though. Like to see that much in the city. I quickly learned to get off at Gateway to catch the T as downtown and North Shore are free zones. It really ought to include the South Side as Station Square is a likely tourist stop. Nice that pretty much all the tours are gathered at Station Square. Too bad the railroad tracks stand between Station Square and the river. The tracks and fence sort of ruins what could have been a great spot. I’d like to move those tracks up by the other tracks beside the hill.

Wow, Pittsburgh sure is a bundle of infrastructure. Lots of bridges, flyovers, roads under and beside other roads. Makes me think there should be a do over as there must be a simpler road network that could be made. From all that Nice to see biking in the city, maybe there could be more of an effort to encourage scooters to deal with the hills, that could lessen the traffic.

I was in Minneapolis recently and it could serve as a model for an LRT system. They have running from the airport to downtown, out to the Mall of America, etc. And really, those LRTs can move pretty fast so it’s not like the bus is the best solution on the busways. It’s super expensive but a comprehensive system of LRT ways around the county would be great to get more people downtown and out again for events like The Stones.

Visited the Toonseum; bit of a disappointment. Too small with only two rooms with comic pages hung on the wall with a little card about it beside it. The card didn’t say enough and you might as well blow up the art so you can read it from a distance and view the artwork. It had two exhibits at the time, Little Nemo and The Avengers. The exhibits didn’t educate, just some pictures to look at. They need to find someone who can put together some exciting exhibits. I was at a comic convention with a lecture on super hero women, very interesting take on how women super heroes were portrayed over the years. Another convention did a brief history of comics. I didn’t know there was a golden era, silver era, and bronze era with such distractive traits.. There even was a comic code in effect governing what could appear in a comic book. Sort of stifled creativity in story telling. The Toonseum could use a historic collection to provide a “then and now” perspective. They might get a grant from the Charles Schulz Foundation for any such project as I’m sure the Toonseum is tight for money.

Went to the Carnegie Science Center, and saw my old pal the Zeiss projector from the Buhl Planetarium days. They should have kept it in the Children’s Museum as it was a pretty cool sight for a kid as this alien like thing rose from beneath the floor. Had some frozen yogurt dispensed by a robot on the outside patio and sent a picture of the Point back to my friends. The sight of the skyline, fountain, the rivers, with the warm sunshine and a breeze off the river, made the yogurt a special treat. Life felt good! The submarine was pretty cool, they use every inch in that sub.. Seems like Pittsburgh should make addition use of its shores for relaxing and eating.

Didn’t make the best use of my time as I had to figure how to get around, but that leaves me with plenty to do on a return trip.

General impression? You can definitely feel a Steelers vibe there. Funny because I grew up there in the 60’s and the Steelers were nothing….nor the Penguins…the Pirates had a bit of buzz. Most of the kids I knew liked the Packers or Vikings. Times have certainly changed.

[bluecarebear]

At one time there was talk of expanding public transit but that has died out over the last several years. It was one reason I was excited to live here.

A larger park system. This is the perfect city for implementing a park system similar to those in Ohio. Heck, we have three rivers lined with dying buildings/towns to take full advantage of. It is a stellar idea but the current Pittsburgh officials have zero ambition or vision.

[DirkNiblick2]

Originally Posted by bluecarebear

At one time there was talk of expanding public transit but that has died out over the last several years. It was one reason I was excited to live here.

A larger park system. This is the perfect city for implementing a park system similar to those in Ohio. Heck, we have three rivers lined with dying buildings/towns to take full advantage of. It is a stellar idea but the current Pittsburgh officials have zero ambition or vision.

To be fair, that costs money...a lot of money. They should have a long term blueprint of what they want to do though. A lot of time was wasted considering the defunct Skybus system.

LRT lines along the rivers are a must. Up to Kittanning, Beaver Falls, Kennywood and beyond, Monroeville, Plum, the Airport and Cranberry out to Butler naturally. Increase the park system and put in trails to connect them and try to include tourist attractions too.

There's a lot of interest in biking...which is good. But considering the hilly terrain, Pittsburgh ought to push scooters too. They are environmentally friendly getting more than 100 mpg, and very small.

Really, Pittsburgh has a lot going for it. It lacks the draw of the southern cities which are sunny and have very business friendly states. Pittsburgh's best bet is lifestyle. An LRT system which runs 24 hours on weekends could bring more people downtown.

[bluecarebear]

Originally Posted by DirkNiblick2

To be fair, that costs money...a lot of money. They should have a long term blueprint of what they want to do though. A lot of time was wasted considering the defunct Skybus system.

LRT lines along the rivers are a must. Up to Kittanning, Beaver Falls, Kennywood and beyond, Monroeville, Plum, the Airport and Cranberry out to Butler naturally. Increase the park system and put in trails to connect them and try to include tourist attractions too.

There's a lot of interest in biking...which is good. But considering the hilly terrain, Pittsburgh ought to push scooters too. They are environmentally friendly getting more than 100 mpg, and very small.

Really, Pittsburgh has a lot going for it. It lacks the draw of the southern cities which are sunny and have very business friendly states. Pittsburgh's best bet is lifestyle. An LRT system which runs 24 hours on weekends could bring more people downtown.

I couldn't agree more but the issue is basically dead. It has taken the city 6 years to consider a BRT line and they are still mulling that one over.