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Events

Business Leaders take note

Regional Prosperity: How the Region's Plan Can Impact the Region's Bottom Line

Friday, June 10
11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Regional Enterprise Tower, 31st Floor
No fee to attend
RSVP to info@sustainablepittsburgh.org
Bring a brownbag lunch. Dessert provided.

The region's metropolitan planning organization (MPO), the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, is now accepting public input on the draft 2040 Transportation and Development Plan for Southwestern Pennsylvania. This plan helps to guide the region's growth and development patterns. At stake is channeling investments for infrastructure and economic development in ways that can improve quality of life, lessen the cost of doing business, increase long-term profitability, help reduce infrastructure costs, and contribute to recruitment and retention of employees.

Come learn more about how the region's draft 2040 Transportation and Development Plan is material to sustainable development. This session will equip you to provide formal comment to SPC by their 6/17 deadline.

Business leaders in America are increasingly focused on rationalizing regional patterns of development to more successfully spur economic prosperity and extend livability to more persons. The bottom line business case of smart growth is increasingly apparent.

Come be part of the conversation about how the region's plan and you can help to:
- channel the pattern and character of growth and development to hasten regional sustainability that protects and enhances investments
- ensure economic growth occurs without the impacts and inefficiencies of unchecked sprawl
- promote sustainable communities
- level the field for development and redevelopment to revitalize our older urban centers
- focus on the new economic nexus of land use, transportation, housing, and transit oriented development
- learn about new interactive tools to analyze the suitability of locations for transit oriented development

Presented by Sustainable Pittsburgh and Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission.

Events Continued

Resources

Transit Oriented Development: Is it a “FIT” With Your Community?

Thursday, June 9
9:00 am – 3:30 pm
Wilkinsburg Borough Municipal Building
Registration: $50, includes handouts, refreshments and lunch
Register Online

On June 9, 2011, “Transit Oriented Development: Is it a FIT with Your Community?” will be offered as part of the Sustainable Development Academy program series, a partnership between Local Government Academy and Sustainable Pittsburgh. The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission’s new “Future Investments in TOD” (FIT) will be a centerpiece of this program. Additional program topics include:

· How to use the FIT tool’s objective criteria to evaluate sites in a variety of communities.
· Utilizing development policy and practices like comprehensive planning, zoning and subdivision to engage in TOD
· TOD’s application in “edge” and “commuter” as well as urban locations
· What private sector partners look for and need for a transit-oriented development to be viable
· Why smarter transit, development policies and greater intergovernmental coordination will benefit the economy and the environment

· This program will include a walking tour and hands-on exercise using the FIT tool and will give participants the opportunity to engage with peers and experts in transit, planning and development on this topic

Click here for complete details and a list of program instructors. Also read the “Why TOD Top Ten List” on LGA Lyceum.

Business Leaders take note -- Regional Prosperity: How the Region's Plan Can Impact the Region's Bottom Line

Friday, June 10
11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Regional Enterprise Tower, 31st Floor
No fee to attend
RSVP to info@sustainablepittsburgh.org
Bring a brownbag lunch. Dessert provided.

The region's metropolitan planning organization (MPO), the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, is now accepting public input on the draft 2040 Transportation and Development Plan for Southwestern Pennsylvania. This plan helps to guide the region's growth and development patterns. At stake is channeling investments for infrastructure and economic development in ways that can improve quality of life, lessen the cost of doing business, increase long-term profitability, help reduce infrastructure costs, and contribute to recruitment and retention of employees.

Come learn more about how the region's draft 2040 Transportation and Development Plan is material to sustainable development. This session will equip you to provide formal comment to SPC by their 6/17 deadline.

Business leaders in America are increasingly focused on rationalizing regional patterns of development to more successfully spur economic prosperity and extend livability to more persons. The bottom line business case of smart growth is increasingly apparent.

Come be part of the conversation about how the region's plan and you can help to:
- channel the pattern and character of growth and development to hasten regional sustainability that protects and enhances investments
- ensure economic growth occurs without the impacts and inefficiencies of unchecked sprawl
- promote sustainable communities
- level the field for development and redevelopment to revitalize our older urban centers
- focus on the new economic nexus of land use, transportation, housing, and transit oriented development
- learn about new interactive tools to analyze the suitability of locations for transit oriented development

Presented by Sustainable Pittsburgh and Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission.

Save the Date: Sustainability and Healthcare Session #2: Strategic Environmental Solutions

Thursday, July 21
7:30 am – 3:00 pm
Fairmont Pittsburgh
More information to come.

