Greetings from Downtown Pittsburgh, where concrete barriers are multiplying, as the mailboxes disappear.

-- The Central Blood Bank is asking for donations "to help ensure a sufficient blood supply for area hospitals."

The Blood Bank's medical director, Joseph Kiss, is expecting a loss of "500 units due to the 2009 G-20 Summit." Presumably, some of that is to keep Vladimir Putin from draining the local livestock ... but the rest is intended to help contend with a possible emergency. You don't have to buy into the fear to help out -- there's never a bad time to do this. 

-- This is a heavy blow indeed: Trib PM, the newspaper for people who don't like newspapers, is suspending publication all next week.

An intrepid CP staffer saw this flyer at a distribution point: "Because of the travel restrictions created by the G-20 Summit, there will be NO TribPM published during the week of September 21-25."

So TribPM fans ... if you want warmed-over celebrity gossip and AP wire stories, you're just going to have to get them on your computer at work, like the rest of us do. 

Goddamn it, it's like the anarchsts have already won. 

-- In brighter media news, the Wall Street Journal apparently has yet another "Pittsburgh is really all right!" story in the works. We got hit up for photos of Gooski's bar earlier today. Lots of City Paper readers just rely on us and the WSJ for their news, I know ... so be sure to keep your eye out. Story could run as early as tomorrow. 

-- Dok Harris, the mayoral candidate who is learning to spot media opportunities the way his dad spotted holes in a defensive line, has a new Web site up and running. The site asks visitors to help tally up the "REAL cost of the Pittsburgh G-20" ... arguing that Mayor Luke Ravenstahl hasn't really reckoned with the way the summit is disrupting the lives of its citizens. The site could also have the added benefit of irritating the hell out of the Chamber of Commerce types, so get thee hence. 

-- The wind-up to the G-20 is reminding me a lot of the aftermath of 9/11. Lots of rumors and panic in the air. Deep breaths, people, deep breaths.