Standup Paddle Into Fall with Surfsup Adventures

surfsup-moraineI know it is not officially the last day of summer, but labor day sure feels like the last day of summer. I’ve spent the past week trying to check a few more items off my annual summer bucket list.

One of my personal favorite outdoor activities in Western Pennsylvania is stand-up paddleboarding. If you have been wanting to try out this sport, and trust me – it is beginner friendly, this weekend is the perfect weekend.

The weather forecast for labor day weekend is PERFECT – sunny and hot, but not too hot. My favorite paddle boarding outfitter, Surfsup Adventures,  is offering a great end of summer discount too – $40 off the normal rate.

Surfsup Adventures & First Waves

When he is not guiding trips at Moraine State Park, Ian Smith is also the founder of the non-profit First Waves that partners with organizations like Big Brothers, Big Sisters to get more kids out on the water to try paddle boarding, learn about conservation and filmmaking.  I have volunteered with First Waves in the past and it is an impressive operation. Check out FirstWaves.org for more.

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Frank Lloyd Wright Inspired House for Sale in Stanton Heights $115,000

I spent most of this morning trying to find out more about the history of the homes that were recently demolished at the corner of Centre & Craig in Oakland to make may for a new development. It turns  out they may have had some historic significance.  I know we can’t save every historic building, but if we can’t I would certainly like to document these properties before they are gone. (If you know anything about the Centre & Craig houses please leave a comment!)

After a morning of google searches, I had moved on to another topic and clicked over to Next Pittsburgh where I discovered THIS house in Stanton Heights:

The Fineman House

Currently listed on Zillow for $115,000 (website say offer pending).

Click here to read the post on Next Pittsburgh by Charles Rosenblum about the history of this house and see much better photos of the property.

History of the Fineman House ownership:

  • Completed in 1952 for $18,500
  • 1991 sold for $50,000
  • 2016 listed for $115,000

Pittsburgh is the perfect place for not-too-big and not-too-tiny house

At 1,032 square feet, this is a bit too big to be a tiny house, but a nice right sized house located in the city of Pittsburgh. I thought this New York times article from 2014 on the 700 square foot house makes a great case for living a little bit smaller.  I have been thinking that Pittsburgh and the first ring suburbs are perfect for those looking for a not-too-tiny house, there are lots of houses like the Fineman House that are the right size that were built in the 1950 that are just in need of new ownership.

If you are interested in historic architecture of Pittsburgh, join the Pittsburgh Historic Preservation MeetUp group.

Here is another recent article about about a farming project in Stanton Heights…

Mon 7/25 – Final Public Hearing on Historic Designation for 110 Year Old Church

If you have been reading the blog or following IheartPGH on Twitter and Instagram over the past year, you have noticed more than a few posts about the Albright United Methodist Church building. On Monday afternoon, I will address the Pittsburgh City Council at the final public hearing on the historic designation for this building.

Albright-take-actionI am asking for your help in making sure that this building receives a historic designation in the City of Pittsburgh.  A year ago, I helped to organized a community block party to bring together neighbors and community members to think about the future of this space. The current proposal for the future of this building is to sell it to a developer who plans to demolish it and replace it with a drive-thru coffee shop. I know Pittsburgh can do better. I don’t want to live in a city that replaces community spaces and historic buildings with drive-thrus.  Last year, I personally nominated the Albright Church Building for historic designation in the City of Pittsburgh.  The more I’ve learned about the history of this building, the more convinced I am about the importance of preserving this building. Designed by architect Chancy W. Hodgdon, this is one of the best and most complete sets of stained glass windows from the SS Marshal company. You can read more about the history of this building from the East Liberty Historic Society here.

The historic designation process in Pittsburgh has three steps. After a nomination is submitted, the nomination is heard by the Historic Review Commission, then the Planning Commission, then it goes to Pittsburgh City Council. Both the Historic Review Commission and the Planning Commission have voted to support the historic designation for Albright. The final public hearing for this historic designation is on Monday, July 26, 2016 at 2pm.  Thanks to the efforts of neighbors, Preservation Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Young Preservationists, we have had a huge turnout at the first two hearings. I am asking for your help to make sure we have a great turn out at the hearing on Monday.

