6:30PM @ NEW HAZLETT THEATER > CLICK TO RSVP

Once upon a time our children looked up to star athletes.   Then, those athletes were untarnished, vital heroes who parents could point to as role models.   Now, those same parents must shield their children from a long parade of fallen sports heroes and their questionable behavior.

Is ethics in sports dead?  Has the business of sports lost its way?   Is no one holding our sports stars accountable for their behavior?   Are we asking too much of them? Pittsburgh has long been known for its legendary loyalty to their sports starts.  How do the antics of hometown players affect our community?

Each of our star panelists will tackle this difficult subject from a different point of view. You will hear from Franco Harris, our enduring local sports hero and Jack Marshall, president of ProEthics and the primary writer of the The Ethics Scoreboard.  More panelists are to be announced next week.

Don’t be square.  Be there.

7:00PM @ NEW HAZLETT THEATER > CLICK FOR TICKETS

Called "New York's hottest and hippest literary ticket" by the Wall Street Journal, The Moth is an acclaimed nonprofit organization dedicated to the art of storytelling. Each Moth Mainstage program features two acts of original stories told by a variety of artists and personalities live, without notes. Past storytellers include celebrated writers and actors, as well as folks with true stories to tell—a car salesman, a business executive, a former pickpocket, an astronaut. Of course, when The Moth goes on the road, they pick up local storytellers along the way.

On August 26th, the evening of storytelling will relate back to a theme relevant to Pittsburgh’s local culture, “Nerves of Steel: Stories of Moxie & Might.”  The host is talented stand-up comic and Saturday Night Live writer Jessi Klein.  Jessi will be joined by Jimmy Krenn, another storyteller from Pittsburgh and a musician, as well as three visiting storytellers from New York, including George Dawes Green, American novelist and founder of The Moth.  Check back soon for more details!

This special event is a cityLIVE!, American Shorts @ WYEP, and New Hazlett Theater collaboration.

Pittsburgh was selected as the North American host city by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to join World Environment Day 2010 and is hosting the WED conference, "Water Matters!", on June 3. Participants from across the country will speak to the problems and possibilities of water in our region – its impact on health, energy and the economy.

The June 29 cityLIVE! event will reflect upon the results of the conference, discuss what we’ve learned and how we can protect and embrace our most valuable resource – water.

Our panelists are Jeanne VanBriesen, director of the Center for Water Quality in Urban Environmental Systems at CMU, Janie French, director of Green Infrastructure Programs at the Pennsylvania Environmental Council and John Schombert, executive director of 3 Rivers Wet Weather. Moderating is Pittsburgh City Councilman, Patrick Dowd.

Many buildings of the Modern Movement have already been saved; the icons amongst these have even become so precious that they are treated like pieces of art rather than as buildings in everyday use. Can we craft such a future for the Civic Arena? Can the social, political and cultural baggage that comes with it be set aside? Who should decide on whether the igloo survives or not?

Our distinguished panel will be moderated by Evan Stoddard, Associate Dean of the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts at Duquense University.  Panelists include Kimberly C. Ellis, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Historic Hill Institute; Christine Madrid French, Director of the Modernism + Recent Past Initiative with the National Trust for Historic Preservation; Larry Glasco, an expert in the history of Black Pittsburgh and Associate Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh and Rob Pfaffmann, AIA, AICP, architect  and planner whose proposals for the reuse of the Civic Arena received an AIA design award last fall.

How can we take control and make sure our environment is healthy and pure? How can we turn the tide and reclaim our air, water and land? Who is working to make this happen in Pittsburgh?

Three Pittsburghers will share stories of their efforts to make a cleaner environment for all of us. Our panelists are Meredith Grelli, cofounder and director of 'Burgh Bees; Tom Hoffman, the Western PA director for Clean Water Action and Ned Mulcahy, the founder of Three Rivers Waterkeeper. Discussion will be moderated by Khari Mosley, Director of Green Economy Initiatives at G-TECH.

One Moderator, Five Panelists, More Soapbox Ranters than you can count on two hands, and you!

