ICE at PIT, Weird Heinz Products & Kennywood's (Almost) Open

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This is CityCast Pittsburgh.

I'm Megan Harris and here's what Pittsburgh's talking about.

So, if you could pitch a new Heinz product, what would it be and why?

Family size box of mac and cheese, not just like a bunch of little boxes packaged together,

like you can get that at Costco, I want like a pasta size box of mac and cheese.

When you say boxes, they already make boxes of craft mac and cheese.

Like bigger enough to feed like a cereal box?

Yeah, yeah.

Or like even, you know, normal pasta size box because one box of mac and cheese makes

a little pot and that's gone in one sitting for me.

It lasts a little bit longer if I household, but I like the way you're thinking.

I feel like we both went in a similar direction where we want a different version of an existing

product.

You know, the malt vinegar, it's so popular at Fish Fries, I've seen it on every table

for the last several Fridays.

I want a spray version because for cleaning, no, it's so drippy and it like just gets

that piece, that little tiny corner of my fish wet.

I want to, I want to spritz.

I want an even distribution of my vinegar, like the acid on my fish.

That's what I want.

Oh, right.

Okay, because you said malt vinegar, I don't think you can use that to clean.

I think you can give it a shot.

I'm a city cast Pittsburgh producer, so feel low.

We're going to talk about more serious stuff than Hines, but that will come back.

We're here to talk about what we know so far about what's going on at our dang airports,

some NFL drafty updates, some good for me food news.

So yeah, I think you and I have a difference of opinion about at least one of those food

items.

Yes.

An AI fail, hope for our baseball season, shockingly, and Kennywood is open for real.

Not your fly, or at least it will be, Kennywood will be open.

We now know the day.

It could be your fly and Kennywood's channel.

Just check.

Look down if you're listening to us right now.

Let's start with the US immigration and customs enforcement taking over really important

TSA duties at Pittsburgh International and airports really all over the nation.

Yes.

What a very quick developing story this has been.

So this started yesterday.

The government has been partially shut down for a while since February 14th, because there's

been no agreement on how to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which pays for the TSA

agents who, you know, guide us through security.

And you know, the shutdown means that the TSA agents haven't been fully paid for about

a month.

Many of them have quit.

There's been longer lines at PIT, but it hasn't been quite as bad as other airports.

Like I've seen Atlanta, which is a huge hub.

It's just masses of masses of people.

It's really wild.

Yeah.

One of my best days that I knew, of course, here in Pittsburgh, like moved down there.

But he flies constantly for work and oh my God, the photos.

He has hours and hours or just like getting stranded places because like Atlanta is not

receiving flights at Atlanta.

You can't fly out of Atlanta, like there is some ridiculous hiccup to his working schedule

pretty much every time now, like at least once a week.

Oh, that must be a nightmare.

But you know, because of the shutdown, there's been some things in place to help TSA agents,

like the airport and the greater Pittsburgh community food bank started a food pantry

for the workers last week.

Some of the airport restaurants have also been giving out free meals, which is great, but

shouldn't be necessary.

They should be getting paid.

That's a person.

Yeah.

And now, you know, Trump is bringing in ice because he says there's supposed to help TSA

agents during the partial government shutdown.

Yeah.

I mean, again, this is kind of developing as we're talking about it.

There's a bunch of reporters from different outlets there right now.

I know the Post Gazette tribe live, a lot of the TV stations, they're all kind of meandering

about airport spokesperson Bob Crowley told the PG that he doesn't know exactly what

ice is supposed to be doing there, like even even they don't know, but PIT is going to

remain in contact at least with the federal government.

I don't like this wait and see situation happening even for airport officials.

Yeah.

Neither do I.

National reporting mentioned that ice is going to be doing things like guarding exits,

maybe checking ideas, not necessarily, you know, doing the security protocols because

they're not trained for that.

Or at least that's what borders are.

Tom Homan is saying, but very mixed messaging because I also saw that the transportation

secretary said that ice agents could in fact run security because apparently the airport

machines are similar to the security machines on the southern border.

But I've seen folks raise questions about that too.

I mean, the union representations for a lot of folks like flight attendants, machinists,

aerospace workers, a lot of people in this aeronautic space have been releasing statements

saying that ice can't do this kind of work.

