Adventures in City Planning!

I spent the afternoon Downtown at a public Planning Commission Meeting for the Division of Development Administration and Review Board. The thrills weren’t exactly “non-stop”, but I honestly had a great time. There were several topics to be voted on that day; one of the first was the petition to officially re-zone an old housing project that I had grown up next to called “Broadhead Manor”. This was the 70’s and 80’s, when kids roamed free until the street lights came on, and I personally spent the majority of my young days in those very trees between Wingap Ave. and the Hollywood cemetery. Playing in the Woods, we were free to be kids.

Don’t allow nostalgia for my old forts and shanties to gloss over the problems of Broadhead Manor. Over its last four decades, it saw far more than its share of crime, drama, and despair. The steep cliffs and thick tree cover separated our house from much of the trouble that spilled out of Broadhead. The property owners who lived closer to the Project, and who are now finally seeing value increase in their homes since Broadhead closed, were there today to make sure the re-zoned, 26 acres of “Urban Industrial land” will not drag those values back down with dirty or noisy facilities. I myself chimed in ‘on the official record’, voicing concern of the ability of those roads and nearby infrastructure to handle the increased distress said Industry would bring. The re-zoning was approved, with promises to the concerned citizens of future public forums as the lots were developed.

This is the main intersection that the new Urban Industrial zone will be using…just saying.

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But let me move on. There was much more to discuss this day, and being present for this interesting vote on the Housing Project was simple happenstance. I had actually traveled down to Ross Street that day because of the “main event”. PLANPGH, the 25 year strategic plan for Pittsburgh’s ongoing development and revitalization was ready to be voted into action, or at least one part of it. There are twelve distinct components to the plan, each with specific goals and challenges. The components are as follows:

Open Space, (Parks and Recreation) Cultural Heritage Transportation Public Art Urban Design Public Facilities and Services (City-owned properties) Energy Infrastructure Economic Development Housing Education Land Use

http://planpgh.com/

Today, the Board voted to implement the “Open Space” (http://planpgh.com/openspacepgh/) aspect of PLANPGH. Senior City Planner, Andrew Dash, explained that ‘Open Space’ is about working with Citiparks and the Department of Public Works in order to rethink all of our available public lands, and understand the way those public lands increase the value of nearby private property. Many of the 146 parks within the city limits were built around or before 1960, when our population was at its peak–670,000 people versus the 304,000 remaining–and designed for individuals with different green space needs that we have today. Neighborhoods evolve, and we must evolve the Green space to fit those changes.

Dash went on to explain that their plan goes beyond “big ticket” recreation assets like parks and pools and baseball fields. They want to locate and extract the value of empty lots and common areas, as well as identify roads and structures which can be “given back to Nature” in order to cut current maintenance costs. Furthermore, Dash stressed the need to more efficiently utilize the important resource of volunteers by giving them the “toolkit” they need to transform vacant lots into gardens and common spaces. Not just community gardens and lot artwork, but cleaning and preserving those public, unused land as the asset they can become to a neighborhood. “The Woods”. They serve to clean the air, provide protection from land erosion, and beautify the landscape. It’s also still really fun to play in them.

It was a good presentation, and several in attendance stepped forward to praise the OpenSpace plan and it’s drafters, claming it was “complete and inclusive”, and served to protect, “ Green Spaces: the lungs of the City.” I admit that I was left with a few questions and a slightly arched eyebrow. I spoke to Mr. Dash afterward, about the vacant lot/urban garden aspect, and the particulars of the “toolkit” he had spoken of–specifically how citizens will be notified concerning which nearby properties are available for gardening, and if free soil testing was part of the deal. To his credit, the plan is still in the early stages, so he couldn’t give me names and webpages, but he seemed competent and confident that with the Board approving the project, things would soon manifest. I’ll keep yinz posted.

I left thinking about Parks and Recreation in a different way. About the effects those woods that I played in had on my neighborhood, as well as the playgrounds, public pools, and ball parks available; how everything is connected. A stretch of unkempt trees and craggy hills is what divided my street from the blight of Broadhead when the violence of the Crack Epidemic really hit. “Protected Green-space…” that’s what he called it. It can be a pretty amazing resource when used effectively.

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