BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

If I go and do some trash pick-up tomorrow, where should I put the trash? I cannot haul the trash home on the T and bus. Does anyone has experience with stealth camping in this area?

Methinks you have a great idea but the wrong approach. Also the wrong month. A cleanup along a stream when it's sub-freezing is at the least unpleasant and potentially life-threatening if you fall in. Best you spend the next three months making some inquiries of organizations who might be contemplating the same idea, and join forces. Myself, I assist with a litter pickup twice a year along a road (rather than the adjacent stream). For this, we have the full assistance of PennDOT, who both supply us with work gloves and trash bags, as well as a means to haul it away for us. All we have to do is supply the labor to spend a weekend morning trudging along (in my case, Babcock Blvd in Ross) to pick up all the trash. We do this twice a year, usually April and October. After about four passes with a group of six to 15, we've managed to bust loose decades worth of crud and get it hauled away, to the point where we can cover a lot more ground and pick up mere surface material that's only been there a couple months. Travel along Babcock between Three Degree Rd and Cemetery Lane and you will not see much trash, because it was scoured clean a mere two months ago. Thank the Walk//Bike Ross group for that. All that to say, there might already be a group doing something either with the stream or a nearby road, so you'd be much better off helping them than going solo. And please do it when it's warmer out.  

By any chance, would Port Authority be interested in such a project by a group of volunteers in order to increase the visibility and cleanliness of the station? The station is currently hidden from view from Saw Mill Run Blvd. It can use some branding, signage, an ADA compliant ramp and sidewalk upgrades/repairs, and the surrounding land can be used as a scenic greeting to the community. I believe similar upgrades in visibility and safety can be applied to the Overbrook and Inglewood shelters where they connect to Saw Mill Run Blvd. I've found this video from 2015 mentioning the T Station, Nothing seems to have happened in the almost 3 years since this video has been released. https://youtu.be/7szNPNHVTD8

related efforts: http://www.post-gazette.com/local/south/2015/06/02/Group-strives-to-improve-Saw-Mill-Run/stories/201506010024 https://www.facebook.com/sawmillrunwatershed/

The Post Gazette article is almost three years old. I do not use Facebook, but the last post was in June. I am not able to tell if this stuff is still active since is has been idle for six months.

There's lots of stuff on that Facebook page more recent than June (though perhaps Facebook is hiding it from those who aren't logged in?). The page mentions several cleanup days and other events they've had this past summer and fall. There's also their phone number, 412.884.1400, and a link to their website which has their email address too. I think you should call or email them and coordinate your efforts, since they've probably solved issues like where to put all the trash. Thanks for offering to help clean up that area!

One of the things they do is hike the stream.

Contact Lisa Werder Brown, associated with Economic Development South.  I know the Saw Mill Run Watershed is a passion of hers and she has organized and led some of these clean up projects, which were referenced.