This second of five workshops in the healthcare series will feature interactive work sessions with healthcare experts in energy, waste, green cleaning, and green building operational areas.

Invited Workshop Experts:
Noedahn Copley-Woods, University of Pittsburgh
Marc Mondor, evolveEA
Russell Olmstead, Saint Joseph Mercy Health System
Shanti Pless, US DOE
Janet Stout, Specialty Pathogens
And others

Upcoming Public Meetings to Comment on Draft 2040 Long Range Transportation and Development Plan for Southwestern Pennsylvania

Thursday, June 2
Lawrence County, 6:00 p.m., Lawrence County Courthouse; 430 Court Street; New Castle, PA 16101

Tuesday, June 7
Armstrong County, 6:00 p.m., Armstrong County Courthouse; 450 Market Street; Kittanning, PA 16201
Westmoreland County, 6:00 p.m., Westmoreland County Courthouse; Two North Main Street; Greensburg, PA 15601

Wednesday, June 8
Allegheny County/City of Pittsburgh, 6:00 p.m., Regional Enterprise Tower, 31st Floor; 425 Sixth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15219

Thursday, June 9
Greene County, 6:00 p.m., Waynesburg University, Stover Hall; 51 West College Street; Waynesburg, PA 15370

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission seeks comments from the public regarding important draft documents prior to their adoption:
· 2040 Transportation and Development Plan for Southwestern Pennsylvania
· Environmental Justice Benefits and Burdens Assessment for the 2040 Plan
· Air Quality Conformity Determination for the Pittsburgh Transportation Management Area
· Southwestern Pennsylvania Public Transit Human Services Coordinated Transportation Plan Update
The 30-day public comment period for the 2040 Long Range plan began Wednesday, May 18th, 2011 and will conclude on Friday, June 17, at 4:00pm.

The Draft 2040 Long Range Plan documents and related materials will be on display at public meetings for the public to review and ask questions. These meetings will also provide opportunities for public testimony regarding transportation related issues.

SPC encourages your comments. Comments are always welcome at: comments@spcregion.org.

Click here for more information.

Pittsburgh Neighborhood and Community Information System (PNCIS) 2nd Annual Users Conference

Friday, June 3
1:00 pm - 5:00 pm
University Club, 123 University Place, University of Pittsburgh, Oakland
Registration is free
More information

The Pittsburgh Neighborhood and Community Information System (PNCIS) is a property information system that collects integrated information on community conditions and provides it to local stakeholders. The PNCIS empowers community leaders through the regular, direct use of information on a wide array of topics and issues.

You are invited to attend the Second Annual Users' Conference, featuring:
Frank Ford, Senior Vice President for Research and Development
Neighborhood Progress Inc.
Cleveland, Ohio

Also at the conference
- Learn more about the 2010 Census and other new data
- Collect and share ideas for using information to enhance your community

Zoning Matters: the Process of an Update and the Legal Issues that Should Concern You

Wednesday, June 8
1:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Marshall Township Building, 525 Pleasanthill Road, Wexford 15090
Cost: $20
CM Credits: 3 CM; including 1.5 LAW CM
For course description and more information, view the brochure.
www.planningpa.org

The Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Planning Association (PA APA) has been working this spring to develop a CM Credit Zoning Matters Training, funded in part by the PA Local Government Training Partnership. The training information is finalized and now public.

This session will focus on the creation or update of a zoning ordinance. A planner will present on the overall process, the requirements per the Municipalities Planning Code, and how to best include the public throughout the process and address broad issues before getting caught up in the details. Case studies will be discussed. An attorney will cover Municipalities Planning Code-related legal issues, as well as specific elements of a zoning ordinance that can create legal hazards for a municipality if done incorrectly. These include fair housing, signage, alternative energy provisions, historic preservation, effective agricultural zoning, gas extraction, RLUIPA, spot zoning, and communications towers. Case law and examples will be covered. Municipalities frequently ask - how far is too far in regards to zoning? Some regulate beyond good planning and legal guidelines; others stop short in fear of lawsuits. This session will provide a legal and planning baseline on what's required, what’s legal, what's pushing the envelope, and what's illegal.

The target audience for this training includes professional planners who work with zoning ordinances and elected officials, municipal staff, and citizen planners who are well-versed in planning and in the process of or considering an update to their community's own zoning ordinance. There will be ample opportunity for Q&A during the session.

This session will be followed by an informal social at Walnut Grove. Please Note: PA APA Southwest Section is not hosting the social. Attendees will be responsible for purchasing their own food/drinks.

Diversity Dinnerviews
Changing the "face" of technology in Pittsburgh!

