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Originally Posted by East Edge
Thanks for the back up but I am sure this statement wont have popular opinion...Looking back at that old picture I'm glad that Pittsburgh leaders at the time had the vision to expand our downtown and have an innovative performance venue to compete on the world stage. I wasnt around then but it looks pretty run down to me
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Well, it doesn't have popular opinion because your statement is predicated on 1) something that never actually happened and 2) a highly-skewed view of what is "run down" (i.e., requiring large-scale demolition).
Meaning... 1) while the concerted effort by city administration and business leaders at the time to fully level the Lower Hill in favor of supposedly paving the way to extend downtown to Oakland was the stated policy, it obviously never actually happened. Downtown never even expanded to the Lower Hill in practical terms, much less all the way to Oakland.
The Civic Arena and its parking lots did nothing to enhance downtown Pittsburgh, only served to further isolate it, and limited any expansion (the exact opposite of the public purpose of the redevelopment). Like what happened in numerous postwar modernization schemes, it was an abject policy failure. We've witnessed the problems that those misguided decisions caused, and that's why those mistakes are trying to be corrected in cities everywhere.
And 2) if you found the Lower Hill to be "pretty run down" enough to favor its complete leveling, then you should have been supportive of the complete leveling of the Southside Flats and Central Northside in the 1970s/80s. Also, you should currently support the complete leveling of the Strip District for downtown expansion. And much of Bloomfield and Lawrenceville should also be flattened.
Quote:
Originally Posted by East Edge
...Where else was downtown supposed to expand? Makes sense to just keep the triangle going backwards.
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Again, downtown never did expand. It was a completely counterproductive "redevelopment" policy... which was a hallmark of postwar urban planning.