Category Archives: Community Resources

Kickstart Something in Pgh & Vote For Your Favorite Project

Kickstarter.com is a website where people can croudsource funding for all sorts of projects – from books, movies, festivals and cool new products.  Project managers post a project – usually with a video and a bunch of pledge gifts – based on how much you give you also receive something in return – usually related to the project.  We have blogged about Kickstarter projects before – Fleeting Pages – the pop-up bookshop that took over the old Borders space just sent us a beautiful tote bag as a thank you gift for supporting their project.

There are a bunch of great Pittsburgh Kickstarter projects open right now – here are 3 we think are pretty great.  We hope you will take a second to look over some of these and consider making a contribution.  We also want you to vote for which project we should contribute $50. Take a look at the Kickstarter pages for each project and then cast your vote at the bottom.

Dream Big Pittsburgh – This is a project that will support kids who are participating in the Pittsburgh Summer Dreamers Academy at Faison Elementary participate in the InsideOut project.

The Steel City Games Fest: 24 new games over 24 hours – this is the 2nd Annual Steel City Games Fest, a project that is organized by Obscure Games Pittsburgh.

Pyrotopia: Festival of Fire Arts in Pittsburgh, PA – Oct 7-8 – festival of Fire to held in Braddock, PA.

Vote for your favorite project!
Voting will be open until 5pm, Wednesday, August 3, 2011
[polldaddy poll=5334831]

Zippity Zipcar – Sign Up for the Low-Car Diet

4th of July Weekend Fun - Quickly Solved by Zipcar

I have been a Zipcar member for a few years.  I can’t say enough about how much I like Zipcar – it a great service if you just need a car sometimes or if you need to borrow a larger car or truck for an afternoon.  Cars are easy to reserve and use, the customer service is great and very helpful.  The Zipcar I was using this weekend got a flat tire.  I don’t blame Zipcar for this – I am cursed with flat tires, car breakdown or some situation that involves a plumber on a holiday weekend.  The good news is that all I had to do was call the 800 number and they took care of the rest.  I no longer needed the car – I had reached my destination before I noticed the flat and they actually just towed the car away (they offered to change the flat for me).

How does Zipcar work?

Image representing Zipcar as depicted in Crunc...

Image via CrunchBase

Once you sign up at Zipcar.com they mail you a membership card. That car is your “key” for driving future vehicles.  When you need to borrow a car, visit Zipcar.com and reserve the car you want to drive.  Zipcars are parked in different locations around the city and there are all different types of Zipcars from sedans to minivans.

Walk over to your reserved car and hold your membership card over the drivers side of the windshield.  This will unlock the car and they keys are located in the car.

You pay for Zipcar by the hour or by the day.  The hourly/daily rate includes gas and insurance.  Once you are done with your trip.  Park the car where you picked it up, leave the keys inside and hold your membership card over the windshield to lock the car and end your reservation.

Use Zipcar Anywhere

Once you are a Zipcar member you can drive any of the Zipcars in any state.  I have used Zipcars in Pittsburgh, Los Angeles and Baltimore.  Your membership is good anywhere Zipcars are located.

The Car Diet

Each summer, Zipcar invites a group of drivers to take the low-car diet.  If you are selected you agree to give up driving your car for a month in exchange for a Zipcar membership and driving credit.  It is a fun way to try navigating the city with out your own car.  I have participated in the Zipcar Low Car Diet last summer – I learned that I like walking to work and that driving isn’t the fastest way around town. Plus they planned some fun events and had some nice giveaways for the low car dieters too.

If you are interested in signing up for the low car diet – fill out this form here.

Join Zipcar

If you are already sold on the Zipcar idea – click on our handy referral button below and get $50 in driving credit.

Join Zipcar and get $50 in free driving!

Some more reading on Zipcar:
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The Annual Feast of Saint Anthony – Food, Family and Bon Journey

This is one of those events that I have heard amazing stories about but have not yet been able to attend.  As I mentioned in last years post about the Feast of St. Anthony – I learned about this festival from a friend, who is not Italian – but might as well be – because he is the biggest promoter of Italian cultural events in this city.  I did get to attend a festival of the goat with him earlier this year – it was an amazing time and I can attest there was plenty of wine, homemade wine, served.

The Feast of Saint Anthony Festival
Sunday, June 12, 2011
1:30pm-Dusk
21st and Smallman in the Strip
http://www.stanthonypgh.org/

The Feast of Saint Anthony Festival has an amazing line up this year:

  • delicious Italian foods, music, and dancing all day
  • Mass in Italian at 3 PM at St. Stanislaus Church at 21st and Smallman Streets followed immediately by the
  • Procession with the Statue of St. Anthony down Penn Avenue returning on Smallman Street.
  • Zambelli fireworks
  • music by Bon Journey

Win a Trip to Italy!

