Mark Rand

Bridges around the Carrie Furnace site in real life. The Pinkerton’s Landing Bridge (officially known as the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Bridge at Munhall) is a truss bridge that carries CSX Transportation’s Pittsburgh Subdivision across the Monongahela River between Munhall, Pennsylvania and Rankin, Pennsylvania. The structure’s nickname references the 1892 Homestead strike. It is also known as the Pemickey Bridge, for the Pittsburgh, McKeesport and Youghiogheny Railroad (P. McK. & Y., pronounced “Pemickey”) which used to run over the bridge. The Carrie Furnace Hot Metal Bridge (also known as the Union Railroad Rankin Hot Metal Bridge #35) is a railroad truss bridge across the Monongahela River between Whitaker, Pennsylvania and Rankin, Pennsylvania. The bridge is out of service and it hasn’t seen a train in almost 40 years. The George Rankin Jr. Memorial Bridge is a cantilever bridge that carries the Green Belt across the Monongahela River between Whitaker and Rankin in Pennsylvania. It carries four lanes of automobile traffic, plus pedestrian walkways, both paved with concrete. The bridge carries over 22,500 people per day. The bridge and many of its approach ramps were originally built with tram tracks, all of which have since been removed.

Riverlife begins process to create ‘unforgettable experience’ between Downtown Pittsburgh’s Sister Bridges Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Got a news tip? 412-263-1601 localnews@post-gazette.com Oct 6, 2022 8:08 PM Forty years ago, Allegheny Landing opened as one of the country’s first urban sculpture parks, nestled on the north bank of the Allegheny River between the Clemente and Warhol bridges on Pittsburgh’s North Side. Over the years, the rolling grass hillsides and walking paths have connected the rear of office buildings on Isabella Street with the riverfront and the trail that meanders along it. Despite changing some of the landscape several times to make it more inviting and the addition of PNC Park a few yards away, the area never became popular with the public and seemed more like part of the corporate development. On Thursday, Riverlife held a ceremonial groundbreaking for the latest effort to bring attention and drive visitors to the park. The agency that has overseen riverfront development in the Downtown Pittsburgh area for the past two decades is replacing the docks near the Clemente Bridge as the first step in a coordinated effort to revitalize the five blocks between the three sister bridges on both sides of the Allegheny. “The hope is we are going to be transforming this whole area,“ Matt Galluzzo, Riverlife’s president and CEO, said after a riverfront news conference. “There’s a palpable intent to make that happen.” In addition to the dock work at Allegheny Landing, Mr. Galluzzo was referring to Allegheny County’s plans for computerized decorative lighting on the Clemente, Warhol and Carson Bridges; redesign of Allegheny Riverfront Park on the Downtown side of the river; the Cultural District’s efforts on Eighth Street; and the Andy Warhol Museum’s pop-up street galleries. Riverlife also is developing additional changes for Allegheny Landing itself that will be designed with community input to make the area more inviting to North Shore visitors, similar to the riverfront area between the stadiums. The Clemente, Warhol and Carson bridges have long been dubbed the “three sisters” because of their nearly identical construction crossing the Allegheny at Sixth, Seventh and Ninth streets. Built in the 1920s, they are listed in the National Register of Historic Places and were the first self-anchored suspension spans in the country. Early last year, Mr. Galluzzo said, the agency moved its headquarters into the First National Bank building at Allegheny Landing so it could directly oversee the work at the park. The agency is working on a master plan for the entire site. The process begins with the $700,000 project to build new boat docks to replace those that were severely damaged by ice jams in 2018. Crews from Marion Hill Associates Inc. of New Brighton were working from a barge and in the water Thursday placing new, specially treated wooden dock supports delivered from Houston, Texas, and another contractor will install the deck to provide spaces for about 15 boats. Early next year, the concrete bollards and chains at the edge of the river will be replaced with decorative fencing to improve safety and enhance the artistic nature of the park. Riverlife designers will work with residents of the area to decide the look of the fencing. “This is a sculpture park, so we want to make sure there’s an art element here, too,” Mr. Galluzzo said. This project — and those in the future — are being financed through a coalition of public, private and foundation support that Mr. Galluzzo called a “shining example,” including the first use in this area of the Waterfront Development Tax Credit. Corporations can receive up to 75% in state tax credits for contributions to brick-and-mortar projects and this project received $278,000 through those donations. Until this year, the amount of credits available statewide was $1.5 million. Through lobbying by Riverlife and others, the Legislature increased the cap to $5 million statewide this year. One result of the pandemic has been a renewed emphasis and importance that workers and companies place on recreation and public spaces like parks and trails. Mr. Galluzzo said the coalition partners have taken notice and are stepping up, beginning with the major effort to make the area around the three sisters “a seamless and unforgettable experience that you cannot find anywhere else.” “These are now essential spaces,” he said. “These are important for drawing people back to the Downtown corridor. We haven’t seen this level of interest [from coalition partners] before.” First Published October 6, 2022, 8:05pm