Like they're not trained to do the work of TSA agents and they're just going to create

more havoc by being in those spaces.

Right.

And that obviously doesn't include just like the fear that sea and ice agent just like

raises in so many people.

Yeah, which like I know is a different thing, but is exactly what the pit was about this

past week.

You know, I mean, it's a hospital setting, obviously, not an airport.

But like that was kind of the subtext of the entire show this last week.

Yeah.

Like what happens when ice agents come?

How do people respond?

Because I think one big question people have is, will ice be detaining people?

And all of Homan statements are focused about how ice is coming to help TSA.

But Trump on social media has posted that ice will quote unquote do security like no

one has ever seen before, including the immediate arrest of all illegal immigrants who have

come into our country with an heavy emphasis on those from Somalia.

So that's completely different messaging and really scary.

So racial profiling basically, but with like nationalities and passports involved.

Cool, cool, cool.

And I'm also just thinking like if ice is there, are there going to be airport employees

or TSA agents who don't show up because they're afraid of being detained or just getting

in like some sort of conflict with a nice agent?

And you know, if employees don't show up, wouldn't that continue to make things worse?

Yeah.

And I mean, we should say like all of this is happening like ice is coming into our airport

to, you know, supposedly perform these duties right as flight traffic is in utter chaos

after that big crash at LaGuardia, a plane was landing and hit a fire truck that had been

cleared across the runway there to pilots died.

As we're recording this, the airport is still closed.

It's supposed to open back up Monday afternoon, but it might be after that, like hundreds

of flights all over the nation have been delayed or canceled if they involve New York

or that flight path.

The post goes out reported that that included at least 14 flights to and from Pittsburgh

as of Monday morning, that number could grow depending on how long the closure is going.

So like our air traffic system is just in like utter disarray, which really stinks because

until Monday, the business times reported at least that PIT was mostly avoiding a lot

of the TSA chaos, you know, before the crash and the ice agents arrive, like security

lines weren't quite as bad as other airports, mostly normal.

So I don't think as many workers here have quit.

The airport authority had been sharing staff from the county location to PIT and employees

in general.

They've been getting partial pay at least until mid March.

Yeah.

But just all of this is just so much more to contend with.

It makes you wonder like what normal even means in these spaces.

I mean, I feel like we're asking that ourselves that in so many different capacities lately,

but I just I feel for all of our TSA agent folks, like I mean, these people live here.

There are neighbors and having to have a food pantry at your place of employment is just

like a wild thing to back up and think about.

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Moving on to the NFL draft, so many things are getting a little extra love because of

it.

So we thought we would just kind of run through a few updates, things we've seen, things

we've been poking our nose in generally, the draft in case you have missed it.

That is where teams choose their roster of new players.

So yeah, I feel like we did talk about this last year, I guess this time last year, because

the draft is what I always laugh about because it's where you get a sense of the security

of these college athletes and their college relationships.

Because that's all I remember.

You'll see them on the couch.

You'll see them on the couch.

They'll be cameras trained on their families and like, you'll see everyone get all excited

when someone gets chosen for a team.

That's great.

But there's always a moment if there's like a college relationship where like one of them

is very excited and it's not always reciprocated and it's very funny to like gauge that in real

time in a national way like for those who are paying attention.

I bet.

But you know, in the meantime, I have learned it is an in-person event and we are the

host city this year.

We've never had one before or like I don't know if we've had events like on this kind

of scale with all like the TV cameras pointing at us too because we're expecting at least

500,000 people here and then 55 million watching us on TV.

So you know, that's why everyone is freaking out and making sure that we're all tidy before

everyone's eyes are on us.

Yeah, taken over the North Shore parts of downtown.

This is all happening April 23rd through 25th.

Mark that date on your calendar.

I put it on all of the city cast calendars months ago because at minimum, you need to

know like for traffic purposes, like don't come anywhere near it.

If that's not a thing, you want to be a part of.

However, there's a lot to do.

Almost all of it is free.

Like I haven't seen a single thing that a regular person has to pay for and there's

going to be a lot of like activity and stuff down there.

But as part of that, they've been trying to finish all these big projects that they've

had in the works.

