Category Archive: Preservation News
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Mellon Arena’s future still in limbo
By Stephanie Franken
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, July 10, 2002Even as the public sounds off over the proposal to preserve Mellon Arena as a historic landmark, the question of what to do with it remains unanswered.
And those involved with plans for a new Penguins arena doubt there is room enough in Pittsburgh for two.The Historic Review Commission of Pittsburgh today will hear public testimony about whether 41-year-old Mellon Arena has sufficient historic and architectural value to receive historic landmark status.
The proposal for a new $225 million arena and surrounding development Uptown calls for demolishing Mellon Arena, but a “City Designated Historic Structure” status would block or at least slow demolition plans. Today’s public hearings at 200 Ross St., Downtown, begin at 1 p.m. and comments about Mellon Arena will be heard beginning at 2:50 p.m.
Last month, the commission voted 4-0 to begin the process of determining whether the arena should receive historic status.
Today is the first step in a two-part process that will lead to a final vote on Aug. 7 to either approve or deny the historic designation, commission Chairman John DeSantis said. Ultimately, Pittsburgh City Council would vote to make the designation official after the Historic Review Commission puts forth a recommendation.
“The city’s going to be looking for the highest and best use for the land,” said Paul Anderson, a Marquette University law professor and associate director of the National Sports Law Institute.
The owner of Mellon Arena, the Sports & Exhibition Authority, already has made its position on Mellon Arena clear. It is working on a financing plan for a new Penguins arena — and those plans do not include the old arena, SEA spokesman Greg Yesko said.
“It was a marvel when it first opened. No one wants to downplay that,” Yesko said. But if the structure is allowed to stand after a new arena is completed, the SEA would bear the burden of owning and operating both facilities, he said.
“The overlap in the cost would be prohibitive. The cost of maintaining an obsolete facility with limited use is not a logical decision.”
In a handful of other North American cities, older hockey arenas that weren’t razed have continued to exist as spaces for entertainment and sports events. According to the National Sports Law Institute of Marquette University Law School, old hockey arenas in Calgary, Montreal , Philadelphia, Toronto and San Jose continue to be used for civic, social and athletic events.
In Boston, Chicago, Colorado, Detroit, New York City and St. Louis, older hockey arenas were demolished.
In Buffalo and in Washington, D.C., old arenas that weren’t demolished now stand vacant, according a Marquette report.
The SEA “doesn’t have a timeline, necessarily,” for a new arena, said Yesko, adding that the hockey team has a lease for the existing arena until 2006. But once construction of a new facility gets under way, he said, the old one should go.
Ken Sawyer, president of the Lemieux Group LP, said the Penguins view the historic designation of Mellon Arena as a separate matter from the team’s plans to build a new arena. “It’s definitely up to the public to determine the fate of the old arena,” he said.
Nevertheless, the Pens’ proposal to add housing, retail and office space near the new arena requires demolition of the old one.
“The only issue is that we do not believe the old arena should be used for events that could be held in that new arena,” Sawyer said.
In addition to hosting hockey games, a new arena would serve as a venue for events such as concerts — and it would be used for major events 140 to 150 days per year, Sawyer said.
Mellon Arena currently hosts hockey games, concerts and other major events an average of 130 days per year, give or take 10 to 15 days, said Doug Hall, general manager for SMG at Mellon Arena. In addition, there might be several smaller events taking place on any given day at the arena, he said.
The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Association, along with Preservation Pittsburgh, nominated Mellon Arena for historic designation in May.
History & Landmarks spokeswoman Cathy McCollom said her organization thinks Mellon Arena is an important building and should be saved but isn’t adamant. By nominating the site for historic status, it simply provides an opportunity for the public to weigh all possible uses for the structure — and choose the best one.
“While the nomination is in place, right now, the building cannot be demolished,” she said. But the Historic Review Commission could grant a demolition permit even after historic status has been granted.
Historic status only protects the exterior of a building. It would not prevent substantial changes to the inside of Mellon Arena.
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A Gift With A View
Journal of Gift Planning –
3rd Quarter 2002The cover image depicts Heathside Cottage, listed on the National Register of Historic Places and constructed circa 1855 in what is now Pittsburgh, PA.
