►
From YouTube: The Grant Street Experience: James Hill
Description
On this episode of The Grant Street Experience, Grant Ervin and Rebecca Kiernan talk to James Hill from the Mayor Peduto's Office.
A
Hi
I'm
grant
Arvin
and
welcome
to
the
Grant
Street
experience
our
podcast
about
the
interesting
people
and
things
that
we
talk
about
here
on
Grant
Street
at
the
great
City
County
Building
I
have
my
co-host
with
me.
Rebecca
Kiernan
and
I
also
have
my
friend
and
colleague,
James
Hill
friend
I,
told
James
I'm
wearing
a
tie
for
him
today.
He
said
I
should
wear
it
every
day.
B
A
So
we've
been
having
this
conversation,
Rebecca
was
our
test
guest
and
she
loved
it
so
much
she
came
back
so
we're
hoping
that
maybe
you
could
be
a
frequent
frequent
guest
frequent
flyer
here.
Maybe
if
you
could
start
off
with
folks
just
telling
about
who
you
are
special
assistant
to
the
mayor
kind
of
what
goes
into
that
role
and
what
doesn't
go.
C
B
B
A
C
D
B
The
mayor
now
it's
going
on
five
years
might
be
five
years.
I
can't
really
remember
now.
Yeah
and
the
bulk
of
it
is
just
everyday.
You
know
when
you're
mayor
everybody
wants
something
so
we're
going
out
and
about
and
with
them
a
good
chunk
of
that
time
to
bring
as
most
information
as
we
can
back
to
the
city
county
building.
You
know
whether
they're
asking
for
their
streets
be
repaved
or
initiative.
B
A
B
A
B
C
B
C
C
D
B
C
B
A
Though
you
you
grew
up
in
in
Highland
Park
yeah,
this
is
one
of
the
things
I
wanted
to
talk
to
me
about,
went
to
Shanley
high
school
alma
mater.
Her.
We
cherish
tell
tell
me
about
that:
I
I'm,
you
know
I
grew
up
outside
of
the
city
of
Ariane
four
very
unfortunate,
but
you
know
similar
experience
with
my
alma
mater
but
I'm
impressed
by
Shanley,
and
it
was
the
perfect
American
school.
B
B
B
B
The
easiest
way
to
describe
to
schools
are
often
closed
when
they
are
underperforming,
not
when
they
are
doing
well
right,
you
know
and
that
it
was
I
think
it
felt
like
something
that
was
really
great
and
diverse
and
and
well
represented
right.
City
was
kind
of
taken.
You
know
away
from
us
away
from
us.
The
greater
good
and
the
people
know.
B
B
Very
strong
we
actually
one
of
the
alumnus
just
wrote
a
book
about
the
school's
history.
Yeah
he's
actually
a
lawyer
he's
in
and
out
of
this
building,
all
the
time
Jake
were
sick.
It's
got
the
Shanley
experiment,
okay,
and
it's
all
about.
It's
actually
really
interesting,
because
it's
not
just
about
the
school
itself.
This
book
is
out
now
yeah,
it's
out
there.
He
should
buy
it.
B
D
D
A
B
B
D
C
B
County
building
is
so
like
many
most
of
the
the
average
age
of
a
school
I.
Think
in
the
city
is
like
1903,
but
you
know
the
vast
majority
of
the
high
schools,
the
really
big
institutional
ones
were
built.
You
know
in
the
late
teens
and
early
20s
mm-hmm,
and
it
just
is
very
interesting
because
it
you
know
it's
a
another
perspective
and
how
did
the
city
grew
that
I
don't
think
we
get
because
we're
not
in
the
school
district.
B
A
C
A
A
D
C
B
You
know
it's,
as
its
name
implies,
it
was
vastly
farmland
right
and
the
cathedral
and
Schenley
and
like
the
Athletic
Association,
were
the
first
buildings
to
really
pop
up
in
that
area.
Soldiers
and
sailors.
At
that
point
you
know
and
then
presby,
and
then
that
was
really
the
last
of
large
structures.
C
B
B
A
B
I
think
it
was
a
you
know,
I
think
it
started
to
really
win.
Carnegie
set
up
the
library
there
you
know
Pitt
was
around,
but
not
growing,
nearly
as
fast
and
once
Carnegie
was
looking
for
like
a
big
bottle,
and
that
was
in
downtown
for
the
library
you
know
a
part
of
it
was
he
wanted
it
to
be
said
in
a
a
tranquil
setting
uh-huh.
You
know
around
that
time.
Bigelow
set
up
Schenley
Park
and
all
that
stuff.
B
So
really
well,
the
kickoff
I'd
say
was
Schenley
Park,
okay,
you
know
then
came
the
library
and
then
based
upon
the
library
setting
up
routes.
