Cleaning up. Greening up. And a new Web site.
Mayor Luke Ravenstahl continued today with his second of five planned "sweeps" of key neighborhoods needing to be "redd-up" in advance of The Pittsburgh Summit.
"Next to Downtown, Mount Washington will be probably the second most-visited area," said Ravenstahl Monday, during a press conference overlooking the Pittsburgh skyline near the intersection of Shiloh Street and Grandview Avenue. "We want to make sure that it's presentable."
On July 23 the mayor surveyed the Downtown area around the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, where leaders of the G-20 nations will meet Sept. 24-25 to discuss the global economy.
The city has already delivered new trash cans in Mount Washington, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. The Mount Washington Community Development Corp. has asked to have streetlights installed, rickety fences repaired and security cameras posted along Grandview Avenue.
The city's Redd-Up Campaign crew has shifted from daylight to nights to work unimpeded by traffic. Along with Downtown and Mount Washington, the crews are also addressing concerns in Oakland, the Strip District and the South Side. Those are the neighborhoods that city leaders expect to be most visited by the hundreds of international government staff and thousands of journalists attending the conference.
County Executive Dan Onorato will conduct a similar tour along the Pittsburgh International Airport corridor Wednesday. At that time, the Pittsburgh G-20 Partnership will unveil the images for signs and banners that -- from light posts, buildings and shop windows around the region ñ will welcome the world to Pittsburgh.
The city and county, with the help of several volunteer organizations, also are planning a clean-up "blitz" on Saturday, Sept. 12, in communities throughout the region.
Other "Clean and Green" Efforts Already Underway
The Convention Center's "front door" is already undergoing some intensive greening. A $152,000 grant from the Colcom Foundation to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy will cover the cost of planting 39 small maple, magnolia and zelkova trees at the corner of Penn Avenue and 10th Street, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports.
John F. Rohe, Colcom's vice president of philanthropy, said the grant aims to give the busy corner "color and definition" for images that will be seen via international and national news media. The Colcom Foundation -- a Pittsburgh G-20 Partner — focuses, through strategic grant-making, on environmental sustainability and natural resource preservation.
"Eds and Meds" Website Launches for Delegates, Media
Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) — all Pittsburgh G-20 Partnership Underwriters -- have launched a collaborative Web site to help tell the story of Western Pennsylvania's transformation into a thriving center of medical and high-tech research and development. The new site, G20 Pittsburgh 2009 The Power of Three, offers a wealth of background resources about cutting-edge programs at CMU, Pitt and UPMC; powerful collaborations among the three entities; and start-up companies that have grown out of Pittsburgh's universities.
The three institutions will host 10 tours on Sept. 21 for credentialed news media and delegates attending The Pittsburgh Summit. Focal points will include the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the Center for Global Health and the Entertainment Technology Center. Additional information about tour registration is available here.
Compiled by Bonnie Pfister for the Pittsburgh G-20 Partnership
Sources: Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's office; County Executive Dan Onorato's office; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Pittsburgh-Tribune Review; Colcom Foundation; http://edsmedspittsburgh.org/.
Source: https://www.pittsburghg20.org/Articles/081009.aspx#Eds
