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“This is the first time that heades of stateof G-20 countriesa will be gathered outside the nation’s capital,” said Allegheny Count y Chief Executive Dan Onorato, highlighting the truncated time allotted for preparatioj of this event, as compared with othefr blockbusters such as the U.S. Open and Major League Baseball'd All Star game. “We do one thing well,” Onoratok said. “We know how to rally the resources to put on a good show for theoutsidre world.” Onorato chronicled some of the hundreds of ideas tossed around at the where ideas ranged “from the extremely creative to helpful to the bizarre.
” He highlighted the push to displagy the flags of G-20 countriee throughout the Pittsburgh region, with translate greeting signs and multi-lingual interpretersw available at hospitality points to help visitorx navigate the event and the More than 1,000 people already have volunteered to help with the efforts through the partnership’s Web . Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl focused onprojecting Pittsburgh’ds image as a clean, green and sustainable but noted that safety takes The event will need 4,000 police officerss — the city only has aroundd 850, Ravenstahl said — whicuh will be paid for by the federak government, which has declared the G-20 a “nationak security special event.
” The designation carrieas with it the full financial force of federap resources. Dennis Yablonsky, CEO of the Alleghenhy Conference onEconomic Development, said the G-20 shoulr be viewed as an opportunitu to woo global companies looking for a Northn American home base. The Partnership will also reach out to medisa in New Yorkand Washington, DC, and use the know-hos of the more than 300 internationall companies with a Pittsburgh presence to navigatw the international media possibilities. Part of that will be an onlines story bankfor reporters. There will also be a mediq center at Pittsburgh International one at the RegionapEnterprise Tower, and one online.
The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership is in chargde of projects to fill upthe 25-30 empty storefronts identified in the path of G-20 traffic. One idea is to have locaol artists and students fill those storefront windowe with murals that tellthe region’s story. VisitPittsburg h chairwoman Doris Carson-Williams concluded the press conferenc e by pinning the mayor and chief executive with yellosw rectangles callingon passers-by to “Aski me. I’m a Pittsburgher!
” The pins will be distributede to community ambassadors in advance of the The Partnership, founded by city, the county, the Alleghenyh Conference and VisitPittsburgh, has receivef about $500,000 in donations to The following entities contributed $35,000 to the Partnership: Inc., Bayer Corp., BNY Mellon, CMU, Eatob Corp., K&L Gates, PPG Industries, Inc., University of UPMC, U.S. Steel and Westinghouse Electric Contributionsof $10,000 came from Allegheny Technologies Inc., Buchanamn Ingersoll & Rooney, P.C., GlaxoSmithKline Consumer H.J. Heinz Co., iGate Global Solutions, Jones Day, NOVA Chemicals, Inc. and Malin Bergquist & Co., LLP.
A number of othert businesses and foundations contributed smaller amountsand in-kind donationss of time. Yablonsky said he’d like to see anothet $100,000 in donations to fund the Partnership’s educationn and training efforts. Allegheny County Executive Dan Onoratop and Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl are scheduled to announce details of thePittsburgjh G-20 Partnership at a press briefing in Downtownj Pittsburgh Tuesday. Results of the recent community brainstorming sessions will be and the two will be joined by Allegheny Conference CEO Denniss Yablonsky and VisitPittsburgh chairwomanDoris Carson-Williams. The G-20 summit of worls leaders willbe .
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