The building’s Greek revival style is rare to find with its vergeboard and other sawn-out wooden trim still present and diamond-paned sash still in the windows. The word “heath”- meaning an open area with wild shubbery – is English. It suggests the romantic seclusion this house originally had, looking southward over the then growing City of Allegheny from a vantage point of 400 feet up.
Instead of giving her home via bequest, owner Judith K Harvey granted a facade easemnt to the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation (Landmarks), then made a retained life estate gift. Her resulting charitable deduction permitted her to offset the income tax owed on assets rolled over from a traditonal IRA to a Roth IRA. Her planning preserved a landmark and enabled her to do it during her lifetime.
Questions surround Plan C
By Stephanie Franken
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, June 23, 2002Damian Soffer has big dreams for the South Side: art films, new sidewalk cafes, loft apartments and an outdoor theater for concerts or Shakespeare performances.
The developer behind the SouthSide Works, the $170 million entertainment, housing and office complex under construction on the former LTV Steel site, Soffer said, “Everything that will happen in Pittsburgh will start or finish or run through the SouthSide Works.”But what about Downtown, wonders Landy Benaquista.
“There is no life. There are no shoppers here on Saturday. There’s nothing Downtown to draw anybody,” said Benaquista, gesturing across the street as she stood outside Candy-Rama, the 50-year-old Fifth Avenue store owned by her husband and brother-in-law.
With six new development projects planned or under way, Pittsburgh’s urban core will see substantial changes over the next decade. The projects promise trendy stores and restaurants, plus new office space and housing. If successful, the developments could enrich the neighborhoods they border by drawing more visitors and residents.
In a city lacking the population growth that often drives real estate development, however, gains for some mean losses for others.
Most developers, economists, city officials and store owners agree that Pittsburgh consumers will embrace newer developments at the expense of the old.
Among the vulnerable could be Downtown itself, sleepy past 6 p.m. and awaiting its third, $363 million redevelopment plan for the Fifth and Forbes area.
Candy-Rama’s Benaquista said she is optimistic that Plan C could give the area the boost it needs — once it gets under way. But during the wait, she said, area stores are moving on or dying off.
BIG PLANS
Meanwhile, developers outside Downtown are trying to seize their own share of Pittsburgh’s market, proposing more than $1 billion in new development.
Less than five miles up the Monongahela from the SouthSide Works, The Waterfront — a massive $300 million retail, office and housing complex — holds court. It is a mature development, now complete with the exception of eight acres adjacent to Loews Theatre. Farther down East Carson Street at Station Square, a hotel expansion, plus more stores, bars and restaurants are cropping up in a $71 million expansion.
On the other side of Downtown, an expanse of parking lots on the North Shore is the proposed home for another new urban neighborhood with $200 million in facilities for living, working and playing. On 25 acres near Mellon Arena, the Pittsburgh Penguins are devising a $500 million plan of their own that could include retail and entertainment space and a new hockey arena.
Circling the urban core are more than 20 shopping areas — enclosed malls and strip malls — such as The Waterworks Mall in Aspinwall and The Mall at Robinson.
In a market analysis that assesses the viability of Plan C, author Hunter Interests Corp. said the region’s declining population was reason for concern to developers.
“In the simplest sense, these two trends — decreasing population and increasing retailing — cannot continue indefinitely,” the study said.
WINNERS AND LOSERS
The Plan C task force devised a plan to help the project succeed: add nearly 600 new apartments to the Downtown mix.
To History and Landmarks Foundation President Art Ziegler, that’s why the proposal surpasses two previous Downtown redevelopment plans.
“It’s not about malls. It’s about housing,” he said.
But the fundamental issues raised by the Plan C market study remain: Unless Pittsburgh’s population booms unexpectedly, new developments will compete for the same pool of customers.
Experts disagree on the effect these new stores and office buildings will have on Pittsburgh’s economy.
Bob Gleeson, a Duquesne University professor who specializes in urban planning, said real estate development can spawn economic growth.
As private developers — especially those from other cities or states — build new developments, they have a big incentive to see them succeed, he said. As a result, they would pump up Pittsburgh and perhaps succeed in bringing new businesses here, in order to make their own projects succeed.
But Columbia University urban planning professor Elliott Sclar, in New York, disagreed. “It’s industries that drive growth, not real estate development,” he said.
“Whenever you get a new scheme for real estate development, it’s not going to change the basics. Entrepreneurship, industry growth, education, access to capital … they have nothing to do with a pretty store front.”
