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Squatters wanted

Written by Diana Nelson Jones on .

 

University of Michigan researcher Margaret Dewar has been studying and mapping the Detroit neighborhood of Brightmoor, which is the subject of an article by Emily Badger in The Atlantic Cities this week.

"The Case for (Selective) Squatting" presents an interesting picture of renewal.

In the 1920s, rustic frame houses were built for Appalachian migrants so desperate for work that they would leave the beautiful mountains to live in them and search for work in industry. These were substandard houses because that's what the developers thought Appalachian people could handle.

Ms. Badger writes: "Many of them were originally built in the 1920s as wooden houses on wooden platforms, first constructed without heating or plumbing."

She writes: "Today, 40 percent of the lots in the neighborhood are vacant. And this reality – a common one in what Dewar and June Manning Thomas describe in their book 'The City After Abandonment' – has given way to a curious trend: Remaining homeowners here are taking over this land."

Making a case for a certain kind of squatting, the article shows that people in the neighborhood have used the vacant lots to expand yards and gardens.

Pittsburgh has less vacant land than Detroit, but we have our fair share. Squatting as renewal would be an interesting story to tell here.

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It's not easy being green

Written by Diana Nelson Jones on .

 
If you have been hoarding polystyrene in your basement waiting to make a gift of it for reuse, the Pennsylvania Resources Council will be collecting that and other hard-to-recycle items on Saturday.
 
It will be the first of four 2013 hard-to-recycle collections, but you have to drive to the Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills — from 9a to 1p in the parking lot. For most people, that's going way out of your way to be green. 
 
Other items you can drop off at no cost are computers, printers, monitors, fax machines, laptops and televisions, cell phones, printer/toner cartridges and compact flourescent lights.
 
“This year PRC is excited to partner with NOVA Chemicals and Appliance Warehouse to collect polystyrene packaging material,” said PRC's regional director Dave Mazza. “This hard, white molded packaging material is often used to protect consumer electronics and household appliances during shipping.”
 
That material can be recycled to make clothes hangers, insulation, decorative moldings and picture frames, he said.
 
Individuals will pay a nominal fee to drop off batteries, fluorescent tubes, small Freon appliances and paper for shredding. For a detailed list of items accepted and the price structure, visit this site or call PRC at 412-488-7490, ext. 236.

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My kind of town

Written by Diana Nelson Jones on .

 pedbike
 
The Chicago Department of Transportation now has Complete Streets Design Guidelines. 
 
From now on, in the design guidelines for every effort from major streetscape projects to minor roadside electrical work, she writes, transportation work must defer to a new ‘default modal hierarchy.’ The pedestrian comes first.
 
The article points out that city design for generations has bowed to the car as the primary means of getting around and that drivers have come to expect that. It’s encouraging to know that Chicago has put that practice in reverse. It is time for all municipalities and for national transportation policy to reflect on the role of driving in our culture and push it back in class.
 
Transit, bicycling and walking should all be elevated above the car and funding to do that should back the political will to.
 
In the article, Janet Attarian, the Chicago transportation department’s complete streets project director is quoted as saying, “We’re not talking about necessarily closing roads down, making them just for pedestrians. It’s about really understanding how you layer safety and placemaking and supporting economic development into this process of designing your roadway.”
 
From the article: “My feeling is that we have to swing the pendulum in the other direction,” says Gabe Klein, commissioner of Chicago’s Department of Transportation. “The fact is that the transit user is also a pedestrian, a cyclist is also a pedestrian, an auto user is also a pedestrian. You may not chose to do the other modes every day, but every day you’re a pedestrian.”

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BikePGH building a voting bloc

Written by Diana Nelson Jones on .

BikePGH reports that it has collected 1,700 signatures in its petition drive — the “I bike. I walk. I vote” campaign — to influence the next mayor’s policies on bicycle and pedestrian safety, including better infrastructure to make bicycling in the city more inviting to more people.
 
If that number of people cast votes with bicycling and pedestrian issues in mind, that’s a significant voting bloc that could determine the outcome of the election.
 
BikePGH hopes to collect 3,000 signatures before the democratic primary on May 21.
 
“Under Mayor [Luke] Ravenstahl’s leadership, biking became safer and more convenient,” BikePGH wrote in an email. “The city installed bike racks, on-street bike lanes, as well as the recently announced bikeshare program to launch in 2014. Additionally, in 2010, the League of American Bicyclists honored Pittsburgh as a Bronze Bicycle-Friendly Community. BikePGH calls upon our next mayor to continue to invest in policies and infrastructure that will lift Pittsburgh to a Silver-level award and higher.
 
“Cities across the country are investing in safe, bike-friendly infrastructure because they are competing with each other to be the greenest, healthiest, and best able to attract talent,” said Scott Bricker, executive director of BikePGH. “The best part is, these mayors are finding that these initiatives are not only popular. They save lives.”
 
BikePGH has sent a questionnaire to all the mayoral candidates and will be publishing the results on May 1. The non-profit will also participate in the candidates’ forum on greenspace April 24 at the Heinz History Center. 
 
May 17 is Bike to Work Day, when BikePGH will make a push to get out the vote for biking and walking.

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Leader in "greening the ghetto" to speak here

Written by Diana Nelson Jones on .

 
The Green Building Alliance and Phipps Conservatory will present Majora Carter Thursday night in the Inspire Speakers Series at the Carnegie Library Lecture Hall, 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland.
 
The event, from 5:30p to 8:30p, features one of the country’s leading consultants on how community development can be built on green jobs and sustainable infrastructure. The Majora Carter Group operates in the South Bronx, where her work helped establish Sustainable South Bronx in 2001.
 
In the video above, she talks about the effect of climate change on the poor and the need to address poverty and climate change together at an event of the Clinton Global Initiative in New Orleans in 2009.
 
Her urban green-collar job training and placement work, which she calls “greening the ghetto,” has been honored by the National Audubon Society and the Natural Resources Defense Council, among others.
 
Her focus will be on the importance of dynamic, diverse and healthy neighborhoods in our nation’s quest for national security.
 
The event will cost members of the Green Building Alliance and its partner organizations $25; all others $45.
 
Tickets can be purchased online, at the door or by calling Dana Snyder at the Green Building Alliance at 412.773.6017.

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