– photo by Mitch Waxman

Once more unto the breech, and a ‘stretch and shvitz’ kind of exercise day was on my menu.

A rideshare dropped me at the veritable gateway to the Bloomfield Bridge, here in Pittsburgh, and after a moment of personal organization regarding the camera and bags and straps your humble narrator was soon on the move, and scuttling against the inevitability of entropy once again.

The Newtown Pentacle time warp grows ever more severe. These shots were gathered, and the walk perpetrated, on the 13th of August. If my scheduling all works out, you’re receiving this in early October.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

One such as myself straight up loves pedestrian bridges like the one pictured above and below, spanning over Bigelow Boulevard, which de facto is an arterial road despite being classed as a ‘local’ one.

This ped bridge has to date back to the 60’s or 70’s – governments just don’t ‘spend’ on pedestrian infrastructure like this anymore. It’s part of why they like bike lanes so much – as the lanes are just paint and plastic sticks (vertical delimiters), which are cheap to install.

Up I went. The sound I made was analogous to that produced at the extreme right hand side of a piano’s keyboard as it is being ‘plinked.’

Bink, bink, bink…

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Dynamism, that’s my thing. Every chance I could find to strike a pose on the way up, and then across, was taken. I made the Zoolander face.

It was hot. Really, really hot. High 80’s, with about 70% humidity. It was about 10 or 11 on a Thursday morning when I started this effort, and it was already unbearable out. There was supposed to be a street fair in front of me, but to be honest – that’s just an obstacle – and I had no interest in participating in Bloomfield’s ‘Little Italy Festival.’

The big celebrity draw for that event was the presence of actor Vito Spatafore, who was simply being billed as ‘Vito from the Sopranos.’

– photo by Mitch Waxman

My plan was to move as quickly as I could through an obstacle course of Pittsburgh’s various geological barriers. Eventually, and as usual, I’d need to get back to the T light Rail somehow to get back to HQ.

I took a lot of pics, but the main motivation for me on this day was to get my heart rate up and then keep it elevated for a few hours.

One was walking a bit quicker than usual, up around three mph, as my normal/comfortable velocity is slightly slower at 2.3 – 2.6 mph.

Yes, I keep track of all that on my phone… metrics. It was a big deal for me, post broken ankle, when I broke through the 2 mph barrier.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The muscles in my legs have hardened up again.

The thighs are iron, the calves bronze, if I do say so myself.

The ankle still hurts all the time, especially so after a long walk. I’ve got arthritis in the affected joint now too. The skinvelope is still oddly discolored around the joint, and it’s not just on the side where the surgical scar is found. Lots and lots of visible blood vessels have also sprung up around the site of the injury, offering the appearance of a spider web of varicose veins. It’s all quite spectacular, really, but as I’m also closing in on the brink of sixty…

What a drag.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

One thinks about his calendrical age a lot these days.

I reminisce about my Dad when he was at my current age, and I have to say that – my perception – is that I’m a far younger man – at the same age – than he was. At least I don’t fall asleep behind the wheel at red lights, like the old man used to.

My relatives and friends all point out that this is all perceptual bullshit and self aggrandizement when I utter something like this, gleefully reminding me of all the things medically and psychologically wrong with me, and then end their admonition with that most Jewish of expressions:

‘Shut up, you wanna give call down a conahurra on yourself?’

Back next week with more – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.

“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle

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– photo by Mitch Waxman

This post is a bit of an aside, and describes a situation which popped up in the back yard of HQ, here in Pittsburgh’s Dormont. Weird giant mushrooms, which arise shortly after heavy rain events, and display an incredible amount of growth in quite a short interval.

The thingie pictured above transformed into the flopped over monster seen below, and all within 24 hours.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

I put a soda can alongside of the fungal protuberance for scale.

Big, I tell you, it was big.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

At night, the thing began to balloon out and open. By the time that this process played out, the crown of the mushroom had flattened out and got to the size of a dinner plate with about a one inch hard vertical edge.

It’s odd.

