Eternal Sunshine, period.
It is so incredibly nice outside right now. Life should be postponed for a couple of hours so we can all go out and enjoy it.
That is all.
Rebuilding downtown
There’s been a lot of focus on downtown Pittsburgh lately, most of it negative. A parking tax increase and the looming departure of several large retailers has caused a lot of worry, and for good reason.
This past Sunday’s issue of the Post-Gazette had a great piece about the city’s problems, and possible solutions. Several involved community figures (none of which were associated with the city government, notably) were asked for their opinions on what they felt it would take to revive downtown.
There were quite a few ideas I was in agreement with. One thing that made particular sense to me was to reduce the emphasis on landing behemoth retail stores, such as the now-departing Lazarus-Macy’s and the troubled Lord and Taylor:
Downtown should capitalize on what it does best: entertainment and commerce. Forget about subsidized big-box retail Downtown!
It’s true. I think it’s very hard to attract people downtown anymore just on the merits of several big retail stores. As this city’s population becomes more and more suburban, the shopping experiencence is becoming one of malls, shopping centers, big-box retail, and acres and acres of free parking. Downtown just can’t afford the space required for those type of enterprises, nor should it try to. It’s sterile, boring, and depressing.
Minneapolis built an entertainment center, dubbed Block E along these premises, and although I haven’t been following the news about it that much, I don’t think it’s significantly impacted how people view downtown. I don’t think your typical suburbanite cares about going downtown to eat at an Applebee’s when there are about a hundred similar chain restaurants in the sprawl that surrounds them. And don’t even get me started about the Hard Rock Café. I hear there’s one opening up in Fargo pretty soon.
What will bring a downtown area back is a focus on the unique and a focus on a larger permanent population. In Pittsburgh (and in many major downtowns), the downtown area has become exclusively dedicated to business. After 5 o’clock, on most days, it’s a dead place. Restaurants close early, bars are lightly populated, and sidewalks are empty.
Jane Jacobs, in her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, constantly talks about the need to keep the street life active at all hours of the day. This was years ago. Not much has changed. It’s still necessary. A healthy base of residents downtown will ensure human activity long after the last office has closed up shop for the night.
But this isn’t going to happen with the current development plan. Far too many buildings lie vacant and what does get developed is financially out-of-reach for many young adults, which should be the target audience for this kind of venture. I know that if wifey and I could afford it, we’d be down there.
Pat Clark, a founding member of the Ground Zero Action Network said it best:
Stop focusing on building $500,000 luxury condos Downtown. The best target market to repopulate Downtown quickly is young people, homesteaders who aren’t bothered by vacant night-time streets but would actually be attracted to a bohemian-style district — if only there were affordable housing in the upper floors of Downtown properties!
Clark also brings up a great point about the type of shops that used to be found downtown versus what is there now:
Five years ago, a big part of the reason that we had a lively retail environment Downtown was that its stores served two important customer bases: Downtown workers as well as the working- and middle-class shoppers who relied on public transit. The Nordstrom/Lord & Taylor retail mirage aimed to upscale the district, shooting for attracting the affluent shopper at the direct expense of the more value-minded traditional shopper. Now the empty storefronts serve neither…
After arriving in Pittsburgh in September and exploring the downtown area, I was particularly struck by the number of storefronts that seemed like they used to cater to those solidly in the middle-to-lower classes. And this seemed like such a great thing.
Downtown was, at one time, a vibrant and varying place that was a destination for everyone and for different reasons. Minneapolis does not have a downtown like that. I’d be willing to bet not many cities do. And Pittsburgh’s is going to be completely gone very soon if things don’t change.
The spiral begins
The Pittsburgh City Council announced a new 2004 budget that now includes substantial new parking taxes. While I regularly sneer at anyone who drives and parks downtown on a daily basis, I have mixed feelings about this action.
While I am no fan of free or subsidized parking, I don’t have a lot of faith in the average suburban commuter to make the switch from their private car to mass transit. Nor do I see Pittsburgh making a lot of capital improvements towards a more intelligent, transit-oriented, city plan.
But who knows? At the best, this could encourage commuters and city planners in these directions. I know it will further fan the flames of the especially nasty city-suburban split that’s so popular here. And at the worst (and always expect the worst in Pittsburgh), it could hasten the demise of the city and, inevitably, the entire region.
A turn of fortunes
Several events over the last couple of days have conspired to make me believe that perhaps Pittsburgh isn’t as bad as I made it out to be. And if not the city, at least the Mexican restaurant scene.
On Friday night, following yet another recommendation, we set out, strangely enough, towards the northern suburbs. We found the restaurant, El Campesino, in a small strip mall. Knowing that sometimes the best ethnic food comes from the much-maligned strip malls, we were eager to dive in.
Thankfully, the place did not disappoint. The decor was nice, the wait staff was friendly and accommodating to our vegetarian needs, and, most importantly, the food was good. Not knock-your-calcetines off, Pancho Villa or Tequila stuff-yourself-silly good, but in this land of pierogies and pizza, it’s a welcome treat.
Adding to my growing fondness for this city is the fact that between yesterday and today, I will have done all of my Christmas shopping without setting foot in a mall and without encountering any hyperactive, Starbucks-fueled, suburban commandos. My shopping experience has been confined to walking between downtown stores on (sadly) uncrowded sidewalks while the snow falls beautifully between old buildings.
Its refreshing to discover that the city can still surprise.
Typical Pittsburgh
After yet another disappointing visit to a local Mexican restaurant (more on that later), wifey and I have come to several conclusions:
- Pittsburgh does not have a rich Mexican heritage, nor does it have a down-and-out, in the dirt Mexican heritage.
- You can, however, get pizza and pierogies on any street corner in the city. This is not necessarily a good thing.
- As a rule, when trying something new in Pittsburgh, set your sights low. Then be prepared for the shock when things turn out worse than you expected.
This last point seems to be a pretty cut-and-dried rule of thumb for living here. Be assured that if the Chamber of Commerce ever holds a contest for a new city slogan, ours will be the first one in the office:
“Pittsburgh. Prepared to be underwhelmed.”
Perhaps I’m being a little too harsh on the city. Instead, I wish to focus on the restaurant that let us down tonight. Future Googlers take note, José and Tony’s is a bad place to eat. Let me repeat that for those who may search without the accented “e”: Jose and Tony’s is a bad, nay, horrible place to eat.
I said as much in the napkin-length letter I left on the table. And if I wasn’t so Midwest passive-aggressive, I would have marched right up to the counter boy with the cell phone plastered to his ear and told him so. But I know it’s hardly his fault. Nor do I blame our cook, even though we watched him take our plates (paper, of course) out of the microwave and put them back in three times. It’s just the way things are here, and we’re learning that there’s not a lot that one can do about it, except leave, which is looking more attractive all of the time.
We should have just walked out the instant that we walked in and smelled the stale cigarette smoke and saw the menu, complete with hot dogs and pizza. We should have left after tasting the vegetable soup that they called salsa. But we thought we’d give it a chance. We thought, “Hey, after three bad places, this one has to be good. Things can’t suck forever, can they?”
Yes they can. Oh yes they can.