Smithfield Street Bridge faces two years of traffic restrictions during upgrade Ed Blazina Pittsburgh Post-Gazette eblazina@post-gazette.com Sep 11, 2022 6:00 AM Going between Pittsburgh’s South Side and Downtown will be more complicated for the next two years while the Smithfield Street Bridge undergoes an $8.49 million rehabilitation project. The historic bridge, which crosses the Monongahela River between Smithfield Street and Station Square, will remain open through most of the project but traffic will be limited to one lane in each direction. The project begins with a full closure starting at 8 p.m. Sunday for line painting and restrictions will be in place when it reopens at 6 a.m. Monday. In addition to the traffic restrictions, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said one sidewalk will be closed to pedestrians during the project. Initially, the western, downriver sidewalk will be open while the upriver side is closed. Work during the project will include steel repairs, spot painting, replacing the existing sidewalk in two of the four spans, replacing the epoxy deck surface, concrete deck repairs and concrete and masonry substructure repairs. Crews also will upgrade the lane control system and install pedestrian signals at the Fort Pitt Boulevard intersection on the Downtown side of the bridge. There also will be minor preservation work to the bridge carrying Smithfield Street over Station Square Drive. During the project, there will be two full weekend closures of the bridge that haven’t been scheduled yet. Motorists also will encounter occasional restrictions on East Carson Street, Fort Pitt Boulevard and the Parkway East. PennDOT recommends motorists use the Philip Murray Bridge between South 10th Street and Second Avenue as an alternative. The project is expected to be finished in summer 2024. The bridge, originally designed by Gustave Lindenthal and built in 1883, is listed as a National Historic Landmark. According to historicbridges.org, the bridge has two 360-foot lenticular truss spans, the longest such spans remaining in the United States. It also was one of the first bridges to use steel in its trusses instead of wrought and cast iron. Ed Blazina: eblazina@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1470 or on Twitter @EdBlazina. First Published September 11, 2022, 6:00am

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The letters CSO on riverside flags warn of a period of Combined Sewage Overflow, when lots of rainwater overwhelms the region’s antiquated municipal sewer system, allowing untreated sewage to overflow into Pittsburgh’s rivers.

