As I was walking to work this morning, a late 20 year old guy was washing his cadillac, and I intently made eye contact with him, waved, and said hi to him.  Not entirely characteristic of me, but he was close enough to be my neighbor, so I wanted to be neighborly.  As I was past the Family Dollar in the Hill District a few blocks away, a gentleman said as he passed me, "How are you doing today, Sir?".  He said it quickly and in too close proximity for me to look at him and reply though.  I just looked up and smiled at him.  Then a block down a girl asked me for the time, which i promptly gave her.  Then a block down an elderly lady with a walker said good morning to me and offered me a track which I declined.  Then another block, this huge dump truck slowed down, stopped, turned off his engine, and the driver says, "Excuse me sir, do you know where Joshua Gibson ball field is?"  I then gave him directions to the field with joy.  Never have I had this much social interaction on my walk to work, and I was barely even half way there!  Then I’m at work riding the elevator up with a guy who is leaning his head back against the wall and says, "Is it Friday yet?"  I reply, "You’re in luck my friend, it is indeed Friday!"  He asked if I was sure and then said that it’s just been one of those weeks.  I said, "It’s only been a 4 day week!  Must have been pretty bad!" then wished him well as I got off on my floor and he continued his ascent to where ever he has to sit out the rest of the day.  Then the network went down, so people on the floor were wandering around aimless without having the internet to entertain them, and a guy that took my old job but has been around for a few weeks introduced himself to me.

What a talkative public I’ve encountered today!

Save-a-lot was seeming to become a great addition to the Hill District community along Centre Avenue, but now we’ve got a horse of a different color on the block, and I like it.  Kuhn’s, a homegrown local grocery store, is part of a "Centre City Square" plan developed by a bunch of groups like Crawford Square and the Hill House.  This is just plain great.

We’re talking about something that will give the Hill some character.  Not just another Family Dollar or Save-a-lot like every other underserved community.  Those mega franchise places do not spur entrenpreneurship.  We need to bring in locally owned and run businesses to increase the appeal and economic power of the hill district.  Let’s see how far this goes…

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08223/903263-53.stm