Incidentally, these mushrooms weren’t glowing red, instead I had set my pocket led flashlight to red earlier, and couldn’t remember how to actuate the combination of clicks required to get it back to displaying white light.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

When it fully opens, the mushroom displays its gills and flops over. The spores will fall out of the gills, onto soil or to get picked up on the wind.

A quick google search revealed these mushrooms as likely being ‘Green-Gill Parasols,’ a poisonous specie colloquially known as ‘The Vomiter.’

– photo by Mitch Waxman

One wasn’t satisfied with that first shot of the flopped over mushroom, and had to rearrange my flashlight’s luminance because that sort of thing matters to me.

What piqued my interest about these things was the fact that my back yard here in Dormont is an herbivore superhighway. Deer, woodchucks, groundhogs, two different kinds of squirrel, a population of rabbits so extensive that we’ve started giving them names. All these critters drive Moe the Dog absolutely crazy.

All of those herbivores, and not one single nibble into those giant, weird mushrooms. The Vomiter, indeed.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Thereby- I present the Vomiter to you, lords and ladies, lit up in scarlet.

Somehow it feels like the last seventeen years of my life have all been leading up to offering that last sentence.

Back tomorrow with something different.

“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle

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– photo by Mitch Waxman

These locomotive shots were gathered during various summer outings in Pittsburgh, and likely captured sometime around the end of July or early August. Mostly during short walks that I was taking here and there, or while waiting for something else to happen and killing some time.

On CSX’s tracks, along the southern shore of the Monongahela River, I spotted a BNSF train set – which is extraordinary to my experience in Pittsburgh.

Normally, you just see CSX blue and gold rolling through here.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

A Norfolk Southern unit, seen from the same South Side Flats area as the BNSF train above, but transiting on an elevated trestle along the face of Mount Washington. The ramps surrounding it are vehicular roadways, specifically the PJ McArdle Roadway at the top and Sycamore Street directly above the train.

The business of life finds me visiting many sections of the city, not just the areas where which I particularly like waving the camera about, such as here on the South Side.

When I’m out for walk, however, I like scenery.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Over on the north side, during one of those walks in the Manchester/Chateau neighborhood, this Norfolk Southern unit seemed to just be aching for something to do.

You’ll often see a double engine like this just sitting there idling at rail yards, with this one dubbed as being the Island Avenue Yard.

It was difficult angle to shoot from, over fences and through surveyor holes, so a move was busted and I found a better POV.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

There we are.

I wasn’t satisfied yet, and so began scuttling South. Towards Allegheny Commons Park, and that cool rail trench it hosts.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Hey Now!

These shots were captured during that brutally hot interval at the end of July. and the beginning of August. Was not fun being out, and especially not so with the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself staring at my back. Always keep the light source behind you, or just to the side…

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Not going to lie, this T light rail shot was captured in the same session as the BNSF one at the top, but it does illustrate my mass transit journey back to HQ.

Back tomorrow with something different – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.

“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle

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– photo by Mitch Waxman

Another day, another scuttle.

Back to Pittsburgh’s South Side Slopes for this one, and another walk that I’ve been ‘saving up’ for myself. I’ve wanted to, but… Y’know… the broken ankle. Now that your humble narrator is more or less ‘back,’ one decided that it was time – at last – to check out the South Side Quarry park.

This pathway spends a bit of distance in an area designated as parkland, and then spits you back out onto South 21st street in the South Side Flats.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

It took a bit of bobbing and weaving to get there, but it wasn’t a difficult walk at all. I had myself dropped off by a rideshare, at a convenient spot, and then off I went.

Scuttle, scuttle, scuttle.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

From the other/street facing side of these homes, all you’d see is a single story and a set of steps leading downwards. There’s a path here which leads directly into the park itself.

South Side Park was ‘established’ in 1965. Here’s the wikipedia page about it, and I’m led to believe that the pathway/park that I was walking through used to be used for the combination of an incline funicular, and there was also a brick manufacturing outfit.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The place was deserted, but to be fair – it was a weekday afternoon.

My plan for the day started here, but there were also other things I wanted to do and see around this ‘zone.’

– photo by Mitch Waxman

That 1939 vintage metal bridge, pictured above, carries a local street over the ravine and it’s called the Mission Street Bridge.

