Monongahela Conference
Siobhan---
Discussion
Tim Laurie you were talking'
idealized visions in tension with instrumental engagement. What does it mean to
have a networked relationship? These
relationships make possible of bringing the idealized visions out of the studio
book exhibition etc ..
How do you make the decision to move into that kind of
relationship is this where there is the potential for impact?
-If you network how does it really operate? what is the efficacy
of it?
-Efficacy of
the vision and desire ' from in here and plant it like a seed like a tool
changes per situation in order for it to work it has to
Tim' we need a metaphor ' tool you poke and there
is a cause and effect relationship
tim wants cause and effect relationship
Using a tool on someone is manipulative.
Co-workers in a common cause don't operate as instruments but with
mutuality.
Erica Should work for something that inspires the
vision out of everyones mind and becomes a common.
Suzi Catalytic converter
Dan Did you want to inspire
them?
The azerb. Pipeling
Providing new info that wasn't available before ' strategic
knowledge ' info feeds into the bloodstream enables a larger campaign to become
effective.
Jane Intervention ' not a campaign report but a book
' a narrative that people can read and feel about the book's aesthetic
Dan Campaigners on the ground were highly effective
had already stopped a dam on the ground Put these things together not one
alone, choice of partners crucial
Helen Likes word partners idea has to morph and grow as a result
of the group interaction ' may develop in terms of depth, attractiveness, less
good ideas fall away
Tim Seeds tools vision catalytic converter morphing
partner
Pool of water
' by the artist action emotion creates energy that ripple out and effect things
Tim Is it importrant that this way of working is clarified with
clear metaphors and continuum
Laurie we do not want 100 platforms Want a method may be responsiveness
Brett don't' want metaphors to describe what we do
Questions need to be more basic
and responsive to the realities of daily life
Efficacy we can offer one another and what we can offer each other
and not seek this homogenizing thing to bring everyone together
Suzi Morphic resonance creating a field for something ' create a
nucleus and by resonance it will replicate and spread itself through culture
over time. Embody and enact the ideal don't' need to advertise it as such
Malcolm Looking fro the metaphor for people is the same
power structure ' mediating the world for people does not encourage them to do
them selves. It is Not pedagogical to make metaphors
Christine On putting a label on something is doing a
disservice ' branding and packaging confining and limiting
Jane The excitement is a pedagogy of possibility -- multiple wasy to interact with the issues
' different modalities. Multiple ways that are about change from big to tiny
Tight definitions of worthwile change kill creativity ' make lots
of models and charts
Not a political movement or it is doomed to failure
Dan Agree ' keep diverse practice but become better -= get
better at writing up projects and share what we are doing ' reinventing the
wheel not learning for. Publish with more'humility and desire for interchange '
as many practices as possible and get better at sharing what we have learned
Jackie If words will emerge that are descriptive they
will emerge ' things that have resonance will be used ' to
_____ Platform's writing on failure critical to
Tim ' this is a tiny discussion with this little
group of elite people
Looking fro the places in any community where can we go to have a community
that…
Wanting directional intent
Laurie Teach respect antiracism how to have discussions
and discourse ' that doesn't have to translate into instrumental structures '
the how to analyze and figuring out will
be going on
Erica Listening is the most important when people come
that is the most critical skill
Helen No way any of us can go into a community and get them to
listen ' incredibly arrogant --
listening interacting morphing responding thinking
Newton What is an artist role in the culture ' take
risks of certain kinds ' give permission to create because we give ourselves
permission to create ' it's not bad to be different from one another ' it's ok
to play ' go back to a different ground than we
All doing art that is barely acceptable in the regular art world '
as artist wht are we doing' We don't'
have a unified practice and shouldn't expect ourselves to
Activist artist
Give up expectionation of normal success
Worried about what ethical action is in the real work
Self critical
Aware of limitations of ourlselves
Make images that are critical
Stacey We are a group of individuals -- when you throw an artist into a community
' artist as dialysis commentary
John Helen and
When you go in ' the listening and the interaction refines the
opinion but that
Nicola The common ground Not sure one exists ---
celebrate the creation the differences the common ground is the creativity as
labor and
Tim is looking for the separate place where do we
teach people about this stuff
Merriman Artists can say things that people who are
beholden to scientific approach cannot
Autonomy from methodology is powerful ' critical ethical
Helen Apprenticehip is perhaps the most effective way
of teaching what we have ' work with us and the problem ' can learn and poick
and come up with there own way
Jackie How did we learn?
