Pushing and Pumping Past the Limits of Comfort
Inherent Postponements of Judgement Day Reconings
Photos appeared in the newspaper showing a new, big, empty parking garage in downtown.When Will We Know If Lazarus Is a BUST?
The vertict is still pending on the Lazarus development. Props from the yet to open Lord & Taylor are expected to aid Lazarus. But, when will we know if the spending on the Lazarus was worth it, say in 2005? When is judgement day? When is there a bonafide accoutability?Meanwhile, looking back, ... When Did Lazarus Receive Its "Go/No-Go" Blessings?
Did the early ideas and early Point being, the planning pipeline stretches for months and years.Priming the pump is hard work. Much action is necessary before anything spills out. The earliest squirts can be murky, rusted, and muddy. Pumping some more can open the floodgates, or not. We can't predict the future, but we can hope. And, we can also be prudent given the overall situations.
The Echos of a Strike Out
Councilman Gene Ricciardi said that the Stoffer/UPMC Pharmacy Warehouse was strike one. Strike two was the approval of Continental for strickly rental units on the LTV site. The South Side doesn't want the LTV site to turn into a sub-development that is an isolated island, such as Station Square.Will strike three could be the UPMC Sports Performance compound?
Councilman Jim Ferlo wondered aloud about the boxed office buildings and parking garage on Second Avenue along the Mon. He noted that the Stoffer/UPMC Pharmacy Warehouse puts the "ug" in ugly.
Alan Hertzberg asked the URA Director if the developments slated for the North Side have ended. Seems that the North Side has been getting a ton of money poured onto it.
Strike Three, You're Out! shouts the umpire, moments after the pitch crosses the plate.
In the time-line of developmental efforts, a serious time delay in encountered from original plans to opening day. In 1999, the URA and Pittsburgh sits among a back-log of developments still to unfold. The sound of "Strike Three, You're Out!" might be heard sometime in the distant future, after some 10, 20 or 30 different projects have already been launched.
After a project is launched and started, abortions would cause serious financial losses. After the pitcher releases the ball and the pitch is thrown, it can't be retracted. In this example, the URA is the pitcher and is releasing some 30 pitches. Each pitch takes 20 to 40 months to reach the strike zone. If some of the endeavors miss their mark, a flood of doom can spiral trouble for decades to come.
Good gamemanship would call for some pace, diversifications, and triple checking at the planning stages, so as to hedge against bold-wrong-headed moves.
From the closing of the new River Rescue building, to PNC Park, to the new football stadium, to the convention center, to the football practice compound, to the rental units on the LTV site, to the destruction of Pitt Stadium, to the old airport, to the West-End Circle, to the Mellon addition, to Urban Retail in downtown East Hills, Wabash Bridge and whatever else is in the pipeline, we have to wake up to the fact that we've got a lot of balls in the air at one time. What if everything goes according to rushed plans and serious flaws in philosophies are not flushed out?
Has the URA has been grooving its pitches to corporate development while not giving the smaller players any decent opportunities? Sure, we know of the first-time home buyers plans. We like the propety sales of "as-is housing stock" at $5,000 prices. But, let's get more money into action with these programs. Let's get college sophomores with 3.0 grade point averages a chance to own their own $5,000 home in the city for $0 down. This way we might keep a few additional graduates to stay in Pittsburgh after graduation.
Worse things have happened. The Housing Authority boomed with new buildings in the 1940s. Pittsburghers are still paying the price of those blunders. Our communities are still aching.
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