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PublicSource | News for a better Pittsburgh (https://www.publicsource.org/category/develop-pgh/)

DEVELOP PGH

Your stop for the ins and outs on development and planning in the Pittsburgh region.

A vacant home on Franklin Avenue in Wilkinsburg. (Photo by Ryan Loew/PublicSource)

Raise, raze, reclaim: A county proposal has blight-beset boroughs thinking demolition — and beyond

By Rich Lord

URA coronavirus programs in great demand; more help coming

By Rich Lord

Urban Redevelopment Authority to offer $1.3 million in COVID-19 aid

By Rich Lord

Area economic agencies are offering relief from coronavirus money woes. But will they be ‘equal to the task?’

By Rich Lord

Vulnerable communities: How Pittsburgh-area low-income housing providers are responding to COVID-19

By Rich Lord

DEVELOP PGH

Pittsburgh resident paying bus fair before riding (Photo by Jay Manning/PublicSource)

Kansas City embraced free transit. Here’s what the fare-free debate looks like in Allegheny County.

By Matt Petras | March 11, 2020

Across the country, activists and lawmakers have begun to discuss a radically different approach to making public transit accessible to residents: making it universally free to use. This discussion is also happening in Allegheny County, where public transit advocates hope for fares to be eliminated within 10 years. PublicSource has collected answers to key questions to help area residents understand the pros and cons and how Pittsburgh compares to other cities.

DEVELOP PGH

The Ewalt House in Lawrenceville. (Photo from the Planning Commission)

Planning Commission: Lawrenceville house historic enough, despite damage, tie to slavery

By Rich Lord | March 10, 2020

PublicSource will report here about notable actions and conversations from the meetings of the City of Pittsburgh’s Planning Commission. The meetings are held at 2 p.m. on every other Tuesday on the 1st floor of the Civic Building at 200 Ross Street.

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A mural painted on the wall at the entrance of the deejaying class at the Lighthouse Project at the YMCA in Homewood. (Photo by Kimberly Rowen/PublicSource)

As Pittsburgh area redevelops, these organizations hope the arts can bolster communities, not remake them

By Jamie Parke | March 4, 2020

The relationship between the arts and development is complicated, raising the question of whether development spurred by art helps a community by drawing new attention if it causes harm by altering its identity.

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AHRCO housing on Fifth Avenue in West Oakland (Photo by Jay Manning/PublicSource)

AHRCO wants a buyer for 1,500 affordable housing units. Advocates worry about the long-term impact on tenants.

By Rich Lord | March 3, 2020

Allegheny Housing Rehabilitation Corporation [AHRCO] has solicited interested buyers for a “1,500-unit affordable housing portfolio [in] Western Pennsylvania.” A notice circulating in the real estate community indicates that offers were due Feb. 26.

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The Pittsburgh Allegheny County Thermal building and smokestack Downtown. Photo by Jay Manning PublicSource

Downtown’s shared heating system may be sold as Allegheny County pulls out and Pittsburgh chases climate goals

By Rich Lord | February 26, 2020

Downtown interests are deciding whether to sell a shared heating system that the county plans to abandon, but that the city views as an asset as it pursues environmental goals.

DEVELOP PGH

Overhead photo looking down on highway with large warehouse behind it, sitting along riverbank. City of Pittsburgh can be seen downriver in the upper right corner.

When Heinz expanded, a family business lost out. How the standoff from 1999 informs the debate over displacement.

By Essay by David S. Rotenstein | February 24, 2020

In 1999, an epic confrontation occurred on Pittsburgh’s North Shore. Mayor Tom Murphy and City Council put the full weight of Pittsburgh’s government behind the H.J. Heinz Company’s efforts to expand its shipping facilities along River Avenue.

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Melvie Blackwell, a former employee of the Hill House Association, poses for a portrait in front of the James F. Henry Hill House Center. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Pittsburgh City Paper)

Voices of Hill House: How decades at the community center shaped the lives of these three women

By Renee Aldrich | February 19, 2020

For five decades, the Hill House served as a community anchor in Pittsburgh’s Hill District. Residents across generations saw it as a community center, a hub for services such as dental care and work training, a venue for local performers and headliners like John Legend, and also a neighborhood employer.

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A for-sale sign hang on the front porch of a home at 223 Robinson St. in West Oakland. (Photo by Ryan Loew/PublicSource)

Hitting the wall: An affordable housing program meant to increase homeownership hasn’t opened many doors

By Rich Lord | February 17, 2020

A key goal of Pittsburgh’s Housing Opportunity Fund is to get more residents into affordable homes that they own. But the program, so far, is lagging. Since 2018, when the HOF was first funded, the program has committed money to 12 for-sale homes compared to 316 affordable apartments.

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East Pittsburgh Borough Manager Seth Abrams and Councilwoman Stacey Simon walk along Bessemer Avenue in East Pittsburgh. (Photo by Ryan Loew/PublicSource)

The well next door: East Pittsburgh and North Braddock diverge on the local impact of proposed fracking

By Rich Lord | February 3, 2020

On either side of the invisible border between North Braddock and East Pittsburgh, you can see, hear and sometimes smell the Edgar Thomson Steel Works below. But the prevailing view of a proposal to frack on the mill site is dramatically different on the two sides of that line.

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Woman in red shirt standing on balcony of the Oakland Affordable Living complex

Developing affordable housing isn’t easy. The story of this Oakland complex shows what it takes.

By Jason Vrabel | January 6, 2020

Affordable housing depends on federal tax credits. Securing them is a complex, competitive process.