Three Priorities For 2014: 3 - Redeveloping Race Street

I am chair of The Save Race Street Committee, which residents of Race Street formed in November, 2008 under the leadership of Min. Terry D. Fluker, and which has worked since then to beautify our street, and to maintain and enhance its value.

The Committee's work has garnered considerable press coverage, in print, on television, and on radio.

Our biggest work may lie ahead of us - namely, the execution of a community plan for our street. The plan, titled "Race Street 20/20 Vision," is the product of a visioning session held in November 2011, as interpreted by staffers at Pittsburgh's Urban Redevelopment Authority.

There are two versions of RS2020. In November, 2012, at our annual meeting, the Committee adopted the shorter version of the document as our community plan.

The challenge now is to learn how to move forward with it. That involves forming a non-profit corporation, and educating ourselves about things like, the role of public art (and art generally) in redevelopment; the types, benefits and drawbacks of historical designations (The Young Preservationists Association named Race Street one of the "Top Ten Best Preservation Opportunities in Pittsburgh" in 2012); how development works generally; and public safety and crime reduction strategies.

I believe we are well-positioned. Rob Stephany, former head of the URA, has moved from there to The Heinz Endowments, but remains a friend to the Committee - in fact, he and I have met regularly for several months now, and he is connecting me with people who to help with some of the things just listed.

Pittsburgh's new mayor, Bill Peduto, has affirmed the Committee's work for years, and has a personal connection to the street.

He also seems to be making of point of mentioning Homewood when he talks about "building a New Pittsburgh," as in this Post-Gazette piece about his intent to attract 20,000 new residents to Pittsburgh over the next 10 years:

The mayor sees opportunities for more residential development on the South Side, particularly near SouthSide Works; the Strip District; and Homewood, a struggling neighborhood he is seeking to rebuild.

The Committee has also made friends with organizations like GTECH Strategies, Operation Better Block and Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh.

And I am trying to avoid mentioning myself specifically, but the reality is that I have a slew of personal relationships that could accrue to Race Street's benefit if I use them well. I should not be ashamed or shy about that. I should be grateful, and wise in tapping those relationships. God knows we need all the help we can get.

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Three Priorities: The Complete Series
Three Priorities For 2014 - And Beyond
Three Priorities For 2014: 1 - Encouraging The Body Of Christ
Three Priorities For 2014: 2- Growing Businesses.
Three Priorities For 2014: 2.5 - Why Build Businesses?
Three Priorities For 2014: 2 - Growing Businesses - Legal Shield
Three Priorities For 2014: 2 - Growing Businesses - Homewood Capital Partners
Three Priorities For 2014: 2 - Growing Businesses - Luminaria Productions
Three Priorities For 2014: 3 - Redeveloping Race Street
Three Priorities For 2014: Closing Thoughts

Building a Billion- Dollar What?

Two big changes have occurred in my BBDE journey in recent months. Two that I know of, anyway.

The first is that I quietly and incrementally laid aside the April 2017 deadline for Luminaria Productions' billion-dollar IPO. Over the summer, I conducted so little activity specifically intended to build Luminaria that at some point I said, "April 2017? Don't think so."

Maybe April 2018.

The second thing happened within just the past couple of weeks, and it was a striking enough shift that I should have noted it right away.

Simply put, it happened one day that I found myself thinking, not in terms of BBDE - Building a Billion-Dollar Enterprise - but of BBDN - Building a Billion-Dollar Neighborhood.

The reasoning behind that notion is that on the path toward becoming a BBDE, Luminaria will employ a bunch of people, but not necessarily as employees. Much of the work to be done can be - and perhaps should be - done by independent contractors, by people who own their own businesses, and whose work for Luminaria can strengthen their ability to get work from other companies. As they grow and get better, their work for Luminaria will get better, and they may themselves hire people.

So it seems to make sense that Homewood could become a billion-dollar neighborhood before Luminaria becomes a billion-dollar enterprise.

I like that idea very much. I like it enough to think that it may be worth promoting, to begin injecting into people's brains. What would it take for Homewood to become a billion-dollar neighborhood? Could one neighborhood be home to, say, 50 $20 million businesses? What would it take to grow 50 $20 million businesses?

How can Luminaria Productions help other Homewood businesses to grow?

Building a billion-dollar enterprise, 11: Commerce and Community Identity

Years ago, I declared that I want Homewood to be "beautiful, prosperous and safe."

Then I expanded that to "beautiful, prosperous, safe and green" - the idea being that Homewood could be a leading example of LEED-certified neighborhood development.

Then, recognizing the ways in which communications technology is changing the world, and the importance of continual learning, I arrived at "beautiful, prosperous, safe, green, connected, global and smart."

All of which are great adjectives to describe what I want Homewood to BE, and to be known for being.

A few minutes ago, I wrote what I want Homewood to DO, and to be known for doing - something I don't remember ever having done before. Not only that, I wrote it as a personal aspiration, as something for me to do:

Make Homewood world-famous for producing entertainment.

It felt like an epiphany, a great convergence. It connects my work with the Save Race Street Committee and Block Watch Plus and Operation Better Block with the building of Luminaria Productions. Indeed, it puts Luminaria Productions at dead center of it all, as the company that leads the way in establishing Homewood as an entertainment production center.

I think my mind was nudging me toward this epiphany two or three weeks ago when it rewrote one of my favorite fantasies. I have often declared that I would love to do an internship at Pixar - even unpaid - just to be in the environment where people create astonishments like "Finding Nemo." Well, a couple of weeks ago, with no conscious ratiocination that I recall, I thought, I want people at Pixar to dream about coming to Luminaria Productions.

Hubris? Maybe. But does it make sense to strive to be anything other than the best?

The thing that surprises me as I think about it now is that I had not particularly thought of Luminaria Productions doing animated films. But there is PeaceBuilder. And the world of games is huge, and growing.

In any case:

The Homewood Children's Village talks about making Homewood a neighborhood "where every child succeeds." I have wanted to add, "...and where learning ever stops," an idea that lies behind my description of my ideal Homewood as "a black Chautauqua." I think that idea could still generate a lot of useful conversations that make great things happen. But now I want to add an outward-facing motto for the community: "We entertain the world."

Maybe that should just be Luminaria's slogan (assuming no other company has it already). In any case:

That's "entertain," not "amuse." As Richard Walter notes in "Screenwriting: The Art, Craft and Business of Film and Television Writing"

"To entertain is to occupy, to hold, to give over to consideration as in 'to entertain a notion.' This suggests not painting one's face and performing a tap dance for the notion, but cradling it in one's cortex, hefting its spiritual mass, regarding it, weighing it, investing it with contemplation."

The sentence, "Make Homewood world-famous for producing entertainment," came at the end of a thought-sequence sparked by the question, "What does Homewood produce?" To make Homewood a place that produces both dramas and comedies that carry ideas worthy of the world's contemplation...that would be worth a big chunk of whatever time I have left on this planet.