Let’s value and preserve what makes us unique

As president of Pittsburgh’s chapter of the American Institute of Architects, I have been following the news of the planned demolition of the Venturi Scott Brown-designed home in Squirrel Hill (Aug. 7, “Home Set for Demolition Nominated as Landmark”).

It is a house that evokes a strong memory for many of us. Upon my return to Pittsburgh after architecture school, the homes along Woodland Road were one of my first destinations, as they are for many others. The history of architecture shapes how we build today, and this street is a mini-textbook, with works by Richard Meier, Walter Gropius and the Venturi Scott Brown home commissioned by Betty and Irving Abrams.

Individually, the Woodland homes possess unique qualities and characteristics that make the district a city asset and give our region national and global recognition for architecture and design. Collectively, they speak volumes about our culture and society across time.

How can we do a better job preserving that which makes us unique? Support our city, neighborhoods and preservation organizations to work with owners to identify the significance of their structures. Raise awareness of the full range of options available to retain the value of our built environment, including financial assistance for renovations, reuse and preservation.

In valuing our built environment, we invest in an informed understanding of how we got to where we are. Only in this way can we create a strong foundation for our future. MIKE GWIN

President AIA, Pittsburgh

Downtown

Dignity sans effort?

Regarding the book review “Money for Nothing: Will a Universal Basic Income Work?” (Aug. 5) for Annie Lowrey’s book “Give People Money”: One of the reasons for this idea is that it “would also offer everyone some small measure of dignity.”

One simple question: How does offering a handout of “free” money (it’s not really free, someone has to pay for it, just not the recipient) with no effort involved offer dignity? Isn’t universal basic income just a fancy term for good oldfashioned welfare? Just asking. JAMES E. PENTON Ross

Potential lost

Thank you to Kathy Laslow for the July 31 letter “A Woman’s View.”

The path to saving our very humanity is to safeguard the lives of every human being. I too grieve for those who believe abortion rights are for the advancement of women. Taking the life of the unborn baby who may be in a person’s way is never a solution.

The girl babies and boy babies whom we have lost from abortion had so much potential in helping humanity solve its problems. Those wonderful lives were destroyed.

The bell tolls for each and every one of us. We need to defend our little ones, not abort them. They are our future. CAROLYN SOPHER MARTIN Upper St. Clair

Our survival

A recent issue of The New York Times Magazine was entirely devoted to climate change, a severe and real threat to our continuation as human beings on this planet and to the planet itself as a habitable place.

So far, Congress has done far too little to respond to this threat.

I want my congressional representatives to rally their colleagues with unusual urgency. Give them copies of this issue of the Times magazine. They need to make speeches, lobby and inform their constituents. Their lives, mine and those of our children and grandchildren depend on it.

No political considerations should take precedence over this existential threat to the survival of our — or any — species. LIANE ELLISON NORMAN

Shadyside

Trump devotees

Regarding the Aug. 2 letter “About Evangelicals”: I couldn’t have said it any better myself. If you ever watch Jimmy Swaggart’s SonLife Broadcasting Network (SBN), you will see how his agenda to back President Donald Trump has swayed all of his followers.

His wife, Frances, has a daily panel of guests. They bash liberals and Barack Obama. Mr. Trump can do no wrong. They are against welfare for the poor and Social Security and Medicare. They do not care about Mr. Trump’s abusing women or lying.

Jimmy Swaggart has referred to Catholicism, Mormonism and Freemasonry as cult religions. I’m sure all evangelicals are not like this. JOSEPH A. GIOVENGO

Windgap