It kind of created like a deadline for a lot of them.

Many of them were already years in the making at that point.

But again, we just, we thought it was worth like kind of rounding a little bit of them

up.

For example, so yeah, I got to walk around, well, I took time to walk around the arts

landing and market square this past week.

They're supposed to be done by mid April.

I'm scared.

I'm scared.

Market square I can see.

Like, it looks pretty close.

It's still messy, but like most of the bricks are in that big semi-circle pavilions not

the right word.

I forget what the word they used for it, but anyway, it's like got like the colorful panels

and it kind of mimics the like market like thing that they had there like a over a hundred

years ago.

I forget how far back it was a long, long time ago in Pittsburgh history.

It looks close.

Arts landing does not look that close to me, but I believe them when they know they know

their construction site.

So they say it's going to be done.

Yeah.

I've been walking through market square a lot and I agree that it's improved a ton.

So I get from the bus stop to our office, but still to me, it very much looks unfinished,

but I guess compared to the winter, there's probably more time and like better weather

for actually doing a lot of the outdoor construction stuff.

It's literally just cracked thunder behind me as you were saying that.

Okay.

Well, it's not 12 inches of snow.

So yeah, there's that, I guess.

The city was talking this past week about like painting the railroad trestles and stuff.

So just been doing like so many little things.

I feel like choreoconners are my or his Instagram feed is like half events, but like half look

at this tiny update we made, like taking out like fixing a piece of pavement, like in

a sidewalk downtown.

Like there's little before and after shots and there's just so many examples of those.

If you want to like have a visual record of what they've been doing, that's for you.

Thank you.

For example, I link this one with the railroad trestle like it's the line that goes across

11th Street in Penn and Liberty Avenue is there close to the convention center.

When they said they were painting it black and gold, I thought it was going to be like,

oh, this will be super cute.

I love it when they paint things.

This is not a mural.

Oh, it's literally just black squares.

It's old.

Yeah.

It's yellow trim.

Yeah.

I would have not noticed this was special at all.

Me either.

I love that they did this big group photo in front of it and it's just like a bunch of

black squares.

You say they're planning to add like the city seal to 70 squares and think the historic

Pennsylvania railroad logo.

Great.

I feel like you should have waited for that.

Yeah.

I agree.

They shouldn't have announced this because later I'm going to look at it and be like, wow,

this is so much better.

I hope it looks so much better.

Another one to watch for.

If you're a parent, you probably already know this.

Pittsburgh public schools are our city school system is going to go remote learning entirely

during the draft.

So the 22nd, the day before the draft starts through the 24th, they're going to do those

three days totally remote.

I thought this was kind of like, it's an interesting choice because not every host city for an NFL

draft chooses to do this.

Yeah.

Is this mostly because of traffic reasons?

Like, I know we have some schools downtown and stuff like I cannot imagine being a cap

of student and, you know, trying to navigate the NFL draft.

I mean, my reading of it is that maybe it was just like trying to avoid any possibility

of weirdness, like just to keep the kids on a consistent schedule during this, which,

you know, good on them.

The crowd projections, I feel like they're different in every single news story I read.

But the highest ones say that we could have somewhere around 700,000 people.

I see 500,000 a lot.

Like truly if there are that many people, I assume many of them on the North Shore where

there aren't any city schools, like right there in the thick of it.

But if they're coming into downtown, I can see how maybe you don't want to disrupt a

kid's schedule in that way.

To your point, though, Sophia, it would actually, if it does manage to be 700,000 people,

that would easily make it the biggest event in Pittsburgh history.

Okay.

So maybe the kids should be out and about to witness history.

Who knows?

Yeah.

I can see it either way.

Previous cities, I guess, have either canceled school completely, so just not school.

That seems nicer to me.

I think that seems like a more fun way to make them be a part of it.

Or they've just kept everything normal, like let them come to school, let them see it,

let them interact with it.

I don't know.

I understand the thinking.

I kind of feel like we'd gone one of the other directions.

I don't know.

I can see it both ways, I guess.

Well, another thing that's coming for the NFL draft, more transit.

PRT got this big funding boost.

There's going to be increased service for the tea at New Temporary bus routes.

