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Clinton Has Little to Fear In “Pennsyltucky” Primary

Clinton Has Little to Fear In “Pennsyltucky” Primary

Despite holding 210 Democratic delegates, 4.4 percent of the nationwide total, Pennsylvania’s primary is typically much too late in the primary season to hold any real sway in deciding the party’s nominee. This Tuesday, however, Pennsylvania has the theoretical opportunity to be a major player.

Political strategist James Carville once famously described Pennsylvania as “Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama in between.” Carville’s colorful hyperbole notwithstanding, there is stark contrast between Pennsylvania’s two major urban centers and the vast expanse of farmland and Appalachia that separates them. The startling cultural and economic differences have earned the state the moniker “Pennsyltucky.”

But even as results in this year’s Democratic primaries have largely split along regional lines, with Sanders performing much stronger in rural areas, Pennsylvania’s irregular geography shouldn’t pose much of a challenge for the Clinton campaign.

If recent data is to be believed, this contest will be about as active as a post-cheesesteak coma. According to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll, Clinton commands a dominant lead in Pennsylvania, at 55 percent to Sanders’s 40. On the Democratic side, delegates are awarded proportionally, meaning that even a modest Sanders victory would do little to close the 750 delegate gap by which he trails Clinton.

At a rally in Dunmore this Saturday, Clinton spoke fondly of visiting her grandparents at their Scranton cabin as a child. Scranton mayor William Courtright described Clinton as “a local woman that made it big.”

It’s not just in Central Pennsylvania where Clinton is ramping up support, either. With this year’s Democratic National Convention set in Philadelphia, Clinton has spent ample time at events with mayor Jim Kenney, former Attorney General Eric Holder, and advocacy groups for women’s rights and gun control. Governor Tom Wolf endorsed Clinton in June.

Sanders—often popular with the college crowd—has his own share of devoted supporters in Pennsylvania, but there are simply not enough to hold back the Clinton tide. He whipped the Penn State campus into a frenzy at a rally last Tuesday, but delivered a “noticeably subdued” performance at Millersville University in Lancaster County on Friday.

Clinton won the Pennsylvania primary in 2008 with 54 percent of the vote, and she is poised to do just as well if not better this year. On Tuesday, expect both halves of Pennsyltucky to find a common ground, for once.

Photo: The Pittsburgh skyline. 

Why Is Pittsburgh Being Called The New Darling Destination?

Why Is Pittsburgh Being Called The New Darling Destination?

By Gabe Rosenberg, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (TNS)

PITTSBURGH–If there were a drinking game for every time a media outlet “rediscovered” Pittsburgh, after a recent week, this city would be under the table.

The New York Times’ Travel section recently told its readers how to spend 36 dynamic hours here, but The Washington Post took a whole family on a road trip and took some time to explore. In fact, the Post couldn’t get enough of Pittsburgh, publishing that with another piece on July 16 on the city’s restaurant scene. Eater.com had the same idea, with a piece July 17 asking, “Is Pittsburgh the Country’s Next Destination Food Town?”

Eater, which provides food news and dining guides from across the country, didn’t think the city was foodie heaven just yet, but that may not matter: The national reconceptualization of Pittsburgh has already taken hold. For locals, while the extra attention is nice, this latest surge of publicity is just business as usual.

“When it first started to really happen, back in the late ’90s and early ’00s, we started getting a lot of attention, it was really novel,” said Craig Davis, president and CEO of VisitPittsburgh. “Now it’s getting to the point where there’s no surprise anymore. It’s like, ‘Why wouldn’t they feel that way?'”

In 2014, the Travel Channel named Pittsburgh one of the best All-American vacation cities and National Geographic’s Traveler included Pittsburgh on its list of Best Trips for 2012.

The latest attention on Pittsburgh’s restaurant scene has focused on a few primary spots of culinary interest: namely, Lawrenceville’s Cure and the Butcher and the Rye, Downtown (along with its siblings, Tako and Meat & Potatoes). And while they loom large at home, the restaurants have seen their profile around the country improving, if only anecdotally.

“I had one recent experience at Meat & Potatoes; actually, there was a couple that was retired and they planned a whole trip to Pittsburgh and made a weekend out of it,” said spokeswoman Tamara Lelli, who also represents Butcher and the Rye and Tako. “They were telling me how it was never a city on their list of places to go, but they’d heard so many good things about it, and they absolutely fell in love with the city.”

