If you read any national newspaper you undoubtedly know the housing market is cooling off. If you live in Cranberry, your story is no different. However Western Pennsylvania in general and Allegheny County in particular are faring much better.

According to a recent Tribune-Review article, there has been a surge of about 40 percent in housing permits issued in Allegheny County, and a 27 percent decline in permits in Butler County, where Cranberry has seen its total slip to about 31 single-family units, from about 76 single-family units a year ago.

It wouldn't suprise me if a micro-look at other housing markets revealed similar trends. Gas prices are up, households are smaller and more and more of us are tired of the traffic and commuting. A video on ABCNews.com web site reveals the monster houses are falling hardest.

If you're afraid of the big bad bubble, look for reasonably sized urban homes.

Pre-industrial Pittsburgh is hard to imagine. In fact, it's almost as hard as getting the world to realize we're in post-indutsrial Pittsburgh. We still celebrate our industrial heritage. Smokestack's line the parking lot by the Homestead Waterfront. The U.S. Steel Building still dominates our skyline. Our Steelers, by winning the Superbowl, reminded the world "Pittsburgh" and "Steel" are forever linked.

There is a certain beauty to industry. The smoke, the fire, the molten liquid and the I-beams that now hold up the Empire State Building and the Golden Gate Bridge. Those are pieces of Pittsburgh and they can never be forgotten or removed from our memory.

Yet there is a pre-industrial Pittsburgh that remains to be rediscovered. Before railroads, there were canals, before canals there were trails. Before smoke filled the skies there was clean air and a natural beauty that brought artists here to capture.

We may not notice them, but there are remains and reminders of a pre-industrial era around us. One is a street on Spring Hill named "Hetzel." It's named for the family of "Scalp Level" landscape painter George Hetzel. Today Hetzel's work is well represented by the Westmoreland Museum of Art in Greensburg.

George Hetzel was born in France, but would leave his mark by painting Western Pennsylvania. He lived in Allegheny City and traveled to Johnstown to paint the landscape, long before Steel came to likewise define that city.

If you look closely you may find some buildings that existed in the pre-industrial days of Pittsburgh. Many are found in East Deutschtown, then a German community in the City of Allegheny. Although Hetzel claimed to be French, German was the family's native language (Another claim to Germany, he studied at the Dusseldorf Art Academy).

One such pre-industrial Pittsburgh building is the Block House at the Point. It's unlikely many noticed it in those days, however, and a miracle it survived. Many buildings built during Hetzel's life he may have actually visited also remain standing. Many of these are threatened by years of neglect.

This has been owned for years by PennDot with long-ago dismissed plans of building a 28-279 connector.

Today we're continually faced with the option of embracing our industrial past or rejecting it. Pittsburgh is emerging as a very different post-indutsrial city, yet the Pittsburgh of tomorrow may be able to embrace the natural beauty of our landscape as much as the steel might of our more recent past. So little of pre-industrial Pittsburgh remains to be preserved, however, and what is left isn't well prepared for the future. Even in the City of Allegheny, outside of a few homes on Spring Hill (which don't need preserving), there's little beyond East Deutschtown George Hetzel would recognize. We need to save East Deutschtown before only structures from the age of steel are left to define the history of our city.

My sister told me about an article over the weekend. It's one of the most exciting statements about Pittsburgh I've heard in a long time. The Clark Building (downtown) was recently sold for $22 million. The buyer isn't looking at conversions to housing as many have been looking at in downtown recently. No, the Clark building was bought with a look forward to new industry that could rival the age of steel and put Pittsburgh in a new category. Here's a quote from the Pittsburgh Business Times article:

"Gorman said he's bullish on Pittsburgh because of the high-tech companies coming out of Carnegie Mellon University.

'I believe that Pittsburgh is going to be the center for artificial intelligence and robotics. Within 10 years, that will be one of the biggest businesses in the world," Gorman said. "Pittsburgh will be to artificial intelligence what Silicon Valley is to chips.'" Link to article

In the past few months we seem to have really increased our momentum here in Pittsburgh.

I think this is the first day of "All-Star" week and I'm not sure how good of a start we're having. This is a big day for Bob the Mayor and I'm sure it could've beenone of the highlights of his life to cut the ribbon opening the ceremonies, but instead, he's in the hospital. I also remember reading several new restaurants would be open on the North Shore in time for the week, but I suspect they're not going to make it.

Oh well, on July 4th I noticed the banners on the Roberto Clemente Bridge. They look great, and Pittsburgh has been looking better all the time. I don't imagine the mayor's cough or the fact that visitors can't go to a restaurant they didn't know existed will matter much.


I also had my first real visit to the new Schenley Plaza. I remember this was kind of pushed through by former Mayor Tom--with great results whatever your view on the politics. It's amazing how this wonderful plaza could have been a parking lot for so long.

Finally, I'd like to comment on my favorite topic, the Garden Theater block. For years I have been advocating selling off the buildings individually to private developers. For more than a decade the URA has been holding the buildings for development at the time the last is acquired. The last of course is the Garden Theater and it's still a hold-out. Well, at this time the largest of the buildings, the Masonic temple is advertised on the URA web site as available. This could be the beginning of something really good.

North City fared well in a recent magazine article about neighborhoods. Pittsburgh Magazine recently re-emphasized the affordability factor and noted that Pittsburghers want a bargain. Northside is one place homeseekers can find such a bargain. (The magazine defines that bargain as a home for less than $75,000).

What else to homebuyers want? An easy commute, a coffee shop and good shopping. No suprise here. My customers ask for the same things.

Brighton Heights won the most prominent spot among North City neighborhoods in the article with the median home price hitting that bargain barometer at $75,000. I also suspect it may not have made the magazines list if it wasn't for The Vault, a coffee shop on California Avenue.

I don't think it's the coffee shop itself that many homebuyers want, as the article infers, it's the "third-places" where people can connect with neighbors.

Brighton Heights also offers some shopping opportunities with a modern, full-scale pharmacy, butcher shop and other stores. North City neighborhoods may benefit in the future as both downtown shopping improves, and perhaps more importantly (and perhaps at the expense of downtown) Ross Park Mall solidifies its position as the regions premeir shopping mall.

Observatory Hill was mentioned in a sidebar labled "Seven Neighborhoods On The Rise." A lack of immediate shopping options or a coffee shop, I suspect kept it from making the main article. East Allegheny was also mentioned in the seven, although the median price listed of $33,000 is first unrealistic and second could actually scare away lookers. Those familiar with East Allegheny know the bargains are on the East side of the highway. Neighborhood group feuds (along with the highway) have in some minds created two neighborhoods (although with only 800 or so residents I can't imagine the benefits of an even smaller city neighborhood(s).)

What do we draw from this? Things are getting better and people are noticing. More, we know where we need to build, coffee and shopping. Read The Article