Tim Mentorship or apprenticehip?
Jackie Difference btw common ground and finding a methodology
Reductivist to try and find a singular methodology
As with natural system there are redundancies
Invent own methodoliges and they are always growing and changing
How can we do this better reach more people because there is
urgency
_____ To reduce to a word or threes steps or a metaphor
Mark Lots of toolboxes ' if the metaphor is not just an oak tree
but the forest community around it the ide\a is to realize what the networked
relational space and time is ' as opposed to absolute way of
_____ To connect the student interests with the most relevant
place for them and connect them there
_____ These ideas are in many fields ' if you have the relational
point of view ' connect students with practitioners and there are different
types of realtionships that people work well
_____Negotiate connection btw the
Suzi Ongoing systems of discursive platforms to
educate each other etc etc is the major tool Create a platform next about the
issue of the toolbox ' what is it ' since it is your major concern ' what do yo
have in there.
Marc Lots of different presentations and perspectives
yesterday
There is no shortcut ' you have to do the work hearing a bunch of
different things reading different stuff and then get saturated and cobble it
all together
There is no simplified way of getting at the richness without
losing all in the process
Erica Speak to the students directly ' listening is still the most
critical ' level of trust has to be developed among people who are very
different from each other listening is the number one tool with humility don't'
bring advice don't say yes but don't think of own agenda while you are talking
' ask continual evocative questions to find
out more
Trying to find the nuggets or gold in this community ' bring that
out by listening
People don't listen they tell ' listens releases peoples minds are
released and they become peers through this process and they can become more
creative
Reiko We all know everyone is different and respect
that no doubt but here
We are all different how can we work together for three days is
that difficult' instead of saying all differently which part we can take
Tom We are working together right now 'before we can help them make
connections ' we need to help them develop their sense of id and who they want
to be connected to
Helen Listening information vision
You have to have visions about what is a better world ' which will
change and morph but you have to have it and care and that shows in the way you do your work
and the way you listen to people
Ucsd ' brought together a bunch people who had been very inventive
in their own areas ' inventers of fields
Ann There are skills or tools but they are not the same kind of
tools as sculpture and paint ' it is more about context attitudes and models '
how do you collaborate with people how do you resolve conflict how do you work
across disciplines
Organize your own thinking and other people there is no formula
Erica Include all those traditional tools of visual and sensory representation
Jackie
Patience and perserverence to find the person who can lead to
another who is the one you need to find
Back to Presentations
Connie and Tom Merriman
Culture of the mill towns was very feudalistic when the lord
skipped town ' towns had a hard time figuring out how to govern themselves
How innocent people are victimized by global
First hand into the world if you want to make statements about
thewse issues 'not use media info
Hydro electric dam in
Efffecting a huge scale on the river ' ship the power southe to
Contacted the stakeholders to get their story what was there
position ' culminated in going to ther region to meet people and talk further
Effected weather patterns to
Water contaminated with mercury creeks flow backwards 'effect
Perceptions of Power
Conflicting perceptions of what was there ' Cree saw the area as
their garden ' power company saw it as barren and empty
Inuit and Cree had fundamental respect for life that wasn't
present in the thinking of HydroQuebec
Tribal meeting that year was how to respond
HQ engineers were proud of their contribution ' priests to
catherdral of tech they had created ' were greanted fullaccess to HQ
Asked cree ' what can we as amercans do '
When you leave the room turn out the lights go home and solve your
own problems
Resindency in the coke region east of pgh working with high school
students
Develolp respect for their culiutal heritage and develop creative
