Quote:
Originally Posted by East Edge
Agreed! The smart ass comment from the mayor doesnt show a spirit of welcoming development in the city. There is definitely a more productive way as Mayor to express his vision for higher quality design. Just goes to show that this power has gone to his head and how out of touch he is with his constituents.
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His tweet was a bit too smug. To me, it would have been much more mayoral to tweet something more in-line with his follow-up comments, but it would be no less ridiculous.
Quote:
Peduto offered a basic statement further explaining his tweet in an email to the Pittsburgh Business Times on Tuesday afternoon.
"The architectural design doesn't match the Strip District," he said. "The design makes the building stand out in an area where there's been a lot of growth, but where there's been an attempt to make the new buildings blend in with the historic nature of the area, and the design of that building should do the same."
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I find this excuse to be a lazy cop out. First, the Strip district does not have a specific "design". Second, trying to "match" or "blend in" with buildings that are a century-plus older rarely results in anything good, and third, if there in fact has been some attempt to make new buildings blend in as the Mayor asserts, well, they've done a really shitty job.
In addition, on the blocks bounded by the 16th Street Bridge and the Convention Center (the tract where the proposed building will go), few buildings even exist there currently... and all of the sizable buildings there are relatively newer anyway... and the Homewood Suites and AC Hotel certainly don't respect the "historic nature of the area".
Should the citizens of Pittsburgh demand that the developer "blend in" like what Buncher did up and down Liberty Ave. in the past? You know, to match the long, low train terminal?
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4465...7i16384!8i8192
Do these new developements "blend in"??
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4567...7i16384!8i8192
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4559...7i16384!8i8192
Is this a nod to the historic nature of the area?
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4530...7i16384!8i8192