✈️ PITT is the first airport in the world to power itself with a microgrid

By Francesca Dabecco

Welcome to Tuesday, Pittsburgh.

How about we catch you up on what’s happening in the ‘Burgh? Today, we’re covering the city council’s vote on how to spend funds from the American Rescue Plan, how PITT is flying above other airports, what’s taking over a former pipe mill in Etna, and the beloved local brewery opening a pizza joint.

Plus, your Final Four picks for The Ultimate Pittsburgh Brewery Bracket are in! Scroll to see how your favorite squared up in this round.

What Pittsburgh is talking about

3 things to know today

💸 The Pittsburgh City Council is scheduled to take a final vote today on the proposed spending of $335 million through the American Rescue Plan. The plan was created by the mayor’s office with input from council members, and there were two public hearings on the proposal. Some community groups believe there wasn’t enough time for public input and want the council to delay the vote. (90.5 WESA)

✈️ Pittsburgh International Airport recently became the first airport in the world to be completely powered independently by a microgrid, meaning it only uses natural gas and solar power created on its properties. The airport was chosen as one of 2020’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company before the microgrid was even finished. (NEXTPittsburgh)

🏭 Etna’s former pipe mill is getting a face lift. The 1902 mill is redeveloping into a modern tech/flex space named 51 street. The building will now be intended for new economy industries to grow in Pittsburgh. The building won’t be the usual office cubicles; it plans on installing large windows, wide-open floors, and high ceilings. (NEXTPittsburgh)

• Quotable: "There’s definitely a space happening in Pittsburgh for technology robotics, AI, medical therapeutics, that’s different than normal office space." — Tom Sabol, a partner with the New York City-based developer The AM Group who resides in Pittsburgh.
• Related: Pittsburgh’s tech market has been declared one of the most diverse. In CBRE Group Inc.’s annual “Scoring Tech Talent Report,” Pittsburgh was ranked first for diversity among the top 50 tech hubs in North America. (NEXTPittsburgh)

3 things to make you smile

🍕 East End Brewing makes East End Chewing. The popular Pittsburgh craft brewery in Larimer is opening an in-house kitchen serving rustic, thick crust pizza. The menu includes classic pies as well as unique regional takes like eggplant parmesan, Ruben, and of course, pierogi pizza. Editor’s note: East End Brewing a part of our brewery bracket! Scroll to see if they made it through to the next round. (Pittsburgh City Paper)

📸 Pittsburgh-based photographer Mikael Owunna has gained major success in recent public-art initiatives. Last month, his portrait series “Infinite Essence: Celestial Liberation” was featured on four electronic billboards along Pittsburgh’s Route 28. These studio pics feature Black people with fluorescent paint photographed in ultraviolet light to make them resemble patches of night sky stars. The same portraits have also won the Pittsburgh native international acclaim with works from around the U.S., Kobe, Japan; and Yerevan, Armenia. (90.5 WESA)

🍦 Need a cool treat to beat the heat? Don’t sweat; NEXTPittsburgh listed eight of the best ice cream spots in the Steel City. You can enjoy anything from the liquid nitrogen creations by Caustelot Creamery’s mobile ice cream truck to The Snowman’s shaved ice in Portersville (Which is the close-to-home fav of The Incline’s resident intern Zoey). (NEXTPittsburgh)

🍻Pittsburgh’s Ultimate Brewery Bracket: The Final Four

“PITCHER” PERFECT

Dancing Gnome Brewery was chugging along strong, but Eleventh Hour Brewing poured out the most votes in this round. Not by much, though. This race was the closest of them all; Eleventh Hour won by just 14 votes. Check them out at their location in Lawrenceville. You can sit outside at a picnic table, grab some grub from their rotating schedule of local food trucks, and enjoy the latest monthly Full Moon IPA release.

EXTRA SPECI”ALE”

East End Brewing came out on top of Allegheny City Brewing, both longstanding and loved institutions. East End Brewing is known for its “You Are Here” beers dedicated to celebrating all 90 Pittsburgh neighborhoods. So far, they’ve released 53 hyper local brews representing neighborhoods from every side of the three rivers. You can also pick from their year-round or seasonal beers on the menu, as well as beers from the “loophole,” which support small brewers in Pennsylvania. Check out their spot in Larimer on Julius St.

ETERNAL “HOP”TIMISTS

Grist House Craft Brewery took the win over Roundabout Brewery in this round. What should you know about Grist House? Well, for one, we’ve been keeping an eye on their ambitious project; Grist is turning a Collier Township Cold War-era Nike Missile Command Center into another outpost. And it’s going to be HUGE. But it will take awhile, so just sit back and enjoy their beers (and food truck lineup) at the Millvale location for now.

SO “BREW”TIFUL

Hitchhiker Brewing Co. won its matchup against Spoonwood Brewing Co. Their brewery is located in the former Fort Pitt Brewing Co. building in Sharpsburg, and they also have a taproom in Mt. Lebanon. Plus, Hitchhiker is working to open a location Downtown on Liberty Ave. What’s better than another brewery downtown? Oh yeah, a brewery that’s also a cafe. In addition to their craft beer, the spot will also serve cold brew coffee, espresso, and other caffeinated beverages.

To reiterate — our bracket is not here to find the “best” Pittsburgh brewery, because “best” means something different to everybody. But we are here to highlight the breweries that Pittsburghers really love and which ones you feel best represent our fair city.

Vote here by 9 a.m. on Monday, July 26 to send your favorite to the Final Round.

🍕And don’t forget — you can get a free pizza from our sponsor, Caliente Pizza & Drafthouse, when you sign up in the voting form.

Things to do

Submit your events to our calendar.

Today

🎺 Join The Hot Club jazz listening sessions, featuring the life and work of Louis Armstrong (North Side)

✂️ Join the Parks Conservancy and their partners to celebrate the new first phase of the North Promenade Rehabilitation Project at their Ribbon Cutting Celebration (North Side)

🎀 Join Ketchup City Creative’s For Grownups: Stitch & B*tch to work on your own hand-sewing project (Sharpsburg)

Tomorrow

☕ Learn how to market your side hustle with Emily Bezak, owner of Emily Bezak Writes and Founder of Marketers in PJs, at Marketing Pittsburgh's Coffee Break (Online)

🖍️ Get your craft on at Sprezzatura’s Punch and Munch monthly Punch Rug meetup (Millvale)

🍻 Attend one of the Burgh’s hottest happy hours to spark conversations with founders, developers, designers, storytellers, and investors in the startup community (Downtown)

🖼️ Get artsy at Ketchup City Creative’s For Grownups: Let’s… Collage (Sharpsburg)

🌱 Garden and learn all things vegetation and planting with your little at the Phipps Kids Plant Club. Kids can pick up a plant kit full of 10 garden-ready plants and then tune into a virtual class (Online)

Thursday

🎶 Head to Mellon Square for music, food, and drinks at Summer at the Square Block Party (Downtown)

🎢 Bring your little one to Kennywood’s Kidsfest through Saturday to meet their favorite characters, ride rides, and enjoy kid-friendly activities (Kennywood)

One more thing …

Hey, do yinz like local music or know any local musicians? Make sure you check out The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s program STACKS, a music streaming service launched in 2019 that offers local musicians $200 for albums at least 10 minutes long. It’s a way to combat the small payouts by other streaming platforms like Spotify, which offers artists $0.003 to $0.0084 per stream.

If you’re a local musician, you can submit your work to this year’s program until Friday, Aug. 6.

Thanks for reading! See you back here tomorrow.

— Francesca and Zoey at The Incline

🎉 Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. 

📩 Tell a friend to subscribe.

📎 Advertise with us.