Mayor's 311 Response Line

The City of Pittsburgh created the Mayor's 311 Response Line to be the central repository for non-emergency requests for city services, neighborhood concerns, and complaints. Residents can call the hotline or use this a web-based form. Whether the service line is effective is a matter of debate. Check out this article in the Post-Gazette for a discussion of the effectiveness issue: "Is The City Heeding Calls to Action?"

The City compiles and reports data on 311 calls and, the city says, uses the data to set priorities for neighborhoods. You can see the report for our area for the first quarter of 2010 here: http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/mayor/html/pittmaps.html. Scroll down to the bottom of the page--Beeler Street is in Zone 4, Squirrel Hill North. Potholes and snow top the list.

Urban jungle: Deer in the back yard

We are used to seeing a variety of wild critters around Beeler Street. We see the groundhog so much we feel it's part of the family. The rabbits and chipmunks and 'possums are certainly no strangers. The wild turkey walking up my driveway was a little surprising. And then there are the rats--but I'll save that for another post.

This week we saw a deer it in our neighbor's back yard. The yard is way overgrown--I think it's now a rental house and the yard is neglected and no one goes back there much. I guess it's nice and quiet and perfect for a wandering deer. Unfortunately it didn't stay long enough for us to get a picture.

I don't know if deer in the backyard is a good thing or a bad thing, but it certainly was cool.

Cherry trees

Pick free cherries at 5221. The owners say bring a container and help yourself. These are sour cherries--not the sweet ones you get at the grocery store--but they are great for pies.

Here is a link to a local blog with a sour cherry pie recipe: http://pghtasted.blogspot.com. In the interest of full disclosure I must say that pitting cherries is the pits. I bought a fancy cherry-pitter, and it works okay, but not much better than the old-fashioned bobby pin method. Either way, the reward is worth the work.

Enjoy!

OTMA and CMU to study pedestrian safety at Forbes and Beeler

The Oakland Transportation Management Association is partnering with CMU and others to study pedestrian safety at 11 intersections including Forbes at Beeler and at Margaret Morrison. Click here to learn more about it.