Cure co-owner Justin Severino had a similar story, meeting tourists last week who came specifically to Pittsburgh to eat at his restaurant based on the recommendation of the Washington Post article.

“The national press has definitely helped our business, but I think it’s a collection of all that’s happened in Pittsburgh in the last three to four years,” he said.

From Cure to Conflict Kitchen in Oakland, Pittsburgh’s culinary scene may be a beneficiary and a driver of this media moment, but it’s not the only player. As a whole, the big story has been Pittsburgh’s much-touted high-tech transformation away from Rust Belt decay: Time magazine just published “Pittsburgh: The Comeback” in early July, and Politico had “The Robots That Saved Pittsburgh” last February.

All that research and tech has been in the works for years, but what really caused the sea change in outside interest–according to Davis and Bill Flanagan, chief corporate relations officer for the Allegheny Conference on Community Development–was the G-20 summit in 2009.

“The G-20 was the turning point in terms of the size of the pipeline, the companies that might be interested in Pittsburgh,” Flanagan said. “It definitely was a turning point in terms of interest of national or international media.”

Not all of Pittsburgh has received the same amount of coverage, of course. As NEXT Pittsburgh, The New Pittsburgh Courier and other locals have observed, much of the media _ Time and The New York Times especially _ focused almost entirely on Lawrenceville and other “it” areas, on white, male residents and business owners. Neither of the two videos interviewed or highlighted a single person of color, and Time did not interview a single woman.

“I think it is one of the challenges of the region,” Flanagan said. “In a region that is one of the least diverse in the U.S., in terms of the makeup of the population, it could benefit by having stories of more diverse people get out, as a way to attract more to the region.”

It’s a challenge that Mayor Bill Peduto’s office has acknowledged as well, and hopes that publicity will beget publicity.

“The mayor has said that while it’s great to get the attention, there are bunches of other parts of the city that could use that same,” said spokesperson Tim McNulty. “We’d like to see major publications have their focus get a little bit wider.”

Photo by Hannaford via Flickr

Pennsylvania Company Fights Wage Gap By Charging Women What They Earn

Pennsylvania Company Fights Wage Gap By Charging Women What They Earn

Yesterday was National Equal Pay Day. And it was yesterday in Pittsburgh that a striking event took place to bring awareness to the wage gap between men and women. Less Than 100, otherwise known as <100, set up the 76<100 pop-up shop, which will be selling goods through April at a lower price for women or those who identify as female.

Established by graphic designer and Gratuitous Type art director Elana Schlenker, and supported by Planned Parenthood, among others, the organization is a grassroots project that seeks to rectify pay inequality across the nation. <100 dramatically addresses the wage gap by providing a discount for women. The specific rate depends on the locale. For instance, at the initial Pittsburgh shop, women pay 76 cents to the dollar, while men pay the full buck. As the project moves across the country, future pop-ups will be priced according to the state’s median wage gap, as none of the states have an average salary that is equal between the sexes.

“Even though the shop is based on a negative statistic, I wanted it to be a positive space,” says Schlenker.

The organization is not-for-profit, with most of the proceeds going directly to the artists and makers whose goods are purchased in their shop. (Five percent of the total revenue goes to shop upkeep.) <100 participants describe themselves as purveyors of art prints, stationery, publications, textiles, ceramics, and “other exceptional goods created by women artists and makers from across the U.S.”

BuzzFeed reports that Schlenker wants “to try to get a number of permanent businesses involved in this pricing structure,” and hosts free events such as Negation Workshops and other activities with participating artists in order to engage local leaders and women-run businesses.

The <100 strategy joins a surge of similarly progressive, attention-grabbing projects. It is a sister movement to “Fight for $15,” which argues for a higher living wage for workers, as well as the “No Catcall Zones” initiative, which earlier this week distributed posters in Manhattan and Brooklyn that were designed by Feminist Apparel to protest street harassment.

In the fall, <100 will be heading to New Orleans, where the wage gap is 66 cents to $1.00 — much worse than the national average of a 22 percent disparity between the salaries of women and men.

Photo: Elana Schlenker via Facebook

‘Passive House’ Project Is A Living Laboratory For Energy Efficiency

‘Passive House’ Project Is A Living Laboratory For Energy Efficiency

By Rosa Colucci, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (TNS)

PITTSBURGH — In the Shadyside neighborhood of the city, a large sign declares that a “Passive House” renovation is underway at 5724 Walnut Street.

