Mon-Fayette Expressway walk - and Braddock ponderings with Christine

Christine and Jon, splending community thinkers, along with Ground Zero (a network of friends and mostly vibrant people who care about the region) make this call. It is worthy of your full consideration.

Pre-Enactment: Mon-Fayette Expressway Walk & Community Planning Dialogue Saturday, August 6th, 2005 (August 13th rain date for Mon-Fayette Expressway Walk only)

Pre-Enactment is a two-part performance/dialogue event focusing on Braddock’s future. Braddock citizens, politicians, organization leaders, the media, and the general public are invited to spend the day with us, not to plan Braddock, but to help think about and advocate for Braddock’s future. Pre-Enactment is the public culmination of Looking for Braddock’s Fields, a project of the GroundZero Action Network.

1. Mon-Fayette Expressway Walk (9:30 am – 11:30 am)
Meet between 6th and 7th Streets in the parking lot on Woodlawn Street, parallel to Braddock Avenue and one block closer to the Monongahela River.

2. Community Planning Dialogue (12:30 pm – 3:00 pm)
Braddock Carnegie Library, 419 Library Street, Braddock .

To RSVP, or for more information, please contact: christine.brill@gmail.com or 412-443-4210.

1. Pre-Enactment: Mon-Fayette Expressway Walk
The first part of the event is about understanding and experiencing the impact of the proposed Mon-Fayette Expressway through Braddock. Participants will walk through the central part of the proposed right-of-way, while two groups of volunteers mark the edges of its directly impacted area with large banners. During the walk, the proposed highway design will be discussed, along with its impact on Braddock and the potential treatment of land/space along its path.

2. Pre-Enactment: Community Planning Dialogue
The second part of the event will take place at the Braddock Carnegie Library where a dialogue about Braddock’s future will be facilitated. A large-scale model of Braddock and surrounding hillsides will be the centerpiece for the discussion, illustrating the Borough’s existing physical conditions. A removable overlay will model the proposed expressway and its impact on the surrounding community. Braddock’s richly layered potential for change includes consideration of: the proposed highway, the re-emergent green spaces, the river, development forces, etc. The goal is to integrate ecological, cultural and social values into future plans for Braddock, and to help strengthen the community in the process.

Project Background
Looking for Braddock’s Fields is a project led by Christine Brill and Jonathan Kline of the GroundZero Action Network. The project began with a month long residency in June 2004 sponsored by the Monongahela Conference on Post-Industrial Community Development based at Carnegie Mellon University. We are working in Braddock as artists who have skills and expertise in architecture, urban design, planning and landscape ecology. We came to Braddock to look, listen and initiate a public conversation about Braddock’s past, present and future. Our project is not a plan or a proposal for Braddock; instead our work is about understanding and exploring Braddock’s potential through maps, models, pictures, and most importantly, conversations with its citizens. Our goal is to collaboratively expand the horizons for what Braddock can become.

Outcomes
The intended outcomes are increased awareness and discussion of the proposed highway design and the possibilities for Braddock’s future particularly along its riverfront. The dialogue will explore ways in which potentially incompatible visions can be reconciled. The results will be documented and distributed to key participants in Braddock to use as a tool for thinking about and advocating for the Borough’s future. An installation documenting the project will be exhibited in a show called Groundworks: Environmental Collaboration in Contemporary Art at the Regina Gouger Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University from October 14 to November 11, 2005. The work will also be presented in an exhibition catalog and a two day symposium on October 15-16, 2005.