Back in the day, Liberty Avenue Downtown flashed neon lights as stridently as a parade of police cars in a hurry somewhere. Today’s mien is more, shall we say, family friendly, but it strives for a level of sophistication worthy of a world-class city.

The Cultural District is one reason why the city is moving in that direction, and the Sprout Fund is behind the latest effort to bring a little more animation to the scene.

Today, the Historic Review Commission approved a proposed installation of public art on the side of the Bruno Building at 945 Liberty Ave. — a 21-by-23-foot design of interconnected geometric patterns by artists Jacob Ciocci and Matt Barton. Both are graduates of the masters of fine arts program at Carnegie Mellon University. Matt teaches at UC-Colorado Springs and Jacob splits his time between Braddock and New York City.

Their proposal was chosen from among 97 who answered the Sprout Fund’s call for artists, said Curt Gettman, program manager for Sprout’s public art program.

He said the materials budget is about $100,000, with a final budget to be determined.

“We’re excited about the project,” he said. “It’s a fun piece.”

In ensuing weeks and months, Sprout will give the public a chance to weigh in, especially business owners and residents who could feel the LED-light piece would have an impact on their lives.

“We are eager to talk to people about the design,” Curt said. “There is a lot of control that we can have,” including dimming of lights that he said are far less bright than neon.  “We want to add character to the neighborhood while taking into account that people live there.”

The lights will face down Smithfield, at an angle that should have minimal residentail impact, he said.

The animated piece is designed to display four, 15-minute compositions each hour. It would be installed on the white backdrop of a faded advertisement from decades ago, when the building was used for numerous public advertising signs.

In giving its approval, the commission required that the display, which will use LED lights in compliance with the city’s brightness standards, would never be able to be adapted for use as a sign, slogn or logo.

Provided the proposal meets zoning requirements, it could be installed by summer.

In their artists’ statement, Jacob and Matt wrote: “Much of the inspiration for this piece comes from the presence of the three rivers in Pittsburgh. Providing the very foundation of Pittsburgh from Fort Pitt through the Industrial Era and into today, the rivers supply the livelihood and vitality for the city. Each and every day while the city bustles, the rivers flow. Their constant energy surrounds the downtown area and reflects the dynamism that is Pittsburgh. The separate bodies of water converge, intermingle, and literally become one. While the water flowing by the city on both sides is never actually the same, (with each moment renewed and reinventing itself), these rivers remain continuous. While the people and histories of Pittsburgh continue to grow and change, certain things stay the same.”

Photo image courtesy of The Sprout Fund

The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership is always looking for a few good volunteers to add to the cadre of souls who in 2012 gave almost 5,000 hours of this service, a 332 percent increase over 2011, according to Leigh Ann White, A PDP spokesman.

The total number of volunteers throughout 2012 was 1,850, and 860 percent increase over 2011. They provided services valued at roughly  $108,000.621.00.

Mark my words, volunteerism is what's going to keep us going as a society when towns, cities and even business improvement districts become more and more strapped. So be prepared to shift your idea of busy as giving to the greater good instead of to your own, personal orbit ... or do without the services.

Just sayin'.

Pittsburgh is still lucky to have foundations that step up, and in this case the Richard King Mellon Foundation paid for supplies that led to this explosion of volunteers.

They clean the river walk,remove  graffiti, weed and mulch flower beds, pick up rocks and rubble, paint fixtures and furniture, wash bus shelters and rake leaves. Volunteers have also been enlisted as hospitality guides — a service, for which the PDP used to pay people, that is stepped up for special events such as the Pittsburgh Marathon and Light Up Night.

Last year’s highlights:

+ In March, PDP, Pittsburgh Cares and AmeriCorps collected 50 volunteers for a “service crawl” of sites throughout Downtown for graffiti and debris removal, the cleaning of parklets, landscaping of the Riverwalk and cleaning of Market Square.
+ In September, members of the Naval Reserves Submarine Support Unit in North Versailles planted 50 shrubs along the exit ramps near Fort Pitt Boulevard and Grant Street.
+ In October, more than 25 corporate volunteers from BNY Mellon volunteered every Friday to paint poles and fixtures, clean a commuter parklet of trash and weeds and removed graffiti and litter around the BNY Mellon campus and at gateways from Uptown to Downtown.