To Elizabeth Deakins, a professor of city and regional planning at the University of California at Berkeley, the outcome of a new development is a clearer win for the private developer than the city.
“A developer can tell you he can make a viable development and often, he’s right. That doesn’t mean he’s not going to do it by moving the market from Downtown or from older shopping centers to newer ones.”
With so many new projects under way, Pittsburgh may see older, locally owned stores lose out to new, national competition, Deakins said.
Whether or not that harms the city is a matter of opinion, she said.
Mulugetta Birru, executive director of the Urban Redevelopment Authority, agreed, saying new developments probably will weaken the city’s more obsolete restaurants and stores — even some old favorites.
They also may alter plans for Downtown.
“I feel all these developments will have a negative impact on the entertainment potential for Downtown,” Birru said. “At the end of the day, there is a limit to how much entertainment the area can support.”
While that reality might force a revision of expectations for the area, it doesn’t necessarily crush them.
Birru cited a feasibility study conducted by CB Richard Ellis for Deer Creek Crossing, a new shopping center proposed for Harmar Township, which found Pittsburgh has less shopping space per capita than the national average. While the national average is 19.6 square feet per capita, Pittsburgh averages 16.6.
Birru said there is no reason to intervene as outmoded establishments lose ground to newer ones. “It’s a natural market situation.”
University of Pittsburgh professor Edward Muller had a similar view.
“This is the nature of American Capitalism, to constantly have entrepreneurs — in this case often developers and large corporations — try to find their niche and boot others out of business,” Muller said.
“This kind of eating up of ourselves — cannibalism — that is the nature of the beast.”
LESSONS FROM DENVER
Whether or not each development succeeds, and whether or not local businesses find success along with them, is partly a matter of proximity.
Some local store owners are readying themselves for two possibilities: Either they will be close enough to new developments to gain from increased pedestrian traffic, or they will be too far away from those developments — and lose customers.
Downtown Pittsburgh might take a few lessons from Denver, another city that recently confronted blight and undertook massive new projects for renewal, said UC Berkeley’s Deakins.
Over the past decade, downtown Denver has undergone a renaissance. Infusions of taxpayer funds led to new housing and entertainment complexes in the heart of the city. A pedestrian walkway now cuts a swath through Downtown, encouraging foot traffic and giving rise to sidewalk cafes and stores. The city’s new baseball stadium, Coors Field, also is Downtown, adding to the area’s buzz.
Compared to Denver, Pittsburgh’s new developments aren’t as concentrated.
“They surround but do not reinforce the Downtown as one would hope,” said Thomas Clark, professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Colorado at Denver.
That means those new developments could compete against — not complement — each other. And local business could be caught in the crossfire.
Benaquista fears her store will be too far away from new developments on the two shores across from Downtown. She’d like to see a few big, inexpensive national retailers such as Target or Costco come Downtown, because she believes they would give people a reason to make the trip to an area where parking is inconvenient.
On the South Side’s East Carson Street, however, some shopkeepers say they are close enough to the SouthSide Works and optimistic that it will bolster an already lively area.
“We depend on foot traffic. Lots of businesses here depend on the numbers of people who come to see the South Side,” said Anne Oates, co-owner of Spotlight Costumes Co. At her 13-year-old store, visitors are greeted with South Side’s signature quirkiness: an array of colorful wigs and costumes, plus two chubby dachshunds named Kiwi and Brownie.
QUALITY WINS
For developers and retailers alike, it’s important to remember that customers will be faithful to places they love — new or old, said Bill Kunkel, manager of the Carlton Restaurant Downtown. “Our feeling is that there’s a piece of the pie for everybody. We’ve always felt that way. We’re a good restaurant, so we get our regular customers,” he said.
“I don’t know if that’s the case with everybody.”
Beyond stores and restaurants, however, what Pittsburgh needs to fill the gaps is stronger economic growth, said James Starman, managing director of L.J. Melody & Co., a real estate banking firm.
And when the future of new development projects is pondered, the health of the local economy represents the greatest unanswerable question.
But time is on the side of area developers. Most projects won’t be complete for several years. SouthSide Works, for instance, is under way now, but it is being completed one building at a time and won’t be finished until 2004.
It’s the time span for completion of new projects that increases their likelihood of success, said Mark Schneider of the Rubinoff Co.
