👀 Don’t miss these February events

✅ City Planning Backs Inclusionary Zoning

After an 11-hour meeting packed with public comment on Tuesday, Pittsburgh’s planning commission voted to endorse Mayor Ed Gainey’s zoning bill, which requires any new housing developments with 20+ units to include affordable options. It also allows developers to build on smaller lots and eliminates minimum parking requirements. The bill now goes to City Council for a vote. [City of Pittsburgh / PublicSource]

• ✏️ The commission voted against a competing proposal by Councilman Bob Charland that would’ve allowed each neighborhood to decide whether to implement IZ instead of requiring it citywide. We broke down the difference between the two bills. [🎧 City Cast Pittsburgh]
• 🏘️ IZ isn’t totally new. Here’s how it works in Lawrenceville. [🎧 City Cast Pittsburgh]

🚧 Preservation Project for Highland Park Bridge

PennDOT is planning for a $50 million, two-year glow up starting in 2027. The bridge, which connects Pittsburgh to O'Hara Township, will remain open during construction. [Union Progress]

• 📣 Myth busting: Pittsburgh likes to claim that it has the most bridges in the world, but that’s not actually true! [🎧 City Cast Pittsburgh]

🏥 Another Medical TV Drama Set in Pgh

Pittsburgh has two hospital systems and now two medical dramas! “Watson,” a medical mystery series set at a fictional university hospital in Oakland, premiered on CBS this week; it airs Sundays and is available to stream on Paramount+. “The Pitt,” a fictionalized ER drama set at a fictionalized version of Allegheny General Hospital, came out earlier this month. [TribLive]

February is the shortest month of the year. Let’s make it count! ⬇️

🎨 Check Out Shows & Art Exhibits

See new creative works at the Not White Collective’s exhibit featuring Indigenous, Chicano, and Raza identifying artists in East Allegheny; illustrator Sophia Pappas’ show picturing fantastical gods and deities at Bunker Projects; or Njaimeh Njie’s exhibit on the legacy of Black cultural spaces in East Liberty at Kelly Strayhorn Theater.

➡️ Find music and movies here.

📖 Learn Pittsburgh’s Black History

Do you know about the illustrator who helped design Sesame Street? What about the woman responsible for bringing Black opera to Pittsburgh? Or the group of men from the Hill District who revolutionized emergency medicine in America? Dig into our Pittsburgh history articles to discover stories of Black changemakers and creatives in our city.

➡️ Here’s how to celebrate Black History Month in Pittsburgh.

🥎 Celebrate Girls & Women in Sports Day

Pittsburgh is a sports town — and not just for men! Just last year, we got a women's soccer team, The Riveters, and the Penguins Foundation recently announced they’re starting a girl’s hockey program in honor of the 1970s Pittsburgh Pennies hockey team.

Pittsburgh athletes and sports orgs are celebrating national Girls & Women in Sports Day at the Homewood-Brushton Branch YMCA Feb. 5. Check out the lineup.

Also this month, the Burgh is welcoming its first women’s sports bar, Title 9, in East Liberty. The name is a nod to the federal law that gives equal opportunity to women athletes.

😋 Taste Something New

Pittsburgh has THREE different comfort food contests this month! Find your favorite bowl at the Best Vegan Soup in the 'Burgh competition at Velum Fermentation Feb. 2; 3 River Outdoor Co’s Chili Bowl IV Feb. 8; or the South Side Soup Contest Feb. 22. Keep warming up with a drink from Spirit of the Burgh Festival at The Pennsylvanian Feb. 22 or Pittsburgh Winter Beerfest at David L. Lawrence Convention Center Feb. 21-22.

💝 Cherish Love of All Kinds

Treat your loved ones (or yourself) to a take-and-bake dinner for two from Pane è Pronto in the Strip District; grab a drink at the Industrialist’s Broken Heart’s Club in Downtown; go to an after-hours Galentine’s night at Soergel Orchard in Wexford Feb. 11; revel in romance with Pittsburgh’s Poetess Rachel Ann Bovier at Bottlerocket Social Hall in Allentown Feb. 12; or take your pals to the Friends and Lovers Party at Carnegie Museum of Art in Oakland Feb. 13.

Want to send a proper valentine? Skip Hallmark and buy a mystery “meowentine” benefiting Nose 2 Tail Cat Rescue.

➡️ There’s more! Find an event to match your heart’s desire.