I
think
that's
what
created
it
as
an
educational
hub
hub,
I'm,
not
sure
Shanley
particularly
fell
to
that
in
the
sense
I
think
eventually
it
fit
in
well
with
the
landscape,
but
I
think
they
were
mostly
looking
for.
You
know
at
that
time
the
East
End
school
was
Peabody
and
Westinghouse.
Okay,.
B
B
Peabody
was
1911,
it
would
have
been
Fifth.
Avenue
high
school
was
still
around
in
those
days
yeah,
so
there
needed
to
be
the
end
between
between
Fifth,
Avenue
and
Peabody
was
we're
kind
of
Schenley
came
from.
This
was
before
all
their
dice
came
to
be
your
Westinghouse,
which
were
both
shortly
thereafter
after.
B
A
C
B
B
Yeah,
it's
it's
it
they're
there
they
represent
the
city
strength.
You
know,
cities
are
my
might
only
as
strong
as
the
schools
that
serve
their
people.
So
I've
always
just
found
them
interesting
in
that
time,
and
you
know
Shanley
in
particular
had
such
a
wonderful
history
with
its
you
know,
part
of
that
history
was
its
epic
collapse
and
you
know
the
60s
and
70s,
and
then
its
rebirth
in
the
1980s
was.
C
C
B
They
did
a
turnaround
program
in
the
late
80s,
where
they
called
it
a
it
was
called
roof.
Themed
is
the
Shanley
high
school
teacher
center
and
it
was
like
the
first
of
its
kind
in
the
nation
where
all
the
districts
teachers
would
cycle
through
Shanley
to
update
their
method.
So,
like
every
teacher
in
the
district
W
know
like
a
60
day
stint,
there
was.
C
B
And
that
was
at
that
point
you
know
very
revolutionary
for
Pittsburgh
on
the
area
and
the
the
great
statistic
about
that
is
I.
Think
by
early
80s,
Shanley
was
second
lowest
in
performing
by
the
92-93
of
a
second
highest
performance.
So
a
little
literal
you
know
and
at
that
point
what
they
were
still
what
10
12
city
high
schools
and
it
leapfrog
a
lot
because.
C
B
A
B
B
D
B
C
B
A
lot
of
conferences-
you
know
there
was
a
lot
of
rumors
about
that
too,
and
was
the
district
plotting
with
UPMC
at
the
time
and
all
sorts
of,
but
the
facilities
reason
was
that
it
was
gonna
cost
too
much
to
renovate
is
what
the
district's
reason
boiled
down
to
is
that
it
realidad
systems
that
reach
the
end
of
their
life.
Yeah.
C
B
Know
it
was
an
old
building
it
had.
A
lot
of
asbestos
was
the
firework
that
they
threw
around
that
there
was
so
much
asbestos
in
gently
that
it
would
be
impossible
to
renovate
without
it
costing
the
district
never
said
anything
less
than
70
million
dollars
would
be
the
cost
solely
to
renovate
something
high
school.
You
know
which
it
was
a
pretty
big
building.
You
know.
A
A
C
A
D
C
B
B
Always
said
like
what
you'd
think
I
my
element,
Miller,
close
well
I,
didn't
close
to
but
Miller
in
the
hill,
which
is
at
the
McKelvey
building
on
Bedford.
Now,
okay
used
to
be
across
the
hill
kind
of
diagonal
up
from
5th
Avenue
high
end
up
up
where
it's
off
of
retreating,
Miller,
Street,
but
yeah
this
we
were.
We
were
the
era
where
things
just
really
started.
Moving
all.
A
C
A
A
That's
pretty
cool
and
then
fast-forward
a
couple
like
a
year
plus
or
whatever
I
see
her
husband,
Scott
and
I'm,
like
oh,
hey.
What's
up
can't
we're
going
to
this
movie
premiere
for
Leah's
brother
like
oh,
that's,
great
and
I'd
like
connect
the
dots
and
it's
this
movie
called
me
Earl
and
the
dying
girl
and
just
last
summer,
I
never
got
to
see
the
movie
and
I'm
flying
into
Pittsburgh
and
I.
A
D
B
B
D
B
Yeah
right
so
I
was
like
it's
bestest,
so
I
was
like
and
it
was
really
fun
so
like
it,
we
were
yet
to
be
extras
in
the
movie
and
is
like
so
surreal
cuz.
It
was
a.
It
was
like
you
know,
open
for
a
couple
months:
okay,
you
know
four
or
500
people
and
there
being
extras
as
students
and
everything,
and
we
were
like
back
in
the
cafeteria,
and
it
was
just
so
surreal
to
be
like
back
there,
and
you
know
it
was.
B
It
was
really
fun
to
be
in
a
movie
and
also
filming
movies
is
terrible,
like
we
were
in
the
downtown.
