Ice, ice baby

This holiday season, Pittsburghers will have the opportunity to enjoy a Rockefeller… This holiday season, Pittsburghers will have the opportunity to enjoy a Rockefeller Center-like experience in the heart of Downtown as PPG Place will soon sport an ice rink.

Adding an ice rink is part of a larger effort by Hillman Properties, Inc., to liven up the area and make it a place where people want to venture.

Finally, Pittsburghers are seeing a good use of this public space, an area that could attract people Downtown. While it is a good beginning, Downtown revitalization should not stop there.

On weekdays, Downtown is full of people. Market Square has become a rocking place in more ways than one, with both rocking chairs and concerts.

But on Sundays, Downtown is a completely different world. Practically no one is there and many businesses are closed. Downtown has many beautiful plaza-like public spaces, but they are seldom used.

Cities such as Philadelphia and Chicago have vibrant downtowns. Although Pittsburgh has several outlying areas bustling with activity, such as the Strip District and South Side, it needs a centralized area where people could go and know there is something to do. Downtown is the perfect place for this, and we have a few suggestions on how to make it happen.

First, it would be ideal if there were more