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  #1021  
Old Posted Jun 1, 2018, 1:17 PM
eschaton eschaton is offline
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And I have zero trust in this Administration thwarting them if so.
What power in particular do the foundations have over Peduto exactly? Have they promised him some sort of plum job after he gets bored of being mayor? His kow-towing to them is just inexplicable, because they really are not that important to the economy or powerful in general compared to say the sports teams, UMPC, or PNC.
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  #1022  
Old Posted Jun 1, 2018, 1:27 PM
eschaton eschaton is offline
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6/21 zoning agenda up. The only semi-big item is a new four-story mixed-use building in Lower Lawrenceville on Butler Street. It will go here - replacing the grassy yard and building facing the back street, but not the small surface parking lot, which is owned by someone else. This is a prime intersection in Lawrenceville, with Picolo Forno and Round Corner Cantina immediately across 38th and Butler respectively, so I think a new building here will be successful. They are asking for some minor variances, but hopefully it's nothing crucial to the development.

The agenda also has an infill house in Upper Lawrenceville, and some other, more minor projects.
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  #1023  
Old Posted Jun 1, 2018, 2:34 PM
BrianTH BrianTH is offline
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Originally Posted by eschaton View Post
What power in particular do the foundations have over Peduto exactly? Have they promised him some sort of plum job after he gets bored of being mayor? His kow-towing to them is just inexplicable, because they really are not that important to the economy or powerful in general compared to say the sports teams, UMPC, or PNC.
At a guess, it is the people on their boards and such that really matter to him.
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  #1024  
Old Posted Jun 1, 2018, 2:34 PM
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pj3000 pj3000 is offline
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And I have zero trust in this Administration thwarting them if so.
Yeah... I can't see this admin rocking the boat too much here... if the track record in dealings with the Penguins and Steelers is an indicator.

It's a tough position to be in as a mayor... I'm sure he wants to see action, but the Cultural Trust is one of those entrenched, powerful interests that cities need, and are often stymied by at the same time.
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  #1025  
Old Posted Jun 1, 2018, 2:36 PM
BrianTH BrianTH is offline
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Originally Posted by eschaton View Post
This is a prime intersection in Lawrenceville, with Picolo Forno and Round Corner Cantina immediately across 38th and Butler respectively, so I think a new building here will be successful. They are asking for some minor variances, but hopefully it's nothing crucial to the development.
I'm very glad to see that corner lot getting filled in. Hopefully it looks decent.
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  #1026  
Old Posted Jun 1, 2018, 2:43 PM
eschaton eschaton is offline
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Yeah... I can't see this admin rocking the boat too much here... if the track record in dealings with the Penguins and Steelers is an indicator.

It's a tough position to be in as a mayor... I'm sure he wants to see action, but the Cultural Trust is one of those entrenched, powerful interests that cities need, and are often stymied by at the same time.
In a major way, the Cultural Trust's interests (even if they were looking through this rationally) are different from the city as a whole. Similar to the sports teams, they want their chosen little area - the 14 square blocks of the Cultural District - to be a destination that people from outside of the area can easily get to - which for the most part, means driving in. Things like residential, offices, and even hotels downtown directly hurt the Trust's interests when it results in a reduction in the number of parking spaces available for suburbanites to utilize.
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  #1027  
Old Posted Jun 1, 2018, 2:46 PM
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Originally Posted by eschaton View Post
What power in particular do the foundations have over Peduto exactly? Have they promised him some sort of plum job after he gets bored of being mayor? His kow-towing to them is just inexplicable, because they really are not that important to the economy or powerful in general compared to say the sports teams, UMPC, or PNC.
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Originally Posted by BrianTH View Post
At a guess, it is the people on their boards and such that really matter to him.
Well, they are pretty powerful behind the scenes. They do have a lot of influence here, considering their boards and affiliations are made up of people with financial and political heft, as BrianTH alludes to. I think the Culutral Trust is a product of the Heinz family, if I'm not mistaken. And from its start, its makeup had significant influence, not just locally.

And they played a big role in getting him elected over the Pittsburgh Democratic establishment... so, yeah...

