Truly innovative gateway to the Oakland area, something which would signal this world class academic and medical center as well as the vital neighborhoods which make the area unique in Pittsburgh. I envision a signature portal and road system, street art, arches, landscaping, murals, something announcing what Oakland is, an icon which could be another Pittsburgh landmark.

The Cathedral of Learning did and still defines the area as a place of education and learning, but it’s only Pitt and it’s the combined educational, cultural institutions and the vibrant neighborhoods that we could symbolize with a unique entrance.

The current Forbes/Craft buildings of the gateway tell you little about what you’re entering; an area in many ways suggesting what Pittsburgh’s future will look like, while at the same time paying tribute to its past.

Philip B. Hallen, Shadyside

Parents know the familiar game from "Sesame Street": "Which one of these things is not like the other? Which one of these things just doesn’t belong?" For the rest of you, it’s not hard. Which one of the following just doesn’t belong: Georgetown, Washington Square, Cambridge, Oakland?

I told you it was easy.

Now let’s try a question that’s probably beyond the "Sesame Street" set: What would it take to make Oakland more like the others? In a word, "imagination."

Oakland already has what it takes to play in the urban neighborhood major leagues: a university hub, a cluster of cultural institutions, numbers of distinguished buildings, an upscale work force, the annual, invigorating influx of 30,000 young people enrolling at our educational institutions. It even has a couple of things the other university hubs don’t have: a stable older population and proximity to one of the most spectacular urban park lands in America: Schenley Park.

And like those other university hubs, it also has traffic snarls, a sleaze element, parking problems (Ever try parking in Cambridge? As if.)

But, not to be naive, we need to acknowledge that Oakland lacks a not-so-easy to define ambiance, an edge. Somehow, the whole is less than the sum of its parts. But getting there may be easier than we think.

GETTING THERE: Or not. Getting there is a big part of the problem. Oakland lacks what the urban planners call Gateway Treatments. Enter from the south (Bates Street) and you are greeted with a row of tenements. Enter from the west, up Forbes Avenue, and a black railroad trestle is the welcome sign; up the Boulevard, it’s an abandoned Peugeot dealership, boarded-up.

Entering from the north, along Bigelow Boulevard and then Craig Street, offers billboards and a bottleneck. Only the East entrance, down Fifth Avenue, offers a pleasing prospect of the Pitt campus, although one isn’t quite sure where Oakland or Pitt actually begins. Any Oakland improvement plan should have a place for an innovative campus demarcation scheme that lets potential students know they’ve arrived.

In other words, what should be thought of as a Cultural Corridor, linking Downtown to the East End is a sort of Rorschach blot with fuzzy edges, inviting interpretation as a serious case of urban sprawl.

The good people who last December published The Oakland Improvement Strategy have thought this all through. That outstanding partnership of neighborhood community groups, major Oakland institutions and City government has already provided much more than a blueprint for addressing Oakland’s image problems. Their solutions include formal entrances to Oakland, facade improvement (behind the likes of the "Original Hot Dog" sign are facades potentially as interesting as what you see in Cambridge or Greenwich Village), sidewalk widening, landscaping of the public corridors, "bump-outs" to slow traffic, more stringent code enforcement, among others. In other words, a tremendous amount of work has already been done toward a reinvigorated Oakland. No need to reinvent the wheel, here. But even all this would not quite add up to an edge.

THE EDGE: Richard Florida of the Heinz School for Public Policy and Management has authored a fascinating study of how the outmigration of young people from our area can be reversed. His conclusions identify the "amenities of the new economy" as crucial to young people (particularly those employed as "knowledge workers") in their decision whether to leave or stay. Oakland is short on these amenities, and yet Oakland is the medium, the airlock through which young people must pass in order to get to know Pittsburgh. One might almost reduce the out-migration problem to a three-word solution: "Make Oakland better."

Such amenities include outdoor restaurants, music venues, outdoor recreational activities, night life options (beyond the "pickup bar"), ethnic diversity, all in proximity to where they live and work. Pitt is already moving into a key role here, with its concerted efforts to raise the profile of the arts on campus. It could do more, perhaps initiating a housing subsidy program similar to that at Yale, which underwrites mortgages for employees purchasing homes near the university.

Even if it took a brain surgeon to figure out how to translate these desirables into an Oakland actuality -- well, we actually have lots of brain surgeons in the neighborhood.

WHERE TO START: The approach to Oakland via Schenley Plaza, in particular, is a matrix in which issues of parking, traffic flow, beautification, safety, the development of amenities and the user-friendliness of cultural and academic institutions all converge.

What could be one of the most exquisite urban spaces in America is paved over in the service of a huge, unattractive parking facility. The plaza is surrounded with distinguished buildings, a fountain and the bones of good landscaping -- all of which, however, one cannot really "see," for the parking lot at its dead center. Imagine instead of a parking lot a sculpture garden on the order of Storm King, or the sculpture garden adjoining the Walker in Minneapolis, or MOMA in New York. Imagine as well, outdoor cafes -- one in front of Carnegie Library, another between Posvar Hall (formerly Forbes Quad) and Hillman Library, a third on Lilly Court, between the Cathedral and Stephen Foster Memorial.

