The Pittsburgh Citizen

The AFL-CIO’s annual conference was held here in Pittsburgh at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center one week before international leaders converged on the city for the G-20 summit. On Tuesday, September 15th, President Obama addressed delegates of the largest coalition of labor unions in the country. His speech focused on promoting healthcare reform but there were plenty of sidebar conversations on the convention floor among union delegates about the recent tariffs imposed on Chinese tires.

The G-20 negotiations were expected to be contentious -- after all, there was a lot to disagree about: bonus regulations, tax havens, and protectionist tariffs just to name a few. Luckily, many of the leaders of the world's largest economies agree that the economy is still fragile despite some signs of improvement.  At the summit held in Pittsburgh last week, these leaders demonstrated their commitment to avoiding the massive global imbalances that some say caused the greatest financial slump since the Great Depression.

I am into the home stretch with this ten-part series on Pittsburgh's current revitalization, its causes and cures. Today's installment briefly takes up a couple of technical points, which means I'll skip over Chris Briem's blast at Friday's downer of a Wall Street Journal column about Pittsburgh's past masquerading as Pittsburgh's future. I'll save a comment on that piece for Part X.

With the G-20 summit quickly approaching, businesses, are faced with the decision of whether to close their stores or keep them open. With few customers likely in the Downtown restricted zone on the days of the Summit, remaining open could actually cost businesses money, but closing leaves the property vulnerable to looting or vandalism.