You
know
just
the
time
in
general
that
you
put
in
the
scenes
that
they
end
up
cutting
play.
It
was
just
it
was
you
another
scenes.
Yeah
we
were
in
like
I,
wasn't
like
I,
think
three
or
four,
and
then
I
had
two
more
that
got
cut.
That
I
was
in
really.
B
D
B
B
B
That
is
appointed
long.
You
like
got
caught
in
the
class
like
with
marijuana,
or
something
and
like
he
did.
He
said,
I
swear
like
I,
didn't
put
it
in
my
bag
or
something
like
that
and
me,
and
the
girl
who
were
sitting
on
either
side
of
in
the
classroom
like
look
at
each
other.
Like
you
know
what
crap.
D
B
A
D
B
A
B
B
I
thought
it
was
very
authentic
to
Pittsburgh,
and
mostly
they
got
like
it
was
that
it
was
about
the
neighborhoods.
You
know,
I,
don't
think
there
was
like
a
shot
of
downtown.
No,
no
I.
Think
that
says
something
it
wasn't
about.
You
know
the
suburban
night
or
Western
downtown
in
the
north
side.
You
know
it
really.
C
A
A
A
C
A
B
B
What
a
place
you
know
just
I
love
the
I
mean
you
guys
appreciate
to
like
the
era
of
government.
Were
we
built
massive
things
like
that
and
we
built
buildings
like
this
building
and
they
were
meant
to.
You
know
inspire
the
people.
You
know
like
Schenley.
Its
motto
it
was
inscribed
in
the
auditorium
was
lichens
meant
to
inspire.
You
were
meant
to
enter,
to
learn
but
go
forth
to
serve
Wow.
That
was
our
motto.
That's
that's
deep.
You
were
supposed
to
go
there
enjoy
your
time
learn
and
then
it
was
about
leaving
and
making
making.
A
C
A
A
D
So
bio
philic
cities
is
a
network
that
the
city
of
Pittsburgh
now
belongs
to.
So
we
joined
bio
philic
cities
in
2016
and
it's
run
by
Tim
beat
Lee
who's
a
pretty
well-known
professor
out
of
the
University
of
Virginia.
So
he
happened
to
be
in
town
for
at
the
Phipps
conservatory
a
couple
weeks
ago,
and
we
brought
him
in
to
do
a
workshop.
So
the
idea
of
bio
Felix
cities
is
that
it's
designing
to
connect
people
to
nature.
C
D
You
know
events
or
buildings,
so
we
kind
of
got
about
40,
I,
would
say:
city
employees
from
different
departments.
We
had
City
Planning
the
mayor's
office.
Who
else
do
we
have
DPW?
Was
there,
and
so
we
all
looked
at
different
projects
and
tried
to
figure
out
how
we
could
incorporate
bio
philic
design
into
those
projects.
So
we
looked
at
a
streetscape,
we
looked
at
a
facilities,
building
that
the
facilities
division
is
going
to
be
doing
in
a
park.
We
looked
at.
A
B
A
B
B
D
B
B
Yes,
physical
place,
yeah,
and
so
anyway
it
was
it's
designed
to
be
a
public
place
where
the
public
is
meant
to
come
and
enjoy,
and
we've
gotten
better
at
that
in
recent
years.
But
back
in
the
70s,
when
the
city
ran
Phipps,
you
know
they
came
and
erected.
These
beautiful,
gorgeous
flower
shows
that
ran
down
the
center
of
the
the
main
hall
Wow.
It
was
beautiful
and
I
really
I
mean
I
started
you
guys
some
is
truly
gorgeous
and
if
we
find
some
money
you
know
yeah.
A
D
B
B
But
you
know
I
just
brain
make
this
this
place
is
meant
to
be
the
people's
place
and
I've
been
doing
stuff
with
getting
more
tour
people
tours
in
here
with
doors
open
and
stuff.
We've
had
each
October
2000
people
have
come
through
and
vittor
the
the
state
rooms
in
the
mayor's
office
and
everything
and
easily.
In
our
early
estimates,
we
think
at
least
50,000
people
came
through
through
the
course
of
the
gingerbread
house
displayed
the
security
guards
didn't
end
up.
Hating
me
cus,
you
know
we
couldn't
imagine.
A
B
B
A
B
D
A
A
B
A
Man
awesome
all
right
thanks
guys.
Thank
you
so
much
for
listening
into
the
Grant
Street
experience.
I'm
your
host
grant
urban
I
want
to
thank
Rebecca,
Kiernan
and
James
Hill
for
being
here
with
us
today.
We
look
forward
to
seeing
you
next
time
with
our
guest
David
finer
from
the
communications
team
here
in
the
city
of
Pittsburgh.
So
looking
forward
to
listening
in
thanks
so
much
and
thanks
to
the
team
for
putting
together
talk
to
you
soon.