There's going to be a bunch of like park and ride stations around the North Shore, where

the draft is taking place, and then, you know, I guess you bus in.

So PRT is getting $350,000 for this.

It's coming from a nonprofit that visit Pittsburgh manages.

And I'm kind of mad about this, like, obviously, too.

I know that, you know, we're going any better transit than what we have currently to meet

the demands of that many people, but I want that too.

I want these things on a normal day.

Exactly.

Exactly.

Exactly.

We're still going to get a nice and shiny arts landing and like an improved market square

once the NFL draft is gone, but like nothing for transit last.

And it's just so irritating that poof, PRT is getting money for this.

I know it's coming from different things like this is from the nonprofit versus, you

know, to get better transit funding.

You might need help from the state.

Like, I get these are coming from two places.

I know.

We need a dedicated funding source from the state of Pennsylvania, and that is a separate

problem.

But I still, I want nice things year round, not just when companies coming over.

Exactly.

Uh, I am hoping for like a handy, dandy map of all the road closures.

For now, like, I know Liberty Avenue and Penn Ave are also going to be closed.

I mean, what more of Penn Ave can you really close up this point?

Well, but I think that during or for this piece of it, like, it's mostly just the one

way section, which is, it's been to one lane, one way for car traffic normally.

So I assume they're just closing that down so that it can be pedestrian only.

Maybe or I wonder if they're close to get down for car traffic.

So only buses can get through.

I'm a little bit unsure about that.

Uh, the Roberto Clemente Bridge will also be closed.

That's pretty typical for sports stuff.

That's fine with me.

I love it when they close Roberto Clemente, but they're not allowed to

close all the bridges at the same time.

I always find that interesting, like just as like a memory point in Pittsburgh for like

our ambulance routes, like you're required to keep.

I know it's one.

It might be two.

I'm pretty sure it's just one of those sister bridges has to be open at all times.

Okay.

With this, many people, I think they should close to, but who am I?

But the footprint doesn't extend too far past there.

Like, I mean, if anyone's listening is going to the NFL draft, like check out the

Andy Warhol for sure, but I don't think the footprint of the draft, certainly the big

stuff isn't that far over.

It's like, it doesn't even go to PNC Park, right?

I just feel like tourists would check that area out.

You would think, but I just, it's also like not, it's not the most fun walk.

It's not bad on the riverside, but like when you start getting behind some of those buildings,

it's just like a bunch of crummy parking lots like that separate the north side.

You know, that's true.

That's true.

Um, but you know, one thing that I will not gripe about is we're cleaning up our trash.

That is a good thing so much trash.

Allegheny cleanways has been doing their immaculate collection program since September.

They announced recently that they have picked up so far 400 tons of Yens trash.

Well, that is so much junk.

We talked to the executive director of Allie and Cleanways, Kaley Groobie, a while back just

about like the kinds of trash that end up on Pittsburgh Hill sides that they clean up all the time.

They've been doing this work for ages, um, but they've been doing this immaculate collection

program kind of leading up to everything.

Um, and they just announced they're doing a contest with a bunch of the colleges, um,

three April 5th to pick up even more junk.

They've got a bunch of money and projects to keep this work going all year long and in perpetuity.

But the immaculate collection, I thought was just like such a good naming moment.

Like, I know this is football pun.

Perhaps to whoever came with up with it.

Yes, I was actually recently reminded that people don't have a clue what this is in reference to.

So if you are new here, not a football person, it's a nod to Franco Harris who was a football player.

He was a stealer, um, passed away fairly recently, but he made something called the immaculate

reception, uh, within 1972 where he caught a ball or maybe didn't catch a ball.

That is a point of historical contention actually, but it resulted in the stealer's first ever,

ever playoff win.

I did not know that part.

I just knew it was related to football, which I'm already proud of.

That's the part that I think like people forget.

Like Pittsburgh wasn't a particularly successful football program.

Like, we had gone from 1933 when the team was established to 1972 and had never won a playoff game.

Like, that's a long time to go without winning in the postseason.

And so there was this big moment and there's an audio recording of it.

That's very famous, um, and that decade we went on to win four Super Bowls.

So like, it was like a big deal.

It's like considered one of the most famous plays in football history.

And I'll have a pun.

I'll have a pun.

