Rush hour traffic impacted Polish Hill more than usual yesterday as cars traveling between Bigelow Boulevard and 28th Street in the Strip piled up on Paulowna, 30th, and lower Brereton Streets.  Traffic was also jammed on Bigelow Boulevard.

This congestion is due to a situation on the other side of town; the construction on the northbound Veteran’s Bridge ramp.  Restrictions and detours were scheduled to begin for northbound travelers at 6 a.m. on May 15 and will continue
until May 31 as the $17 million second phase of rehabilitation of the bridge and I-579/Crosstown Boulevard continues.

So for the next couple of weeks, residents might want to rethink their rush hour commute.  Find out more about the bridge work and traffic restrictions from the Post-Gazette and from the Downtown Pittsburgh Partnership.

(Map image from PennDOT and the Post-Gazette)

FOOD is a band with strong Polish Hill ties, comprising one neighborhood resident (Ed Crawford, formerly of fIREHOSE, Whiskeytown, Southern Culture on the Skids, and Grand National), one former longtime resident (Eric Vermillion, formerly of Gumball and Steel Miners), and a brother of a well-known neighborhood personage (Mike Quinlan, formerly of the Cynics and other bands, and brother of Tim from Gooski’s).  That’s a lot of talent in one band; now FOOD is releasing their first record.  The EP, titled Four Pieces from Candyland, will launch with a show at Gooski’s on Saturday.  The show starts at 10:00 and is $5.   If you didn’t catch their set at the arts festival last summer, this is a good chance to see this excellent band.

The Pittsburgh City Paper has a great article about Ed and FOOD in the current issue.  You can read it online here.

(Above:  Eric Vermilion, Ed Crawford, and Mike Quinlan of FOOD in front of the Mother’s Bread ghost sign on Dobson Street, photo by Leslie Clague)

The nine orphaned kittens are doing well, playing and gaining weight.  And eating as much as they can, and mewing for food when they’re not eating.  Unfortunately, they also have fleas, and they need a lot of care.  Elizabeth Bashur of Little House, Big Art is fostering them, but she says she could really use some help.

Even if you’re not able to adopt kittens, you can still help out.  Elizabeth is running ragged, feeding nine kittens every three hours, keeping them clean, and making sure each kitten gets some love and attention each day.  You can stop in at Little House, Big Art to visit the kittens and help feed and care for them.

Or help spread the word, so that we can find loving homes for them.  Or you could chip in for a vet visit and Kitten Milk.   Elizabeth has set up a page on the Little House, Big Art with photos and a link to donate.

This is the littlest one.

If you’re still deciding what to plant this season, consider looking for native plants.  At an upcoming workshop at Construction Junction, you can learn to select and care for native plants for difficult sites, for naturalizing & restoration, and to encourage wildlife to your space.  The workshop, led by Roxanne Swann of the Western Pennsylvania Audubon Society, will take place on Saturday, June 2,  2012 from 11:00 a.m. – noon.  It’s free, but registration is required.  To register, email here, and make sure to specify which workshop you are registering for.

A selection of Audubon native plants is available for sale at Construction Junction from May, and many plant nurseries in the area also offer native plants.  For more information, check out the Pennsylvania Native Plant Society, or this page from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

Have you been considering getting a kitten or two?  Well, we’re going to shamelessly tempt you with cuteness.  A Polish Hill resident found a large litter of kittens in a rubbish pile behind the building where she works.  She and her co-workers kept an eye on the kittens for a day, but the mother never returned.  The nine kittens are now being fostered by Elizabeth Bashur, of Little House, Big Art.  The kittens are about three weeks old — too young to be separated — and must be fed by hand every three hours.  They’ll be ready to adopt in about five weeks.

In the meantime, Elizabeth is going to be short on sleep  – those 3 am feedings are tough.  She is hoping to find homes for the kittens rather than surrender them to a shelter.   If you’d like to visit the kittens, perhaps help with feeding, cleaning, or just holding and petting them, stop in at Little House Big Art.  The hours are:

Mondays 2:00 – 6:00
Tuesdays 10:00 – 8:00
Wednesdays 10:00 – 6:00
Thursdays 2:00 – 6:00
Fridays 10:00 – 8:00
Saturdays 10:00 – 6:00

And don’t blame us if you decide to take home a couple.  After all, if you have one cat, you might as well have two — they can keep each other company, and it really isn’t that much more trouble.  Really.

It’s not intentional that the history posts lately seem to all be about bridges leading into Polish Hill — honest!  It’s just that all these these wonderful pictures were taken in the spring, and were recently added to the Historic Pittsburgh Image Archive.