responses to an expoited area owned by usx
West virgina ' compromised communities devastated landscapes ' due
to flooding assoc with mountatin top removal mining coal
Community activism growing ' made connections with people there
trying to make change
Hard to see what was going on from the ground ' sites on mountain
top and the roads in the valleys ' took flyover of site with a dvocacy group
500 miles impacted ' sites over 10 000 acres each
have removed 1000 miles of waterways by pushing the overburden
into valleys '
coal slurry ponds ' on top of mountainn clean the coal before
shipping '
90 miles of waterway includeing 20 miles of the
bulldozed the sludge onto the bank and covered over with dirt
people felt had been dismissed by rest of country ' news of these
disasters did not get out of west va ' had been written off as a meaningful
part of country
screen of tracing paper with all the species that have been
impacted slides of affected areas light out
reseeding of barren areas with quilts ' seeking some small way of
having something actually change on the basis of the work done
laurie
palmer
work split btw personal work and work in haha
political work separate from art practice to some degree
eco systems involved in work ' personal activism also in housing
and queer politics
Flood:
Hydropoinic garden in storefront in
Initial idea ' interconnection btw plants and the roots grow
together
Also ' to offer veggies to aids service agencies from a dirtless situation
Harvdested every 6 weeks or so
Meals every week, lemonade video nighrs AIDS and gardening
information
Very oopen ended situation full of potential
Herbs for experimental aids treatment
Gardens outside as well
The sterility of the intereior garden suggested medical sterility
and isolation of the disease
After the initial sponsorhip of the garden was over
Officialnees of what we do ' where the sponsorship comes from '
the institutional relationships created
With sculpture
Unofficial time the interactions at the open are what made the
project 'street level non aerial view scale ' eating meals getting condoms,
getting connected to services, personal relationships tending the garden
Openness to the possibility of relations are the most relevant to
this discussion
Park proposal project '
Meadow to be turned into a parking lot ' response to that
situation
Dedicated to a black explorer ' first non indigienous resident of
the
Also contaminated by radi0oactive
Also of dubious ownership ' nobody really owned it ' clauses
linked it to the developer down the way that had the right to repurchase in
2007 ' technically controlled by the park service
Rich site of contradiction of social, economic location
Independent call for proposals without prize or possibility of
enacting
Multiplicity of private desires within a larger public
Stipulation that it maintain its dedication to Jean Baptiste Point
du Sable
Coaltion of people who were interested in developing as a park '
connected do going through traditional
activist channels
Held charettes ' got 65 proposasl ' 50% from
Relation of this project to effect '
Coalition to utilize the energy and publicity that the art project
generated and the art project did not have to reduce its desires for the
multiplicities represented into political infrastructure
Janie Johnson
Open Lands ' documented appropriation of vacant lands for public
use
Maps of the places people were doing this ' info as to where it is
Benches in the shape of the land pieces that could be moved around
to butt up against each other to show reserve of potential
Visiting sites of extraction from the ground writing about them
Iodine
Helium
Lead
Etc
Education of self about this writing essays
FRIDAY 2
Friday 2
Ann:
History of Ann's art-making and roots of practice:
1995 attended UN 4th world conference on women in Bejing
Inspired to return to school to get an MFA in 1999 in hopes of
using art practice to make a difference in the world
Conference brought together a community of 30,000 activitists from
all over the world
Life changing experience
One important question was 'what are the roots of our
environmental crisis''
On the surface level people were addressing issues of the
environment, but Ann wanted to trace it way back
Searching for form and most effective media for communiciation of
ideas
Eco-social interpretation of place
Systems and thinking analysis
Interdisciplinary perspectives
Diverse cultural insights
Embodied experience
Drawing on cultural attitudes towared the environment, stories,
etc.
