The City of Pittsburgh - January 5th, 2007

Thanks for 15 years of good Steelers football. It made me a fan of the game. Good luck in whatever the future holds for you.

1) is there anywhere to see bluegrass in the area, or any bluegrass bands that play 'round these parts regularly?

2) what's a good pay-as-you-go gym? i pretty much just want cheap. :P i travel often so i don't want to pay a monthly membership, i just want to pay each time. west end to south hills to end end is fine. (i also drive all over for work, so the location is not necessarily specific.)

thanks for the help.

PS - just curious if anyone is in charge of updating the memories in this community.

OK, I understand that football is important in this city. I understand how it is the center of civic pride and part of our collected mythology. I understand all that. BUT, it is after all only football. I also understand that I may be shot for saying such.

I looked at the front pages of our two papers today, the Post - Gazette (http://www.postgazette.com/) and the Tribune - Review (http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/). Both papers had the resignation of Steelers head coach Bill Cowher on the front page.

At least the Post had some of the stories linked to the homepage, the lousy Trib did not.

A more important story however was buried deep inside both papers. That regarding the transit cuts. Now as a long time Burg dweller I know that the transit authority does this every now and again, threaten to cut service drastically and raise fares, just to get funding from Harrisburg and every few years it seems to work.

This time it scares me. I think they are serious about it. Here are some links:

http://www.postgazette.com/pg/07005/751448-147.stm

http://www.postgazette.com/pg/07005/751447-147.stm

http://www.postgazette.com/pg/07005/751446-53.stm

I will be the first to admit that the system needs changed. But if Pittsburgh and the whole State wants to keep young people here and survive then we need good and reliable public transportation. Not new baseball stadiums or casino's (which seems to be the greatest thing since sliced bread if you read the local rags - but that is another vent for another post).

I for one think that we should be expanding our cities transport. Create "car free" days in downtown, offer companies incentives to pay their employees for using the bus.

Pittsburgh is one of the leaders in "Green buildings", now would be a great time to become one of the leaders in "Green Transport" for lack of a better term. Lets face it the cities roadways are falling apart, and reducing car traffic might be one way to reduce the problem.

We need to get our heads out of our asses and do what needs to be done to build this city and region for the future. Not worry so much about the Steelers next coach, it is after all still a game. Our cities future is not.

(Cross posted to my own journal)