This Letter Nails It

Published in the Post-Gazette, Tuesday Nov. 20, 2007:

Misguided glitz

Post-Gazette sportswriter Dejan Kovacevic usually ends his online Pirates Q&A with "Thing No. [X] That Makes Pittsburgh Great." Inspired by his example, and dismayed by the story about the purging of Candy-Rama from its longtime home Downtown ("Hanging Up Their Hats," Oct. 31), I present "Thing No. 87 That Makes Pittsburgh Lame and Degenerate":

A slavish adherence to yuppie-centric Reaganomics in Downtown drives small, local businesses out, in favor of high-rise condos, ritzy chains and fitness clubs.

These spawns of misguided supply-side development seem to sprout in our city daily like a twisted thicket on the shores of Acheron. Aside from the pandering to the upper crust antithetical to Pittsburgh's proletarian identity, the distressing element here is that Downtown is going to be loaded with high-end housing and gyms that will be completely empty.

And yet, the Urban Redevelopment Authority keeps making way for these establishments as if the problem were that they just haven't built the right one yet. They think that perhaps this will be the boutique-condo-fitness-martini-bar complex that will tap the yuppie geyser and have the Lincoln Navigators flowing through town on a river of wealth.

More likely, 15 years from now we'll still have an abandoned Downtown full of overpriced lofts nestled among shanties of uninspired art and bad theater, but we also will have wasted billions on a metropolitan-center-never-to-be.

Pittsburgh's charm and strength is in the personalities of its (now decaying) neighborhoods. Build on that. People don't visit New York to see office buildings, but Greenwich Village and Chinatown. People want personality and variety, not a pathetic attempt to fulfill a generic and unrealistic notion of "urban."

MORGAN KELLY
Squirrel Hill

Squeezed out?

That's the theme of this Tribune-Review article:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/search/s_537826.html

There has to be a place for the small and quirky businesses in the new downtown.

Light-Up Night

It's one of the few times that suburbanites renew the tradition of shopping downtown. Well, at least they walk around downtown for a few hours after dark, and that's something.

Macy's has continued the Kaufmann's tradition of elaborately-decorated display windows. After Light-Up Night, I often see families driving slowly along Smithfield Street so the kids can get a look at them. Sometimes they'll hastily park and dash out of the SUV long enough to take a picture or shoot some video. Then it's back into the vehicle and back to the mall.

A Sour Deal

No Candy Rama downtown?

This is appalling news, outlined in this Post-Gazette story by Mark Belko:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07304/829842-85.stm

They're being booted from their building in the name of downtown progress after 55 years in business.

Candy Rama used to have another location at the corner of Fifth and Wood. They closed that when kids waiting at a nearby bus stop would swarm in and steal. They had a nice, large location in the Clark Building on Liberty, but that closed earlier this year.

When former mayor Tom Murphy was preaching a scorched earth approach to downtown development via the doomed Nordstrom project, he sneered, "Do we want Candy Rama to define downtown?" Maybe not, but we certainly want Candy Rama to be downtown. It's one of those uniquely Pittsburgh experiences that has survived for generations. People comb speciality websites to find rare treats that are in regular stock at Candy Rama.

The owners have apparently been unable to find a location that makes economic sense. If I ran the Union Trust Building -- in one of the few areas that gets regular foot traffic, thanks to Macy's -- I'd be on the phone to the Candy Rama people and putting out a red carpet for them to rent some of the vacant space at street level.

With any luck at all, the front page publicity will lead to some sort of deal that will allow Candy Rama to keep a presence downtown. How can we lose a first-class candy store when we have a kid mayor?

That smell

If you've been anywhere around 7th and Liberty lately, you've smelled the grease pit in the new Moby Fish take-out place. Whew.

According to the menu they put in a City Paper ad, the place is big on catfish and also offers chicken gizzards.

This doesn't seem like a positive addition to the "new" downtown. Wonder what Morton's thinks of the new neighbor?

Paper or Plastic

The downtown grocery store will finally open in October according to this article in the Post-Gazette. The location should be fine for downtown residents -- it's an easy walk from most of the new buildings that are opening, and manageable from the residential buildings in Gateway Center as well. I can't imagine this will do much business with workers picking up something on the way home. This just won't be on the way for most people who work downtown. The issue will be whether downtown residents can provide enough business to make this venture viable. One thing that's encouraging is that Robin Fernandez is backing this venture. Fernandez is the one who saw the potential for the Strip District as an entertainment destination, then was smart enough to get out before it came crashing down.

