The Northside Chronicle
Jan. 2020 Est. 1985
Volume 36 Issue 1 - FREE -
The Community Newspaper of Pittsburgh’s Historic Northside
NS Bicycle Summit raises key questions about citywide mobility By Ashlee Green The Northside Bicycle Summit - Connections, hosted by Walk Ride Northside and held on Thursday, Dec. 12 on the Carnegie Science
Photo by Ashlee Green
Darla Cravotta, director of community relations and special projects for Allegheny County, and former Mayor Tom Murphy hold a map from 1992 which detailed plans for a railtrail system throughout Western Pennsylvania. Everything drawn on the map, Cravotta said, is coming to fruition. Center's Science Stage, brought keynote speakers from Pittsburgh and Allegheny County together to discuss more than just issues related to bicyclists; The focus was how to improve mobility for everyone. "When I'm in Europe, there's a whole different view about how people move around," said former See Mobility, Page 5
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Photo by Ashlee Green
Neighbors joined together at the intersection of Lowrie and Ley Streets in Troy Hill on Dec. 8 to light and decorate the community's Christmas tree. Check out more photos from the event on Page 23.
Buhl Planetarium's pioneering past By Haley McMonagle The Foucault Pendulum was one of the highlights of the Buhl
Photo courtesy of Carnegie Science Center
The Buhl Plantarium circa 1939, the year it first opened in Pittsburgh's Northside.
- Breakfast with Santa, Page 7 STORIES, COLUMNS, - 2019: Year in Review, Page 9 FEATURES & MORE - Dealing with Holiday Debt, Page 21
Planetarium when it first opened in 1939 in Pittsburgh’s Northside. Invented by the French physicist Jean-Bernard-Léon Foucault in 1851, the pendulum was originally built to demonstrate that the earth rotates on an axis. The pendulum is a large mass, usually a sphere, suspended from a long line. The way it is mounted allows the mass to swing in any direction; the way it rotates shows how it relates to the surface of the earth. The pendulum also shows the true cardinal points of the compass. The Foucault Pendulum was one of the Buhl Plane-
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tarium’s original “talking exhibits.” There was an audio room a short distance away from the brass and marble “pendulum pit,” and with the push of a button, turntables would activate in the room and play a special record explaining the exhibit. This was considered state-of-theart in its time. When the Buhl Planetarium opened on Tuesday, Oct. 24, 1939, it was the fifth major planetarium in the United States, joining ones like those in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. The See Buhl, Page 8
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