by Berl Colley
If you are like me, you thought of Pittsburgh, Pa. as an old steel-mill town with lots of dilapidated warehouses and sparsely populated office buildings downtown. The images in my mind’s eye also included lots of tough mill workers sitting around in dark, smoky bars drinking beer. Well, there are, no doubt, some beer drinkers in Pittsburgh, just as there are everywhere else, but my mental pictures, it turns out, were based mostly on a number of incorrect and outmoded stereotypes! After my visit to Pittsburgh in October, I can enthusiastically say my misconceptions of our 2003 convention site were just that, misconceptions.
Almost all the mills are gone; many of the warehouses have been converted into boutique shopping centers and the downtown area is alive with new ball parks, lots of museums, theaters, good restaurants, gleaming office complexes and plaza areas along the waterways that reinforce the city’s identity as “Three Rivers.” Those of us attending next summer’s ACB convention, in one of the newest convention centers in the United States, will have the opportunity to: visit historical sites that harken back as far as the French and Indian wars in the middle 1700s; attend one or more Pittsburgh Pirates ball games in the one-year-old PNC park; visit historical as well as up-to-the-minute technology museums with good audio description and hands-on fun; see the city from land and water and maybe sneak out of town to try our hand at Lady Luck.
Water is a big part of Pittsburgh’s environment, with the Monongahela and Allegheny coming together to form the Ohio River. Traveling these waterways on an evening dinner cruise could be just the way to highlight a convention week in July when the average daytime temperature is 85 degrees. Musical and theater opportunities are also being considered. Future issues of the Forum will highlight specific tours as they are finalized.
I would like to thank members of the Pennsylvania Council of the Blind and members of the Golden Triangle affiliate for their assistance as we finalize convention tours for next summer. I can guarantee that Pittsburgh will offer something for every special interest, and that, when you come to the city on three rivers, you can expect a wonderful convention experience.