Exchange with art schoool and sounthern
Did installations in a former NATO base
Former Firing range, Ann worked with machinery that raised and lowered
targets
There were bullets, shards of pottery, shells, wheat, etc
Spatial collage, interaction between elements already in the space
Tension between militarization and domesticity
Eco-confessional ' another project
Work had formerly been deadly serious, this was a stretch, ironic
and playful
Booth set up using plastic bags, recycled items, playing with
ideas of the commidification of nature
Asked people to talk to them and confess their environmental sins
They thought it would just be a sort of funny project
But they found that it was really effective
People wanted to confess, they wanted to be environmentally
responsible, but didn't know how
So they passed out cards with little tips: easy things to do to
acknowledge your relationship to the environment
Conference at
Women Addressing the State of the Environment
Saw it as a great opportunity to interject art into the community
of people addressing these issues
Collaboration piece ' Toxic Vernacular
Addressed Social construction of nature, layered history,
personalized politices, ply and irony
Soaked cloth in streams and left them there so that they were
stained by the toxins and residues in the streams
Took photos that became cards for give-away
One shows an apple tree and country house, with industrial plants
in the background
They selected towns that had very industrial and provocative names
The card back had historical info about the place
Then they also constructed narratives to be written on the cards
which people thought were real
River Vernacular
Built upon Toxic Vernacular ' post card project
For a
Process: went through post card collection and pick cards that
were particularly attractive for various reasons. Interviewed local environmentalists and
environmental activists. These people
had a really strong response to the post cards.
They decided to focus on the river running through
Developed a website
They used the original postcard as stamp images
Then the re-shot the location of the post card to show the same
site current day
They soaked cloth
They ran all their materials past local historians,
environmentalists, etc, to make sure they weren't using misinformation
Had to negotiate with these people because of the realization of
the difference in their approach and intentions for the info
Installed the piece with the painted map on the wall
Intention was to revision the land scape and help the community do
so ' see potential and posiblilty in your landscape
Factory building, - becoming studios for artists, try to suggest
the possibility of more transformations, this could go further
Flexible process and form that is site specific but not site
dependent is important
Involving community and students
Connecting people in knowledge systems into the community
Common Ground
Shared values ' land ethic, acknowledging interdependent community
that includes not only humans, but land, animals, etc
Design to meet needs of present without destroying potential for
future to meet their needs
Right to clean environment
Collaboration ' bridging barriers, respecting what each
contributor has to bring
Bell Hooks ' inspiration ' going to the roots
Aim to change minds and habits
Temporary
Services
Public Sculpture Opinion Poll
Work in many capacities ' so covering one project in depth
Idea ' from noticeing appearance of a new public sculpture in the
neighborhood ' kind of like it fell from the sky into an intersection
No information from where it came from --
At the site also difficult to find out
Create more drive-by sculptural situations ' from the head of
public art in
Had conversations about a creative way to dedal with situation '
not to respond with equal type of violence aka ' just pull it over
Publications for almost every project they do to take
responsibility for the ideas we do ' and ti share information of what doing
Share feedback
Strategizing how to respond to the sculpture ' what do people
think about this thing ' people we don't usually talk to ' figure a means how
people understood the sculpture without a physical confrontation of going door
to door '
Way people could respond anonymously
Clipboards mounted on traffic polls at the intersection
What is your opinion of this scultprue why do you think it was
placed in this neighborhood
Thanks for responding ' your comments may be forwarded to the
About 130 responses ' a lot were lost based on the way things were
hung
Some sort of authority came from the fact that someone behind this
cared a lot about the situation
Some people felt it was an invasion ' a mechanism of
gentrification others thought it was pretty and beuatifyin the neighborhhod
Many of the most thoughtful responses were from children
Individually they are short but together
Rich assessment of the object and the situation of what came with
it
When taken all together
Mike Lash
Rats have a healthier life when they live in colored environments
FRIDAY IN
Ginger Steve and
Lorrain, Outreach Director,
Steve, homestead main street manager
Ginger,
Works with CDCs --
Homettead ' Charelevois
MVI caoaltion of 12 CDC s
Housing workforce development
Economic development: jobs increase property value, bringing new
industry
Things they do:
Integration of biz and industry development
Reducing blight
Low income housing development
Getting people ready for employment and makensg sure that employers have training
programs
Community outreach team
Work with Consensus organizing model trying to link people with
