Pittsburgh 24/7 District (Washington, Atlantic: hotels, house, movies)

[MathmanMathman]

I was thinking that Pittsburgh could make an area that is 24/7. An area where businesses, a park, a library, etc. never close. In fact that would be its mantra, "Pittsburgh 24/7 District: we don't close".

To keep it alive, it should be anchored by stuff that is 24/7 to begin with. A police and fire station. A hospital would be good as it has a lot of people at all hours. A casino would be good for round-the-clock entertainment. Try to convince radio and TV stations that are 24/7 in their operations to move there.

I like the idea of a 24/7 library as it functions as a indoor public space and provides free service at all hours. For an outdoor public space, a park would be good for some greenspace and officially it wouldn't have a closing time. There already are 24/7 restaurants like IHOP and Waffle House that could go there. Have a 24-hour grocery store and drug store. From there it could include a Walmart and maybe a Target and perhaps a Macy's. Have a 24-hour multiplex that has movies at all hours. A 24-hour YMCA to provide exercise and indoor courts and a pool any time you want. A B&N with a Starbucks. Make it a nexus point for taxi and bus service and maybe one day trollies and regular intercity rail service.

Locating it near the strip might be ideal as it is the nightlife district anyway and it could be near the convention center and hopefully more hotels. Too bad the downtown Macy's is not close enough. And if they open up the Produce Terminal Building it could open up that area for more such 24-hour establishments which would include riverside access. Wasn't Pittsburgh considering a multi-modal terminal? That would be another good thing to put in a 24/7 district along with a rail line to the airport.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by MathmanMathman

I was thinking that Pittsburgh could make an area that is 24/7. An area where businesses, a park, a library, etc. never close. In fact that would be its mantra, "Pittsburgh 24/7 District: we don't close".

To keep it alive, it should be anchored by stuff that is 24/7 to begin with. A police and fire station. A hospital would be good as it has a lot of people at all hours. A casino would be good for round-the-clock entertainment. Try to convince radio and TV stations that are 24/7 in their operations to move there.

I like the idea of a 24/7 library as it functions as a indoor public space and provides free service at all hours. For an outdoor public space, a park would be good for some greenspace and officially it wouldn't have a closing time. There already are 24/7 restaurants like IHOP and Waffle House that could go there. Have a 24-hour grocery store and drug store. From there it could include a Walmart and maybe a Target and perhaps a Macy's. Have a 24-hour multiplex that has movies at all hours. A 24-hour YMCA to provide exercise and indoor courts and a pool any time you want. A B&N with a Starbucks. Make it a nexus point for taxi and bus service and maybe one day trollies and regular intercity rail service.

Locating it near the strip might be ideal as it is the nightlife district anyway and it could be near the convention center and hopefully more hotels. Too bad the downtown Macy's is not close enough. And if they open up the Produce Terminal Building it could open up that area for more such 24-hour establishments which would include riverside access. Wasn't Pittsburgh considering a multi-modal terminal? That would be another good thing to put in a 24/7 district along with a rail line to the airport.

This sounds like a patently bad idea.

[MathmanMathman]

Originally Posted by HeavenWood

This sounds like a patently bad idea.

cuz?

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by MathmanMathman

cuz?

Because 24-hour businesses disproportionately attract criminal activity. I'm not saying a 24-hour business here or there is necessarily a bad thing, but clustering a bunch of them together is just asking for trouble. Very few cities can pull something like this off, gambling towns like Atlantic City and Las Vegas being the main exceptions, and even there, things aren't exactly "wholesome."

[BrianTH]

If this develops organically, OK, but why does this need to be forced?

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by MathmanMathman

Locating it near the strip might be ideal as it is the nightlife district anyway.

The strip hasn't been the nightlife district for quite some time

[captainmidnight]

This might work if we had decent overnight transit service. But we don't now and probably never will.

This September, service would end at 10PM for all but 13 routes in the system. Not exactly good info in the hope of a 24/7 business district.

[ML North]

Well the obvious missing link is a strip club.

[raubre]

Originally Posted by bmantz65

This might work if we had decent overnight transit service. But we don't now and probably never will.

This September, service would end at 10PM for all but 13 routes in the system. Not exactly good info in the hope of a 24/7 business district.

Or any business in downtown Pittsburgh for that matter. But heck, I tried to bring this up in the PAT thread but it seems that it goes nowhere fast.

[raubre]

Originally Posted by MathmanMathman

To keep it alive, it should be anchored by stuff that is 24/7 to begin with. A police and fire station. A hospital would be good as it has a lot of people at all hours. A casino would be good for round-the-clock entertainment. Try to convince radio and TV stations that are 24/7 in their operations to move there. .

All of those services already operate 24/7.

Originally Posted by MathmanMathman

Make it a nexus point for taxi and bus service and maybe one day trollies and regular intercity rail service.

If you can get PAT to do that, good luck. They are planning on cutting services.

A 24/7 city is never gonna happen in Pittsburgh, even though the Washington Post says we are "hip."