“Do I think the markets are here for 750,000 square feet in one year? No. Do I think the markets are here for 750,000 square feet over seven years? Probably.”
Stephanie Franken can be reached at sfranken@tribweb.com.
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Innovators from Within
These rule-breakers work in established arts institutions or artistic disciplines but have managed to boldly infuse their work with high-quality inventiveness …
Sunday, June 02, 2002
…Arthur Ziegler and Barry Hannegan
President and director of Historic Design Programs, Pittsburgh History & Landmarks FoundationEach credits the other with the idea, so we honor both. Hannegan and Ziegler launched a public space design competition in 2001 that invited architects, landscape architects and artists under the age of 35 to imagine how Pittsburgh’s public squares could be redesigned. This year, they sponsored a similar competition for “orphaned spaces,” raised the prize money to $10,000 and attracted 19 entries packed with fresh, inventive ideas.
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Property owner’s plans requested
By Jaime McLeod
For the Tribune-Review
Sunday, May 26, 2002The owner of 10 abandoned buildings in the 100 block of Eighth Avenue in Homestead has until Tuesday to submit a plan on how it will correct numerous code violations cited at the properties.
If the owner of the properties, Gustine Properties Inc. of Pittsburgh, fails to submit a written formal plan on how it will proceed with fixing up the buildings, the matter will go before the local district justice, who can impose up to $5,000 in fines.Since 1998, the South Side company has been attempting, in conjunction with the CVS Corp., to demolish the structures and build a 10,000-square-foot drug store on the site.
In 2000, the Homestead Council decided the store should not be the first sight to greet visitors to Homestead’s main street. At the suggestion of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, which determined the buildings have historic value to the community, the council denied a request by the developers to tear down the buildings. Council members preferred that the buildings be renovated instead.
The refusal ignited a $7 million lawsuit against the borough, council, the planning commission, Mayor Betty Esper, the borough of West Homestead and its mayor, John Dindak.
The suit also named a number of private organizations and individuals, including the foundation; its president, Arthur P. Ziegler Jr.; and general counsel, Elisa Cavalier; the Homestead Area Economic Revitalization Corp.; the Steel Valley Enterprise Zone Corp.; and local business owners George DeBolt, David Lewis and Judith Tener.
The private parties, who were being defended by the American Civil Liberties Union, were dropped from the lawsuit in March, but the company continues to pursue litigation against the municipalities and its representatives.
In the meantime, residents and business owners, most notably former codefendant and West Homestead resident Lewis, who owns four buildings in the borough, have complained that the company has allowed its properties on Eighth Avenue to deteriorate to levels that violate local building codes.
Many have agreed with Preservation Pittsburgh President Sandra Brown that the condition of the properties is “demolition by neglect.”
Stephen Volpe, Homestead code enforcement officer, conducted a walk-through of the 10 buildings owned by Gustine on April 22 as part of a “neighborhood sweep” that encompassed a number of structures located on Sixth through Ninth avenues.
He would not discuss the details of the inspection, but Cindy Dzadovsky, borough manager, said violation notices for five of the buildings were mailed to Gustine on April 26 and that exposure to the elements was the primary area issue.
Gustine was given 30 days to make changes and repairs necessary to bring the buildings into compliance with Homestead’s building codes.
If it fails to do so, it will be assessed fines not to exceed $1,000 apiece for each violation, Dzadovsky said.
Bob Gustine, the in-house lawyer for Gustine Properties, said the company is awaiting advice from Dusty Kirk and George Medved, the attorneys handling the lawsuit against Homestead, before making any changes to the property.
Neither Kirk nor Medved could be reached for comment.
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Civic Arena Update
Civic Arena
May 11, 2002, Preserving, Improving Pittsburgh with Art Ziegler (Interview)
The building is an extraordinary example of early modern design in the world. It remains a unique building, and we believe that it should not be cast aside until studies are done to see if any feasible adaptive use can be developed for it.We recognize the difficulty of reusing the building, but we have already proposed using it as a possible downtown stop for the proposed Mag-Lev. We think it might be a great African-American center of jazz and products and restaurants.
Our concern was prompted by the Penguins’ plan by UDA Architects that showed the building demolished and replaced with buildings and housing. We don’t know what the market support is for that plan, but we were concerned that they did not consider the possibility of reuse.
