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Thread summary:

Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh, housing, downtown, traffic, liquor license.

 
Old 04-25-2008, 01:53 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, the Iron City!!!
803 posts, read 2,963,780 times
Reputation: 241

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Okay, so we're all familiar by now with //www.city-data.com/forum/pitts...ike-about.html , but let's turn the tables for a minute....

I'm sure I've already seena thread about what you DO like about Pittsburgh, but let's go a step further.... let's discuss what it is that makes Pittsburgh unique in comparison with other cities of similar (or larger) size, and in cases where there's something not to like about the 'Burgh, let's see if we can get some ideas on real-world, workable solutions!.....

Here, I'll start it off...:

What I LIKE about Pittsburgh (from the little I've seen over the past two months of traveling to and from in the hunt for housing) would include:

* The friendliest people I've encountered in ANY city, bar none...
* Cheap Housing Prices and Great Stock Available....
* The Fanatical Love of the Local Sports Franchise, through thick or thin...
* The ease of shopping in the Strip District for unique foods and other goods...
* The proximity of most bedroom communities to Downtown...
* The relative cleanliness of the city, compared to most others of ANY size...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, that's just a few... I could go on, of course... but I'll flip the coin and offer what I'm NOT so hot about, so far, as well as offer solutions:

* The LOOOOOONG stoplight intervals.... I thought I was sitting at broken lights, a few times.

SOLUTION: NO Stoplight needs to stay red. . . . OR green. . . for more than 90 seconds, at least not in Pittsburgh. The system needs to be synchronized to a speed of approximately 2 mph under the limit, so that when you leave one light, the others turn green, just before you'd get there under normal driving speeds. This has been done with great success, in Dallas and many other southern cities, although I don't see it at all in Chicago and in New York, it's confined to Manhattan...

* The Traffic on 376 / Parkway... this is, indeed, a "hot mess".. There is entirely too much traffic, and nowhere to put it, because it's the main east-west corridor.

SOLUTION: Taxes and/or Bond Election to eventually double-deck portions of the Parkway to accomodate the traffic load. I'd suggest from Squirrel Hill Tunnel into the "Mixmaster", and then on the west side from about Green tree road, to the tunnel / bridges. Commercial Traffic could have designated lanes, and those wishing to go "express" could utilize the upper deck.


* Liquor Laws: I haven't experienced this nightmare yet, but I can see where it'll **** me off, in no time flat... Pennsylvania is like texas, in that there's alot of antiquated laws still on the books, that hearken back to a more religiously conservative era, and there needs to be changes, realistic enough to retain the original spirit of the law, while changing the letter of it, a bit.

SOLUTION: Another Referendum, to allow a number of Licensees to petition for Sunday sales, and allow at least beer & wine in the grocery stores. Perhaps don't start selling until 11AM or so, and certainly limit the available places to those that would cause the least amount of dischord amongst local residents.




These are just a few ideas to get the ball rolling.... all your thoughts are welcomed, and appreciated!

Last edited by By~Tor; 04-25-2008 at 01:53 PM.. Reason: spelling
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Old 04-25-2008, 08:54 PM
 
487 posts, read 1,377,165 times
Reputation: 149
Quote:
Originally Posted by By~Tor View Post
SOLUTION: Taxes and/or Bond Election to eventually double-deck portions of the Parkway to accomodate the traffic load. I'd suggest from Squirrel Hill Tunnel into the "Mixmaster", and then on the west side from about Green tree road, to the tunnel / bridges. Commercial Traffic could have designated lanes, and those wishing to go "express" could utilize the upper deck.
I like the general idea of your thread, but I read about this double-deck brainstrom a while back, and it completely baffles me.

Even if such an idea could get financed (a bit of a stretch, don't you think?), you still haven't addressed the root cause of the problem: the tunnels. Whether you have 2 lanes, 4 lanes, or 400 lanes feeding them, you're not solving anything until you figure you how to increase throughput (or circumvent them, or send less traffic through them).
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Old 04-25-2008, 09:40 PM
 
136 posts, read 166,277 times
Reputation: 30
My complaint about the double decked lanes was that they want to Toll them! ugh.

I believe the solution said something about expanding the East Busway into the Parkway?

Here's the article:
Parkway East El for Pittsburgh - Penn Pike/Figg proposal | Toll Roads News

Also, for the Parkway West (Airport to Downtown) here's what the ideas were:
Study: Widen Ft. Pitt tunnel, Parkway West to four lanes each way

Last edited by pghcleak; 04-25-2008 at 10:08 PM..
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Old 04-25-2008, 11:11 PM
 
2,039 posts, read 6,311,365 times
Reputation: 581
Quote:
Originally Posted by By~Tor View Post
Okay, so we're all familiar by now with //www.city-data.com/forum/pitts...ike-about.html , but let's turn the tables for a minute....