I ran into, and joked around with, some dude walking his dog right around here. I’m garrulous, so I made him laugh. My work was done. The dog was nice too, but wanted to get on with his sniffing.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Surprisingly there’s another set of City Steps here, which fall off of the Mission Street Bridge, and that’s something which I’ll have to inspect on my next walk through this area.

Back tomorrow with more.

“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle

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– photo by Mitch Waxman

Back in late July, Out Lady and I attended the ‘BikePGH’ group’s ‘Open Streets Lawrenceville’ event.

As is usual with such promotions, a multi mile stretch of city streets were blocked off to vehicular traffic, and a festival atmosphere promulgated.

This one played out on ‘Butler Street,’ which is kind of the ‘main drag’ for this area, and these ‘Open Streets’ continued on and into the Strip District, where Smallman Street was similarly closed to non human powered vehicles.

As is usually the case, the people who yell the loudest about motor vehicles on the road ‘harshing their buzz’ are the same ones who ride their bikes about with impunity, and we pedestrians were still largely consigned to sidewalks or the empty parking lanes along the curbs.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Old man yelling at passing cloud, that’s me.

We had a nice time. Our Lady hadn’t explored this section yet, and she was excited about a few things along the route, which she plans on returning to in the future when I’m not there to glower. We had a nice lunch at a restaurant along the route, dubbed ‘Industrial Publick House,’ which I’d guess as wanting to be described as being a ‘gastropub.’

I don’t even know if that’s still a thing, gastropub, but there we are.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

It was hot, which isn’t surprising given that it was late July. If you’re able to recall the summer despite everything, you may remember that the eastern half of the nation was in the grip of high heat and humidity, which was followed by vast thunderstorm systems transiting through, which ended up barreling across the continent. This was ‘then.’

I’m used to the ‘shvitz,’ given my habit of scuttling through and over and around things in all sorts of climate, but Our Lady was definitely not happy about the weather. One thing about walking down the middle of a street is that there is no tree cover, and the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself is staring right down at the top of your noggin.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Our goal was to use the Light Rail to get back to HQ and Moe the Dog, but we had a couple/three miles to walk – in the sun – and just after having finished a meal. Grin and bear it, mustn’t grumble… Our Lady is British, and absolutely brimming with cheerful aphorisms for tough times.

She doesn’t sing rhyming songs in bars, I’d mention.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

31st street, and I was still married.

Our Lady was reconsidering everything by this point, so I decided not to throw in an ‘it’s all downhill from here’ crack. Luckily, we had both brought water bottles with us.

On and on.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

16th street, and still married.

Eventually, we arrived at a T Light Station about 3/4 of a mile away from this bridge. Air conditioning on the T, and a quick return ride to Dormont saw my relationship status continue to improve.

By the time we got back to Moe, I was ‘in like Flynn’ again, and her hatred of walking the hot summer streets in baking sun had abided.

Back tomorrow.

“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle

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– photo by Mitch Waxman

Our Lady of the Pentacle was busy, with a class she’s taking in Pittsburgh’s Bridgeville section, and your humble narrator had an hour or so to kill before having to pick her up and drive her back to Moe the Dog.

An hour isn’t really all that long a time, as far as ‘getting into it’ photography wise, so my plan was to find some flowing water and use those new lens filters and ‘superclamp’ setup recently acquired.

I headed over to the nearby ‘Whiskey Boys trail’ where there’s meant to be a wooden bridge spanning a stream.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

I had to walk ‘in’ a bit to get there.

I’ve been here before but on a different pathway, with Moe the Dog.

This is a prepared crushed limestone trail for most of the way, with a nice firmament for hiking. It’s kind of buggy in there, but Pennsylvania is uniformly kind of buggy in the summer. Functioning ecosystem, huh?

The whole state is pretty much upstate New York, but with more woods, and a whole lot more in the way of mountains and streams.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

When I got there, it was discovered that this is now a ‘former’ stream.

Here I am standing in the stream bed, and shooting pics of a bridge that spans no water, troubled or otherwise.

Cannot win.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

One is looking forward to some sort of autumn this year. I lost two autumns in a row to the broken ankle, and there’s a tiny voice in my head that keeps saying ‘you’re missing out.’

