[PRCo] the WABCO PAT-Metro study

[Daria Phoebe Brashear]

On Sun, Apr 3, 2016 at 3:57 PM, Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net>
wrote:

> Thank for sharing Ms. Brashear.
>
> I love the proposal on page 18 for a light rail station in Wilkinsburg.
>  I had to print it and file it because it reminded me of the past.   It's
> got me on a roll.
>
> []

> I remember when Wilkinsburg was vibrant.   It was where you went for
> Saturday night dinner in a restaurant when Mom didn't want to cook.   Yes,
> it had stores and restaurants.   The train station was also a great place
> to kill time with my father while mother was in the doctor's office in
> Swissvale with the baby sister.   But the last time I drove through
> Wilkinsburg, it had boarded up buildings and parking lots.   Wikipedia
> tells us they celebrated my birthday this year in Wilkinsburg by killing
> five people at a cookout.   OMG.   What used to be a nice working class
> town of maybe 32,000 right after World War II is now home to fewer than
> 16,000.
>
>

I biked through Wilkinsburg a half dozen times over the last month, and
will probably get in my first two rides through tomorrow.
I used to bus through daily on the way to high school. It's changed, some
for the better, some for the worse in the intervening just-under-30 years.
A take I find to be particularly believable, I include here. It's
political. If you're not interested in the politics of this, I understand.
I'm happy to talk further off the list about it, because honestly, the
politics of such things are probably off-topic, and hence my by-reference
and not direct expounding.

http://verysmartbrothas.com/wilkinsburg-the-side-of-americas-most-livable-city-pittsburgh-doesnt-want-you-to-see/

But then the WABCO proposal was written, it was still healthy … still had
> stores and restaurants and perhaps 28,000 people.
>
> I also remember when East Liberty (or s'liberty) was where you went to the
> zoo


It's been in Highland Park ~forever, hasn't it?


>   (never did get to see those prairie dogs), to see a movie, to shop at
> Sears Roebuck,


Oddly I was in Cambridge (Mass, not UK) a few weeks ago and observed a
building and just thought "Sears"... yup. It was the Porter Square Sears.
My friends and I went for dinner that night.

I barely remember the East Liberty Sears, but I do.

hour and West Penn 700s passing over the Turnpike (twice that happened).
>

They renumbered the turnpike mileposts, incidentally. I noticed that while
driving back from DC earlier today.

But I am remember these areas when they were vibrant.   When you had no
> fear walking down the streets after dark.
>

I worry when I am alone on the streets; but I bicycled back to Squirrel
Hill from my friend's place in Rosedale a few weeks ago, after midnight.
Through Homewood. Plenty of folks out on a warm Friday evening. No big deal.

-- 
Daria Phoebe Brashear
AuriStor, Inc
dariaphoebe.com



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