As if the food and Bon Journey weren’t enough incentive to get you out of the house on Sunday.  They have an amazing raffle.  Tickets are $10 and the proceeds benefit St. Stanislaus Kotska Church in Pittsburgh’s Strip District and the festival.

2 round trip tickets to Italy (or $1,000 cash in lieu of the tickets). The second prize is a time share in Ft. Lauderdale, FL for a week. Each raffle ticket has 2 four-digit numbers on it. The winning numbers will be based on the Pennsylvania Lottery Big Four Drawings on June 13, 2011. The matching midday number will be for Second Prize. The matching evening number will win the Grand Prize of tickets to Italy. Each ticket has 4 chances to win a prize!

What about those shoes?

You could win those too.  A pair of custom-made Chuck Taylors, like those that appear in the poster – will be put up for a nationwide auction. The winner will Walk with Saints every day they wear them.

A Big Weekend for the Bicycle in Pittsburgh

bicycle

Image by paukrus via Flickr

Pittsburgh has been gaining quite a bit of attention from other places for our bicycle friendly community.  This is due in large part to the hard work of the folks at BikePgh and the people in Pittsburgh who ride their bikes and want to make this a better place for all bike riders.

Even if you don’t have a bike or like to ride a bike (the only bike I have been on in the past 10 years is the spinning bike – I am great at pedaling and going nowhere) – we can all celebrate the community of cyclists that are putting Pittsburgh on the national map as a place for cyclists.

So there is a lot of stuff happening in town for cyclists of all levels this weekend

FRIDAY is National Bike to Work Day

BikePgh has got breakfast ready for anyone who is biking to work:

  • Market Square: 7:30 to 9:30
  • Carnegie Mellon, University Center Merson Courtyard: 7:30 to 10:00
  • Chatham University, Pond area adjacent to the Mellon Center: 7:30 to 10:00
  • Whole Foods, Shadyside/East Liberty: 7:30 to 10:30
  • REI, South Side Works: 8:00 to 10:00

Check out how much you can save with the Car Free Calculator

Pick up your sticker tomorrow morning at one of the breakfast spots and save even more – BikePGH has lined up some great discounts with local businesses – check out the entire list here.

SUNDAY is Pedal Pittsburgh

Each year the Community Design Center of Pittsburgh (CDCP) hosts Pedal Pittsburgh.  An annual bike ride around the city with routes for every level of cyclist.  This year’s event starts and ends at SouthSide Works. There are 6 different routes around the city from 6 to 60 miles long.  A great way to check out Pittsburgh on two wheels and to support the CDCP.

Looking for more bike rides? Check out the BikePGH calendar which lists many different rides that are open to everyone all around the city.

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Happy Election Day – Voter Resources and Election Day Parties

A polling station sign in the Jersey general e...

Image via Wikipedia

Today is Tuesday, May 17 and that means it is primary election day here in Pittsburgh.

The polls are open from 7am-8pm.

Click here for the Allegheny County Polling Place Locator

Who Should I Vote For?
The folks at Progress Pittsburgh have put together a big table with candidates for most of the city and county races that includes information about which candidates have been endorsed by the Post-Gazette, Planned Parenthood, P2pac, Allegheny County Democratic Committee and other groups.  The table also includes links for more info on each of the candidates.

Did some one say party?
Yes, most canidadates will be hosting some sort of celebration after the polls close this evening.  Here are the events that we know of (h/t Progress Pittsburgh for compiling this info in one place).

  • Darlene Harris – Billy’s Troy Hill Bistro, 1720 Lowrie St.
  • Bruce Kraus – Green Front Inn, 2341 East Carson St.
  • Lucille Prater-Holliday – The Montage, 201 N. Braddock Ave.
  • D. Raja – Greentree Radisson Hotel
  • Rich Fitzgerald – IBEW, Hot Metal Street
  • Chelsa Wagner – Gaetano’s, 1617 Banksville Road
  • Valerie McDonald Roberts – Tonic Bar and Grill, 971 Liberty Ave.
  • Doug Shields – Doug Shields’ Campaign HQ 5800 Forward Avenue
  • Patrick Dowd – Church Brew Works, 3525 Liberty Ave

Tweet About It – #votepgh
We will be following election day – all day on twitter – please tweet about election day and use the hash tag #votepgh

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