Have to come up with a plan…

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The time warp is still deeply in effect here at Newtown Pentacle.

These shots are from the 25th of July, and this post is being written during an early morning in mid August, whereas the publish date for this post is set for late September.

At this rate, you’ll be seeing Halloween stuff for Christmas.

Saying that, I’m still able to offer a daily post, which arrives in your e-mailbox in the manner of a metronome. Enjoy it while it lasts, folks.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

This blog will eventually cease publication, as a note.

I do have a date in mind for when that’ll happen, but that’s still years away. It would be unlike me not to make a big deal of something major as it’s approaching, so don’t worry. Nothing is ending anytime soon, and I’ve still got a LOT of stuff I want to see, do, and explore in these postings.

Alternatively, I could have a stroke or get hit by a car tomorrow, so…

Back next week with something different – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.

“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle

Buy a book!

“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

After a medium length walk, one ended up at a familiar spot in the South Side Flats section of Pittsburgh.

What’s now called ‘Burgher’s Brewery,’ formerly the ‘Sly Fox Brewery,’ sits alongside a set of CSX railroad tracks that are fairly busy. Upon my arrival at the brewery, and after a visit to the lavatory, I purchased a pint of ale and got busy.

First up was CSX #1897, which was painted up in ‘heritage’ colors.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

American Railroads offered a quite confusing business map when they were the dominant form of investable industry in this country, and it gets more so when you enter and exit the post Conrail era. The current nationwide companies consolidated, with other survivors of the industry’s early 1970’s apocalypse and nationalization, out of Conrail.

Outfits like Norfolk Southern and CSX were formed from the smoking rubble of the bankrupted freight rail system, dominated by Pennsylvania Railroad and their arch rivals New York Central in the northeast.

This is too long a tale to tell, so I’ll direct you towards Wikipedia for what Conrail was and how all of the modern freight rail companies ‘fell’ out of it.

To understand the ‘world which was,’ let’s just analogize that in the late 19th and early 20th – you didn’t gamble on bitcoin or tech stocks which were promising breakthrough AI services – you bought into railroad stock, and then got out as soon as it paid a return. Rail was pretty much the ‘high tech sector’ back then, but was far more volatile. Let that sink in.

All of the modern freight carriers run ‘heritage units,’ with specialized paint jobs, which signify railroad routes and companies which they have consolidated into the modern operation. Rail fans love this stuff.

‘Monon Railroad’ was one of the many smaller outfits that were combined into CSX. Hear about 1897 direct from the horse’s mouth.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

I usually don’t keep shooting after the ‘head of the snake’ has passed out of frame, but there were several ‘DPU’ locomotives in line behind 1897 and a couple of them were interesting to me.

Y’know, even if I was shooting video here, there’s no way I’d be able to convey the absolute landslide of reflected noise which a group of locomotives makes when passing through a narrow brick lined slot like this. Were I able to record it, I wouldn’t be able to play it back at the same volume without the benefit of some movie theater’s sound system – and even then… LOUD.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Another interesting locomotive was in line, this one painted up with the branding and color way of the ‘Maryland Midland’ outfit.

Hmm. That’s a new one.

I headed inside the brewery and ordered a ‘reload’ for my ale, and also paid my tab. As mentioned often, two drinks is plenty for me these days.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

I started walking towards the Station Square Light Rail station shortly after CSX #5236 up there passed me by. I followed one of the trails, after returning my glass to the bartender. Yep, inspected the porcelain again, then set off. I managed to meet up with the group of people I wanted to see, and got a free hot dog out of it too.

At the end of the game, after arriving back at HQ, I had walked something like nine miles all told. ‘Not every walk has to be the Bataan Death March’ is – as you might recall – a new motto of mine.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

While plying the trail towards the T light rail station, yet another CSX train rolled past me. All told, I felt pretty satisfied with the outing’s effort.

My day didn’t suck.

Back tomorrow with something different – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.

“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle

Buy a book!

“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

After leaving the Eliza Furnace trail on the north shore of the Monongahela River, one then crossed the waterway, via the South Tenth Street Bridge, and your humble narrator had but one goal in mind.

