Wendy's at Pitt on Fifth Ave in Oakland has closed!

What used to be a Wendy’s on the corner Fifth Avenue and Atwood Street is now a huge empty space in Pitt’s campus (and heart). The doors closed in February and local fast food lovers where heartbroken when they found out the last day to get a Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger and Frosty was Valentine’s Day.
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How's My Street road condition map

The snow plows are doing a lousy job of clearing the streets, don’t wait for the news to tell you which streets are ok. CityZenMobile recently launched a free service called How’s My Street that allows you to instantly report road conditions and snow removal progress in Pittsburgh. Perfect timing in light of the blizzard and countless unplowed streets!

How’s My Street was invented by the creators of YinzCam and iBurgh. It’s easy to use and does a great job of spreading the word about which streets are passable or not passable. Just find your street on the map, click, then fill out the report. Your report is sent to Twitter so all of the @howsmystreet followers are automatically notified of local road conditions.
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National Guard called in to help with the blizzard in Pittsburgh

On Monday, the mayor of Pittsburgh welcomed the National Guard to help out in the aftermath of the 2010 Blizzard. About 300 troops were called upon to assist the city’s public safety workers. In addition to lending a helping hand, Humvees have been seen patrolling the streets of city neighborhoods.

This might not be the worst winter storm in Pittsburgh’s history, but it might be the first time the military was called in because of snow. According to the original news report by KDKA, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said:
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From the Carnegie Mellon "Campus Alerts" page

After a long weekend of record setting snowfall, most of the roads and sidewalks are completely covered in packed snow. A lot of people can’t get their cars out, and the smart ones don’t bother. Schools and businesses posted Monday closings well before the weekend was over. But not every school planned on following suit.
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Skiiing in the street was as common today as stranded cars.

At this point, you might think the snow is becoming boring like everything else in the burgh. At least some Pittsburghers know how to make the best of snowmaggedon. People were out everywhere today and all across the city cars were stuck, trees were broken, lines were down, and people were cross-country skiing like it was Seven Springs. It helped that the roads are jam packed with at least 3 inches of snow – even the main streets. The way the temperature is dropping right now, those skiers will be able to ice skate from Squirrel Hill to Downtown!
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Pittsburgh's Blizzard of 2010 at Carnegie Mellon University.

It was snowmageddon at CMU last night and it was beautiful. Lots of students were out playing in the snow – snowball fights, making snowmen, and even sled-riding down Forbes Avenue! Yeah that’s right, check out the pics below if you don’t believe it. Make sure you see part 1 and part 2 of the blizzard pics… more updates on the way.
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The Boring Pittsburgh TV above shows a snow plow going down Negley near the Negley Station of the East Busway. As you can see, the snow was packed so tight that the plow wasn’t really working. Check back later (or subscribe) for photos taken at CMU while students there made snowmen and went sledding down Forbes Avenue! Have you seen part 1 of The Blizzard of 2010 pics?
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Blizzard of 2010 - East Busway, Negley Station

We began taking photos early in the night, and the snow just kept on pouring down. Here are some pictures of the East Busway at Negley Station. The total lack of wind let the snowflakes stack nicely. This is a big difference from the Blizzard of ‘93 when we saw lot’s a wind gusts blow the snow even deeper. Continue reading for the rest of the snapshots…
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Blizzard of Pittsburgh 2010. The snow is coming. (daveynin on flickr)

The city is expecting to get 6-12 inches of snow this weekend. Wait, scratch that, 8-14 inches! OMG, didn’t you hear? 9-17 inches of… ok, ok. We heard it will be nearly 24″.

According to all the meteorologists on Twitter, one thing is certain – The Blizzard of 2010 is coming! “Snow” has become a trending topic for Pittsburghers today and here are some of the breaking-news tweets about it – you can see how the predictions are all over the place:
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Matrix in Station Square closed after 8 years

Matrix Night Club in Pittsburgh’s Station Square closed its doors on Sunday, January 10, 2010. A bright yellow sign posted on the door indicates they shut-down because of the establishment’s “failure to comply with the Allegheny County Alcoholic Beverage Tax”. Next to the sign is a notice of Sheriff’s Sale to take place on February 10th, at 10:30am.

The club had a long run and will be missed by the club-goers of Pittsburgh. In a city where club names change like the weather, Matrix remained a party destination for 8 long years. Now that it’s closed, there’s one less thing for college kids to do in Boring Pittsburgh. Hopefully everyone will read this post before driving all the way down there to find out the party’s over.
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Buggy PNC ATM (via Matt Blaze on flickr)

Some PNC ATMs were hacked. First in Forest Hills, then in Fox Chapel (and who knows where else). According to the report here, the unsuspecting bank customers simply used their debit cards to withdraw funds from the MAC machine (please note that “MAC” cards tend to be a Pittsburgh thing – everyone else seems to just call them ATM cards) and then noticed about $1,400 gone by the weekend.
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CMU Campus (dottavi on flickr)

It hasn’t been declared that it was actually a bomb threat that spurred the Carnegie Mellon University evacuation on Friday, but what was it? According to The Tartan, CMU’s school news publication, the evacuation was happening because of an “unconfirmed security threat”. Students in the hi-tech school were notified about the evacuation via text message. The security sweep went on from about 12:30pm – 2:30pm and students in Wean, Doherty, and Hamerschlag halls got to leave class early.
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As if the radio situation in Pittsburgh wasn’t already bad boring enough, it just got a little bit worse. On February 15, 2010, B94 (93.7 FM) will become a sports network called “SportsRadio 93.7 The Fan”. This is Pittsburgh and we have the most loyal and hardcore fans in American sports, but shouldn’t FM be for music and AM for talk radio?! Besides, The X 105.9 FM already has sports talk during rush hour (and Pens games).
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The Uni-Mart Grand Re-Opening

The Uni-Mart on Ellsworth Ave in Shadyside is open again. Except this time around, it’s going by the name “Fuel-On”… at least that’s what the sign on the door said. The Uni-Mart signs are still up so we’ll just have to wait and see. Fuel-On is somewhat misleading since there are no fuel pumps here.
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"UPMC Closes Community Hospitals - Keep Braddock Hospital Open"

Protesters gathered near the Pitt campus at the intersection of Forbes and Bigelow on Friday, January 8th. The group known as Save Our Community Hospitals was picketing against the closure of Braddock Hospital. Despite a winter storm with a blistering cold windchill, the peaceful gatherers stood strong together and delivered their message to thousands of pedestrians and drivers between 11:30am and 1:00pm.
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