Preservation group offers to mediate

Sunday, January 21, 2007
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Preservation Pittsburgh is urging the state to stop burying Fort Pitt’s historic Music Bastion as part of the $35 million renovation of Point State Park and instead begin talks aimed at preserving public access to the region’s oldest existing structure.

The advocacy group formed to preserve the region’s historic landmarks has offered to mediate a solution between the Fort Pitt Preservation Society, which has offered its own compromise plan to preserve the Music Bastion, and the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the River Life Task Force, and the Allegheny Conference on Community Development. Those agencies support a plan that calls for filling in the moat and burying the bastion to create an expansive lawn for concerts in the park.

“We believe that a solution exists that helps to preserve and interpret the Music Bastion in a meaningful way, and at the same time achieves the goals of River Life Task Force to broaden the use of the space to meet the current and future needs of Downtown, the city and the region,” said Preservation Pittsburgh’s executive director Steven Paul.

Michael Nixon, attorney for the Fort Pitt Preservation Society, welcomed Preservation Pittsburgh’s offer to mediate. “It’s important because it recognizes that a solution is viable,” he said.

This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. © Pittsburgh Post Gazette