So what we are recommending is that studies be undertaken of the possible reuse of the Civic Arena and all the surrounding open land. There is a magnificent opportunity there for our city and we would like to see the area be utilized to its optimum and that the downtown and the Hill District be reunited through that development.
We are also advocating an open process lead by Hill District residents and business people so all interested parties can participate.
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City foundation to honor Miller Academy
By Anthony Todd Carlisle
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, May 16, 2002When Miller Academy opened in 1849 as the first black public school in Pittsburgh, slavery still was sanctioned, James Polk was president and the Hill District was in its infancy as a residential community.
As the Hill has evolved, so, too, has Miller African Centered Academy. And because of its longtime presence in the community, the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation will present the academy, part of Pittsburgh Public Schools, with an honorary historic landmark plaque during a 2:45 p.m. ceremony at the school, 61 Reed St.Cathy McCollom, the foundation’s director of marketing and operations, said Miller students made the case for a historical marker by staging a play that detailed the academy’s history.
“It was the first time this ever happened,” she said. “They did all the research and put on a kind of play that talked about the history of the school and how they felt about the school. They sold us. They did a beautiful job.”
Fifth-grader Ladrina Riley, 12, said the work was worth it. “I feel proud that we are representing our school and showing how good it is. The school has been established for a long time.”
The current facility is the third school to stand on the Hill District site. It was designed in 1905 by John Blair Elliott in the classical style. An auditorium and gymnasium were added in 1939, designed in the art deco style by Marion Markle Steen.
McCollom said that while the historic designation carries no legal weight, the foundation should be notified if the building undergoes major changes.
Rosemary Moriarty, the academy’s principal, said the marker is a source of excitement for the school and its students. That the youngsters played a lead role makes it even better, she said. The academy is home to 252 students in kindergarten to grade five.
“They were so passionate,” Moriarty said. “I learned that children can really be convincing when they believe in something.”
Pittsburgh Mercy Health System also helped the school gain recognition. Since 1987, Mercy has been involved with a mentoring program at the school for students in grades three to five. This year’s project involved learning about the school building, its history and architecture and its significance in Pittsburgh.
Carol Lennon, who works in Mercy’s mentoring program, said the project was empowering for the youngsters. “For the students , they understand and appreciate that they have the power and ability to influence and make change.”
Moriarty said allowing the students to see themselves and their world differently has been the school’s main focus, which has been designated as an African-centered school by Pittsburgh Public Schools for the past four years.
The school’s student population is 98 percent black, and mainly comes from low-income families throughout the city.
“They are learning that African-Americans did not just exist at the time of slavery, but they come from wealth and strong heritage,” Moriarty said. “It’s important that they understand they come from a people who had a purpose and who excelled in all areas.”
Anthony Todd Carlisle can be reached at acarlisle@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7824
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Preserving, improving Pittsburgh with Art Ziegler
By Bill Steigerwald
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, May 11, 2002Four decades ago, Arthur Ziegler was a grassroots activist fighting to preserve Pittsburgh’s neighborhoods from the rampaging bulldozers of urban renewal.
Today, as president of Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, he is a major player in the city’s development and preservation scene.
In addition to developing Station Square into the city’s premier tourist draw for out-of-towners in the late 1970s, his group has been nationally acclaimed for preserving architectural landmarks and for restoring inner-city neighborhoods without dislocating their residents.
Ziegler played an important role in challenging — and ultimately improving — Mayor Murphy’s original, primitive plan for redeveloping Fifth and Forbes avenues Downtown. And this week his group joined with Preservation Pittsburgh to nominate the Mellon Arena for city historic designation, a move which, if enacted, would make it difficult to demolish the 41-year-old landmark. I talked to Ziegler by telephone Wednesday.
Q: Knowing what you know about the historical preservation business in this town, what are the odds that the Mellon Arena is going to be standing five years from now?
A: The odds I can’t predict. What we are asking for is simply time to see if any feasible new use can be found for the arena. If none can be found, I don’t think it will be standing. But if we can find good uses, I think it will be.
Q: What, realistically, can it be used for without competing with a new arena next door?
A: I’m assuming that it has to be uses that do not compete. That the Penguins need their new arena and they need it exclusively, so we have to find altogether different uses for this building.
