Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood has gotten a lot of good attention lately. It has a new hospital, a burgeoning retail district, and is generally considered to be one of the city’s more up-and-coming, trendy areas. Some might even say it is gentrifying.
I know I’ve seen a lot of new shops springing up there, but I’m not familiar enough with the area so say if it is really gentrifying or not – are long-time residents being forced out by rising rent costs? Have community groups opposed some of the changes? Can a …

Take a look at the photos of industrial decay highlighted by this blog.
There are an amazing amount of photos on here. My one teeny complaint is that I would like to know a little bit more about where some of the pictures were taken. It’s still well worth a look.
-KG
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Our friends at Great Lakes Urban Exchange (aka GLUE) always have interesting and innovative ideas bouncing around their web site. (It must be all those cool young people they have involved in their organization…)
Last week, they explored one of my favorite topics, deconstruction – that’s when instead of just tearing down an old building, the building is taken apart and much of the material is salvaged.
Thanks, Sarah, for this interview with Buffalo ReUse!
-KG
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Regular Rust Wire readers know that we enjoy highlighting our favorite blogs.
This is a real gem and one I check regularly: EnjoyingToledo.com.

I love the font, photos, brief yet informative posts, and just the idea of it – as the blog’s author writes,
“The more I learn about the history of this city, the more I think Toledo is really a very special place. It’s sad to see that some people don’t see it this way… so this is my blog about all of the great things in Toledo (and surrounding areas)—people, …

 
From time to time, Rust Wire likes to highlight interesting or worthy blogs.
 
I know I always feel smarter -and more artsy – after reading the Detroit News’ Architecture Blog.
We previously posted on the blog’s video of Detroit’s abandoned Packard Plant. I like that the blog talks about all the city’s abandoned industrial buildings, as well as more traditional fare for an architecture critic, like mansions and downtown skyscrapers.
-KG
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A favorite Erie-focused blog of mine, Global Erie, had a post last week about the importance of encouraging innovation.
Blogger Peter Panepento isn’t the first person to make this observation about our region. Several years ago, The (Toledo) Blade wrote a three-part series, Business As Usual, that built on the work of two Cleveland-based Federal Reserve economists that linked a state’s economy to patents per-capita. In other words- the more creativity and innovation, the better off a state will be.

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I’ve decided we’re going to start featuring some of the better and more interesting blogs about the Rust Belt. There’s so many good ones.
This one’s a gem. It’s written by a Flint native who is currently a freelance journalist living in San Francisco. Click on the link to see vintage postcards of “Vehicle City” and read some amusing discourse about the auto bailouts.
http://www.flintexpats.com/
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