“When the gentleman who owned 5724 was going into the nursing home, he said, ‘I’d like to sell it to you. I know you do quality work,'” recalled architect Laura Nettleton, one of the principals in the firm Thoughtful Balance Inc. The property is a three-story wood-frame home with four bedrooms, and Nettleton took on the project as a living design laboratory. Ten years ago, she had renovated its twin next door.

She saw the project as a way to compare the energy needs and usage of two similar houses renovated at different times. Her ten-year-old firm has focused on affordable housing and sustainability.

“This was an unusual project for us. I did one of the first LEED Gold Projects in the city. (LEED stands for Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design and is certified through the U.S. Green Building Council.) Over time, we were disappointed in the energy performance of that project. LEED predicted great performance, but did not deliver. Then I was introduced to Passive House.”

The term refers to a building standard that features among other things, much more insulation than in a conventionally built house.

“In retrofits, this is not an easy thing to do. You can’t wrap leaky basements in foam. The Walnut Street house is performing really well. With the thermostat set to 57 and just body heat, the indoor temperature was 65. That was pretty cool.”

That is remarkable considering that the house was built in 1890. The renovation is light, bright, and modern compared with other houses of that age. But there are other differences that become apparent. It is ultra-quiet inside and there are no warm or cold spots. Even near a window.

“It has a feeling of luxury, like you are entering a refuge,” Nettleton said.

The windows, which have R-5 or R-7 insulation values, are triple-paned European windows that open in two directions, as casements and awnings. They are outfitted with exterior shades that are operated by a remote.

“This is great for everyday living. You can open windows and have security.”

The home has 3,000 square feet of living space. All of the walls are painted a crisp white and the floors are lightly stained maple. Clean lines run from the open staircase that ascends three levels to the white quartz counter tops in the 15 by 13 foot kitchen.

The dining room is in the front of the home and measures 13 by 13 feet. It has an architectural feature wall and recessed lighting. It is staged with mid-century modern furniture and features a wall cutout that offers views into the kitchen. It has custom-made walnut cabinets made by a local firm which also did the cabinets in the bathrooms.

Stainless steel Bosch appliances are set in a modern configuration with double wall ovens, a dishwasher, and an induction cooktop whose overhead exhaust almost seems to float in midair. The entire house is outfitted with Hans-Grohe Water Sense faucets. Some of the cabinets have frosted glass fronts that reflect more light into the room.

“We chose materials that were as close as we could come to locally sourced and low-VOC for a healthy interior,” Nettleton said. “We used Sherwin-Williams Harmony paint. I like the quartz as a manmade material. It has less impact on the landscape.”

Just beyond, the 19 by 14 foot living room features a large patio door that opens to a deck. A powder room and a bench are bookended by tall cabinet closets.

The master bedroom is on the second floor, in the rear. It measures 13 by 13 feet and opens to a nine by six foot office. The ten 1/2 by seven 1/2 foot bathroom features a quartz vanity top with a raised bowl on walnut cabinets. There is a roomy linen closet, glass enclosed shower, and a separate soaking tub.

Also attached to the bedroom is a ten by five foot walk-in closet and a separate laundry center with Bosch washer and dryer behind closed doors. “The condensing washing and dryer work very well with Passive House because of the intake and exhaust issues with dryers,” Nettleton said.

The second bedroom also measures 13 by 13 feet and has a five by six foot study nook and loft area open to the space below. The floor is also maple.

The third floor has two bedrooms measuring 15 by 12 feet and 12 by 11 feet and features a bank of windows overlooking Walnut Street. They are serviced by a full bathroom with a large skylight. Each bedroom has a full walk-in closet.

The finished basement was excavated and a new slab poured with insulation underneath. The family room measures 21 by 14 feet and has hardwood floors and modern lighting. A full bathroom is off to the left.

The mechanical room has a heat pump that provides heat and air conditioning and the heat recovery ventilator that circulates air in the home, recapturing heat and conditioned air.

“The ventilator cleans and exchanges the air in the home completely every three hours. It removes the outdoor pollutants,” Nettleton said.

The expected energy cost to run this home is about $35 per month. One condition of the sale is that the owner must allow Nettleton to have access to the energy bills so that she can track the performance of the project.

“I am really proud of the design and what it represents. I didn’t want Passive House to hang out in the affordable housing world and only be available for special funding.”

Photo: Larry Roberts via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS