Homewood Nation

On Wednesday, I met with about 30 other people to spend the entire day talking about Homewood's possibilities, problems and potential solutions. Early in the day, the discussion leader singled me out and asked me something like "What do you see as the biggest problem?"

I didn't talk about crime, and I didn't talk about blight. I talked about communication. I said that Homewood is a "broken information ecosystem," in which too much of the information available to residents co...

This is how it goes sometimes, this thing that I call "community work"...

On Tuesday, July 10, I was interviewed by Eric Sloss, writing for Conserve, the magazine of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. The subject, of course, was the tree planting we had on Race Street on Arbor Day weekend.

On Tuesday, July 17, Save Race Street Committee treasurer Dorothy White and I met with a couple of folks from G-TECH who interviewed us for a G-TECH video, about the r...

As of now, 1:16 p.m., July 26, 2012, Twitter is down. Thus the empty boxes to the right where you should see the latest Jordan Miles updates and Homewood Nation tweets. When Twitter comes back online, those spaces should fill again with tweets.

In the meantime, here is the latest from the Post-Gazette on the Jordan Miles...

Because I'm one person, I tend to focus here on stories that I believe might otherwise receive little or nocoverage. The Jordan Miles case started out that way, but has now attracted a well-organized group of supporters who are keeping the story in front of the mainstream media.

Having said that, it has bugged me that I haven't touched on the case at all for months. So I was pleased to discover this morning, as Mr. Miles' civil suit against the officers who beat him c...

Baker's Dairy was the site of a shootout Tuesday evening, but not the kind that takes lives.

The shootout was a scene being filmed for "Blood First," an action drama now in production that will be largely set in Homewood.

The film is the first feat...

So, the second community meeting about the senior residence planned for 524 N. Homewood Ave. was held last night at the Homewood-Brushton YMCA. A crowd of more than 100 people packed the first-floor meeting room.

I am writing from memory now, because I didn't take notes and I haven't yet gone through the time-consuming process of reviewing the videos. If you'd l...

BTC stands for "Behind the Curtain," and signifies a post relating to how "Homewood Nation" works, or thoughts about journalism in general.

Did anyone see my attempt at live streaming? After about 10 minutes, I stopped recording because I wanted to check what I had so far and share it on YouTube. That may have been a mistake: my phone immediately began processing the clip, so I couldn't use it again for a long time.

I also had my

Are you folks paying attention to "Homewood Happenings," our community calendar? Tomorrow offers opportunities to do something good for your community AND to do something good for yourself.

You can start your day by volunteering at the Homewood Agricultural Project's Community Garden, on Formosa Way behind the Homewood fire station. The Homewood Agricultural Project is a project to help Home...

Councilman Ricky V. Burgess welcomes attendees to the first of two meetings scheduled to discuss the senior residence planned for North Homewood Avenue, as project architect Ken Doyno (c) and Operation Better Block Inc. executive director Jerome Jackson (r) listen.

Some 60 people crowded into the North Conference Room at the Homewood-Brushton YMCA Monday evening to hear about the senior residence...

A water main break left some residents of North Homewood without water this morning.

The break occurred in the 7200 block of Fielding Way, the alley that runs between Race and Idlewild Streets.

At 10 am, a sweat-drenched work crew was on the scene, and the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority said that service should be restored by 3 pm.