Here is a portion of my remarks to the City Planning Commission that I think summarizes why this building is important and the opportunity to make this a better community space…

When these churches were built 100 years ago, they served as much more than Sunday morning worship spaces. Just because people are not going to church on Sunday morning, does not mean that we don’t need these spaces and services that churches once offered.

Albright sits at the intersection of 3 neighborhoods, Bloomfield, Shadyside and Friendship. And Albright also sits at the intersection of many different parts of Pittsburgh, a block away from UPMC shadyside, it is also located near the busway and right on several of the main bus routes.

Not only is the Albright church building a geographic hub, it is also at the intersection of several different socio-economic communities.

  • Residents of Bloomfield, Shadyside,Friendship
  • Students
  • Employees of UPMC Shadyside and Allegheny General

[Albright] is ideally situated to be a community hub.

Inspired by some of the incredibly successful examples of churches building being repurposed into a community space.

  • The Union Project – Highland Park
  • Neu Kirch – Northside
  • Niya Page Community Center – Braddock.
  • Calvary United Methodist Church in Allegheny West, which has been an excellent example of a neighborhood coming together to restore and celebrate the historic building in their neighborhood
  • First United Methodist Church, located on the other side of the block has been a model for a community hub as the home for the Pittsburgh Toy Lending Library.

Please take action to help me #SaveAlbright today!

1. Attend the Public Hearing & Speak in FAVOR of the historic designation

City Council Hearing on Historic Designation for Albright
Monday, July 25, 2016 @ 2pm
City Council Chambers, 414 Grant Street, 5th Floor, Pittsburgh PA

The public hearing in front of City Council is the last step in the historic designation process. We have had a great turn out for the past hearings and need to fill every seat in the room with Albright supporters.

  • IMPORTANT: If you are able to attend and you are willing to speak – please call the City Clerk at  412-255-2138 and ask to be listed as a speaker in FAVOR of historic designation.
  • Let us know you will attend and request a t-shirt here.

2. Contact your City Council Representative

Take a moment to send an email to your City Council representative and ask them to support the historic designation for the Albright Church Building. Please cc: Friends@AlbrightPGH.com so we can print a copy to bring to the hearing.

  • Bruce Kraus, Council President – bruce.kraus@pittsburghpa.gov
  • Reverend Ricky Burgess – reverend.burgess@pittsburghpa.gov
  • Daniel Gilman – daniel.gilman@pittsburghpa.gov
  • Natalia Rudiak – natalia.rudiak@pittsburghpa.gov
  • Darlene Harris – Darlene.Harris@pittsburghpa.gov
  • Deborah Gross – deborah.gross@pittsburghpa.gov
  • Daniel Lavelle – daniel.lavelle@pittsburghpa.gov
  • Theresa Kail-Smith – Theresa.Kail-Smith@ pittsburghpa.gov
  • Corey O’Connor – corey.oconnor@pittsburghpa.gov

3. Sign & Share Our Petition

If you have not yet signed the petition supporting Historic Designation for Albright, please sign the petition and share it with your friends. Click here to sign the petition!

4. Donate!

You can help support our efforts by making  a contribution to Friends of Albright through our fiscal sponsor, New Sun Rising. Funds will be used for t-shirt printing and legal costs associated with preserving the building.

Albright-July-24-2015

Photo of Albright from July 24, 2015

You can learn more about Albright at AlbrightPGH.com. You can follow Albright on Facebook, Twitter @AlbrightPGH and Instagram.

Book ‘Em Needs Your Books & Paper Bags

Letter to Book 'Em. Photo Credit: Book 'Em Facebook Page.

Letter to Book ‘Em. Photo Credit: Book ‘Em Facebook Page. Click here to read the text of the letter.

Attention book lovers! Book ‘Em is a Pittsburgh non-profit that needs your help to send books to prisoners in Pennsylvania.

