Pitt, UPMC sponsor G-20 partnership

Pitt and UPMC plan to donate money and services to help underwrite the Pittsburgh G-20… Pitt and UPMC plan to donate money and services to help underwrite the Pittsburgh G-20 Partnership, a group of public and private organizations developing ways to welcome the leaders of the G-20 Summit.

To become underwriters, Pitt and UPMC agreed to donate at least $35,000 in money or services to the partnership.

The University hosted a public brainstorming session for the Summit in Alumni Hall last week to meet that requirement. Pitt plans to provide space for the G-20’s advance teams to meet before the Sept. 24 and 25 Summit, but hasn’t yet decided which buildings those will include, Vice Chancellor of Public Affairs Robert Hill said.

Hill also said the University plans to help in “any way that the White House and community planners here believe Pitt can be [useful].”

That included giving $10,000 to the partnership at the request of its organizers. Hill said the money would come from private donations given to the University.

“That’s not from the state … not from the taxpayer and not tuition,” he said.

UPMC did not respond to request for comment yesterday.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said after the news conference unveiling the partnership that, despite what previous partnership leaders had said, he doubted the Summit would come to Pitt’s campus.

“All of the activities could take place at the [David Lawrence] Convention Center,” he said. “That’s the highest probability.”

If there were to be events at other locations, they would probably be limited to one or two satellites, he said, and Pitt was one of several locations they would consider.

But Ravenstahl didn’t name the other possible locations. Most of the decisions would be contingent upon the official White House itinerary, he said.

Moira Mack Munt, a spokeswoman for the White House, said that for now, the Convention Center is considered the main venue for the Summit. The White House will announce any additional venues for the meeting on its Web site, www.pittsburghsummit.gov, by the end of August.

At the conference in the Regional Embassy Tower, Downtown, Ravenstahl, Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato and other local leaders further described the role the Pittsburgh G-20 Partnership will play.

Dennis Yablonsky, CEO of the Allegheny Conference, one of the groups heading the Pittsburgh G-20 Partnership, said the cooperative has taken in $500,000 in donations from more than 30 partners. It hopes to raise an additional $100,000, he said.

The partnership’s goals are to make sure the city is clean and environmentally friendly for the Summit, to communicate with Pittsburgh residents about public safety initiatives and to showcase the city’s transformation.

Officials plan to create a welcome center at the Pittsburgh International Airport, which would feature signs in the languages of the G-20 members, and to develop a media center for visiting journalists. They also plan to hand out bright yellow pins that say, “Ask Me: I’m from Pittsburgh,” so visitors know who they can ask for directions and restaurant suggestions.

Onorato said these goals came from public brainstorming sessions held in June. The suggestions that city and councils received at the sessions were “everything from extremely creative to helpful to bizarre, but again, it’s Pittsburgh at its best.”