Volunteers typically work on Saturdays and they include individuals and school and corporate groups.

If you or members of your organization want to give time to this program, contact Rich Dethlefs at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call (412) 325-0156. Check out the PDP Partnership Volunteer Program Facebook page.

Photo by John Altdorfer

The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh isn’t just for children. It can inspire the child that still lives in all of us even though it's usually buried under the weight of responsibility and solemn endeavor.

But your inner child actually has an opportunity to play at the museum on Feb. 7 during an event called MAKEnight. It’s for the over-21 crowd, from 6 to 9p.

The museum’s Makeshop and Studio will be open to participants to learn how to felt, build a race car or silkscreen an original image on a T-shirt. This is the third adult MAKEnight; the last one in December was sold out.

The museum has had adult events before, but this is the first interactive opportunity for adults to create in those two areas, said Bill Schlageter, director of marketing for the museum.

Makeshop is described on the museum’s website as “a ‘maker’ space devoted to informal hands-on learning using both new and old technologies.”

Admission is $12, $10 for members, and that will get you light fare prepared by E2, a local farm to table restaurant; wine, beer  and non-alcoholic beverages. You can buy a ticket by calling 412-322-5058 x 240.

Pianist and composer Tom Roberts will perform an original score to two silent Charlie Chaplin films.

Makeshop is a museum partnership with Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center and the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Learning in out-of-school Environments.

WHen children use the 1,800 square-foot space, they work on “low-tech woodworking and sewing to high-tech circuitry and animation, with a variety of combinations in between,” according to the website. “Children may find themselves sewing LED bracelets or assembling robots using DC motors.”

The event is sponsored by the Benter Foundation.

Photo of a previous MAKEnight from the Children's Museum

At the first of the year, Jason Kambitsis started his new job as executive director of the Mount Washington Community Development Corp., stepping up from the position of director of economic development.

Previously, he worked for the city of Pittsburgh’s planning department.

The 32-year-old native of Mount Lebanon returned in 2008 after a stint in California, where he got his master’s degree in city and regional planning and worked as a planner and a member of the architectural review commission in San Luis Obispo.

Although he lives in Oakwood with his wife Katie and sons Kris, 5, and Martin, 10 months, he is the type of person Mount Washington is increasingly attracting — young professionals who want to be near Downtown.

“People of my generation don’t want to need a car,” he said, “and I hear it all the time that people are moving to Mount Washington to be more in the center.”

Mount Washington has had some challenges with blight and investment that it has begun overcoming with stronger market demand for housing and apartments.

The biggest thing that’s happening in Mount Washington is the biggest thing that’s going to be happening for some years — the creation of Emerald View Park, the city’s fifth regional park at 260 acres.

And as it progresses around the mount, picking up existing parks and greenspaces in its wake, it is also raising the value and prices of homes along it.

The new townhouses of Sweetbriar Village are selling in the upper $300,000 to mid- $400,000 range. They don’t have a view but they sit along trails of Emerald View Park.

“We are starting to see, even beyond the park, more people rehabbing properties,” he said. “There’s growth in demand for apartments by people who are upwardly mobile.”

The CDC is a non-profit economic development vehicle that oversees the park development, invests in properties and provides support for neighborhood projects and events. It also is collaborating with neighboring Allentown on streetface improvements that are funded through the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Main Streets program.

One of its long-term strategies is to hook renters and provide opportunities for them to stay and invest in homes or businesses.

One of its investments is in partnership with the developer of the former Prospect School, which will become 67 market-rate apartments. The former South Hills High School was renovated into more than 100 units for elderly residents. It opened in 2010.

A few among many things you may not know about Mount Washington are:

+ Thursday night is Karaoke night at the Bigham Tavern (formerly Kaib’s) on Bigham Street;

+ Giant brick towers that sit in a row at Secane and Harwood ventilate the Liberty Tunnel;

+ You can still buy a house for $40,000.