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Closing the Word Gap: The Words We Inherit

by Donald Bonk

Donald Bonk interviews Anthony Hamlet, superintendent of Pittsburgh Public Schools, as part of the Pittsburgh Tomorrow podcast series. This interview was conducted before COVID-19. The transcript is abridged and edited for clarity. View the episode archive here. View Anthony Hamlet’s profile here. “We need to increase internships and externships, and also expose our kids early …

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Pittsburgh Flies Into the Future

by Donald Bonk
Donald Bonk interviews Dick Zhang, founder of Identified Technologies, a drone company, as part of the Pittsburgh Tomorrow podcast series. This interview was conducted before COVID-19. The transcript is abridged and edited for clarity. View the episode archive here. View Dick Zhang’s profile here. “Without a doubt, Pittsburgh can absolutely be the place for all …

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Back to the Future (for Pittsburgh Rail)

by Donald Bonk
Donald Bonk interviews Lucinda Beattie, who retired in March as vice president of transportation of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, as part of the Pittsburgh Tomorrow podcast series. This interview was conducted before COVID-19. The transcript is abridged and edited for clarity. View the episode archive here. View Lucinda Beattie’s profile here. “By 2040, there really …

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A Sustainable Pittsburgh: Aiming to Be Its Best

by Donald Bonk
Donald Bonk interviews Joylette Portlock, executive director of Sustainable Pittsburgh, as part of the Pittsburgh Tomorrow podcast series. This interview was conducted before COVID-19. The transcript is abridged and edited for clarity. View the episode archive here. View Joylette Portlock’s profile here. “We work from a comprehensive definition of sustainability that pulls together a focus …

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Re-Imagining Pittsburgh, Disney Style

by Donald Bonk
Donald Bonk interviews Brian Gaudio, co-founder and CEO of Module, as part of the Pittsburgh Tomorrow podcast series. This interview was conducted before COVID-19. The transcript is abridged and edited for clarity. View the episode archive here. View Brian Gaudio’s profile here. “We have AI and robotics here, and that’s a big component of our …

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RFPing Pittsburgh to the World

by Donald Bonk
Donald Bonk interviews Tom Link, director of innovation and entrepreneurship of the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh, as part of the Pittsburgh Tomorrow podcast series. This interview was conducted before COVID-19. The transcript is abridged and edited for clarity. View the episode archive here. View Tom Link’s profile here. “I think Pittsburgh should RFP itself …

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Moving Through Pittsburgh

by Donald Bonk
Donald Bonk interviews Chris Watts, vice president of mobility of Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, as part of the Pittsburgh Tomorrow podcast series. This interview was conducted before COVID-19. The transcript is abridged and edited for clarity. View the episode archive here. View Chris Watts’ profile here. “Working closer as a unit can help us propel forward. …

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The CMU Tech Recipe That Feeds Pittsburgh’s Future

by Donald Bonk
Donald Bonk interviews Reed McManigle, mentor in residence at Carnegie Mellon University’s Center for Technology Transfer and Enterprise Creation, as part of the Pittsburgh Tomorrow podcast series. This interview was conducted before COVID-19. The transcript is abridged and edited for clarity. View the episode archive here. View Reed McManigle’s profile here. “We need lead investors …

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The Contours of the Creative Economy

by Donald Bonk
Donald Bonk interviews Nathan Martin, founder and CEO of Deeplocal, as part of the Pittsburgh Tomorrow podcast series. This interview was conducted before COVID-19. The transcript is abridged and edited for clarity. View the episode archive here. View Nathan Martin’s profile here. “What we are doing is producing and incubating these kinds of students that …

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Pittsburgh’s Future Keystones: East-West Connections for the New and the Native

by Donald Bonk
Donald Bonk interviews Dennis Davin, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, as part of the Pittsburgh Tomorrow podcast series. This interview was conducted before COVID-19. The transcript is abridged and edited for clarity. View the episode archive here. View Dennis Davin’s profile here. “The issue and moonshot for me is to …

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Rust Belt to Digital Belt: Re-Tooling Communities and Students for the Future

by Donald Bonk
Donald Bonk interviews Kevin Snider, chancellor of Penn State New Kensington, as part of the Pittsburgh Tomorrow podcast series. This interview was conducted before COVID-19. The transcript is abridged and edited for clarity. View the episode archive here. View Kevin Snider’s LinkedIn profile here. “We have a role to play in figuring out how you …