Owner of old Kaufmann’s store eyes up to 600 more apartments, $125 million investment in Downtown Pittsburgh Mark Belko Pittsburgh Post-Gazette mbelko@post-gazette.com Aug 25, 2022 7:53 AM After spending more than $40 million to finish the rehab of the former Kaufmann’s department store Downtown, a Philadelphia developer is plotting an encore — with plans for more acquisitions and hundreds of new apartments. In all, Lubert-Adler Partners LP is looking to invest up to $125 million more in the Golden Triangle, CEO and co-founder Dean Adler said in an interview. “You can’t be an island. To us, the more Downtown activity we can create, the better,” he said. Thrilled with the demand for apartments at the Kaufmann’s building, where 99.3% of the units are leased, Lubert Adler is looking to add as many as 600 more Downtown. It has already put part of that plan into motion by acquiring the Pittsburgher at 428 Forbes Ave. across from Kaufmann’s in April for $3 million. The developer intends to convert the 25-story office building into about 125 apartments, with probably 75% of them one-bedroom units and the rest two-bedroom. Lubert Adler is seeking city approvals for the $30 million project, Mr. Adler said. It is thinking about offering at least some of the units as fully furnished, for visitors who are looking to spend an extended period in town, whether it’s 20 days or six months. But the developer’s ambitions stretch far beyond the Pittsburgher. Lubert Adler is looking to acquire “one or two major buildings” Downtown, with plans to convert them to residential, Mr. Adler said. “It’s probably the only thing that works for these buildings,” he said. He would not identify the structures his company has its eye on, but noted that he hopes to have deals in place within the next 60 to 90 days. Lubert Adler intends to use the acquisitions to develop another 500 to 600 apartments in the Golden Triangle. That could lead to another $100 million to $125 million in investment, Mr. Adler said. With Downtown in the midst of another residential boom — with about 822 units in the pipeline — he isn’t worried about oversaturating the market. To the contrary, building more apartments will help to increase population and create more “critical mass” for retailers and restaurants, Mr. Adler insisted. “To me, the more the merrier. We have to create as much community as we can,” he said. Lubert Adler acquired the historic Kaufmann’s department store, a go-to shopping destination for generations of Pittsburghers, in 2020 from another Philadelphia-based firm, Core Realty, which struggled to complete the redevelopment after buying the building in 2015. Under its ownership, Lubert Adler finished the 311 apartments and two levels of parking and added a host of amenities, including a rooftop ice skating rink for winter use. It also completed a deal with Minneapolis-based retailer Target to open a 22,000-square-foot urban format store on the first floor and landed Burlington and Five Below to fill most of the other two floors of commercial space. At one point, Lubert Adler was considering a $50 million investment in the former Frank & Seder department store across from Kaufmann’s on Smithfield Street between Forbes and Fifth avenues as part of a collaboration with the building owner, Cleveland-based Stark Enterprises. But nothing ever came of the overture, and Lubert Adler no longer is pursuing it. Stark bought the vacant former Frank & Seder building for $10.4 million in 2017. Since then, it has vacillated between selling it and retaining it, at one point seeking $22 million for the seven-story structure. It now appears interested in keeping and redeveloping it. Its last proposal involved retail at street level and conversion of the upper floors into 150 apartments. Mr. Adler noted that there’s a need to create “walkability and excitement” on both sides of Smithfield if development is to thrive there and elsewhere Downtown. “You can’t have one side vibrant and the other side dead,” he said. “They’re very talented developers. They know retail. My hope is that they can get it moving because it would be a benefit to everyone.” A Stark spokeswoman could not be reached for comment. Jeremy Waldrup, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, was pleased to learn about Lubert Adler’s plans to add apartments and invest up to $125 million more in the city’s core. “That’s significant dollars,” he said. “That’s exciting to hear.” Mr. Adler said the Target store, which opened last month, has been a big hit so far. “All I know is that each night their shelves are [empty] and they need more and more delivery. I think it’s being beautifully accepted, which should be a great encouragement to other retailers,” he said. The Burlington store, which is moving from the former Gimbels department store several blocks away, should open in about six months, Mr. Adler said, with Five Below to follow about three months after that. He also said that Lubert Ader is thinking about adding a co-working component to the Kaufmann’s redevelopment, known as Kaufmann’s Grand on Fifth. With the pandemic, more and more people are looking for more community-focused developments, ones that combine living and work spaces as well as outdoor amenities, he explained. “That’s needed more than ever,” he said, adding that conversion projects must incorporate such components. “You can’t go by what was done in the past.”

The Pittsburgh Bureau of Police uses the Ford Fusion Hybrid Police Responder and the Explorer-based Ford Police Interceptor Utility. They’re also used by the Allegheny County Police and the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Department. The Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire uses the Ford Police Interceptor Utility as a chief’s car. Edit: The chiefs' car is the Chevy Tahoe.