Last edited by pj3000; Jun 1, 2018 at 3:43 PM.
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  #1028  
Old Posted Jun 1, 2018, 2:49 PM
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Originally Posted by eschaton View Post
The only semi-big item is a new four-story mixed-use building in Lower Lawrenceville on Butler Street. It will go here- replacing the grassy yard and building facing the back street, but not the small surface parking lot, which is owned by someone else. This is a prime intersection in Lawrenceville, with Picolo Forno and Round Corner Cantina immediately across 38th and Butler respectively, so I think a new building here will be successful. They are asking for some minor variances, but hopefully it's nothing crucial to the development.
Ha! I've been waiting forever to read that something will be built on that lot. I'm hoping that some old Lawrenceville dude cashed out and is moving to Hawaii with the proceeds.
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  #1029  
Old Posted Jun 1, 2018, 2:55 PM
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Originally Posted by eschaton View Post
In a major way, the Cultural Trust's interests (even if they were looking through this rationally) are different from the city as a whole. Similar to the sports teams, they want their chosen little area - the 14 square blocks of the Cultural District - to be a destination that people from outside of the area can easily get to - which for the most part, means driving in. Things like residential, offices, and even hotels downtown directly hurt the Trust's interests when it results in a reduction in the number of parking spaces available for suburbanites to utilize.
True. I think they want tons of parking, but I also think that they want the full 24/7 development that brings in 24/7 revenue for them along with it. I imagine that the Cultural Trust wants a RiverParc in one form or another, and will wait to get the developer who will vie for the "right" to develop it, once the Trust has all the parcels under their control.
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  #1030  
Old Posted Jun 1, 2018, 3:00 PM
eschaton eschaton is offline
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Ha! I've been waiting forever to read that something will be built on that lot. I'm hoping that some old Lawrenceville dude cashed out and is moving to Hawaii with the proceeds.
Those properties were bought by E Properties & Development in 2012. There was a no-cash transfer in late 2016 to a new holding company which still seems to (judging by the tax bill address) owned by the Onwugbenus. A lot of their developments haven't been going well lately, so it's nice to see them working on something new.

Last edited by eschaton; Jun 1, 2018 at 7:56 PM.
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  #1031  
Old Posted Jun 1, 2018, 7:43 PM
mikebarbaro mikebarbaro is offline
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Angry

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I did see those June 20th signs and the lobby with the big video wall looks pretty cool, but I don't know, I guess I thought by now there'd be more signs of the exterior looking presentable with the broken windows finally gone, and the retail area looking ready to have spaces opened.
I completely agree. The outside of the building in its current state is extremely depressing. That stretch of Smithfield between them and Frank & Seder, as of right now, is very disappointing. Also, no sign of the Even Hotel yet as far as what I see...
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  #1032  
Old Posted Jun 1, 2018, 11:37 PM
highlander206 highlander206 is offline
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I completely agree. The outside of the building in its current state is extremely depressing. That stretch of Smithfield between them and Frank & Seder, as of right now, is very disappointing. Also, no sign of the Even Hotel yet as far as what I see...
Yes, I am not happy with the state of that area at all at the moment. Hopefully things start looking a bit better with the summer here now.
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  #1033  
Old Posted Jun 1, 2018, 11:39 PM
highlander206 highlander206 is offline
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Originally Posted by eschaton View Post
6/21 zoning agenda up. The only semi-big item is a new four-story mixed-use building in Lower Lawrenceville on Butler Street. It will go here - replacing the grassy yard and building facing the back street, but not the small surface parking lot, which is owned by someone else. This is a prime intersection in Lawrenceville, with Picolo Forno and Round Corner Cantina immediately across 38th and Butler respectively, so I think a new building here will be successful. They are asking for some minor variances, but hopefully it's nothing crucial to the development.
Wow, finally! I've been in the neighborhood for sometime and have always found it strange how in such a dense neighborhood, a grass yard like that has remained right on Butler Street.
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  #1034  
Old Posted Jun 2, 2018, 12:04 PM
BrianTH BrianTH is offline
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Just one word: Plastics.

https://www.plasticstoday.com/materi...83821699458842

(That is an article about the Shell (and possibly other) ethane crackers, the plastics industry that may build up around it, and the companies and educational institutions already in the region. I've never heard of the Plastics Cluster in Erie before.)
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  #1035  
Old Posted Jun 2, 2018, 9:56 PM
ks2006 ks2006 is offline
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While there have been a pretty good number of disappointing delays, modifications, cancellations of projects, it really seems certain areas of the city are filling in pretty rapidly anyway. Specifically Oakland and the Strip.

