Pittsburgh

According to Tyler Green (a sometime-Observer contributor), Michael Kimmelman, the chief art critic of the New York Times, had nothing nice to say about Pittsburgh at the International Association of Art Critics big shin-dig last week. "It tells us a lot about why the New York Times covers art the way it does," says Mr. Green.

Cheese and crackers! The Transom imagines that art dealer Becky Smith of Bellwether Gallery, a proud Picks-burger, will have some rilly harsh words for yinz up at da Times.

It's been the best of times, it's been the worst of times.The best included the recent triumphant Pa  read more »

NYC got a property tax instead of a commuter tax because Mike didn't win (or even play) chicken with state lawmakers, according to the Mayor of Pittsburgh.

According to a Pittsburgh newspaper, "...Bloomberg recently lost a bruising battle with the New York State Legislature about imposing a commuter tax in the city. As a result, Bloomberg was forced to raise property taxes 18 percent. Pittsburgh was able to avoid a similar fate when, after much wrangling, the Legislature passed a new $52-per-year emergency and medical services tax on city and suburban residents who work in the city.  read more »

"Recalling his conversation with Bloomberg, [Pittsburgh Mayor Tom] Murphy said in an interview, We had this conversation and he said, 'How did you win?' I said, 'Because I was willing to take the city into bankruptcy.' If I were [New York] mayor, I would probably have shut down the bridges coming in from Long Island...We just didn't blink and the Legislature blinked."

Wouldn't it be wonderful if everyone did creative things all the time and got rich, enlightened and  read more »

Downtown's Whiz KidFor the past three years, Ellen Jong, a 25-year-old photographer who lives in Chi  read more »

For anyone with a keen interest in modern painting for the esthetic and intellectual pleasures it af  read more »