As seen from the sky over route 51.

An acquaintance of mine has not been seen since Monday morning. She was staying in or around East Liberty. Her car was found in Squirrel Hill. The image gives all the other useful details. There are also news reports from WPXI and WTAE. Her friends and family are worried sick. Please take a look and if you think you see her or have seen her in the last three days, call 911.

Took this shot yesterday of the steel tower in the fog

Anyone else seeing these absurd AI anti-shapiro ads online? This type of campaign ad cannot be legal, right? If you haven't seen it yet, it's basically an AI Shapiro sh*t-talking about himself the entire time. There is a brief mention that the ad is ai-generated which is said by fake Shapiro while electricity springs from his arms to power a data center.

I guess they can try to hide behind parody laws, but given how many people fall for ai, this seems harder to say it's a clear cut parody. Even with saying the ad is ai generated, it does not explicitly state that Shapiro wasn't involved in making it. The opening sequence even says "hello, I'm Josh Shapiro." It also does not include the standard messaging such as "I'm Stacy Garrity and I approve this message" or anything that you'd expect be associated with a political add. There is a "paid for by Garrity for PA" but it's just stamped on the last frame.

This can't be legal, right?

Unionized staff and faculty will come next. The unions have to sign a MOU with Pitt but it seems that the unions are being offered the same deal as non-union staff. Once the MOUs are signed, final details will be made public.

I was looking back at previous voluntary separation packages since 2000 (there were 2 iirc) and this is much more lenient in terms of age and service. Pitt is trying to slim down and fast.

From the pdf above-

What are the eligibility requirements for the 2027 VERP? There is both an age and service requirement. Employees must meet both the age and the service requirements to be eligible: o Age requirement: The employee must be a minimum of 57 years of age as of May 14, 2027. This means they have a birthday on or before May 14, 1970. o Service requirements: The employee must be employed in an eligible job type as of May 14, 2027 and have been continuously employed at the University in an eligible job type for the 10 years immediately prior to May 14, 2027. The University’s official records will be used to determine length and continuity of service and these records will control.

It’s been bumper-to-bumper traffic for over a year now regardless of what fucking time of the day it is thanks to all this horseshit construction. I’m so fucking over it. I avoided as much as I can but sometimes I think, “oh it’s noon how bad could it be?”. Fuck me, right?

Could just be a rumor. I hope they turn it into a vape shop.

We are the first county in the country to do anything like this. Sara Innamorato is the GOAT.

https://www.publicsource.org/allegheny-county-paid-parental-leave-passes/

I've walked past this particular house in Greenfield probably a thousand times.

It's an ordinary-looking house on a corner, except the front door is angled toward the intersection and there's a big rectangular patch of newer brick where a window obviously used to be.

Last week I was talking to an older neighbor and she casually mentioned that it used to be a little grocery store.

Apparently she bought milk there when her kids were young. The owner lived upstairs, sold groceries downstairs, and knew pretty much everyone on the block.

I went home and started paying attention to other buildings around Pittsburgh.

And holy shit, once you notice them, they're everywhere.

Houses with weirdly large ground-floor windows. Corner buildings with old commercial entrances that have been filled in. Places that clearly weren't originally designed to be just somebody's living room.

Little reminders that entire neighborhoods used to function differently.

What struck me wasn't really the nostalgia. It was imagining how useful that would be now.

Forgot something while cooking? Walk two blocks.

Need a few groceries but don't want to drive to Giant Eagle? Walk two blocks.

Older neighbor who doesn't drive anymore? They could still pick up a few things without arranging transportation.

Obviously I'm romanticizing this a little. Running a small grocery store is incredibly difficult, and there's a reason so many of these places disappeared. I'm not pretending a tiny store could compete with Aldi on prices.

But I think we're missing something in between "drive to a full-size supermarket" and "order something to your doorstep."

And it's kind of wild that the physical spaces for that middle option are still sitting right there on our streets, except now they're somebody's spare bedroom.

I started wondering how many of these little businesses disappeared because nobody wanted them anymore, and how many disappeared because the economics and regulations gradually made them impossible to keep running.

We talk a lot about Pittsburgh being a city of neighborhoods, but the ability to walk around your own neighborhood and actually get what you need seems like a pretty important part of that.

I'm curious whether other people have noticed these former storefronts around their neighborhoods.

And especially if you've lived here a long time, do you remember what any of them used to be?

I'd love to know how many ordinary-looking Pittsburgh houses have an entire previous life hiding behind their bricks.

I'd love if we could get a thread going of everyone's outdoor Halloween!!! show your spooky spirit!!

Well, not really. But charging for air won't help.

I'm 26 years old, moved here for a job last month having never been to Pittsburgh before and knowing no one who lives here. I moved from Northern Virginia just outside of DC. I find it so much better living here than back there it's ridiculous. Here are some differences in no particular order:

1. You guys have murals everywhere. I can't even think of a single mural back where I'm from. It feels like every bus ride I notice a new one or some funny graffito

2. The zoning means that you can live in a place and also exist within walking distance of stores. Even though I lived in a heavily populated area back in Virginia the nearest grocery place was a Walmart almost 2 miles away.