Being 72, I'm definitely an old timer. I think I started with second edition.

Much of what I'm currently posting is Pittsburgh news taken from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Graham Rahal, Chip Ganassi push for IndyCar to enter Pittsburgh street race mix Adam Bittner Pittsburgh Post-Gazette abittner@post-gazette.com Aug 3, 2022 7:42 AM Graham Rahal isn’t ready to surrender the possibility of a Pittsburgh street race to NASCAR. The IndyCar standout driver wants his open-wheel series to beat the stock cars to the local asphalt by staging an event of its own here after tourism officials told the Post-Gazette last week that they would “love” to welcome NASCAR, which announced plans for a 2023 street race in Chicago two weeks ago. He’s even taking after the locals in describing where he’d like the cars to run. “I’ve felt strongly that a race down near Heinz Field — or whatever they’re calling it now, I’ll always call it Heinz Field — would be a tremendous place to host an IndyCar race,” he told the Post-Gazette in an interview Monday. “And NASCAR, I know, people think is bigger, better. Whatever. I don’t know that it works in Pittsburgh due to the noise of the cars. And just the operations of it I think are more of a challenge than IndyCar, who’s well suited and well prepared to come in and put on an event because that’s what we do.” Rahal has been in America’s top open wheel series since 2008, racking up six wins, three poles and 28 podium finishes in his career. So he has the experience to know what it takes to stage successful events around the country. And he sees good bones in a place that’s become something of an adoptive home town for him. Though his family hails from Ohio, his father is former Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar champion Bobby Rahal, who owns a slew of car dealerships in the area. It’s through those ventures that he’s gotten to know the city very well — especially on the corporate side. He noted that major Pittsburgh companies are already deeply involved in the sport. PNC Bank sponsors 2020 series champion Scott Dixon. And PPG’s colors adorn the No. 2 Chevrolet of two-time series champ Josef Newgarden. Rahal himself is sponsored by Bortek Industries, based in Mechanicsburg. The collective power of just those brands alone, he feels, could generate the necessary support to stage an event here. Oh, and did we mention one of the most powerful men in the sport calls Fox Chapel home, too? It’s for that reason that Rahal tagged team owner Chip Ganassi in a Twitter post touting Pittsburgh as a destination for IndyCar following the Post-Gazette’s story last week. Reached by the Post-Gazette later Monday, Ganassi expressed support for such an event, as well. It’s an effort he’s actually been behind for a long time, telling the newspaper that he’s had discussions with officials that date as far back as the Richard S. Caliguiri administration. More recently, the Indianapolis 500 and series champ as an owner said he discussed a North Shore race with Steelers owner Art Rooney II around the time that Acrisure Stadium was built. He thinks the area is particularly well suited for an event because there aren’t many residences in the area — just some bars, offices and restaurants that would likely profit