Laurels & lances: Out of the box and in the pool
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Laurel: To wacky new ideas. Hey, maybe Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto’s thoughts about gondolas connecting the Strip, the Hill District and Oakland is a little out there. Or maybe it’s up there? But give credit where credit is due. It’s definitely something new and different.
The idea isn’t about the city building a new transportation infrastructure on its own. Instead it’s about public-private partnerships. It’s about connecting different areas for the benefit of all. It’s about new ways of providing things that have worked in Pittsburgh in the past, like cable cars and inclines.
Maybe it wouldn’t work. But maybe it might. New ideas aren’t always perfect — or even good — but sometimes they are worth at least exploring. And there’s at least one true thing you can say about the gondola idea: It’s uplifting.
Lance: To a resource running dry. The Leechburg Area Pool needs a life preserver in the form of new board members.
“We need enough people to be able to go out there at one time and work on the pool,” said board member Chad Krawczyk.
After six decades, the pool is in danger of going under if two or three more people can’t dive in to save it.
Board members pitch in to do maintenance work to save scarce funds, but they need more people to make the load more manageable this year. An emergency meeting will be held in February, and the group hopes new members can get in the swim of things by March to help the Gilpin facility be open by Memorial Day.
Laurel: To stepping up service. Since 2015, 412 Food Rescue has been doing good work, keeping edible food products from heading to landfills and directing them to nonprofits that use the resources to serve those who need a good meal.
Now the organization is expanding its reach into surrounding counties with a smartphone app and a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant. According to 412 Food Rescue, it has diverted more than 8 million pounds of food from becoming waste to eliminating want.