Thursday, June 9
6:00 pm - 8:30 pm
The Rivers Club
Cost: Pittsburgh Technology Council, WPDI Members - $249 || Non-Members: $500.00
To Register for this Event please call: (412) 918-4229 or email: events@pghtech.org
More information

Diversity Dinnerviews recruiting event is designed to bring together diversity focused tech companies to connect them with candidates looking for a technology job opportunity. This event is designed for your company to spend an evening having dinner with diverse candidates from around the Pittsburgh region that are looking for a new job opportunity in the technology industry. The Pittsburgh Technology Council has partnered with the Western Pennsylvania Diversity Initiative and Vibrant Pittsburgh to bring together diverse candidates looking for opportunities with technology companies.

Drop off "hard to recycle" materials

Saturday, June 11
10:00 am – 2:00 pm
The Mall at Robinson, 100 Robinson Centre Drive, Robinson Township
Event Flyer

The Pennsylvania Resources Council (PRC) in partnership with the Allegheny County Health Department, Colcom Foundation and NewsRadio 1020 KDKA are providing an opportunity for area residents to properly dispose of a wide variety of materials at four “hard to recycle” collection events in 2011.

At the upcoming events, individuals can drop off televisions, e-waste, cell phones, printer/toner cartridges, compact fluorescent bulbs, alkaline batteries and tires without rims for recycling.

Most items are collected for free – including the introduction of televisions and computers in 2011. Participant fees for tires, batteries and misc. e-waste are posted on the PRC Zero Waste Pittsburgh website at www.zerowastepgh.org.

First-Ever City of Pittsburgh Chicks-in-the-Hood
Urban Chicken Coop Tour

Sunday, June 12
9:00 am – 2:30 pm
Tickets for the tour are $5 - kids are free!
See below for more details.

Curious about what it would take to raise chickens in the city? Have a hankering for fresh local eggs in the morning? Wish you could take advantage of some of the benefits of country living right here in the City?

Or maybe you just like chickens . . .

Please come to the First Ever City of Pittsburgh Chicks in the Hood Urban Chicken Coop Tour, a self-guided tour of backyard chicken coops around the City. Take a peek at backyards all over town for creative coop ideas and a chance to talk chicken with owners and other poultry enthusiasts. Plus you’ll get a chance to see other back- yard sustainability practices in place — like rain barrels, organic gardening techniques, composting, and more.

Ticket purchase gets you a map with directions to each participating coop on the tour. All proceeds from each ticket sale will be donated to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank’s Urban Agriculture Programs, including The Farm Stand Project and the Plant-A-Row Project. Tickets will be available the morning of the tour at The Quiet Storm www.qspgh.com at 5430 Penn Avenue in Friendship/Garfield, Tazza D’Oro www.tazzadoro.com at 1125 North Highland Avenue in Highland Park, Crazy Mocha www.crazymocha.com, 2 East North Avenue on the North Side, and 7665 Lock Way West, Pittsburgh, PA 15206, located at the Highland Park Dam at the intersection of Washington Boulevard and Allegheny River Boulevard.

Questions or advanced tickets? Contact Jody by email noblechoder@aol.com or (412) 441-4975.

cityLIVE! 37 - Moving People, Not Cars

Monday, June 13
6:30 pm
New Hazlett Theater
More information and to RSVP

Have you ever thought you’d like to ride your bike to work, but it seems too dangerous? Do you wonder what life would be like if your children could walk to school, and you wouldn’t have to drive them? Do you admire cities like New York, with its miles of city bike lanes, or Paris, with its 20,000 bikes to rent? Do you hate the fact that you need to drive your bike to a good trail? Would you like to live in a city that is built for people, not cars?

On June 13, Gil Peñalosa will show us how! Mr. Peñalosa is the executive director of 8-80 Cities, and a founder of the famous Bogotá, Colombia Ciclovia event. He is an internationally renowned livable city expert dedicated to the transformation of cities into places where people can walk, bike, access public transit and visit vibrant parks and public places. What does 8-80 Cities stand for? Cities which are accessible to everyone, from 8 to 80 years old.

Local experts will be on hand to answer any questions you have that are particular to Pittsburgh. They include Scott Bricker, executive director of Bike Pittsburgh; Lynn Heckman, assistant director of Transportation Initiatives, Allegheny County Economic Development; Patrick Roberts, principal transportation planner for the City of Pittsburgh, and Darija Wiswell with Allegheny County’s Health Department.

Be there or be square.