I'm sure I've already seena thread about what you DO like about Pittsburgh, but let's go a step further.... let's discuss what it is that makes Pittsburgh unique in comparison with other cities of similar (or larger) size, and in cases where there's something not to like about the 'Burgh, let's see if we can get some ideas on real-world, workable solutions!.....

Here, I'll start it off...:

What I LIKE about Pittsburgh (from the little I've seen over the past two months of traveling to and from in the hunt for housing) would include:

* The friendliest people I've encountered in ANY city, bar none...
* Cheap Housing Prices and Great Stock Available....
* The Fanatical Love of the Local Sports Franchise, through thick or thin...
* The ease of shopping in the Strip District for unique foods and other goods...
* The proximity of most bedroom communities to Downtown...
* The relative cleanliness of the city, compared to most others of ANY size...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, that's just a few... I could go on, of course... but I'll flip the coin and offer what I'm NOT so hot about, so far, as well as offer solutions:

* The LOOOOOONG stoplight intervals.... I thought I was sitting at broken lights, a few times.

SOLUTION: NO Stoplight needs to stay red. . . . OR green. . . for more than 90 seconds, at least not in Pittsburgh. The system needs to be synchronized to a speed of approximately 2 mph under the limit, so that when you leave one light, the others turn green, just before you'd get there under normal driving speeds. This has been done with great success, in Dallas and many other southern cities, although I don't see it at all in Chicago and in New York, it's confined to Manhattan...

* The Traffic on 376 / Parkway... this is, indeed, a "hot mess".. There is entirely too much traffic, and nowhere to put it, because it's the main east-west corridor.

SOLUTION: Taxes and/or Bond Election to eventually double-deck portions of the Parkway to accomodate the traffic load. I'd suggest from Squirrel Hill Tunnel into the "Mixmaster", and then on the west side from about Green tree road, to the tunnel / bridges. Commercial Traffic could have designated lanes, and those wishing to go "express" could utilize the upper deck.


* Liquor Laws: I haven't experienced this nightmare yet, but I can see where it'll **** me off, in no time flat... Pennsylvania is like texas, in that there's alot of antiquated laws still on the books, that hearken back to a more religiously conservative era, and there needs to be changes, realistic enough to retain the original spirit of the law, while changing the letter of it, a bit.

SOLUTION: Another Referendum, to allow a number of Licensees to petition for Sunday sales, and allow at least beer & wine in the grocery stores. Perhaps don't start selling until 11AM or so, and certainly limit the available places to those that would cause the least amount of dischord amongst local residents.




These are just a few ideas to get the ball rolling.... all your thoughts are welcomed, and appreciated!
You don't live in Pittsburgh yet do you?
Well, I'm glad you like it. I am sure you will enjoy it.....
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Old 04-26-2008, 06:34 AM
 
20,273 posts, read 32,920,739 times
Reputation: 2910
I agree that because of the tunnels, and also because of things like rising gas prices and concern over environmental impact, the first priority should be expanding Pittsburgh's high speed public transit network. And the Busway really is a great start to build from: "bus rapid transit" has become very popular recently among public transit folks, and Pittsburgh is actually way ahead of the curve thanks to the Busway system.

And that is my only reservation about the Figg plan. If they want to add capacity on the Busway route (say by adding a deck) and then use it as a tollway for cars, fine. But please do NOT reduce capacity on the dedicated busway portion, or worse mix the car and bus routes, because the dedicated busway is what puts the "rapid" in "bus rapid transit". And ideally, any expansion extending from the Busway along the I-376 route should also included dedicated bus lanes, allowing further expansion of the bus rapid transit network.
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Old 04-26-2008, 03:43 PM
 
Location: Erie, PA
713 posts, read 1,861,112 times
Reputation: 180
The best way to reduce congestion is to raise taxes, which encourages people and businesses to relocate elsewhere. For the past 50 years, this seems to have been the main strategy of our state/local government.

Solution? The only solution I see is fiscal conservatism, which isn't exactly popular. Neither political party is fiscally conservative. Everyone wants their piece of the government pie (pork?). Government efficiency means eliminating govenment jobs, which won't happen in a region where people look to government to "create jobs." If basic economics was taught in the public schools, the general population might look to an expanding private sector for job creation instead of to the government. However, this is unlikely to happen, because of the public education establishment. The last thing the NEA wants is students learning that wages are not set by political tactics, but by the free market...especially when PA is #1 nationally for teacher strikes.

So what do we do? Go door to door and hand out leaflets?
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Old 04-27-2008, 03:45 PM
 
Location: Portland, OR
4,275 posts, read 7,608,699 times
Reputation: 2943
I love the history Pittsburgh has, BUT Pittsburgh is not progressive either, which holds us back economically. Many young people are moving out because of this and there has to be some way to attarct the young people back. I am one of those young people (34) and I feel for them, but I am willing to stick it out and help provide the change by educating people in other cities to what kind of gem our city is.

We are passionate of our sports team, BUT we are overzealous at times in where our sport teams take priority over other issues in town. Our local govt in recent years have used sports in politics a bit too much.
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