Beer and trains.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

It’s a short walk, but the path passes by a largish number of residential structures and clinics – many of which are involved in the charitable work of housing vagrants, while others are a part of the ‘medical/insurance industrial complex’ whose profits arise from addiction recovery services.

As is usually the case with such areas, a population of folks ‘living rough’ and ‘not in the program’ can be observed nearby. As such, this is one of the parts of Pittsburgh where you want to observe ‘NYC rules.’

Be aware of surroundings, spin around on your heel periodically to see if you’re being followed, don’t allow yourself to be ‘cul-de-sac’d’ on a dead end street, have your headphones not in your ears. I’m not saying it’s dangerous here, it’s really not, I’m just saying it makes sense to have ‘the radar’ turned on when armies of junkies are wandering around.

Maintaining a bit of paranoia is a life skill, for one such as myself.

That’s a particularly spectacular Ukrainian Church, pictured above.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

One slapped his feet against the pavement, on Pittsburgh’s Carson Street, which is the ‘via majorica’ of this section of the city.

Mixed use zoning here, including a set of particularly ancient residential structures, and punctuated by the occasional shop or storefront. Most of the commercial addresses seem shuttered, consequential of some long ago urban planner’s decision to turn the ‘local’ Carson Street into a primary arterial roadway, one whose design involves getting drivers through the area at a maximum rate of speed while they’re heading towards several nearby bridges and tunnels which lead to satellite communities.

People earn their money in the city, thereby, and then drive away to a distant suburb to spend it. It’s obvious what the problem is here.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

My case study for this particular POV remains the Cross Bronx Expressway – and the Long Island Expressway which I know more about – both of which turned into multiple mile long engines of blight generation for NYC, back in the 1960’s and 70’s.

A big part of making it absolutely hellish to drive into Manhattan in modernity, and forcing people to commute by transit instead, is to encourage the populace to drop some of their coin in the central business district. Ever wonder why the real estate types love congestion pricing and bike lanes so much?

The ‘planners’ look down upon our world like it’s a flat paper map, spread out on a mahogany desk in some City Hall office.

They don’t see groups of bored kids, or dog walkers, or imagine any of the small stuff in their plans – like a candy store, found on a corner. In fact, a candy store is usually in the way of what they want to do or have been told to want by the bosses. From an urban planner’s POV, a Trader Joe’s or a Target are much more laudable ‘anchor’ tenants for a project than some nickel and dime locally owned neighborhood candy store.

Growth, it needs to be organic and considered or it becomes cancerous. Oh, the urbanity of it all!

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The local Government, here in Pittsburgh, is currently floating a particularly short sighted policy scheme – creating a new tax regime for an area that is successfully growing itself, and then using that tax money to prop up an area that is dying on the vine.

In the case of Pittsburgh, this conceit is dubbed as being a TRID, and the current political regime wishes to direct the tax moneys generated by a successful development environment in one neighborhood (The Strip District) to buoy up the commercial and office sectors of the Downtown area nearby its transit hubs – a program which would play out over a forty year period.

Forty years…

I’d like to point out – as a point of reference – that Ronald Reagan was President some forty years ago – and that multi generational financial schemes such as this seldom work out well or ‘trickle down’ for the tax paying citizens who haven’t actually been born yet.

Gen X here, and I’ve watched this sort of political handout to the past which shortchanges the future before. Savings and Loan crisis, anyone? No bueno.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Bah!

Luckily, I arrived at that brewery by the train tracks just in time.

Inspected the porcelain, ordered a pint, and took up station at the outdoor seating, just as CSX #1897 arrived at the pass.

More on all that tomorrow, which will be a ‘Hey Now!palooza.’

“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle

Buy a book!

“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

After having scuttled upon the Eliza Furnace Trail on the northern shore of the Monongahela River, your humble narrator reached the spot where he’d break off the trail and reenter the street grid (as it were) so as to cross the water and get over to the southern shore.

My plan was to cross the river via the South Tenth Street Bridge.