Immaculate collection is a great, that's a great one.

I hope this also means like the next decade will be super clean.

Yes, let that kind of good, good energy flow for the cleanup efforts as well.

There's also been some other little updates.

And we'll keep talking about this as we kind of build up to the day,

but like shout out, for example, to the 5K that's happening during the against.

I can't believe they're like, let's throw another sport in here.

Yeah, let's throw another sporting event that requires like massive road closures

and like all this energy and stuff.

But why not?

Why not throw it another thing?

Um, the draft day 5K, the organizers just released the course map.

So it's going to start at PNC Park.

Take you, let's see, up the Allegheny over 16th Street down Pan Avenue into downtown.

And then you finish right before you get to Point State Park.

Presumably you could walk right back over the Roberto Clemente Bridge

and be back where you started.

Hey, and when you hear where something fancy,

do you accidentally inadvertently reach for something black and gold?

Do you have gum bands around your house?

Does the car need washed or need to be washed?

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I hope we're good home today with some stuff,

bringing us joy or in my case laughs.

Sofia, did you see the license plate recognition software that has been used

by like so many organizations like the Pennsylvania Turnpike,

the city parking authority.

They've been struggling with Pennsylvania's fancy new license plate

that they made such a big deal out of because the letters and the numbers

are different sizes that's been pissing me off so bad.

You haven't got a ticket or anything.

You don't drive that much.

No, but I don't like looking at my car's license plate.

It's just looking at it.

I mean, I have seen like a lot of animosity on the internet

since they announced that thing.

I mean, that was gosh, over a year ago now,

but like it's because it's supposed to represent all of Pennsylvania

and it's got a Liberty Bell on it.

Yeah, I just don't like the size difference in the numbers and the letters.

I think it's cute enough,

but I guess the software that is supposed to be reading these things

does not agree like the cuteness factor doesn't matter

because I guess it can't tell the difference sometimes between a zero

and an eight because they had tried to fix this

because previously it couldn't tell the difference between a zero and an O,

like the letter O.

Yes, that makes more sense to me

because an A and a zero look very different.

They changed the zero to try to fix this

by putting one of those little slashes through it

and now it's struggling to tell the difference between the slash E zero

and an eight.

Like they tried to fix one AI problem and now they have a do it.

Does that mean people aren't getting tickets then

or like tickets are getting sent to the wrong person?

Reverse, yes tickets are being sent to the wrong person.

That's really so more tickets for for people.

I guess pen dot is trying to encourage people to just get an easy pass.

It is cheaper if you go through our turnpike.

Yeah, I mean, I am team easy pass in the long run.

Yeah, because that like solves the problem for them

then it just reads your transponder and it doesn't care about your license plate.

The city for its part says that it has already solved for this problem

so you shouldn't have an issue with the parking authority

but if you do you can contact them.

I love that like so often when we think we fix something it turns out

that in fact we've just created a new issue.

Yay, AI won't take our jobs.

Something I'm excited about is Kenywood's opening day.

They just announced that they'll be opening on Saturday April 18th.

So this is my time to tell everyone to get a season pass

if you plan to go just even twice like a gold season pass.

I think it's totally worth it because it comes with some like

bring a friend free tickets.

So you're really going like three times even if you bring a friend

and then the souvenir cup comes with the gold season pass

and I think all the other tiers too.

And honestly, I think that alone is worth it

because I refill that thing so many times in one single summer's day.

I just feel like we should say Kenywood and whoever owns them now

because I can't keep up it gets sold a lot.

This is not an ad.

No one's sponsor except for you to say anything about this.

This is just your genuine recommendation

for how to like do Kenywood as cheaply as possible.

Yeah, I mean, it's still not cheap because Kenywood is expensive.

But I think like this is the cheapest way to do it is to get a season pass

unfortunately.

You know, a friend of mine was saying that when she was growing up

like sometimes her mom would just like take her and her brother

to Kenywood and they would just like pop in and get a snack

and sit there on the park bench like they didn't even ride anything.

It was like a thing they did after school sometimes for funsies

because at the time like this was obviously a long time ago

but like there was no entrance like fee.

Like you just got to walk in.

It was like more of a community asset in that way.

