[PRCo] the WABCO PAT-Metro study

Mon Apr 4 09:11:51 EDT 2016

The Turnpike mileposts were renumbered when the extension to the Ohio line was opened in 1951...Irwin was now at 67 instead of 0.  What's been going on lately is a replacement of the tiny tenth-mile markers along the side with much larger signs.

I still use a battery charger from Sears in Easy Liberty.  My father and I went there one Friday evening to get it because the Dormont store was out of stock.  He wanted it because it was dual voltage...it had 12V for his new 1955 Chevy station wagon as well as 6V for my mother's 1953 Bel Air sedan.

-----Original Message-----
From: Pittsburgh-railways [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounces at mailman.dementix.org] On Behalf Of Daria Phoebe Brashear via Pittsburgh-railways
Sent: Sunday, April 03, 2016 11:10 PM
To: Fred Schneider
Cc: Western PA Trolley discussion
Subject: Re: [PRCo] the WABCO PAT-Metro study

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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