I spent a few hours yesterday in the basement of a building on Penn Avenue yesterday with a group of volunteers who were picking out books and packing them up to be sent to prisoners across the state.  I had no idea that the basement below the Thomas Merton Center was set up as a little book-shop by mail.  If you love browsing book stores and picking out books then this is the volunteer opportunity for you! Prisoners from across the state can write in and request books. Some requests are specific, most are for general categories of books. I love browsing bookstores, but I have promised myself I will not buy any new books until I’ve read the ever growing pile of books in my house. Fulfilling each request was a challenge of browsing the Book ‘Em bookshelves and make a best guess at what each person might like to read.

Here are a few things that I learned about Book ‘Em this weekend:

  • Many of the requests that I filled yesterday were for educational books. If you have books to donate please check the list of requested books here.
  • Book’Em’s biggest need is money to cover the cost of shipping books. If you want to help with the cause, please consider sending a few dollars to Book ‘Em via the donation page here.
  • Paper Bags! Book ‘Em wants your empty paper bags. Instead of throwing out paper grocery bags, please donate them to Book ‘Em to be used for wrapping up books to be mailed.
  • Volunteer! Volunteers are needed to help pick out books and pack them for shipping. You can see a calendar of volunteer days here.

Books and paper bags can be dropped off at the Thomas Merton Center, 5129 Penn Ave, Monday through Friday from 10 to 4 and during our Sunday work sessions.

If you would like to learn more, follow Book ‘Em on Facebook here or in this 2013 Post-Gazette article about Book ‘Em: “Book ‘Em shipments brighten Pennsylvania inmates’ lives.“

How would you design your perfect Pittsburgh summer?

Last week, as I drove back from checking out the Canal Days festival in Saltsburg, I was catching up on my podcast listening and taking my sweet old time driving through Westmoreland County.  A recent episode of the Happier podcast came on and caught my attention. Happier is the podcast from author Gretchen Rubin who is the author of the book The Happiness Project. I have heard about the book, but I’ve been skeptical of people who talk about being happy. A few months ago I stumbled upon the Happier podcast and I have to say that I have become a fan. I even picked up a copy of The Happiness Project book on a recent visit to the East End Book Exchange.

What Make the PerfectPittsburghSummer-Episode 67 of the Happier podcast is about designing your summer. The gist of the episode is thinking about how you can you plan something or many things that make your summer different from the rest of the year.

As soon as I heard some of the examples … I LOVED the idea and I immediately thought about how summer in Pittsburgh is pretty unique. Over the past 10 years of blogging about Pittsburgh, I’ve met lots of Pittsburgh natives who now live around the country, but bring their kids back to Pittsburgh for annual summer visits to Kennywood or the wave pool.  I was invited to a luncheon (for I’m not even sure what but it might have been some promo for a Steelers credit card) at Heinz Field and I sat with a father and son from Delaware. They had driven to Pittsburgh for the day to attend the lunch. The father told me about how even though his kids didn’t grow up in Pittsburgh, he made sure to bring them back every summer to go to Kennywood, family picnic, and a long list of other Pittsburgh places, because he wanted them to think of Pittsburgh as home.

So the Happier Podcast got me thinking… how should I design my summer and how would you design the perfect Pittsburgh summer?  I’ve already started making a list of ways that I can design my summer. Should I bike more, run more, sleep more? One example they gave on the podcast was about a woman who planned alfresco Fridays, a weekly lunch gathering of friends every Friday for the summer.  Who wants to join a Pittsburgh summer lunch club? Where should we have a weekly alfresco lunch?

In the episode, Gretchen mentioned that she is planning to have a lunch date every single day.  Could I plan a coffee meeting for every day of the summer? I still go back and read some of the interviews that Kate wrote for her blog, Yinzpiration, where she interviewed 100 Pittsburghers she had not yet met. I love the idea of creating a summer activity or project.

So, dear readers of Pittsburgh, help me answer some of these questions…

  • What are your must do Pittsburgh summer activities?
  • How would you design your perfect Pittsburgh summer?
  • Who should I have a cup of coffee with this summer? (and what coffee shops should I visit?)

Leave a comment here on the blog or post a Tweet with the hashtag #pghsummer!