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Turning Waste Into Energy

by Bill O'Toole
John Stolz believes Pittsburgh is flushing a critical source of renewable energy down the toilet. Literally. He proposes the City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County join the growing ranks of urban areas upgrading their wastewater treatment plants to renewable power plants that use the process of biodigestion to create energy. Stolz, who is the director …

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CMU Incubates the Science Fiction Future

by Donald Bonk
Donald Bonk interviews David Mawhinney, executive director of the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University, as part of the Pittsburgh Tomorrow podcast series. This is the second part of a two-part interview, conducted before COVID-19. The transcript is abridged and edited for clarity. View the episode archive here. Read David Mawhinney’s bio here. …

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Light the Bridges for a Gleaming Downtown

by Jeffery Fraser
Dressing the Rachel Carson Bridge with 27,000 color-changing LED lights got the public’s attention in 2016. And the popularity of the temporary installation, done as part of the City of Pittsburgh’s bicentennial celebration, bought it an extended 18-month run. If that’s the case, says former Allegheny County Chief Executive Jim Roddey, why not artistically illuminate …

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Revolutionary Entrepreneurship: An Interview with David Mawhinney of CMU

by Donald Bonk
Donald Bonk interviews David Mawhinney, executive director of the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University, as part of the Pittsburgh Tomorrow podcast series. This is the first part of a two-part interview, conducted before COVID-19. The transcript is abridged and edited for clarity. View the episode archive here. Read David Mawhinney’s bio here. …

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How Do We Attract People to Pittsburgh?

by Pittsburgh Today Staff
David Feehan, president of Civitas Consultants in Maryland, is a recognized expert in downtown revitalization. For more than 50 years, his work has helped improve dozens of cities and neighborhoods in the United States and elsewhere, including Minneapolis, Detroit, Austin, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh Today spoke with him about ideas that might help …

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Don’t Discuss It—Be It: An Interview With International Businessman David Iwinski

by Donald Bonk
Donald Bonk interviews David Iwinski, attorney and managing director of Blue Water Growth, as part of the Pittsburgh Tomorrow podcast series. This interview was conducted before COVID-19. The transcript is abridged and edited for clarity. View the episode archive here. Read David Iwinski’s bio here. “Cities, like individuals, have little choice but to achieve their …

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Venting off Steam… and Turning It Into a Musical Downtown Clock

by Jeffery Fraser
Lynn Dunbar is well acquainted with the vertical steam pipe that juts from the pavement at Penn Avenue and Seventh Street in Downtown Pittsburgh for patrons of the Benedum Center for the Performing Arts and the rest of the Cultural District to see. Her husband is in the Pittsburgh Symphony, she once worked for the …

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New URA Director Brings Fresh View of Pittsburgh’s Potential and Assets

by Donald Bonk
Donald Bonk interviews Greg Flisram, executive director of the Urban Redevelopment Authority, as part of the Pittsburgh Tomorrow podcast series. This interview was conducted before COVID-19. The transcript is abridged and edited for clarity. View the episode archive here. Read Greg Flisram’s bio here. “Geographically, where the city is—kind of nestled in the lower Great …

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Adding Amenities to Bike Trails: What Riders Experience Matters

by Bill O'Toole
The City of Pittsburgh is poised to gain dozens of miles of new bike lanes in the next decade. While avid cyclist Tom Vesch welcomes the expansion, he suggests thinking beyond the trails themselves to consider the broader experience of riders. “Our burgeoning trail system in the city could be enhanced to include amenities along …

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Richard Florida: Iconic Thoughts on Pittsburgh

by Donald Bonk
Donald Bonk interviews Richard Florida, influential professor, author and urban theorist, as part of the Pittsburgh Tomorrow podcast series. This is the third part of a three-part interview. The transcript is abridged and edited for clarity. View the episode archive here. Read Richard Florida’s Creative Class bio here. Read his University of Toronto bio here. …

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Bold Action Needed: Richard V. Piacentini, Melia Tourangeau, J. Kevin McMahon, Bill Hunt

by PQ Staff
At a time when the Pittsburgh region is continuing to lose population and has been seeing regional job losses the past few months, we asked a group of regional leaders to respond, in 200 words or less, to this question: What action do we need to take to create the kind of growth, vitality and dynamism that will stem …

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