resources ' CDCs utilize MVI
Loan fund for biz and member orgs to do projects
CDCs have volunteer reps that sit on the board that steers MVI
Steven ' HERC (
Only staff person lf that CDC ' housed in MVI offices
Job is to use this program to get new life in the biz district '
many factors that led to current situation
Decline of steel industry ' not much contingency planning for life
without steel so the decline was harder to deal with as a community
There was no planning of what to do next with the works site until
the mill torn down physically
The Waterfront
Economic engine that homestead didn't have before it was built '
replacing to some extent the engine of the steel mill
2001 7.5 mil people passed thru there
driving other econ dev resources to focus on homestead ' housing
on 13th st
goal is to turn some of those people up from the waterfront and
onto 8th ' by making it look nicer less blight more attractive more goings on
art seems to be one way that people think this is accomplished
pop base of PGH in a circle
' homestead is in the center
contains certain shopping opps that don't exist elsewhere
but not targeted to homestead people ' more to the circle and to
sq. hill as upper mid class neghborhood
1600 mainsteet programs in effect
4pt approach ' to redeveloopment
econ restructuring
design
promotion
organizing
design = facades and planning
promotion ' singing praising biz community
organizing ' telling people about main street program hearing from
residents and biz people on a regular basis ' is mostly volunteer based
role of art
Space partly staffed mostly volunteers
Bring young folks into the community ' art seems to be the way to
do that
Having this space fised up encouraged neighbors also to do that
and perhaps increase equity in buildings
Angelo
Dilemma for this group to understand
Waterfront is a Disaster -- mall turns its back on the main street
and the river
MVI regional approach to econ develop
What are the issues ' how are you gettiing a voice and getting
some power'
Code enforcement
Building inspector has been not doing job well and codes are
unclear -- getting written codes with Munhall and
Get all the Established bizes on 8th ave at one table to see what
they want to happen here
Other amenities
Putting together info on the actual Buildings story 'what is available,
sq footage etc
Organizing the very basic info is tracked so that you can build on
them
Development driven by the county well intenetioned but little
community participation ' the government representation from local areas very
small on the large scale dev projects like the waterfront
Community organizing is the basis of what MVI does because civic organization and participation is key
to people conintuing to agitate over time
How do you generate that participation'
Advocacy with the CDCs
Meetings around plans
Make sure community groups are at the larger table when issues
come up
Mon Fayette xpressway
Crisis issue that you put out there and try to generate response
from community
Have been talking about building it for maybe 50 yrs ' has affected
how people made decisions to buy property bc they didn't know where it was
coming
Affected equity of builidngs or houses
Also there are plans to raise the water level of the pool btw the
dams which will place some areas of towns under h2o
Could you Characterize the communities'
60 % population decrease
Braddock 2500 once was 30, 000 double that amount coming to shop
and work
High unemployment rates ,
higher poverty lower median family income
Still have some pockets of wealth and opportunity
What can we do to take advantage of the Waterfront'
Job structure ' not just get pople entry level jobs but develop
traiing programs to build a ladder up from that point ' work with employers
there to do that
Owning home is one of the only ways to build wealth ' particularly
with low income people ' and allows communities to fund schools etc ' not
collapse from lack of tax base
Peoples experience with using the river ' access to the river has
been blocked for so long
That have to go back a generation or two to talk about leisure
activities to do with the water ' direct commerce on the water etc
Braddock ' national park talking about going in
Part of steel industry heritage corporation '
Park that replicates on small scale what a steel mill looked like
There are plams to enovate another hot metal bridge at the park
site
Funding for the MVI comes from what sources'
A little government
Foundations
Thru development fee ' small amount ' 5% of the 12 '15% of
realtors fee
How do your CDCs function in relation to gentrification projects'
Job training and low income houseing usually get dropped as the
CDC begins to succeed --
What structures do you have in place to leverage against the power
structure
The members are nominally CDCs ' not precise term ' they are
really neighborhood groups
Successful proves that what you are doing is worthwile as is ' and
that is some leverage against large scale outside influence
Want to have larger impact in the area -- trying to increase credibility thru success
as defined by the local groups
Gentrification is driven by market demand influx of people ' mon
valley doesn't have that iinflux pressure
How does a citizen idea or grassroots idea comes up thru the cdcs
and mvi up into fruition'
Community wanted a project that would start new biz, create jobs
and keep people there ' brought the idea to the org ' MVI develops the budget
proposal etc ' then it goes to the _____fund and then the money given to build
' now overseen by the local group that started it off.