3. You have sidewalks that let you get to stores. To get to the Walmart by walking I'd have to go and walk on the side roads off the main highway and hope I didn't get hit.

4. You have buses that let you go to stores, residential areas, doctors offices, and more. I am not legally allowed to drive due to a disability and if I wanted to go somewhere on my own it would consistently take about 1-3 hours more than if I had someone drive me and costs would add up quick with all the bus switches. I literally couldn't leave my parents house on my own

5. I see other disabled people out living their lives here every day. I'd basically never see anyone else out using a mobility device where I lived because things just weren't accessible if you didn't have a car so people (including me) were just locked up inside

6. There are so many free or reasonably priced events and stuff happening every weekend. Since getting here I've gone to a neighborhood block party, took a welding class, and went out with a plein air painting group to a park. A couple times I've run into random markets and things in the squares and stopped to look around too.

7. CVS, Walgreens, etc aren't the only pharmacies here and I don't have to sit for half an hour+ waiting when I go pick up prescriptions, or worry about them merging my account with random family members of mine and requiring us to tell each other our prescriptions to validate our identities (actually happened at CVS with my twin and I)

8. People actually post useful stuff on nextdoor here, not just rants hating on buses, bikes, and pedestrians. Your subreddit is a lot kinder as well and has actual positive posts.

9. I can actually afford to live on my own here, I got a whole floor of a duplex for less than a 300 sqft studio costs back home and I live right by a bus stop!

10. Your library cards have so many great free website subscriptions, basically the only thing I got free with my library card back home was libby. There is even a whole service with helpful videos teaching you how to do things like knit, sew, and crochet!

11. If a bus is full I very rarely have to ask if anyone would mind giving up a seat, people here see me and just offer them to me. Back in Virginia I've had to get off a bus before because no one would move and I can't stand on buses

12. You have so many nice little stores everywhere with unique purposes. Like I've never seen a construction materials thrift store before coming here (construction junction).

13. I haven't had a single person here say "what's wrong with you" or bother me excessively for details about what my disability is. People here just let me live which is nice. It's weird and nice not feeling like I have to apologize and explain myself or give strangers my medical history.

14. The streets and houses here are so pretty and I love that you can usually see some pretty natural feature wherever you are, whether it's a river or hills or a little park.

15. It seems like you guys don't have HOAs breathing down your necks all the time in most places (at least from what I could see when I was looking at renting and housing in the area)

16. There is almost always a crosswalk nearby no matter where you are in the city, often with a walk signal. I no longer have to weigh whether I want to walk another mile to cross the road safely or try my luck getting across the highway between cars.

17. There are a lot of little free libraries here you find just walking around.

18. I don't know if this is necessarily a good thing but WTF is up with the deer by Carnegie Library? They don't care about anything!

19. It's a lot more chill here than back home. I can't even really describe it well but I like that people seem to have lives and hobbies outside of work.

20. People here seem to care about their communities. I see so many initiatives and programs setup for things like making sure sidewalks are safe and accessible. There are benches popping up at bus stops supplied by community members. Living here I don't feel so alone in a lot of ways even though I'm the most alone I've ever been objectively.

There's some things I miss about home of course, like having family and friends but I'm hopeful I'll find some of that here too eventually.

Pumpkin my bf carved that I thought was rather cool & wanted to share :3

I’m trying to find if there’s any farms or small businesses that offer horse back riding along trails or farmland ~1hr from downtown.

I haven’t ridden a horse in over 20 years and really want to experience that again at least one more time in my life.

Please let me know if you know of reputable farms or businesses that offer this for individuals ( not groups it’s just me )

I’m considering a move back to the area. We now have a 5 year old diagnosed as ASD, 2e, anxiety with most likely ADHD and more.

How has living in either Pittsburgh (looking at Highland Park, Aspenwall, Ben Avon) or Wexford area been for you?

I am looking for recommendations for:
—developmental pediatrician
—OT (who works with age/diagnoses)
—play therapists
—dentist
—GI doctor specializing in constipation (very important)

I know that Children’s has a department so I’m not looking for a general suggestion but specific doctors you have loved and why— feel free to message me!

Also would love to know if you have found any activities like gymnastics, swimming, martial arts that are sensory friendly and small consistent groups or even individual lessons working into a group. How has your experience been with being accepted into things/the community? (I’m sorry if my formatting gets messed up, I’m trying to make this concise) Thank you for any help!

Does anyone else hear a non stop ringing in shadyside?? Near noodlehead and urban tap. It’s not tinnitus, it started maybe a month ago and it’s so annoying 😭 I can’t figure out where exactly it’s coming from

More pedestrian friendly areas? Upgraded public transport? Buried highways? More Sheetz? If you were king what's the one improvement you'd want to make the most?