Does anyone know what happened with that office building proposal that was to be along the Mon downtown? I remember seeing three proposed designs, but that was a long time ago. Has that been abandoned?
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  #1036  
Old Posted Jun 4, 2018, 12:30 PM
BrianTH BrianTH is offline
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PAT is expensive but well-used as compared to peer systems:

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/tra...s/201806030083



One of the reasons the per-passenger cost is high is our light rail is REALLY costly:

Quote:
One cost area that is particularly concerning, Ms. Kelleman said, is the cost for light-rail service. The report showed that local light-rail costs per passenger were the highest among Port Authority’s peers in 2016 at $7.42, with Baltimore’s second at $5.86.

Ms. Kelleman said she will bring in experts from other northeast transit agencies this year to review the local light-rail system to determine whether the high costs are due to older facilities and the hilly terrain that could increase maintenance costs, or if other factors exist. “We definitely are an outlier on the cost of rail service,” Ms. Kelleman said.

“We either have some unique circumstances or things can be done [to improve that area].“I’m very focused on that metric — laser-focused on all of those cost areas but especially so on light rail.”
I do think our relatively unique topography casts a shadow over all of this. Our developed areas follow winding valleys and are scattered on top of plateaus, with ravines, rivers, and so on in between. That affects routing, maintenance, and so on.
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  #1037  
Old Posted Jun 4, 2018, 2:26 PM
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pj3000 pj3000 is offline
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Originally Posted by BrianTH View Post
Just one word: Plastics.

https://www.plasticstoday.com/materi...83821699458842

(That is an article about the Shell (and possibly other) ethane crackers, the plastics industry that may build up around it, and the companies and educational institutions already in the region. I've never heard of the Plastics Cluster in Erie before.)
I understand the potential economic development force of the Shell plant, but I'm still not a fan of building a gigantic facility to produce a compound that will mainly end up being used to make plastic bags and bottles... to say nothing of the negative effect it will have on the region's already terrible air quality and human health. Just find it hard to get too excited over something like that.

Yeah, Erie/NW PA/NE OH has been a main center of the plastics industry for a long time, particularly injection molding. There was always a large cluster of skilled machinists/tool-and-die makers in the region that produced products from the steel coming out of all the mills. Add that to the rubber/polymer industry in the region and the world of plastics was born. Regional expertise is the reason Penn State established their plastics engineering program at the campus there... I think it's one of the top-ranked programs in the country for that field. It would be really nice if they devoted more research to bioplastics, rather than continuing to rely on pulling hydrocarbons out of the gound and burning them, but you know... the oil & gas industry.
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  #1038  
Old Posted Jun 4, 2018, 2:53 PM
Don't Be That Guy Don't Be That Guy is offline
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Originally Posted by BrianTH View Post
PAT is expensive but well-used as compared to peer systems:

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/tra...s/201806030083



One of the reasons the per-passenger cost is high is our light rail is REALLY costly:



I do think our relatively unique topography casts a shadow over all of this. Our developed areas follow winding valleys and are scattered on top of plateaus, with ravines, rivers, and so on in between. That affects routing, maintenance, and so on.
True, but I'd attribute the high cost of light rail in Pittsburgh to low ridership - only 27,000 or so daily riders on 26 miles of track. Those numbers might make sense for a commuter rail, but not for light rail with multiple stops. Looking at a map, there just isn't sufficient density to really justify light rail service south of Mt. Lebanon. Not to say people in the South Hills don't deserve transit access, but just imagine what we could do with the money spent on service and maintenance for those lines. There'd be a lot less hemming and hawing over a half-measure BRT to Oakland.
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  #1039  
Old Posted Jun 4, 2018, 3:26 PM
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pj3000 pj3000 is offline
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Originally Posted by BrianTH View Post



I do think our relatively unique topography casts a shadow over all of this. Our developed areas follow winding valleys and are scattered on top of plateaus, with ravines, rivers, and so on in between. That affects routing, maintenance, and so on.
If only there were some form of transit that could overcome many of the core's topographical challenges at a compartively low maintenance cost...
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  #1040  
Old Posted Jun 4, 2018, 9:13 PM
daviderik daviderik is offline
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Originally Posted by Don't Be That Guy View Post
... Not to say people in the South Hills don't deserve transit access, but just imagine what we could do with the money spent on service and maintenance for those lines. There'd be a lot less hemming and hawing over a half-measure BRT to Oakland.
The county was much better served when light rail went everywhere not just the South Hills. That said, they kind of need it the most. Route 51 is a nightmare. Imagine if 27,000 more people were forced to drive in instead of ride in? The east and west have the parkways and the north has 279. Saw Mill Run is a joke. It floods constantly, Traffic lights slows commute time. All needs fixed before Pgh metro can support any significate pop growth.
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