Healthy Body, Healthy Home, Healthy Planet Workshop

Tuesday, June 14
6:30 pm - 8 pm
Whole Foods Market, 5880 Centre Avenue, Pittsburgh 15206
Cost: $20 per person/$25 per couple (All participants/couple receive a comprehensive green cleaning kit for attending)
Contact: Sarah Alessio Shea at saraha@ccicenter.org or (412) 488-7490 ext. 236
More information available at www.prc.org.

In 1962 Rachel Carson stated that for the first time in the history of the world, every human being is now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals, from the moment of conception until death. This statement was true then and continues to be true today.

We all are exposed to a number of different chemicals, carcinogens, and toxins in our environment on a daily basis, but while we may have no control over some exposures, there are many that we do. These exposures can come from our cell phones, parabens in our personal care products, or BPA in our plastics – so how can we seek these out and avoid them?

This workshop is designed to heighten awareness and encourage action around the issue of carcinogens and toxins that we come into contact with daily in our environment through the products we use and the food we eat. The workshop also focuses on the consequences of these toxins on our health and how we can avoid exposure. The program provides the public with practical solutions such as safe alternatives and healthy lifestyle choices.

In an effort to reduce one’s exposure to toxins and to reduce the amount of toxins in our environment, all workshop participants will receive a non-toxic green cleaning kit.

Connecting to Markets Series:
Neighborhoods and Labor Markets - Exploring Low-Income Neighborhoods in the Regional Context

Monday, June 20
11:30 am - 3:30 pm (Eastern)
Federal Reserve Bank, Pittsburgh Branch
717 Grant Street, Pittsburgh 15219
CAPACITY IS LIMITED AND SEATING WILL BE ON A FIRST-REGISTERED, FIRST-SERVED BASIS.
For more information, contact Ellen Kight (ellen@ppnd.org, (412) 471-3727 x13 or Joseph Ott (joseph.c.ott@clev.frb.org, (412) 261-7947).
More information and registration

Many agree on the importance of regions as the right geographic scale to think about, and act upon, issues of economic performance, racial and income disparities, and other elements of community well-being. This perspective is a valuable lens for diagnosis, but perhaps it is less so for prescribing action. Most policy interventions happen somewhere, or at least have spatial implications, yet spatial analysis seems oddly missing when these policies are considered.

The goal of this three-part series is to further stimulate conversation among those working to expand opportunity in low-income neighborhoods and those thinking and acting at regional levels. We aim to introduce more “concreteness” to the regional discussion, and to introduce to the neighborhood discussion deeper thinking about connections to regions.

The first discussion topic in this series concerns the connection between lower-income neighborhoods and regional labor markets. Labor market isolation of lower-income neighborhood residents is thought to have multiple causes; i.e., spatial mismatch of jobs and housing, thinness of employment networks, racial discrimination in hiring, and the failures of public education. What does research and practice tell us about effective policies to connect residents of lower-income neighborhoods to labor market opportunities throughout metropolitan areas? Where can we point to success in adopting community centered or community-mediated solutions to these basic labor market failures?

Please join national and regional panelists as they discuss these issues. The national panel discussion will convene at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and will be streamed live to satellite locations. Following the national discussion, a regional discussion will be convened at each satellite location.

Planning to Manage Secondary Impacts of Natural Gas Development

Wednesday, June 29
6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Double Tree by Hilton Hotel, Pittsburgh Meadowlands, 340 Racetrack Road, Washington, PA 15301
Cost: $50 (includes tuition, materials, and break)
More information and registration

Extraction of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania is creating opportunities in the Commonwealth, but it is also creating challenges for municipal officials. Careful planning is needed in all regions to reap the long-term benefits for PA citizens and communities. Local officials need to be ready to manage the secondary impacts of drilling, which begins with a clear understanding of what is happening (or could happen) in your community. It is vital that governments think and work proactively to address these impacts, rather than simply waiting for them to happen.

Understanding demands that will be placed on municipal services is key. These include: sewage permitting for mancamps and new housing; reuse of vacant land and commercial or industrial buildings for natural gas support services; drilling pads and staging areas which need to operate 24/7 with extensive lighting and outdoor storage; high volumes of heavy truck and vehicle trips; road improvements and repair; increased police and emergency management services; and use of existing water mains, wastewater treatment plants and sewer line infrastructure.

This three-hour workshop will provide examples of tools to manage the impacts of gas drilling, including community visioning programs, county and multicommunity collaboration projects, state agency support, negotiation of plan and permit approval conditions to mitigate adverse impacts, and conflict/dispute resolution. Samples of comprehensive plans, floodplain management ordinances, and a voluntary community character design guide will be distributed in the class.