handsomely from a race in the area. The biggest stumbling block, he said, is timing. “It’s hard to get a weekend that is available on the motorsports calendar between Memorial Day and Labor Day,” he said. “That would probably be the only time you could do it in Pittsburgh. You bump up against the Steelers and the Pirates, what have you, on our side. And then on the racing side, they have sort of the good weekends are all taken. Whether it’s July 4 or Memorial Day, obviously. And all the weekends are taken, just about, so it’s a challenge to find a date.” A challenge, but probably not impossible. June was a particularly slow month for IndyCar this year. The series did not run a race between June 12 and July 3. And August, too, has open dates on the weekends of the 14th and the 28th. With some coordination with the Pirates and Major League Baseball, it’s likely the North Shore could be available at a time when IndyCar is off. The necessary backing for a race wouldn’t come cheap, though. Ganassi estimates it would take an annual number north of what Acrisure is paying for the Steelers’ stadium naming rights, which is reported to be in the neighborhood of $10 million per year. So even if big Pittsburgh companies are involved, the commitment made to make an event happen every year would be significant. “Having said that, I think it’s a great idea,” Ganassi said. “Certainly worth exploring. I’d be all for it.” And both men believe the racing product would be solid, despite Pittsburgh’s narrow throughways in some places. The North Shore, especially, has some wide avenues including North Shore Drive and West General Robinson Street, which Rahal believes could be a good setting for a pit road. Even the Three Sisters bridges could probably fit three IndyCars abreast if the course were to cross into Downtown. (Though they’re probably too short to be major passing zones.) Ganassi thinks the biggest issue might be paving, given Pittsburgh’s notorious history of potholes. Were an IndyCar to hit even a small one at speed, things could get ugly quickly, so there would need to be a commitment from the city and other stakeholders to make the surfaces as smooth as possible. Get that buy-in, though, and Rahal thinks IndyCar has the know-how to stage an enjoyable show anywhere given its experience with street courses in places including St. Petersburg, Fla., and Long Beach, Calif., two of the sport’s most successful homes beyond the famed Indianapolis oval. “We make chicken salad out of anything, honestly,” he said. “I have raced for years and years and years at facilities and circuits that just not ideal by any stretch. And yet we make it work. You’ve got a Hyatt down there, some other hotels, a Residence Inn and some other things that are right in that [North Shore] area. You’ve got restaurants that are right in that area. Bars. Those are what you need to make a successful race. And you have that foundation already. So naturally, in my opinion, it’s a really good fit. “Of course, if you introduce a bridge or two into this like they do in Nashville, now you’re talking about some really killer visuals. But still. In many ways, there’s no doubt that you can make it work.” Adam Bittner: abittner@post-gazette.com and Twitter @fugimaster24. First Published August 3, 2022, 5:30am

