Our region's community foundation - The Pittsburgh Foundation - recently established the Pittsburgh Gives program to make it easier for people to contribute to their favorite causes. The CDCP is a participant in this innovative approach to individual giving. On Wednesday, October 28, The Pittsburgh Foundation will match donations of $50 or more - with 50 cents for every dollar donated - until its pool of $200,000 matching funds is exhausted. Please mark your calendars, set up an Outlook Task, or make a note in your tickler file to donate to the CDCP at 10:00am on October 28 through the PittsburghGives website. Your gift will contribute to improving quality of life through good design of the built environment.
GRANT l Forward Avenue Facelift
The Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition recently completed a study of the communities "Gateway," the Parkway Exit on to Forward Avenue and Murray Avenue to the Phillips intersection. In 2008 the group received a $12,000 Design Fund grant which they used to retain the services of Rothschild Doyno Collaborative, an architecture/urban design firm and Pashek Associates, a landscape architecture firm. The Squirrel Hill Gateway plan highlights the important role the area plays in welcoming people to Squirrel Hill and makes recommendations on greening, lighting, improving pedestrian safety and wayfinding, and incorporating public art. One highlight is "O'Connor's Corner," which will transform an under-utilized public space into a gathering place that commemorates Pittsburgh's late mayor and former District 5 city council representative.
COLLABORATIVE l South Hilltop Neighborhoods
Ten communities above the south shore of the Monongahela River - Allentown, Arlington, Arlington Heights, Beltzhoover, Carrick, Knoxville, Mt. Oliver, Mt. Oliver Boro, St. Clair, and Bon Air - have banded together as the Hilltop Alliance to focus on building stronger neighborhoods. A community dialogue process begins October 1. Participants will break into small groups and talk over the next several weeks about how to create positive change on the Hilltop. All the groups will join together again on November 16 to put their ideas into action. The South Hilltop project is an initiative of the CD Collaborative, of which CDCP is a member. For more information or to sign up, please contact Sara Bennett at 412.608.9911 or Sara.Esther.Bennett@gmail.com.
EDUCATE l Design Workshop for South Hills Public Officials
"Good Design Makes Dollars and Sense" is a day-long workshop to be held Thursday, October 15, for South Hills municipal officials. The workshop features a keynote by Thomas Hylton, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Save Our Land, Save Our Towns. A series of sessions on the relevance of good design to public planning follows. The CDCP is a co-sponsor of the event, along with the Mt. Lebanon Historic Preservation Board and the American Planning Association, Pennsylvania Chapter, which is offering AICP CM credits. Anne-Marie Lubenau, AIA, CDCP President & CEO, will provide welcoming remarks, and CDCP Director of Planning & Design, Tom Bartnik, AICP, LEED® AP, will present as part of the "Where Code Meets Good Design" afternoon panel session. Cost of the day-long workshop is $50 and the keynote address at 9am in Mellon Auditorium is free and open to the public. For more information, call 412.343.3407.
FEEDBACK l Retailers and Design Professionals Participate in Focus Group
Kate McGlynn, RenPlan® Program Manager, facilitated a discussion among six Pittsburgh Design Fair exhibitors to illicit their perspectives on how best to reach customers committed to quality design. As a follow-up to the focus group, all exhibitors from the 2007 and 2008 Design Fair events will receive a request to participate in a survey. The collected data will help inform the CDCP staff in the development of future programming.
ON THE ROAD l CDCP Around the State
King of Prussia is the site for the 2009 American Planning Association, Pennsylvania Chapter annual conference in early October. CDCP Director of Design & Planning, Tom Bartnik, AICP, LEED® AP, will moderate and present for the "Planning by Design: A Model for Main Street" panel presentation.
RenPlan® Program Manager Kate McGlynn is speaking at a Property Owner Roundtable Series in Oakland where she will discuss affordable, on-site design consultations for multi-family rental properties. The September 29 event is hosted by Oakland Planning and Development Corporation.
For information on any of these events or activities, call the CDCP at 412.391.4144
mission The Community Design Center of Pittsburgh (CDCP) is a non-profit organization that improves quality of life through good design of the built environment. By 2015, our goal is to establish Pittsburgh as a recognized place where good design of the built environment is a