The Stephen what? That rather handsome Gothic outcropping from the Cathedral is actually home to what is arguably the most beautiful theatre in Pittsburgh, and will soon be home to a second one: a 150-seat jewel carved out of the lower level. Imagine with me an exterior treatment for that building that announces 24 hours a day the exciting theatre happening there. That exterior treatment would have to lighten up the grave image that advertises "boredom" to potential young audiences and invites them to walk on by.

Now let your eye take in tables for chess playing and (the nostalgia flowing unstaunched from my beardless youth in Washington Square) street musicians playing by the Schenley Fountain. This European-feeling idyll would be well served by an extension of the Three Rivers Arts Festival that might spread across Forbes to the Cathedral grounds.

Imagine the enhancement of Flagstaff Hill’s natural amphitheater and the return of free Shakespeare in the Park. Such a destination would be well-served by a shuttle service from the (proposed) new Phipps parking facility, tucked behind the statue of Columbus, to the Foster Memorial and the Cathedral, as well as to the new, upscale businesses such an improvement would certainly attract. But, then again, lots of people would prefer to walk through the sculpture garden, people of all ages, together.

In the words of the Oakland Improvement Strategy: "Oakland continues to be a regional gateway to the city, as thousands of schoolchildren, prospective college students and visitors get their first impression of Pittsburgh from coming directly to its colleges, medical facilities and museums." That "first impression" can be turned into a glowing and lasting one by transforming the Schenley Plaza gateway.

Attilio Favorini, Founding chair of the Department of Theatre Arts, University of Pittsburgh.

Oakland is a Pittsburgh neighborhood that has hosted many giants. Leaders, poets, physicians, artists, industrialists and ball players left their mark on our city. Although some are better known than others, their accomplishments are felt here and around the world.

The OAKLAND GIANTS project proposes a series of commemorative aluminum panels located on Forbes & Fifth Avenues. Attached to existing lampposts at street intersections, the giant portraits of famous Oaklanders are a permanent tribute that will inspire greatness in all Pittsburghers. The large-scale images are designed to be visible to drivers and are accompanied by smaller-scaled biographical plaques accessible to sidewalk pedestrians.

The people illustrated are only a sample of candidates that could be included as "Oakland Giants."

David Julian Roth, RA, Downtown

At this time, Oakland has no grand entry point.

Streets merely converge on Oakland with little visual drama or excitement. Two of the area’s most important institutions are connected physically, but not aesthetically by the Schenley Park bridge over Panther Hollow.

The Carnegie is America’s 10th-most visited art museum with 700,000 patrons per year. Phipps Conservatory is to quadruple in size. These institutions will constitute one of the most important tourist venues on the East Coast. They should be connected to each other in a grand manner to encourage pedestrian traffic between them, as well as to provide Oakland with a monumental entry point.

I, therefore, propose that the Schenley Park bridge be reconstructed in a fin de siecle style to compliment the Carnegie and the Phipps. Possibly great light pylons could be erected at either end of the bridge, dramatic by day, but by night, infinitely more so as columns of light illuminate the span.

Or, possibly, a great vaulted canopy in the art nouveau style could be erected covering the bridge in lacy flower and vinelike patterns. At night, the bridge would be illuminated by hundreds of small bulbs creating an enchanting tunnel of light.

The vista at the western end of the bridge should be terminated by a large fountain replacing the present parking lot, thus creating a worthy addition to the grounds of our beloved Carnegie.

I also suggest the Forbes Avenue bridge between Carnegie-Mellon University and central Oakland be reconstructed in a monumental fashion so as to create another grand entry into Oakland.

Robert W. Allison, Wilkins

When I arrived in Southwestern Pennsylvania in l995, I was particularly attracted to Oakland because -- with its universities, Library, museums, and medical facilities -- the area promised rich culture, diversity and food. Unlike the Strip, Downtown and Station Square (places where I quickly felt at home) however, I (and maybe many others) have not really mined Oakland’s potential.

Why not?

Parking and driving: Parking is scarce and often (for example, around UPMC) nightmarishly placed at the top or bottom of grades not conducive to winter-weather travel. Three or four not-too-distant park and ride centers would vastly help. These centers should have large, clear postings to indicate which major facilities and attractions they serve.

Existing parking facilities lack clear directional signs inside the structures to guide the uninitiated to their destination.

Driving is made more difficult because signs -- both for directions and on facilities -- are not large, consistent and illuminated. Does Magee-Womens Hospital, for example, have a lighted sign? Is it possible to find a route to 28 North from the Carnegie Library?

Walker-friendly paths: Curiously, Oakland seems neither car-friendly nor walker-friendly. Although there are a couple of large, walkable spaces around the Library and around the Heinz Chapel, there seems to be no natural path for exploring the general terrain on foot. A few mini-green spaces would be welcome, too.

Key assets made visible and distinct: Lots of Oakland seems to have happened by accident. Which buildings are Pitt? Which are medical facilities? Which are Carnegie Mellon? Everything seems diffuse, scattered and invisible. Would it be possible -- through stripes or logos or colors or signs -- to give each dispersed entity its own distinctive visual emblem? I know that the native born ("84 percent," said one demographer) know where things "used to be" and where they "are," but strangers and out-of-towners need lots more help.