We proposed one already to be studied, having it as a maglev stop for downtown Pittsburgh. If maglev is built, it would make a fantastic train station and intermodal center. It could have two floors that could be developed for restaurants or entertainment, themed perhaps — African-American or nationalities.
Q: Could it end up being used for a sports museum, a jazz museum, shopping?
A: Yes. It could end up being anything. We think the people from the Hill District should be deeply involved in leading this effort, and it should involve all the surrounding land, to weave the Lower Hill and the city back together. Maybe this building could be the principal address.
Q: Fifty years after the city wiped it out. I guess there’s irony there — also indictments there, but that’s another story.
A: I’d agree with all of that.
Q: So in other words, the arena could be changed considerably inside and still hold on to its historical value.
A: I’m assuming it cannot be a sports arena, that we have to find altogether new uses for it. But it is an incredible structure. It’s unique.
Q: It’s almost like a work of art now.
A: It’s interesting also that Edgar Kaufmann, who really was the proponent behind moving the Civic Light Opera there (in the 1960s), is represented. His legacy to Pittsburgh is two fabulous early-modern buildings, Fallingwater and the Civic Arena.
Q: Switching over to Station Square, which you once had quite a hand in, is it still healthy and evolving in a good way?
A: Yes. It has had a transition here, as the hotel was totally renovated and had another 100 rooms added. The new buildings are going in and will open I think in July or August.
There’s going to be a new food court in the shops building and hopefully a direct connection from the shops right to the incline – right from inside the building, up an elevator and across Carson Street into the incline. I think you’re going to see a great revitalization there.
Q: What about Plan C in Downtown at Fifth and Forbes? Are you optimistic that it is going to be done in the right way?
A: I think everyone is together on the plan – the city, the merchants, us. I have heard no dissents from the plan.
Q: Not counting eminent domain?
A: Right. Eminent domain has been put to the side.
Q: Does the plan lack anything?
A: I think the plan is really good.
Q: And it includes residential, retail, keeps the local merchants there?
A: It has all the residential we proposed in our plan (three years ago), both new buildings and loft buildings. It has a market house, which we need Downtown, and new retail and restored retail.
Q: What’s your synopsis of what has gone on over the last three or four years at Fifth and Forbes?
A: I think the winners are all of us, because we now have a plan that all of us believe in. I think the problem was that so often Pittsburgh planning is not grassroots in origin. It tends to be top-down. And here, I think that top-down and grassroots finally came together and we have a good, solid plan.
Q: I’m looking here at an article that says that big malls are dying – super malls, anyway – and that American shoppers are seeking more offbeat, unique shopping options. Have we lucked out. Is Plan C going to appeal to this new trend?
A: I think it’s very timely. People are back looking at downtowns as they have existed in the past. That’s what they seem to want. They’re back to main streets like Carson Street. Carson Street is an enormous success, without any public subsidy and, in fact, without any real planning.
Q: I always say that the places people would want to live in are the places that planners have not touched – South Side, Bloomfield, Squirrel Hill, Shadyside … .
A: That’s right. It’s all the places that are grassroots, that respond to a genuine market … . And they all have residential all around them.
Q: You started out as a grassroots guy. Are you still a grassroots guy? You’re more of a player now.
A: Well, I know that what we try to do is play on behalf of the community. It’s the same with the Civic Arena. What we’re saying is, “Let’s not have the Penguins or Landmarks lead this thing. Let’s have the interests of the Lower Hill lead this, and Downtown interests, and come together on a plan that we all think will work.”
Q: So you are obviously learning from the mistakes of the past.
A: That’s right.
Q: If you could turn the clock back 40 or 50 years, what’s the most important thing you could have done to stop or change some decision that would have kept something around that isn’t here now?
A: I wish we could have started 10 years earlier and stopped the urban renewal plans of the ’50s and ’60s, including the Lower Hill, Allegheny Center, East Liberty.
I think that those demolitions wiped out potentially vital ingredients in the city and did a great deal of permanent harm. They focused on the cores, and removed the hearts of these areas.
I think we’ve got to address — and we have the opportunity with the Lower Hill — how to get them going again. There’s good work going on in East Liberty now to get it back into the physical configuration it once was.
Bill Steigerwald is the Trib’s associate editor. Call him at (412) 320-7983. E-mail him at: bsteigerwald@tribweb.com.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. © The Tribune-Review Publishing Co