Resources

Public Transit, Access to Jobs: Escaping Our “Exit Ramp” Economy

Why the Western lead? It is because of urban growth boundaries like Oregon’s, plus regions with new and expanding transit service, and a commitment to serve areas where growth’s permitted, such as Salt Lake City, San Jose, Sacramento and Denver. Bottom line for the West’s lead: smart and timely planning. And why does the South lag so seriously? Call it anti-planning — failing to coalesce on a metropolitan basis. Such regions as Richmond, Atlanta and Chattanooga, for example, provide transit in their older, core cities, but scarcely any in the immediately adjacent suburbs. . . But it’s also businesses, across the U.S., which chose locations for inexpensive land or closeness to executive driving communities. Now corporations, in some locations, are becoming smart advocates for transit accessibility, in order to recruit best possible workforces. It’s about time.

2011 Summit: The Solutions Initiative

To clarify the issues, options, and points of view, the Peter G. Peterson Foundation designed the Solutions Initiative, which asked six organizations representing the wide scope of American political thought to develop comprehensive plans for putting the country on a fiscally sustainable long-term path. . . The end result is an apples-to-apples comparison of spending, taxes, deficits, and debt that illustrates the impact and interaction of various policy choices made by the grantees.

More

Bombshell: High and rising price for carbon pollution emerges as credible deficit reduction strategy

All in all, this strikes me as a big deal. Just a few months ago, the political acceptability of any carbon pricing was viewed as virtually non-existent, a “third rail” for the foreseeable future. Now you have major policy groups from across the political spectrum seriously entertaining not just any carbon pricing, but a high and rising price sufficient to substantially reduce US emissions and put us on the path needed to meet our obligation as part of an overall global deal aimed at 450 ppm or stabilization near 2°C.

New York State Sues Federal Government Over Gas Drilling

Schneiderman's lawsuit demands that a U.S. study consider risks including the "withdrawal of large volumes of water . . . potential contamination of drinking water supplies, waste generation, increased noise, dust and air pollution, and potential harms to community infrastructure and character from increased industrial activity."

Is it over for suburban corporate campuses?

Now, just as the tide has turned against large-lot suburban residential subdivisions, corporations are moving back into town (or, as in the case of Dublin, Ohio, doing everything they can to make their suburb more urban in character). The best and the brightest of the rising labor force, it turns out, don’t care to live and work in sprawl.

On the Allegheny Front: The History of the Marcellus Shale

This week on The Allegheny Front, we explore the history of the Marcellus shale, how it was formed and named and how all that gas was discovered. Shale is also in the news with a controversy in Morgantown and drilling to begin in the Dunkard Creek watershed. Law enforcement agencies meet to discuss their role in Marcellus incidents. In other news, Penn State starts a partnership to monitor and improve honey bee health. The Allegheny Front Rewind looks back through our coverage of the last 20 years, focusing this week on environmental links to breast cancer.

Changing Skyline: A bumper crop of new parks sprouting in Philadelphia

Take the new Sister Cities Park, planned for the two-acre traffic island wedged between Logan Square's Swann Fountain and the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul. The Center City District came up with the idea of using the waste ground for a nature-themed children's park. It solicited grants to pay for the improvements and selected the architects to design it. While the city owns the site, the district will manage the park when it opens late this year, just as it manages the Cafe Cret park two blocks to the east on the Parkway. . . So far, Philadelphia's nonprofits and foundations have been a powerful and positive force in encouraging the city to invest in new parks, which can refresh old neighborhoods. It's a big turnaround from the '70s and '80s, when the city practically wrote them off as a costly burden. New parks are seen as an economic-development tool - one of the few that benefits people already living here.

For information on becoming a Member of Sustainable Pittsburgh, please visit our website.

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Click here to access the 3E Links Archive. Use "Search" on SP's homepage for a great resource.

Sustainable Pittsburgh affects decision-making in the Pittsburgh Region to integrate economic prosperity, social equity and environmental quality bringing sustainable solutions to communities and businesses.

Sustainable Pittsburgh benefits from support ($1,000 and up) in 2011 from:

Allegheny County - Dan Onorato, County Executive
Bayer Corporation
Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation
BNY Mellon
Dollar Bank
FedEx Ground
The Heinz Endowments
Highmark
Elsie H. Hillman Foundation
Richard King Mellon Foundation
Pashek Associates LTD
Pittsburgh Quarterly
PNC Financial Services Group
Port Authority of Allegheny County
UPMC


Special thanks to the SP Members

Sustainable Pittsburgh
425 Sixth Avenue, Suite 1335
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
(412) 258-6642
fax (412) 258-6645
E-mail SP