[PRCo] Re: P-r-w, housing, cities, etc.

[Derrick J Brashear]

On Wed, 10 Dec 2008, Schneider Fred wrote:

> I'm replying to myself....
>
> I'm trying to find as much as I can on line about Pittsburgh
> neighborhoods.

I actually want to work on an interactive, community editable map of the 
city (and potentially of anywhere you load base data for) so that you can 
tie annotations to actual locations. I want to be able to link to pictures 
showing when lock and dam 1 had just been removed from the Mon, but the 
B&O still had a rail ramp over 2nd Avenue into what was probably just 
becoming Duquesne Slag after having been National Tube, on the north side 
of the river..

  > This Wikipedia article on Squirrel Hill is excellent because it
> traces the development of that part of the city.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squirrel_Hill

Has a mistake. Willa Cather did not teach at my now 70-ish year old high 
school. Fixing now.

> The Oakland article fails to disclose why there was so much land
> available for the University of Pittsburgh facility in 1930.   A huge
> country estate or mansion was torn down.   If I can remember or find
> out who it belonged to before I push send, I'll correct this.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakland_(Pittsburgh)

Schenley, maybe?
http://books.google.com/books?id=TPUMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA216&lpg=PA216&dq=schenley+farms+pittsburgh+estate&source=bl&ots=eg2cPH5S9l&sig=dSFOZrn839pKjmEUfAeBPD4_uDI&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result

(yes, you probably get to paste the URL together. no, it's correct. don't 
put random spaces in it. it's all one line. i should probably just tinyurl 
it, but i led the camel to water)

> and the theme that urban renewal is bad.   In this case urban renewal

urban renewal is bad if it's done without understanding context. allegheny 
center failed, the lower hill failed, it's easy to look around pittsburgh 
and see failure, perhaps well-intentioned, but failure.

> mistake ... they also have the Castle Shannon incline closed by
> Pittsburgh Railways.

no cite yet, but i did find a lawsuit over it.