American urbanist William Hollingsworth "Holly" Whyte Jr., in the early 1980s, spoke three words at a Pittsburgh lecture that shaped my life's work. "People," Whyte said, "attract people." That simple guidance informed me as I wrote the first article on the future of Pittsburgh's riverfronts (1986) and instigated the idea of continuous riverfront access as a co-founder of Friends of the Riverfront (1990). It later informed my writing of Tom Murphy's four-part policy Red Book (1993) and my participation in the Forbes Field II Task Force (1996) that envisioned PNC Park. The Urban Land Institute's recent Downtown Revitalization report to Point Park University presents an either/or fallacy of choosing between downtown as a Central Business District or a Central Neighborhood District. Elements of each will be required. Like many aspects of life, short-sighted profit motives often steer investments in high-end downtown housing, neglecting the needs of middle- and low-income participants. Downtown Pittsburgh thrived when all could enjoy the simple pleasures of Jenkins Arcade and Candy-Rama. Buried in the ULI's 71-slide deck are three simple words that honor William Whyte's legacy. "Remove (the) invisible wall." While the ULI sees the wall as the separation between the university and the universal, broad economic participation is the greater barrier. Somewhere between the extremes of haute couture and street-hustled vendor goods lies the economic mortar (produce from GC Murphy's New Diamond Market and Nicholas Coffee peanuts) that long glued downtown Pittsburgh together. https://lnkd.in/eKBTGr8R
Tim Schooley
5mo
Yeah, what we might call through a rear view mirror as the comparative wealth of naturally occurring affordable housing is long gone for good, it seems. I remember paying $300 a month for a top floor in a big old house in Friendship in the 90s. It’s not healthy for the city to just have it so that high income people can live in it, certainly.
Mark Stroup
5mo
It’s all about Candy-Rama for you. Isn’t it, Todd?
Reporter, Pittsburgh Business Times
5moThe open question is how much does the cost of housing conversion by itself result in the needs of middle- and low-income getting ignored on its own. I don’t pretend to know for sure but it seems the cost to do much of anything in the world of real estate these days is tricky. It will be an interesting wild card to see how much Point Park as an educational institution might be able to bypass some of those cost dynamics.