Reports from near ground zero

[Grampa_of_Oliva_n_Eden]

The City has been preparing for the event for a long time.

THe city, county and state mounted police are standing by.

Most of the companies and organization in downtown have invoked their "emergency Plans" and people are working from home.

The Cranegie Museum and the Library have shutdown and have boarded up the windows.

As an introdcution to the fun we plan to have, some protesters tried hanging a sign from one of our bridges. My buddy was driving over the bridge when this happened and reported aside from the traffic screw up it just looked the police were hanging out with mountain climbers. This may have bee the first time someone trying to climb our bridges did not get shiped off to rubber room.

Rolling closures of the parkway are bieing used to escourt visitors into the city.

As I hear more I'll share.

Ben

[PaulG.]

Sounds like a real scream. Good thing it's only for two days.

[Grampa_of_Oliva_n_Eden]

Sounds like a real scream. Good thing it's only for two days.

Yes oodles of fun!

Last night ther was free concert at Point State Park (conflence of Allegheny and Monogahala rivers to form the Ohio) were Gree Peace activists blocked the Entrance.

The police set up barriers to keep them where they were and opened up another entrance.

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City is surounded on three sides by rivers so all traffic in/out has to move through one of three check points. If you don't live there or are driving an ambulance, you are not going to drive into the city.

Ben

[PaulG.]

Just watched tonight ... pepper spray and sonic weapons used to disperse an unruly crowd. Hope you are home safe and sound.

[Grampa_of_Oliva_n_Eden]

Just watched tonight ... pepper spray and sonic weapons used to disperse an unruly crowd. Hope you are home safe and sound.

A group a protesters attempted to turn a demonstration into a march on the convention center. They were well prepared with at least one participant was clad in chemical warfare gear (one of my apps may have been used to certify the SCBA!). They were assigned the duties of "Kick the can" everytime the pepper gas was used.

Mounted police cleared that crowd. (apparently it is possible to heard cats, if you have enough horses)

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First use of tear gas in Pittsburgh in the last 20-30 years

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After re-grouping the Armoured car was brought out. It was equiped with a lod speaker system that sounded like it was stolen directly from the first RoboCop movie (D2 ?).

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A one man sit-in was cleared with little incident.

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Worst traffic jam in recent history here in Pgh. It consisted of all police cars, including some from the neighboring state of Ohio. I did not know that was lelgal.

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Over-night a Rite Aid pharmacy and a bank had windows and doors broken.

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The visitors were entrtained at Phips Conservatory which is where the annual garden show is held.

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Out of town visitor appear to be suprised that Pittsburgh is no longer "hell with the lid off".

Ben

Edited September 25, 2009 by neBulus

[Cat]

Out of town visitor appear to be suprised that Pittsburgh is no longer "hell with the lid off".

I heard that quote on the news last night.

I was pleasantly surprised by how Pittsburgh looked. Maybe next time I'm flying thru there, I'll stop and tour around for awhile.

Cat

[Grampa_of_Oliva_n_Eden]

I heard that quote on the news last night.

I was pleasantly surprised by how Pittsburgh looked. Maybe next time I'm flying thru there, I'll stop and tour around for awhile.

Cat

World class museum! Andrew Carnegie owned US Steel and used his money to buy up all of the dinosuar bones he could find.

"Hell with the lid off"

When I was a youth I followed my father around the world as an Air Force brat. We would visit my grand mother occationally. Since the air always smelled of sulphur back them it left a mark. I can't smell chocolate chip cookies or sulphur without thinking about my grand mother.

Ben

Edited September 25, 2009 by neBulus

[PaulG.]

... Out of town visitor appear to be suprised that Pittsburgh is no longer "hell with the lid off"...

I think that distinction now belongs to Detroit. But I don't think it has anything to do with the smell. I would love to see the G20 bring their little circus here.

Michigan is wooing the movie industry here with tax breaks and incentives. Just a few weeks ago a couple of film crewmen were mugged outside one of the studios.

[crelf]

I think that distinction now belongs to Detroit.

I waited 15 minutes to respond because I was so annoyed by the very ignorance and arrogance of that statement. Now that I've settled down a bit I have come to think that there is no value in responding to it directly. To respond in a more general way: Detroit has a bad rap, and that's mostly because of the unfairly-lingering reputation of the 60s and 70s, as well as the media's "infotainment" approach to selling their news as a commodity. There are bad parts of every city in the world. People get mugged in every city in the world. Layoffs are happening in every city of the world. Frankly, if you base your image of Detroit on such ignorance, then I don't want you here - you're bringing the place down. As a good friend of mine once said: "If you don't like the place, then either do something about it or leave. By leaving, you're improving the place, and therefore are doing something about it."

PS: as a premium member, my posts bypass the profanity filter. It took a lot of restraint to not demostrate that.

PPS: I love this photo on the CBCNews.ca website:

[PaulG.]

"Lighten up, Francis"

[crelf]

"Lighten up, Francis"

"Stop being such a jerk, Alexandar"

[hooovahh]

PS: as a premium member, my posts bypass the profanity filter. It took a lot of restraint to not demostrate that.

Yeah, watch it or I'll start dropping F bombs here,

FART YOU you farter, go fart your selves.

[Michael Aivaliotis]

PS: as a premium member, my posts bypass the profanity filter. It took a lot of restraint to not demostrate that.

Actually wee haven't tested that, have we?

[Grampa_of_Oliva_n_Eden]

...

PPS: I love this photo on the CBCNews.ca website:

That image of Gateway Center illustrates the state of the city durring the G20. My buddy that drive around a lot loved it because there were no cars on the road and he could drive 80 MPH and nobody cared.

If the photographer of that photo had turned around and walked about 50 paces the image would have shown the fountain in Point State Park and the stadiums.

I have heard of ants (in central america ?) that will invade a town and devour everything that is edible in site. The residents will clear out when this happens and when they return the town is complete spotless!

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While watching the activites on the local news and discussing same with my buddies we questioned a report that the deligates where learning about the local history. Since none of them came out my way we felt that they did not learn about the local history of South Park and the Whiskey Rebelion!

Back when the US was young a group of Scotish settlers settled in the area just south of Pittsburgh (note "H" in spelling) in what was called Sleepy Hollow (walking distance from my house) and Loafers Hollow. The young congress had used their new powers to raise funds througha tax on whiskey. This was not recieved well by the locals who had settled here to avoid taxes and government. Before it was all over US federal troops were used against US citizen for the first time.

I had thought Jefferson was the president at the time but my buddies insisted it was Washington that sent the troops.

So with that little peice of questionable trivia, I will close out this series of reports from near ground zero.

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"The ants have just left the 'Burgh."

Ben

[Yair]

FART YOU you farter, go fart your selves.

This reminds me of a bit I saw in one of the shows which premiered in the US recently which went something like:

I'm the "cool" dad. I send text messages. I know all the stuff. LOL - laugh out loud. BRB - be right back. WTF - why the face

[crelf]

Actually wee haven't tested that, have we?

You know what, I don't think we have... Who wants to go first?

[Francois Normandin]

You know what, I don't think we have... Who wants to go first?

Something horrific like c*l*r ?

[Cat]

Something horrific like c*l*r ?

Aha! Now I understand why it disappeared.

[hooovahh]

WTF? Do you mean Work Time Fun?

[crelf]

WTF? Do you mean Work Time Fun?

Yes, that's exactly what I mean