Over the ten years ' advent of personal computer ' project
not quite so relevant ' small
entrepreneurs can do
Dan
Do you feel you have power in this community ' who is making
decisions in this place
Do you feel you have power to affect decisions made in the community
' if you don't feel that ' where is located' Are there economic forces that
make you feel like pawns'
David ' proud of living in democracy for all of its faults eesence
of that is that its power is spread In this community the power is spread there
are certain things that council can do that affect what we do ' but they are
elected and they are all people that we know ' and the CDC ' and the board ' I
am on cdc board ' and the planning commission of next borough I am on '
Distributed power not centralized ' can't think of central power that controls our lives in the
borough
David Lewis
I came to pgh to be chair of urban design at CIT
Program built on a different structure -- Choose a problem in the
city and then would service it ' urban laboratory in which to take any urban
problem and bring to it the intellectual servicing to open it up'
In 1984 the mills went down '17.5 thousand jobs lost ' primarily
male jobs over 90%
Over 15, 000 men out of work ' not just here but all the way thru
north of
International conference to deal with the decline of heavy
industry ' to make proposals for brownfield sites ' use those to make a
conferene of which the prince of wales was chairman
1986'remaking cities
created eupohoria ideas publicity
-- but all those people were unemployed ' and when conference was over
the energy and resources of the conference were gone again
so
I moved here to homestead in 1987 ' didn't know anyone ' but
wanted to be here long term to work for the stabilization of the place
10000 steel workers thru retraining at the community college
mills were bought and sold for scrap ' but the community wanted to
have heavy
develop a master plan for the three boroughs ' didn't interact '
each had own tax base
steel valley council governance ' a local revitalization committee
' elected reps and citizens
working together that is still the only one that has this rep
system
within master plan two detailed action plans ' still being carried
out
meanwhile the mills came down ' except
pinkerton landing chimneys pump house
succeeded at getting on national register of historic churches '
12 churches built by steel mill workers up the homestead hill
and how do you recycle the buildings '
personally bought some of them
establish a consortium of building owners
source of equity to go to the banks with
drug company and local developer ' cvs
supposedly bought buildings ' developed plan to knock builidings
down ' sought planning approval from city council '
supposedly had bought them
but I had an option on one and two other owners had not sold but
cvs claimed they had control of site
challenged in council meeting ' got stopped -- they sued for 7 mil
went to federal court ' finally thrown out on all counts
I want to fight against the destruction of the only thing that
this community has to capitlize upon --
community spirit and awareness and understanding of its history
fight against disconnect and forgeting of history
We are only beginning to have power ' don't currently have what
would like to become ' community members are only beginning to understand their
own power ' community volunteers were also part of the law suit to stand
up to that development plan and felt the
success of having suit thrown out
Is there evidence of power ' or of increased power'
Power over what' ---
Decision making
In some communities ' volunteers ran for council and now sit on
council
When coaltion was formed there was fear that it would be
combatitve with council ' has mitigated ' now more support rather than
opposition
The people who are active on the street are not African American '
there is very little access for those people to be involved in the re dev of
street
Meaningful enfranchisement of disenfranchised people '
Council is largely AA
In banks or redev ' people are white
Chief lender ' and head of Fannie Mae
Property values have not changed ' gentrification is a two way
street ' if you succumb to market driven forces ' can drive out low income
family ' but it is also important for the cirulation of wealth ' need owner
ccupied biz on street ' keep the money in an internal circulation
Cheryl Sears
Mon Valley trail Council ' Hannah
Laura ' City Council
Cheryl
McK went from thriving steel town to what it is now ' but we are
looking for ways to revitalize in non industrial ways
I have passion for involving youth ' really important to get young
people involved and empowered ' to be involved and stay here
As far as greenspace -- we
work to use spaces that are vacant from where houses and such used to be --
Where jungles have appeared