Well, if everyone gets season passes,

it could be the same thing.

You could still go after school.

Now it's either Disneyland though.

Like you really got to save up for a day at Kenywood.

Yeah, yeah.

But if you want to get something a little extra

so before I think the season really heats up

on Saturdays and Sundays,

Kenywood is doing celebrate Kenywood weekends.

So they have like special potato patch inspired foods.

So what does that mean?

It sounds like really fancy stuff.

Loaded cheese steak fries, rosemary truffle fries,

a sweet potato ice cream sundae, potato product things,

truffles, potatoes, what?

No, but truffle french fries.

Oh, well yes, like yes.

But truffle in general seems way too fancy

for Kenywood.

I don't know, you can get truffle salt pretty cheaply.

Anyway, there's going to be a photo op.

Kenywood trivia, I've seen the press releases.

And I do want to go to Kenywood.

It's just expensive.

I just wish it was like a little more achievable.

That said, if anyone has, like, bring a friend passes

and wants to take me in my family,

I would appreciate that.

That'd be fun.

I'll take you if I get a season pass this year, Megan.

Thank you.

We will leave you with a touch more sports news.

The pirate season, it kicks off this week on Thursday.

And for the first time in ages, it sounds like maybe analysts

think we might be a team to watch.

To me that what has changed?

That doesn't mean that we're good.

That means that we might be slightly less disappointing.

That's my read on that.

OK, I mean, I don't know anything about baseball.

This is the only Pittsburgh sport I've seen in person, though,

mostly for the pierogi races and the vibes.

We have the best pitcher in baseball.

Yeah, I did not pass these games.

But we, and we have acquired people

that might make us less terrible than last year.

That's the short version.

That's what you need to know.

I will say if you're in it for the food and the fun like me,

this is a season two watch for the pirates anyway.

Because there's a new entertainment space

opening across the street from PNC Park.

It's called the Plaza, which I think they could have come up

with something more creative.

But it is where we're in this.

Pittsburgh loves a simple name.

I think this is smart, honestly.

I just think the Plaza is a little too generic.

I don't know.

I might show up at the wrong space if I weren't in tune with things.

Well, they can't call it like the terminal.

That's already two or three different things.

That's true. That's true.

I'll tell people to meet me at Sugarbird.

It's the restaurant opening in the Plaza.

It's coming April 2nd, which is that's not a lot of time

to soft open before home opener.

So like our first home game is April 3rd, the next day.

Yeah, but the people involved seem like they know what they're doing.

Like for example, Herky Pollock is involved.

And his name is everywhere right now.

And the restaurant group that's opening up Sugarbird

includes people from like Palm Palm and Virtual House.

So which is Herky.

Like if you're in case you're behind on this,

he's owned something called Legacy Realty for a very long time,

which you'll see his name all over downtown.

He's Liberty. Like it's everywhere.

I even saw like his name on like some stuff in the North,

like cranberry area not long ago.

He gets around.

But he opened Virtual House and Palm Palm.

Like the first time I went to Palm Palm,

Herky himself was helping like bus tables and like seat people.

I've never seen an investor like actually,

like acting as the host of the restaurant.

But like, yeah, this is a man.

Nice.

Yeah, he very hands on.

I get the impression.

But anyway, he's involved in this.

And now they have this new, I guess they've made it official.

But they're doing a hospitality group.

So Legacy Hospitality Partners officially launched this month.

And you know, Sugarbird, I don't think we've actually gotten to the food yet.

They're going to have chicken.

Part your focused on.

Yes.

Yes.

Chicken donuts and soft serve.

So sweet, some savory kind of a weird carbonation.

But I guess like that is stuff that, you know,

feels like baseball fair.

The plaza is also going to have like this giant TV screen.

So you can expect like more sports there, movies.

There's space for activities like outdoor yoga or festivals.

They're going to have some concerts there during the NFL draft.

So yet another thing going on.

Also importantly, a non-football thing.

If you are being dragged there, go see a concert instead.

That same group of Legacy, they're going to have another restaurant there too,

called Highball Social Club.

So that's going to be a restaurant and bar.

They said that's coming later this year.

And you know, there's more food in the park,

PNC Park, because they release their menu for the year.

We always rely on you.