I'm wondering that, too.

Geena and her two fellow drawbridge tenders love to dress like cat burglars. Quoting Eve, "They're masked at night when they're off duty and awake." Geena Fallon was named for Geena Davis who played Grace Fallon in the Knight Rider second season episode K.I.T.T. the Cat.

They're going to be the Pantheress (name suggested by dmjalund).

Detective Eve Belding of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police Burglary Squad is usually willing to give the heroes advice. She might steer the heroes to Geena Fallon, a cat burglar she rehabilitated. In my campaign, Geena is the 3 to 11 PM tender of the Smithfield Street Bridge, a lift-type drawbridge that once carried streetcars. .

Purrrrrr!

Tourism officials would ‘love’ to follow Chicago, stage NASCAR street race in Pittsburgh Adam Bittner Pittsburgh Post-Gazette abittner@post-gazette.com Jul 29, 2022 5:30 AM Next year, NASCAR will stage its first street race since the 1950s in Chicago, right along the shores of Lake Michigan. And if Pittsburgh tourism officials have their way, it’s possible we could see stock cars flying down the Boulevard of the Allies or through Schenley Park at some point, as well. “We would love to host a NASCAR event in Pittsburgh, especially one that would create another iconic event on our annual calendar,” SportsPittsburgh executive director Jennifer Hawkins told the Post-Gazette in a statement. “The opportunity to provide a unique live-event experience for drivers, spectators and international media is perfect for Pittsburgh.” Spokesperson Shannon Wolfgang later clarified that the organization has not had any advanced discussions about the possibility of hosting a NASCAR event previously, but views the Chicago announcement last week as a possible jumping off point for planning a credible bid. The expressed interest comes amid an experimental phase for the sport and the growing popularity of road and street course racing worldwide, primarily driven by the elevated profile of Formula 1, which has enjoyed a surge of interest thanks to a companion Netflix reality series. Since the start of the pandemic, NASCAR has pushed the number of road races on its top-echelon Cup Series schedule from the traditional two to as high as seven. Those changes have generally been greeted warmly as a welcomed change of pace from oval racing, which can become monotonous with its relentless left turns. The experimenting hasn’t stopped there, though. The Cup Series has also run dirt-surface races at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee for the past two years. And back in February, it built a temporary short track inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and staged an exhibition event that brought it closer to millions or urban-dwelling fans. It’s for that reason that the Chicago street race is more than a one-off. It’s part of a deliberate strategy to add novelty, creativity and new markets to a Cup Series slate that had grown rather stale previously. Pittsburgh could fit into that strategy for a few reasons. For one, it’s one of the biggest markets that exists in a relative racing desert. The closest Cup Series tracks are all about a four to five hour drive at a minimum. That means it’s hard for millions of fans both locally and regionally to consume live events. Only Seattle and Denver really challenge Pittsburgh — and if we want to talk about them together, Cleveland — in terms of racing isolation domestically. Developers had wanted to change that at one point around the turn of the century, when NASCAR’s popularity nationally was at its peak. They proposed to develop an indoor speedway out near Pittsburgh International Airport in 1999. That project fell through, though, and there has been no serious push to revive it or something like it, as NASCAR has slipped in popularity. That’s made a Pittsburgh race a non-starter. Until now, at least. With NASCAR indicating it will consider street races moving forward, Pittsburgh has a compelling case to make for another reason: know-how. It already stages an annual street race in Schenley Park. Granted, the Vintage Grand Prix cars that zip around the grounds there every summer don’t have nearly the horsepower of a Cup Series Chevy Camaro or Ford Mustang. But the event’s success — it was expected to draw 50,000 fans to the park last weekend — and its 40-year history show that a street race would be far from a foreign concept here because the city already stages one with regularity. Sure, the scale would be different. The safety equipment NASCAR would require — hefty barriers and spectator protections, for example — would require a lot more than the Vintage Grand Prix does. Then again, Chicago is sorting through those same issues right now. And whatever lessons NASCAR learns there could, in theory, be easily applied here. Throw in some stunning cityscapes that would really pop on television, and it’s a formidable package if NASCAR were to seek to add street races in the future. Imagine, for example, Denny Hamlin pushing Chase Elliott for the lead while screaming through the Fort Pitt Tunnel, across the Fort Pitt Bridge, through the Point and onto the North Shore, where there are plenty of wide avenues between PNC Park and Acrisure Stadium for the cars to race on. Fun right? Obviously, there would be a ton of steps between where we are now and that vision becoming a reality. The markets and speedways that have races now will fight bitterly to keep them, and it’s possible NASCAR would prefer to stage races in bigger cities, even if the already have existing tracks nearby. But at least on paper, a NASCAR race in the region is probably closer than it’s ever been to being a real possibility — something that makes more sense logistically than it did before Chicago opened a new door for what’s possible. Adam Bittner: abittner@post-gazette.com and Twitter @fugimaster24. First Published July 29, 2022, 5:30am

I'm going to go with an open system for my nest play by post game, but some of my character notes will be in Hero System format. I'll make all the dice rolls.

It should be the GM's call. For my game, they'll be neutral with some detectives willing to assist, provided that they get credit for the arrest. PRIMUS has a couple of intelligence agents in the city who get into jurisdictional spats with the FBI.

I might just call them "The Pussycats". The ladies could wear clip-on black tails and headband ears with their blue and gold street clothes. The paint scheme on their van includes the phrase, "The Pussycats Prowl With Pitt".