Nicer gateways: One example will suffice. Coming into Oakland eastbound from the Parkway East, a car emerges under a dark-at-night, ugly-by-day set of overpasses and some weedy banks. What about lights? What about a few plantings? Several of Oakland’s front doors and gateways badly need a face lift.

Is anything happening? Oakland undoubtedly has a lot going on, but only some of this information leaks out to the more far-flung general public. The universities’ events are especially invisible. What about a lighted marquee on a couple of main streets with coming attractions? Or perhaps a consolidated ad or calendar? Those of us who live outside the city limits might want "to make a day of it," but -- short of calling every venue -- how would one know what might be coupled, for instance, with a set of River City Brass Band tickets?

A closer look at what’s there now: The Carnegie is a clear example, but it is only one of many in Oakland. When people enter this facility at night, they are greeted by a set of gloomily-lit gray stairs that are difficult to see -- a major accident predictably in the making. Since the building has been closed for several hours, it is out of sync with the outside climate -- very warm, for instance, despite much cooler evening temperatures outside. For the new millennium, public buildings in Oakland should have modern lighting and modern heating/cooling systems as well as working drinking fountains.

I’d suggest that Oaklanders invite a few strangers to do a building walk-through by day and also by night to come up with the concrete suggestions that would make frequent return visits a pleasure.

In fact, a band of such fresh visitors might be the perfect "committee" for identifying or assigning priorities to Oakland’s improvements.

As someone who grew up in a city and relishes coming into Pittsburgh on a regular basis, I look forward to an improved Oakland. It deserves to be a major attraction, not a major ordeal.

Catherine Hornstein, Moon

First I’d like to say how much I appreciate the green-clad guys pushing brooms in Oakland. My regular bus stop at Craft and Forbes is a much more pleasant place to be now that there is regular street-cleaning going on. I also am glad for a dumpster there, an idea whose time had come long ago.

One of the things I miss about living in Squirrel Hill is how green it is. Oakland seems gray to me, even on a sunny day, because of all the concrete and dingy store facades. I love Craig Street between Forbes and Fifth because of the flowering trees. Planters for trees would work on our sidewalks. They are plenty wide.

At the most impractical, I’d recommend burying all vehicle traffic on Forbes in a tunnel that runs from just above Craft Avenue, by Magee-Womens, to the gully just above Craig Street. Have traffic wind its way up the hill once it emerges. Make the side streets dead ends at a green mall that looks straight up to the Cathedral of Learning, a lovely view even now. Pitt would have a united campus, and they can still have parking on Bigelow Boulevard.

Place arbors for grapes and wisteria every so often. Maybe a communal garden. A moving sidewalk wrapped in a plastic bubble that runs from the new Palumbo Center for Science and Technology at Carlow and Magee Womens to Craig Street.

Provide incentives for national chains as well as small business owners to take over street level storefronts. I lived in Dinkytown, at the edge of the campus at the University of Minnesota, for years. It had a nice mix of businesses attractive to students and professionals. The Seattle campus of the University of Washington has a similar area adjacent to it. It doesn’t have to be Walnut Street reincarnated. But it needs more color, and more places to go, for more upscale buyers than just first year college students. Oh, and the campus villages at those universities were also green.

With Pitt Stadium about to be torn down, the restaurants that cater to the beer-drinking, sports TV-watching crowd need to make way for establishments that mimic the success of Union Grill on Craig Street, which draws an older, affluent clientele.

I’d really be happy if Jay’s Bookstall was on my walk up and down Forbes, too! But I don’t suppose at this point anyone could talk Jay into moving. And there needs to be a grocery store. The Giant Eagle on Forbes Avenue served a purpose. I have to take the bus to Squirrel Hill now to shop.

I really like the 24-hour laundry on Forbes. If the owners of the Stratus Club next door want to make money, they should turn that space into a 24-hour upscale grocery, complete with hunter green carpeting, oak shelves and brass fixtures. Have excellent produce and meats. And a sit-down place for having coffee. That would be a nice anchor for that end of town. And it would make a good complement to the 24-hour CVS down the block.

The Fifth Avenue corridor coming into Oakland is in need of complete razing. From what was Martin Media to Craft, with the exception of the MRI facility on the corner, everything should be torn down. All of the buildings from the corner where the stained glass studio was, to Martin Media, are empty and ugly. (I know. I was the last tenant in my building there.) There are three single-family dwellings back in the alley, behind the towing place, which still had residents a couple years ago. But the two plumbing and heating companies that have buildings on Fifth are housed in shacks that look like they are falling down. There are terrific views to be had along that bluff. Affordable housing would be great.

Give Carlow some incentive to build that skyway across Forbes that was part of the original plan, linking the science and tech center and the main campus. An architecturally significant walkway over Forbes would make a nice entrance to Oakland. Plus it would cut down on pedestrian traffic crossing the street at Fifth and Craft.

Roberta L.Kenney, University libraries, Carnegie Mellon University