So if you had to like tell us what's good.

But when you listed this off before we got on mic,

I think you and I had a strong difference of opinion about this.

Yes.

I'm always thinking about like what specialty hot dog they're going to do,

because I love hot dogs there.

Yes.

So first, they're going to do a Borequa dog.

So this is based off of street food from Puerto Rico.

So it's going to have like, there's a hot dog,

and then they're going to have like,

so free dough and ground beef on top of your hot dog, double meat.

Love it.

They're going to have like potato sticks on it.

So like the very crunchy kind, not like french fries.

That textural element, you're going to have it.

That sounds great.

Then they have the heavy hitter dog,

which is a foot long corn dog,

topped with mustard and pico de gallo.

I love a corn dog, but I'm scared of this one,

because in the pictures,

the pico de gallo looked really green and not very appetizing.

I love a corn dog.

Like with my whole body and soul, love a corn dog.

I once had a birthday that was corn dog themed.

I'm happy for you.

I hope this foot long one makes you happy,

because I think corn dogs should be smaller.

I like corn dog bites.

I don't think corn dogs need to get bigger.

I think it's fine to have them be long.

Like I like the pure ratio of cornbread to hot dog,

but I understand.

I think you just like the cornbread more than I do.

Yeah, you want more sweet, and I want sweet and meat.

Yeah, because I can just like dip the corn dog bite.

I also just don't like mustard.

See I'm fine with mustard.

I like mustard.

I like ketchup.

I'm usually a havesy on my corn dog situation.

I'm stoked about this corn dog.

Okay, I'll take like one bite,

and I'll give you the other 11 inches.

Last thing I will leave you with at PNZ Park

is as we're recording this, the athletic.

That's the New York Times Sports site.

They're running their annual Hope poll.

So if you have an athletic subscription,

I highly suggest you go check it out.

We'll let you know where it lands,

but anyway, they always ask baseball fans

at the beginning of a season,

like around now,

whether you have any hope for your team,

and it's just a yes or no poll, that's it.

And you can add a comment if you want to,

but mostly it's just like, yes, I feel hopeful.

No, I do not feel hopeful,

and I cannot wait to see what Pirates fans say this year.

I just love it as a concept.

Well, speaking of concepts, one last thing,

it's from Kraft Heinz.

I'm angry about it.

They are releasing protein mac and cheese.

It's called Power Mac.

I don't like it.

I don't like the proteinification of everything,

and I don't think Kraft has to get on it.

They're also releasing smaller lunchables,

which right now, a lunchable is a mouse-sized meal.

What are they going to do it?

Make it ant-sized now?

I've been mad about the size of Lunchables

since I was in middle school.

Like, they've never been an appropriate amount of food.

No, they're a snack for a child, not even a full meal.

But the thing I have the biggest question about

is they're also releasing electrolyte Capri Sun.

Who is this for?

Like, are we pumping our children of electrolytes?

I mean, yes.

I think that's what Pidiolites have been doing

for a long time.

I saw this too.

Sophia, it feels like rage-bait to be

which Heinz loves to do.

Still, maybe that is legitimately part of the whole thing.

We should also back up here, like, the company Kraft Heinz.

Like, was talking about breaking up a few months ago now,

like, because the merger that they did a few years ago,

like, wasn't going well.

Heinz is still headquartered here in Pittsburgh,

but they have, like, a shared headquarter situation

in Chicago in Pittsburgh.

I guess this is part of their strategy.

Like, they decided not to break up.

And now they got to fix some stuff.

They're going to try to make some new money

so that everything's going well again.

Like, protein mac was the best we could come up with.

You know what, we got pizza mac.

They should combine lunchables and mac and cheese.

The pizza mac and vegetables.

See, now that's an innovative Kraft Heinz product.

I love it.

Hi, Army Kraft Heinz.

I'm available for consulting and taste testing,

but also podcasting.

Yeah, me tasting things on Mike.

That is all for today here on CityCast, Pittsburgh.

You can support us by becoming a CityCast, Pittsburgh neighbor.

All the details are at membership.citycast.fn.

We'll be back tomorrow with more from around the city.

We'll talk to you soon.

What's the new partnership?

They're the official condiment partner of the NFL.