City's Official G20 Website Announced

A website that will serve as the City of Pittsburgh’s official information for all traffic and safety information leading up to G20 has been announced. Please go to http://www.g20safety.org/ and sign up now to receive emergency and general information text and email alerts. As the City makes important decisions that will affect community members, such as permitted protest marches that may affect your neighborhood streets, we want to make sure that you are in the know.

Early in the week beginning Sept. 14, the City will be releasing its G20 traffic and transportation plan. All relevant information regarding this plan including parking restrictions, traffic detours, and road closures will be posted on the site. The goal is to give you all of the information in an easy-to-understand fashion. There will be maps to serve as guidance, and the City will announce a special G20 “311” information hotline that will be up and running before and during the summit to handle concerns regarding traffic and the like.

Penn Avenue Community Meeting

Time for a Penn Avenue infrastructure project update! If you attended the first public meeting in March 2008 (shown at left) - and you live, work, or use Penn Avenue between 34th Street in Lawrenceville and Negley Avenue in East Liberty - you won't want to miss this important meeting, coming up next Thursday evening:

Date: April 16, 2009
Place: Saint Lawrence O’Toole Activity Building (corner of North Atlantic & Broad)
Time: 6:00 p.m. – Sign In/Refreshments; 6:30 p.m. – Presentation and Q&A; 7:30 p.m. – Group Breakout Stations / Discussions

The City of Pittsburgh, in cooperation with the PA Department ofTransportation, the Federal Highway Administration, and the Penn Avenue Corridor Phasing Plan Committee, will conduct a second public meeting for the Penn Avenue Corridor Phasing Plan Study. L. Robert Kimball & Associates is near completion in formulating a Corridor Phasing Plan to advise the City in programming and advancing transportation improvements along Penn Avenue.

The purpose of the meeting is threefold: 1) review the previous Public Meeting comments and community concerns; 2) discuss what has been completed since the last Public Meeting; and 3) detail the next steps and phases of the project including potential timelines.

The project is located on Penn Avenue in the City of Pittsburgh from 34th Street to Negley Avenue, approximately 2 miles in length. The project limits extend through the City of Pittsburgh neighborhoods of Lawrenceville, Bloomfield, Garfield, Friendship, and East Liberty. The scope of the study is to assess Penn Avenue transportation infrastructure needs and develop and implement a list of prioritized improvements for construction.

The project team will be present at the public meeting to discuss and provide a better understanding of the project needs and prioritized transportation improvements.

The meeting location is accessible to persons having disabilities. Anyone who needs additional information, has special needs, or requires special aids should contact:

Patrick Hassett, Assistant Director, City of Pittsburgh, Department of Public Works, Bureau of Transportation and Engineering at pat.hassett@city.pittsburgh.pa.us or 412-255-2883.

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Pittsburgh 250 Grants

Several East End organizations have received "Pittsburgh 250" grants for projects that address the theme of "Pride & Progress" in Western Pennsylvania. The grants are for the 250th anniversary celebration of Pittsburgh in 2008. The Thomas Merton Center, on Penn Avenue in Garfield, received $45,000 for an exhibit on the history of the local women's movement called "In Sisterhood." In a smaller grant, Lawrenceville Stakeholders and the Lawrenceville Historic Society were awarded $5,000 to expand the Lawrenceville Hospitality House Tour, which spotlights historic residences in Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville neighborhood, and to stage a series of reenactments and performances at other historic locations, such as the Allegheny Arsenal and the Allegheny Cemetery. You can read all about these projects and others funded for Pittsburgh's anniversary year in a thorough story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Peoples' Pittsburgh History Project Meets Tonight

State Sen. Jim Ferlo (D-Pittsburgh) today will host a kickoff meeting for the “Peoples’ Pittsburgh History Project Version 250,” an initiative of citizens and local historians inspired by Pittsburgh’s rich history and enduring legacy.

The event will be held this evening, Monday, July 23, starting at 6:30 p.m. at the City County Building Lobby in Downtown Pittsburgh.

“The mission is to hear all sorts of voices from the breadth of our diverse city,” Senator Ferlo said. “It is simply impossible for any single initiative to cover such a vast and storied history as Pittsburgh’s. The goal of Peoples’ Pittsburgh History Project is to gather the good, the bad, and even the ugly stories of our past to inform our future. The History Project will supplement the other efforts that are already underway, including Community Connections.”

Community Connections is a program of the Allegheny Conference on Regional Development’s Pittsburgh 250 project. Community Connections is being administered in partnership with The Sprout Fund.

Peoples’ Pittsburgh Version 250 has been conceived as an open source project and will work to develop creative projects that emphasize equity, humanity, and the legacy of past, present and future Pittsburgh.

“This is a great opportunity for all Pittsburghers, no matter what your affiliation or background, to have a voice in what is vital to Pittsburgh’s story,” said Ferlo. “I look forward to hearing all the diverse and creative ideas this initiative will inspire.”

Let's make sure that voices from our neighborhoods are heard!