Soapbox Rant, cityLIVE!'s March event, will be held on the 16th of the month, at our usual place, the New Hazlett, and our usual time of 6:30 pm. But rest assured, there'll be nothing usual about the event.

You'll hear passionate perspectives, pet peeves and inner fury about immigration, city finances, smoking, free markets, customer service, trash on the street and much more.   Jim Denova, Benedum Foundation, will moderate the crowd.  Panelists include Tracy Certo, Pop City, Selena Schmidt, Power of 32 and three Coro Civic Leadership Fellows - Zachary Morris, Lena Andrews and De'Sean Woods.

90 quick seconds for each rant, big or small, spicy or tame. You'll have to make the most of it.

Tune in now, or forever hold your peace.

The Pittsburgh region has been a leader in the “green” building wave.  With innovative thinkers in our ranks and technological advances happening in our midst, we are poised to remain in the lead.  Will our progress come solely from within the region, or are there advances happening elsewhere that we can learn from?  Will there be economic benefits?  Is the biggest “green” bang for our buck only for new buildings, or can larger efficiencies be made in older buildings?

Our speakers will discuss the latest advances in the green building movement, what we can expect in the future and what we can learn from innovation elsewhere.

Anne Swager, Executive Director of AIA Pittsburgh will moderate.  Speakers include former Ambassador Charles Ries, who is a Senior Fellow in the RAND, Washington, DC office, Maureen Guttman, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Governor’s Green Government Council, and Francisco Escalante, VP of Development at Rugby Realty.  Amb. Ries has written about energy performance of buildings and what can be learned from the UK and Austrialia.  Ms. Guttman, who sits on the International Construction Code panel, will discuss the national movement to implement green construction codes and what that means for Pennsylvania and area businesses.

Pop Culture and the the city of Pittsburgh – what we are watching, reading and listening to – both good and bad. We will discuss television, movies, printed material, the internet and music, and how it goes from a niche phenomenon to a full-on pop-cultural extravaganza. How have these influences changed Pittsburgh and the region, our population and our perception of ourselves in the larger world – both positive and negative, and is any of it within our control?

Our panel includes Pablo Garcia, from the School of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon; Emmai Alaquiva, of Ya Momz House; and Kathy Savitt, of Lockerz ... we will be moderated by Rob Rogers, editorial cartoonist and president of the ToonSeum.

Cocktails and conversation to follow. Show your love!

Give us 30 minutes and we’ll change the way you see the city. Each person gets three minutes to offer up an idea without any restrictions. Forget feasibility, funding or anything as ridiculous as consensus-building. We asked for ‘thought-provoking’ and ‘outside the box’ concepts that examine change and how we approach it.

We have Susan Everingham, director of the RAND office in Pittsburgh; Scott Faber, a developmental pediatrician at the Children's Institute; Raymar Hampshire of sponsorchange (.org); Sean Jones of the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra; Alexi Morrissey, a poet; Priya Narasimhan from Carnegie Mellon's Mobility Center; LaVerne Baker Hotep from the Center for Victims of Violence and Crime;  Hilary Robinson, dean at the College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon; Jon Rubin, artist, and the man behind The Waffle Shop; and Janera Solomon, executive director of the Kelly Strayhorn Theater.

And back to moderate this year is Chris Potter, renowned editor of the City Paper.

Audience participation is a must. Show your love.

City County consolidation is a big, top down idea. We’ve worked on it locally for years now and are told there are many valuable efficiencies to gain from such a consolidation.

In the meantime, while we are waiting, are there ways to streamline government services from the bottom up? Should we wait for the big prize, or should we be chipping away at consolidating smaller chunks that may eventually add up to the big prize?

Our panel of experts will present and discuss their ideas for effectively streamlining government services today. They include Kathleen McKenzie, deputy county manager for Allegheny County; Moe Coleman, professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and of Urban Studies; Sala Udin, president and CEO of Coro Center for Civic Leadership; and moderating will be Laura Ellsworth, partner at Jones Day.