AS PITTSBURGH institutions go, WQED Multimedia occupies a place of honor in the pantheon of greats. The station that started it all, WQED-TV, was the country's first community-supported television station when it went on the air in 1954 and has been the creative home of programming that has charmed Pittsburghers ever since (including the classic "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood"). Last week, WQED's board of directors unanimously approved a Pittsburgh native who grew up watching the station as its president-elect and chief executive officer. Deborah Acklin, 47, who has served in a number of executive roles at WQED since 1996, will succeed George Miles Jr. on Sept. 23. Best wishes are due to Mr. Miles, 68, the affable and distinguished face of WQED, who leaves after more than 16 years in the top job with the company poised to end the fiscal year in good shape. Congratulations to Ms. Acklin, currently executive vice president and chief operating officer, who is eminently qualified to take over.

IS IT A BEAUTIFUL DAY in the Downtown neighborhood with so many landmark buildings for sale? As reporter Mark Belko detailed in a front-page story Friday, the Golden Triangle is full of for-sale signs and many of them are on landmark buildings: Macy's department store (formerly Kaufmann's), Gateway Center, the Henry W. Oliver Building, the Regional Enterprise Tower (formerly the Alcoa building), EQT Tower (formerly Dominion Tower) and the American Red Cross of Southwestern Pennsylvania building. But why? Opinions differ, but it may be a case of a silver lining in the clouds of recession. Yarone Zober, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's chief of staff, said, "By and large, when I talk to people in the industry, the answer is that people are selling in Pittsburgh because they want to sell high," he said. Others think it might be just coincidence or, according to one observer, a case of owners trying to cash out while they can. But we are putting on our cardigan and sneakers and thinking positively.