yesterday we finally hit paperwork (i say finally, it was only the second day but i think we were all relieved to hit this stuff just because we could better grasp the program) and understood our house finances for the year. then we mostly got teasers about more stuff we would learn in this orientation week... so theres nothing really here to report
today was the crazy interesting day. we met with East Liberty Development, Inc. (ELDI). This organization is doing great work looking into East Liberty and finding ways to bring it back. Before i go on, here is a picture of the neighborhoods because in order to understand where i live, you have to understand pittsburgh is known for its neighborhood divisions. i live in the (north) eastern side on the border of highland park and east liberty...
ok, so now that you can picture it, now you need to know this: look at east liberty as a weird place to live. if you made a line going from bottom to top (through it), you find richer neighborhoods. if you go left to right (through it), you find poorer neighborhoods. so being in east liberty itself, you can imagine the strangeness of both worlds colliding. if you read the handy-dandy history from wiki, you would know that east liberty use to be a rich neighborhood. in the 50s/60s when the steal industry depletes, jobs go under. then the big mall idea happens and people like the suburban shopping feel. so the government, thinking they are smart, worries about this prosperous neighborhood going under since it suddenly had many unemployed and its main attraction was small businesses. Unfortunately the government got it wrong-- instead of riding out the depression that was happening all over (not just there), they decided to try making East Liberty--- a huge urban booming commerce--- into a "suburban feel" shopping place. aka. they demolished some buildings for parking lots, made a thoroughfare that goes only one way around the center of the center of enterprise, and shut of the two main crossroads so that one had to walk around the main blocks to shop. Well this failed miserably, displaced home owners, killed business owners, and turned an upper neighborhood into the worst neighborhood in pittsburgh.so this is what we learned about today. ever since the 50s/60s disaster, there have been attempts to bring back this part of pittsburgh. East Liberty Development, Inc. is one of the main enterprises attempting. Things didnt start off so well, but by the 90s, the current director took over and has made significant changes in East Liberty. The main goal is not to put things back to how they were. Instead, its to be in connection with every part of the community now (business owners, clergy, home owners, environmentalists, etc.) and see how they want THEIR community to be restored. Alongside this, they are using creative ways to bring back commerce into the neighborhood. As East liberty borders Shadyside, a crazy awesome revenue place, the best option for moving forward has been creating the shopping district alongside that border. Home Depot, Borders, Starbucks, Fedex, Verizon, Whole Foods, and soon Target all are starting to bring shoppers back into East Liberty now. With this impressive step, the one way thoroughfare is being converted to a two way road and small businesses are attempting to come back to life.
can you see how excited i am? (if not, i am! i could tell you this in more detail!) you can live in a place but never truly understand it until you know its history. i think that's one reason i loved where i lived in ireland because i was learning about it while i lived in it. but back to pitt, its so easy to walk/drive around East Liberty and judge it. now learning these things, not only can i see its thick history, but i can also see its potential.
ok ok so a few more things. lunch was a treat today at an ethiopian resturant (so good!!!!!!), and then we got acquainted with the union project (great organization creating essentially a community center for many opportunities to happen). finally we did a service project with G Tech, an organization that exists to work on vacant lots (hundreds around this area). they do more so nature work than house work (aka. no house improvements, instead a piece of bad soil is turned into a sunflower garden which pulls metals out of the soil and then nurtures the soil).
Not to mention all the great group bonding thats been happening! (like our trip to a shady walmart). Thanks for making it through this long one! i hope you learned something that was interesting! all is good here and im really feeling passionate for this part of PA all of a sudden-- and i'm excited to see how God is going to move this year! As always, stay tuned!
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