We are working there to try to make green spaces 'not necessarily
flower garden ' often plain grass -- Commitment is there in the commnity to
plant and establish but not to maintain
We are working hard on the maintenance part
Laura, Council member
Encourage community people to improve self mental image and
physical image
Working with young people
Work with the united way
Get the entrances and roadways nice to present clean image of the
town
Make it seem like you want to be here ' that this is a place that
cares and is woking
Networking and collaborating with people in the community
RIDC ' business complex down by the river on old mill site
That is also a brownfield area
It is a goal for us to enunciate what we need so that people who
could help can offer resources or know what is needed so as to know where to
focus assistance
Encouraging people as well to take a risk and step out on a limb '
try and lay out opinions about where difficulties will be had to help people '
in some sense ' on entering the river there are rocks to trip over (story about
the minister') we try to help people learn where the rocks are
Hannah
Not from msckeesport came here thru job '
Rail trails and water and river trails recreation is job focus
Making connections on river and water
Attracting people to mon valley thru dev of recreational amenities
Connectors to next town and next state
Development of water trails and rail trails
Mckport is an intersection point ' nexus of all the trails that
follow rivers and rail
The River dialogue in McKport focus was :
Looking at access points and challenges
If you can dev official water trail on Mon it can be done anywhere
--
Access and environmental changes and degradation so severe ' kind
of a worst case scenario
The dialogue got people thinking about creative ideas ' like a
roving barge with amenities that could dock at multpple places along river '
shared btween towns
The rail trail ' the Steel valley trail
Has volunteer board
Partner with other orgs ' other orgs that work on different
sections of the trail across PA
In order to build the trail ' need to cross active rail lines and
yards ' 10 lines deep plus active mills and industry and brownfields and
industrial remnants like the coke gas pipe
RIDC park in McK and Duquesne
Difficult for these small orgs to go to USX and request removal of
a coke gas pipe
Price of land is 100 000 ' cost of land clean up to 1 mil
Regional trails
Great Allegheny passage
Run thru to dc
Most of the trail complete ' other groups have been able to
purchase large paths from an individual rail company
This section needs to work with multiple companies plus all the
hazards and built obstacles
A ' a lot on Yach trail ' no counted #
Cheryl and Laura -- Can
you talk about the trails and rivers?
Laura --Water therapy good ' access renewed for people who haven;'t
been able to contact the river for a long time
The landscapes and boat trips ' st to do more than look at TV '
interact with the outside world and the environment ' people use the area by
the river and enjoy the atmosphere ' bring people from the hospital down too to
see
Cheryl
The
We made a utterfly garden for poeople in the nursing home as well
as boaters and people coming up from the river
I walk the trail with Mckeesporters ' good excerise for local folk
' easy to get to don't need a vehicle and it's free
We are also keeping an eye on how the trails will affect McK '
working toward dev of trail in area
There will be a small trail group in McK to interface with the
larger steel valley
History and Environmental day description
Built the Butterfly garden ' wanted people to attract people of
all ages ' making and planting ' enjoying and maintaining
History of environment in the afternoon ' people pull and display
their history that had in their own possession ' looking for ways for youth and
aged to establish contacts ' get youth talking to people who had personal
understandings of times past ' people
brought their pictures and things set up tables and we went around and looked
and listened
The Wolf Finally Came ' breakdown
What leaders came out of the city in response
The History and Environment day is an annual event '
Planning meeting full of all different people ' including mayor, children,
jouranlists
There is no budget
Supported by group who organizes
Friends of the Riverfront 'has offered a lot of support ' mulch ,
trees,
Lots and lots of donations
Kids plant trees ' for them to track the growth and feel
connection to the tree and nature ' the tree they planted has their name on it
Tim'What are some larger issues with the trail '
Lots of small municipalities with limited interest
Have bike rides down to Confluence
From kids to aged
Got check to put new houses in ' to sell the home ' selling point
is availability of trails and marina