It has been the headquarters for Gulf Oil Company and a nesting spot for Peregrine falcons. And now one of Downtown’s most iconic buildings may become a stop for travelers and a haven for residents. Gulf Tower, a 44-story skyscraper that opened 90 years ago, could be converted into a luxury hotel and condominiums or apartments under a plan being explored by New Jersey-based owner Rugby Realty. Aaron Stauber, Rugby principal and president, said Thursday his company has started talking to potential developers about partnering in the venture. “The preliminary discussions we’ve had over the last couple of days is that this is something we want to move forward with,” he said. The conversion is being considered at a time when the historic skyscraper — built to be the headquarters for the Gulf Oil Company — is about 50% occupied after a fire shut it down for nearly six months last year. Mr. Stauber said the blaze actually served as the genesis for internal discussions about the future of the building, which might be best known for the brightly colored weather beacon that sits at its very top. Rugby, he said, spent about $40 million rebuilding some of the tower’s infrastructure in the aftermath of the incident. The fire also gave the firm a chance to figure out what might be the best plan for the building going forward. From those discussions emerged the idea of a possible conversion that would include a luxury hotel and residential units. The building, located at 707 Grant St., lends itself to such a change, Mr. Stauber said, because the elevators run up the center of the structure. That would make it easier to alter the floorplates to accommodate hotel rooms or residential units. While plans are still in the very preliminary stages, Rugby is looking to put a luxury hotel with 150 to 170 rooms on the first 12 to 13 floors of the tower, with 190 to 215 condos or apartments above that. Although Gulf Tower has 44 floors, only 38 currently are used for offices. The rest house mechanical, air handling and other equipment needed to run the building. Rugby also is considering converting one of two basement floors now used for storage into parking. On the hotel side, Mr. Stauber is aiming high — hoping to attract a high-end operator like Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons or St. Regis. “We’re talking about a grand hotel that would be one of a kind in the city,” he said. Some of those operators, he added, have done in Florida the kind of hybrid hotel-condo development that he is contemplating in Pittsburgh. Those have been very successful, he said. “That got us to exploring the notion of turning the Gulf Tower into a similar concept,” he said. Rugby still hasn’t decided whether it will do condos or apartments on the residential side. Another possibility would be to offer condo hotels — an arrangement in which the condo owner offers the space to the hotel to rent when he or she isn’t there. As for the Gulf Tower’s current office tenants, they have leases, Mr. Stauber noted. Since the discussions involving a possible residential and hotel conversion are still in the exploratory stage, there’s no need to engage them right now. “Once we have all of our ducks in a row, we can have discussions about what we want to do,” he said. But he added those that have heard about the plan have provided “positive feedback.” Since 2001, the opening of PNC Park across the Allegheny River, fans have noticed that after Pittsburgh Pirates home-runs, the “beam” light flashes in celebration. Recently it was revealed that the afternoon and evening receptionist at the lobby desk was the one responsible for this fan favorite, following the games on her cabinet radio. The slogan “Flash the beam, Regina – that one’s out of here!” has gained popularity among Pirates fans recently. The KDKA Weather Beacon, the most recent weather beacon to adorn the pyramid atop the tower, was officially dedicated on July 4, 2012. In partnership with KDKA-TV, the Gulf Tower has been retrofit with a modern, automated LED weather beacon that will tell a more complete forecast than ever before. The Design concepts were created & implemented by the Design Team of Cindy Limauro and Christopher Popowich of C & C Lighting, LLC., a Pittsburgh based company. It will also feature holiday displays. Hearkening back to the original 1950’s beacon, the entire pyramid will once again change colors at night depending on the current weather conditions. The new color-coded, tiered system works as such: Floor By Floor Breakdown 44th floor – temperature 43rd floor – temperature 42nd floor – temperature 41st floor – precipitation 40th floor – humidity 39th floor – wind speed Temperature Dark blue – <0 °F (−18 °C) Med blue – 0 to 32 °F (−18 to 0 °C) Light blue – 33 to 49 °F (1 to 9 °C) Amber – 50 to 65 °F (10 to 18 °C) Orange – 66 to 79 °F (19 to 26 °C) Red – >80 °F (27 °C) Precipitation Red purple – >.25 in (0.64 cm) Blue purple – ≤.25 in (0.64 cm) Humidity Light green – <50% Dark green – ≥50% Wind Speed Magenta – >10 mph (16 km/h) Pink – ≤10 mph (16 km/h) Sources: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (information about possible conversion) and Wikipedia (Gulf Tower lighting)

I have two more groups for you. The first is the Panther Cubs, a University of Pittsburgh-based version of Josie and the Pussycats. The trio consists of a guitarist, a drummer, and a bass guitar player who, occasionally, switches to two tambourines. Their costumes are like those of Josie and the Pussycats, but have panther (cougar) coloration. The second is the Jazz Angels. The all-girl group consists of a keyboardist, a guitarist, a drummer, a bass guitar player, a saxophonist, and a vocalist.