Pittsburgh's Pre-G20 Vanishing Act
By Chris Hall, CBC News
Wooden boards are hung to cover the windows of a building in downtown Pittsburgh Wednesday ahead of the city's hosting of the two-day G20 summit. (Jacqueline Larma/Associated Press)
It's hot here in Pittsburgh where journalists, anyway, are engaged in the drudgery of getting accredited, arranging for audio/video feeds and the other necessities of covering an international summit.
The leaders of the G20 nations arrive tomorrow.
Pittsburgh residents departed today.
The downtown is eerily quiet. There are few cars and even fewer pedestrians, especially around the David L. Lawrence Convention Centre — where the leaders will meet.
There are lots of helicopters overhead, and police boats are cruising up the Alleghany River outside the convention centre.
Security will be even tighter tomorrow when the perimeter fences go up, sealing off a large swath of the city's downtown.
Our cab driver says most Pittsburghers — his term — aren't going to work tomorrow or Friday.
Their places will be taken by the journalists and delegates who are here for the summit.
Oh. For anyone wondering, the G20 is a new entry on the summit calendar.
Member nations represent the world's largest economies, and two-thirds of the earth's population.
About the Authors
- Rosemary Barton started her television career reporting from Quebec City where she covered the ins and outs of Quebec politics. She moved to the CBC Parliamentary Bureau in 2007. She also stood on the side of road awaiting U.S. President Barack Obama's motorcade for hours in the cold. When she finally spotted him, all of Canada heard her shriek, "I saw him!"
- Alison Crawford worked in Fredericton, Calgary and Winnipeg before returning to her hometown to work in the CBC parliamentary bureau. Her beats include the RCMP, justice, public safety and the Liberals. Alison credits her investigative skills as well as a national etiquette column and coverage of a ferret Christmas party, with having prepared her for covering national politics.
- Andrew Davidson is a producer for the CBC politics page in Toronto. He joined CBCNews.ca's national desk in 2006 and was the lead news writer for the website's 2008 federal election coverage.
- Chris Hall is the National Affairs Editor for CBC News. He's been a member of the CBC Parliamentary Bureau since 1998. That adds up to 11 budgets, four elections, three prime ministers and too many confidence votes to count. Chris started his career in print before moving to the CBC in 1992. Since then, he's worked in Toronto, Halifax and St. John's, as well as Ottawa.
- Leslie MacKinnon Leslie's been working in news and current affairs since newsrooms used teletype, televison was shot on film and radio tape was edited with a razor blade. She saw through The Journal's long run on CBC-TV, and since then has worked in Halifax, Toronto and Ottawa in the CBC's various permutations. Right now, she's a TV news reporter in the political bureau, and likes certain parts of Ottawa - the canal, the Hill - a lot.
- Janyce McGregor has been a television producer in the CBC's Parliamentary Bureau since 2001. She started her career working for Studio 2 on TVOntario. In 2005 her then-doctoral student husband persuaded her to follow him to the U.K., where she worked for BBC World Service Radio in London. Janyce is originally a farm girl from southwestern Ontario. Her most important job title is "Norah's Mom."
- Chris Rands has been a member of the Parliamentary bureau since 2001. He started at Toronto's AM Radio giant CFRB before moving to CBC's National Radio News in 1996. Chris has worked in Toronto, Moncton, Sudbury, Regina, Washington and St John's. Every time Chris walks up to the Peace Tower, he wants to throw his hat in the air like Mary Tyler Moore.
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