One problem solved

The problem parking lot at Liberty and Smithfield is no longer a problem. The entire lot has been fenced in, presumably so they can start construction on the African American Cultural Museum. Also gone are the planters, which had been serving as de facto park benches.

So the guys who have been running drugs and hookers out of that lot will have to find a new spot.

Do Boutiques fit in Downtown retail?

Read this story in the Tribune about boutique stores and how they fit into the Downtown retail scene. That's obviously worked in other places like Walnut Street in Shadyside and Murray Avenue in Squirrel Hill. Would it work Downtown?

Obviously the parking issue is big. Then there's the matter of whether stores would be clustered to create a zone of boutiques. I don't think it works if there's one boutique amid the usual clutter of fast food places and office buildings.

The obvious market for Downtown business is people who work in the area, and those who live Downtown, once that gets up and running. Is it enough to sustain a business? We know that Downtown can't simply duplicate what people get in malls that offer free parking and a multitude of stores under one roof.

Remember Lums?

Lum's was a chain restaurant that had a location on the corner of 7th and Liberty. It opened in the middle 1970s. Not sure when it closed. It was one of those sit-down places with a wait staff that was an alternative to fast food, but still with fairly modest prices.

The house specialty was a hamburger called the "Ollieburger," named after the chain's founder. The key to the Ollieburger was the secret sauce. On the way to looking up something else, I stumbled across the recipe for the Ollieburger. It's available here:

http://www.cyber-kitchen.com/ubbs/archive/SANDWICHES/Beef_Lums_Ollieburger.html

for anyone who might want to create the Lum's experience. It appears the whole chain has gone out of business.

Downtown used to have a bunch of those "middle" places which were a step above the fast food locations with plastic trays, but a notch or two below the spots that gave you concern about the cost. Some of the others I remember along those lines were Palmer's, Stouffer's and Sweet William.

Market Square

Good to see them shut down a barber shop in Market Square that was believed to be a site for drug dealing.

Now what else can they do with the Square? It's been suffering for some time, mostly because the homeless congregate there. It should have places to sit and relax, but that becomes an open invitation for people who have nowhere else to go and nothing to do. There are still some businesses hanging in there, like the Oyster House, but the whole area is very fragile right now. How many places have tried and failed in the space that used to be G.D. Ritzy's?

Not sure what the plan to re-route buses away from the Square will do. It's clearly an area that depends on foot traffic and some of the businesses that used to help generate that -- like G.C . Murphy and the National Record Mart -- are long gone. Sad to see salvage stores and their downscale wares occupying what used to be solid retail spaces.

Hookers and crack

If you're looking for either, there's an open air market every night at Liberty Avenue and Smithfield Street. Just look for the parking lot on the corner and the independent businessmen who operate there.

This goes on in full view of everyone. Meanwhile, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl is out stalking Tiger Woods.

Is this any way to run a city?

Be careful

Here's a story that comes from a tenant in the Clark Building.

There was an early evening not too long ago when a fight broke out among some of the kids who congregate in front of the Wood Street T station. Nothing huge, just usual teenage stuff. A security guard from the building stepped outside to see if he could do anything to help.

One of the kids lifted his shirt far enough to show the guard he had a gun. That's the degree of the problem the city has there, and it isn't being addressed by anyone.

Someone wake up Mayor Luke's puppeteers and tell them that quality of life issues matter. People don't go where they don't feel safe. Clean it up.

What we're doing here

We're talking about Downtown Pittsburgh -- what happened to make it the pathetic hellhole it is today and what can be done to change it.

We welcome your input on good spots, bad spots and the overall state of what was once one of the most vibrant downtown areas in any mid-sized city in the USA.

Let's start with one trouble spot -- the area around the Wood Street T station at the corner of Liberty and Wood. Used to be a problem in the late afternoon because of kids congregating around the bus stop after school. Now it's pretty much trouble around the clock. Wendy's closed its location there, and Dunkin Donuts followed. McDonald's posts anti-loitering signs in its windows, but they don't seem to help. Some high-priced condos are going in around the corner, so perhaps a clean-up will become a priority. For now, though, one of the busiest intersections in the city is also one of the worst.