PublicSource | News for a better Pittsburgh (https://www.publicsource.org/category/environment/page/2/)
The political context of the parks tax has changed considerably since March. The original debate over the tax centered around what it meant to spend the money equitably. Since then, Black Lives Matter protests across Pittsburgh have put the issue of equity front-and-center, drawing attention — and often support — from council.
COVID-19 cost jobs, closed businesses and limited travel. But the economic ruin has also led to record low levels of pollution and huge reductions in climate change emissions globally.
Some of the changes, such as remote work, could have lasting benefits for the environment, even after the economy restarts. Other changes, such as a decrease in the use of mass transportation, could make environmental problems worse.
The county touted Bogen’s work helping to address the persistent inequity between Black and white mothers, and her work helping to address the opioid crisis. But Bogen said she has significant work to do to learn more about the coronavirus and the air quality regulations that took up significant time of her predecessor, Dr. Karen Hacker.
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.
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.
