Braddock

The Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl. For the people of Braddock, Pennsylvania, I don't know if it'll do much besides raise their spirits.

It's not as if the New York Times needs particular plugging, but this story on Braddock (along with the multimedia feature, which I also recommend) is fascinating and outstanding.

Braddock is twenty minutes from Pittsburgh. Depressed by the decline of the steel industry, it's mostly abandoned. But it also has a visionary mayor who's looking to turn it around. The mayor is also 6'8" and over 300 pounds. Visionary and noticeable.

The missus and I have been aware of Braddock for a couple of years. The whole thing is a very slow moving urban renewal project.

A friend of ours does some unofficial consulting for the mayor's office around tree planting, community gardens, and urban farming. He's even thinking of moving there (once his research trips in the rain forest are done) to start an urban organic farm that can serve the community. The mayor's right-hand man once called him with an urgent request: they found the means to get their hands on many, many trees for very, very cheap. And our friend told him what he should buy and where and how to plant them.

I've got absolutely no point to this posting except to say that you should check out the story and the video. It's absolutely fascinating.

And the name of the town rhymes with a delicious North Atlantic fish sometimes served breaded and fried with chips.