The section of the rail trail before me is referred to colloquially as ‘The Jail Trail,’ as it passes directly past the city’s jail, which is also right next door to an enormous homeless shelter. No bueno.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

A Towboat was spotted, towing a few barges under the Birmingham Bridge, but it was pretty far away and I can’t tell you much about it. Luckily, zoom lens.

I cut across a parking lot to get to where I needed to be.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

This sidewalk led to an intersection with the South Tenth Street Bridge, and coincidentally – the bridge’s intersection with the Armstrong Tunnel.

My goodness, it’s almost as if there’s a method behind all the madness.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Your humble narrator was experiencing a bit of a lull in his energy levels. It had been a nice day climate wise, but the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself had been bobbing about in the sky, and the Eliza Trail offers little or any shade, so I was feeling a bit warm and fatigued.

Sol Invictus indeed.

Ebb and flow. Time for a quick break.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Looking back at where I’d been, in that nest of ramps feeding to and from the Birmingham Bridge.

Luckily, a shady spot awaited me.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Other than a plague of Spotted Lanternfiles who seemed to be reproducing as I watched, this little shady spot gave me a minute to unload the camera bag off of my back, and slurp down some of the water I had been carrying with me in that Nalgene water bottle so recently added to the kit.

I hate the weight of carrying water, yet enjoy its recuperative property. It’s a dichotomy, but I’m just like the kiwi – a fuzzy little fruit with a lot of personality. Man, I do miss having a Bodega on every corner…

Back tomorrow.

“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle

Buy a book!

“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Your humble narrator was scuttling along the Eliza Furnace Trail in Pittsburgh, when we left off last week, and here we are!

This pathway is a former ‘right of way’ and track bed once owned by the B&O railroad, which has been converted over to a ‘rail trail,’ and the ‘zone’ hereabouts used to be defined by the presence of an enormous steel mill and iron furnace operated by an outfit known as the J&L Steel Company.

All caught up.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

As has been offered in the past, I’m visually fascinated by all of the massing shapes and parabolas offered by the many, many highway ramps in this area. This post, from July of this year, shows the scene I was scuttling through as seen from above.

Up, down, all around.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The only hazard encountered down here involves bike riders, funnily enough. The E-Bikes you see in Pittsburgh are a bit overpowered due to all the hills, and when a rider is on a flat surface like this – they can get up to a truly inspiring speed. Some dude rode past me at what had to be thirty or forty mph. Then another dude did, and another…

Proof of a long running argument I had with the ‘bicycle people’ back in NYC, who assign all bad behavior on the streets to cars and trucks, and present bike riders as some kind of noble pilgrims who will lead us all to a world enjoying a decarbonized future. I’ve always laughed out loud at this.

Give someone a chance to be a dick, they’ll take it, every time.

That’s my POV. Allow somebody to ride a de facto electric motorcycle on a bike and pedestrian path with zero enforcement of ‘norms,’ you’ll soon get (mostly) guys riding at top speed on the Eliza Furnace Trail, while weaving around joggers, humble narrators, and baby carriages at speed.

Know what the solution to this situation is going to be, you self important jackasses? Speed bumps and traffic calming. Operator Licenses, registration plates or stickers, and vehicle insurance. You reap, and then the government will sow.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Ramps, ramps, ramps.

The ones above are part of a complex interface with local streets that the Birmingham Bridge offers. I walk over this bridge fairly frequently.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

That’s Pittsburgh’s Second Avenue down there, which is not a terribly nice place to walk, so I stick to the trail instead.

The plan for the afternoon would continue on the other side of the river, and I’d be crossing it about a mile and change from this spot.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

There’s a section of Eliza Trail where you’re more or less parallel with an interstate (I-376) high speed road. 376 in this section is meant to be speed limited at 40 mph, but it’s common to have people blast past you at 80 on the ‘Parkway East.’

For you New Yorkers, this motor vehicles only road is Pittsburgh’s equivalent to the FDR drive, or the Henry Hudson Parkway – the last hurdle for motorists on their way out of the city. The section pictured here would be analogous to the FDR route just north of the UN, heading towards Triborough. At 80 mph.

Back tomorrow with more.

“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle

Buy a book!

“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.