Selleing point for new and rehab homes
How did the trail get started and how did it get started locally'
(Brian)
The regional system of trails ' there is no regional management
but there is a loose coaltion of 7 trail groups along the alignment
Larger structure provides sytem for fundraising ' push for
marketing advert of the availability of large secitions of trail
Each trail group responsible for development, maintenance etc of
their section
How did the trails get linked up ' lots of smaller groups were
working locallay and then put together
Laura -- With the Clean Air Act
people became more aware of their environment and the importance of
working for it
Cheryl ' it's important to get people more involved with the creation
and planning of the space ' can't guard them ' can only protect them by having
lots of people feel a part of them --publicize them and aske people to take a
look, but not much problem with destruction really ' only one event
Jackie ' maybe it's the word maintenance ' maybe it's caring and
nurturing ' changing the words for how it's talked about ' don't talk about
maintaining a baby ' you care for it
Cheryl
There is also a partnership developing with city ' city came and
helped in September 10 trail day
Not my project ' when other people come to help it's everyone's
project
Ann ' how to weave the history and environment together
How much pop lost ' used to be 13th largest city
9.3 % unemployed
What you need is industry of some kind '
There is already at RIDC '
greenhouse
biotech
mostly skilled labor in
those things
Ecostar ' cable company employs 4000 about
have day labor agencies ' so people can get temp work
Is there a coming mall? Small thing with only a couple stores
Edu opportuiniteis here:
Elem Middle and High School
What about ferries ' used to have Amtrak but that was PAT commuter
rail that went from
got in way of freight trains ' not liked by train companies
had been good service ' cut service to inconvenient time ' then
said not ridership to support the line and closed it
now there is a county jail on the rail station in pgh '
lock and dam slows down any ferry service
what mon Fayette do to McKport'
would go cross at Duquesne
final conclusions
Mck on the rise
High tech homes project in place ' with collab dept of aged
UPMC to work with seniors
Trail access and river access enjoyed by the older people
especially '
Not just contact with river ' but also contact with other people '
relationships building on the trails for people who use them
Maybe more than aveage level of community caring' From Helen
Laura
Yes there is caring but social programs bring the funds in (YWCA,
United Way etc) ' without that who would be paying the bills' They are critical
to our position right now
Siobhan
G zero presentation
Presentation will cover GZ network's:
Structure
History
Projects
The network we haeve tried to create and how it works
Network of people ' who are creative and who do stuff there are also some
shared values
Focus on Pgh built environment culture and arts community
Goal of connecting people and ideas and generating projects based on
those connections
Three project types:
Arts ' encourage and spawn arts and creativity
Ecological regional susatainable thinking
Making connections btw people people and info and sometimes
infrastructure
No offices no incorporated no board no money no bureauocracy
There is a core group who orgs projects
Membership of core changes over time
Some recruited
Some sucked in by an idea
Some have burnt out and gone away
Try not to have hierarchy in core ' tho some people are more vocal
than others
Starting a project ' led by a core member(s) and then a large
degree of autonomy
Project seeks independent funding
Rest of core may not always know what is going on in the other
projects
Open network
People who get emails -- about 2000 people who get the happenings
and events
Core made by project leaders ' get together and resource share'so
try to overlap functions sometimes ' so that each project not totally
replicating tasks and functions
Flexiible network designed to utilize existing resources
Orgs
Infrastrucuture
Funding structure
Ideas
A web based network to
Connect people
Communicate info
Solicit ideas
Build project teams
advertise events
Based in the idea that everyone is an artist
Network attempts to tap creativity of all citizens and allow
people of all disciplines to work creatilvely in a motivated way
Believe in building culture from the bottom ' not something that
is given out but made but people working together --
Idea of social sculpture and beuys point of inspiration
To construct the meeting setting/structure ' use ideas from urban
planning
Idea generation sessions ' based on participation model (Activate
Pittsburgh)
What can we do ourselves ' what do we need someone to help us with
Siobhan
had to leave