Farewell. The Flying Pig Has Left The Building.

Steve Hynd, August 16, 2012

After four years on the Typepad site, eight years total blogging, Newshoggers is closing it's doors today. We've been coasting the last year or so, with many of us moving on to bigger projects (Hey, Eric!) or simply running out of blogging enthusiasm, and it's time to give the old flying pig a rest.

We've done okay over those eight years, although never being quite PC enough to gain wider acceptance from the partisan "party right or wrong" crowds. We like to think we moved political conversations a little, on the ever-present wish to rush to war with Iran, on the need for a real Left that isn't licking corporatist Dem boots every cycle, on America's foreign misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. We like to think we made a small difference while writing under that flying pig banner. We did pretty good for a bunch with no ties to big-party apparatuses or think tanks.

Those eight years of blogging will still exist. Because we're ending this typepad account, we've been archiving the typepad blog here. And the original blogger archive is still here. There will still be new content from the old 'hoggers crew too. Ron writes for The Moderate Voice, I post at The Agonist and Eric Martin's lucid foreign policy thoughts can be read at Democracy Arsenal.

I'd like to thank all our regular commenters, readers and the other bloggers who regularly linked to our posts over the years to agree or disagree. You all made writing for 'hoggers an amazingly fun and stimulating experience.

Thank you very much.

Note: This is an archive copy of Newshoggers. Most of the pictures are gone but the words are all here. There may be some occasional new content, John may do some posts and Ron will cross post some of his contributions to The Moderate Voice so check back.


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Saturday, August 1, 2009

The Sterile Summit

By Fester:


The upcoming G-20 summit will be massively disruptive to Pittsburgh.  I have severe doubts that there will be a net economic benefit to the Pittsburgh region once the disruption costs are accounted for.  The Post-Gazette (sorry, no link as I don't want to mess with the AP and the stick up their ass) is reporting that the security bubble around the convention center is projected to be between one quarter and one half mile where no one without credentials will be allowed into the bubble. 


Using Google Maps pedometer mash-up, a quarter mile bubble works it way east to 13th and Smallman, takes in the Greyhound and Amtrak stations, as well as the East Busway terminus, heads south along Grant Street until it rejoins the Mon in the middle of the Cultural District.  This restricted perimeter will include the Regional Enterprise Tower, the USX/UPMC Tower (the biggest office space in the region), Federated Tower, the Koppers Building and numerous other high density office spaces. 


The half mile bubble includes almost all of downtown's office towers with the potential exception of Oxford Center and PNC Firstside.  The bubble will go to the edge of the Fort Duquesne Bridge all the way up to the 16th Street Bridge, and around to the eastern edge of Mellon Arena.  95% of Downtown's jobs are included in this bubble. 


This will be a massive disruption that will be almost impossible for increased hotel occupancy rates to compensate for.  I have a hard time believing the cheerleaders who are arguing that this will be an economic boom for the region. 



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