These photos documenting the construction of the Herron Avenue Bridge were taken on May 13, 1916.  In the first two photos, looking east and southeast , the Iron City Brewery (and its distinctive smokestack) is visible in the background.  And to the right in the photo above, you can just see the eastern side of Polish Hill off in the distance.

Above, from below the bridge, looking west.  The bridge spanned what was then the Pennsylvania Railroad.  In 1968 the Pennsylvania Railroad merged with New York Central to form the Penn Central Transportation Company (Penn Central).

Employees of PNC Bank and neighborhood volunteers came out on Saturday morning to plant flowers at the intersection of Brereton and 30th Streets.

Some of the PNC employees brought their kids, coming a long way to be here.  It was great to see such young volunteers helping to make our neighborhood more beautiful.

The flower planting was coordinated by PHCA board member Valerie Testa (above), with the Western PA Conservancy and the PNC Bank volunteer office.  Valerie also coordinated a great vegetarian lunch for the volunteers.

Many thanks to everyone who spent their Saturday morning  This planting will continue to make that corner of Polish Hill, one of the most heavily traveled in the neighborhood, look great well into the fall.

Construction Junction’s weekly newsletter (sign up for it on the website) has a cool event for kids 3 and up who still need to get a Mother’s Day gift.  This Saturday, May 12 from 1:00  p.m. to 3:00 p.m., kids are invited to stop by to make an upcycled earring holder for Mom.  The earring holder is constructed from a 9 by 12 inch piece of peg board  and could also be used to hold craft supplies, tools, and gardening supplies too! No registration is required, just stop by.

This seems like a good time to mention another great place which is an offshoot of Construction Junction: Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse.  Creative Reuse is to art/craft materials what CJ’s is to building materials — full of useful, reclaimed stuff, where you can donate or purchase just about anything you can think of.  Just browsing through the jumble of materials and fun stuff gets the ideas flowing.  Creative Reuse also offers classes and workshops.  This is a fun place to go with kids, and a good way to teach them about recycling.   Creative Reuse is located at 214 North Lexington Street, around the corner from CJ’s, and is open 11-6, Tuesday – Sunday.

In the next week, Tree Pittsburgh has four upcoming events, any one of which deserves your support.  First, there’s their annual spring Happy Hour Beirgarten at Penn Brewery on Thursday May 10th from 6pm-9pm.  This is an opportunity for Tree Pittsburgh to recognize all of their wonderful volunteers, Tree Tenders, members, supporters, staff, and tree enthusiasts.  Light fare will be provided by Tree Pittsburgh. Beverages and additional food will be available for purchase.  Penn Brewery is located at 800 Vinial Street in Troy Hill.

Then, on Saturday May 12th from 8am-4pm, there’s a Tree Climbing Competition in Arsenal Park on  40th Street in Lawrenceville.  Watch as professional Tree Climbers take to the limbs to compete for a chance at the State and National titles.  Also at this event, kids can learn and test their skills on the Kids’ Climb (adults are welcome too).

Also on Saturday May 12, from 9pm-2am, there’s Enchanted Forest: A Party to Benefit Tree Pittsburgh at Ryan’s Pub, 607 S. Braddock Ave, Regent Square.  Tickets can be purchased in advance here.

The tree-themed merriment includes dancing to DJ J Malls and Noetik Five Thousand; tree accessory making, a photo booth, and beer and food specials.  Suggested Donation: $10.

Finally, on Tuesday May 15th from 6:30-8:30, is  Bees, Trees & Honeys, at the Stephen Foster Community Center, 286 Main Street in Lawrenceville.  Learn about the significance of each tree species in terms of local crop production and the beekeeping season. Taste local honey that features the distinctive flavors of local trees’ blossoms. This class is presented by Tree Pittsburgh’s Certified Arborists and Christina Joy Neumann, who worked as a commercial beekeep at Volcano Island Honey Company and also has been actively keeping bees for 7 years.  Suggested Donation $5-10, and Pre-registration appreciated here.

Each year, the PHCA collaborates with the Western PA Conservancy to plant flowers at the corner of Brereton and 3oth Streets, along the bank of West Penn Park.  This year’s flower planting takes place this Saturday, May 12, from 9:00 a.m. until about noon.

Meet at the corner of 30th and Brereton at 9:00 a.m.  We’ll provide gloves, tools, and water.  After the planting, volunteers will get lunch.  For more information, email here.

(Photo from last year’s flower planting by Terry Doloughty)