Neighborhood of the week: East Liberty (Pittsburgh, Penn: real estate, rentals, crime)

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by gg

One can only hope. It is ridiculous that there is a delay, but there are always some folks with their hands out that are looking to cash in. Similar reason the Civic Arena sight is still a parking lot. Progress is painfully slow in our region. Wish they would be more like NYC around here and let progress happen naturally.

The fight isn't really about Whole Foods - it's about affordable housing. And the park to a limited extent, but that's just stupid NIMBYism. If LG either upped the kitty towards new units of affordable housing or made their new development mixed-income, ELDI would drop its opposition and Whole Foods would still move in. If Whole Foods pulls out, it will be because LG Realty scraps the plan entirely for something else.

[WhoIsStanwix?]

Originally Posted by xdv8

It's covered way too closely, here are just a few recent articles. Lots of angry people. Everything is uncertain.


East Liberty developer ordered to halt work at former Penn Plaza site | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

City cites developer for removing trees at Penn Plaza site | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Demonstrators take to Downtown over Penn Plaza dispute | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Peduto asks developers to house displaced Penn Plaza residents | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Aside from the obvious issue of displacement, can someone help me understand if there are other underlying issues here? I recall reading somewhere, maybe here, that the developer doesn't have ties to the city administration the way Walnut Capital and the like do. I have also heard, but can't verify, there is a contingent of NIMBYs opposed to the reconnecting of a street to keep their somewhat private access to a city park. Either way, there seems to be more here than meets the eye, and some of the real interests may be hiding behind the veil of benevolence.

On a related note, it looks like the attorney fighting the city on the Penn Plaza development is the same attorney that is fighting the city on the black & gold sign on Mt. Washington, Jonathan Kamin.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by WhoIsStanwix?

Aside from the obvious issue of displacement, can someone help me understand if there are other underlying issues here? I recall reading somewhere, maybe here, that the developer doesn't have ties to the city administration the way Walnut Capital and the like do. I have also heard, but can't verify, there is a contingent of NIMBYs opposed to the reconnecting of a street to keep their somewhat private access to a city park. Either way, there seems to be more here than meets the eye, and some of the real interests may be hiding behind the veil of benevolence.

On a related note, it looks like the attorney fighting the city on the Penn Plaza development is the same attorney that is fighting the city on the black & gold sign on Mt. Washington, Jonathan Kamin.

I mentioned this above, but there are basically two different groups involved.

ELDI is generally pro-development (since it's actually run by the local businesses), but LG Realty has worked really hard to **** off the community. The developers have of course engaged in the first mass evictions in East Liberty since the towers came down a decade ago. They also accepted very little community dialog and purposefully scheduled their public meetings at the last minute, with no handouts, in an attempt to railroad the development through. The money set aside to fund affordable housing is nowhere near enough to make up for the units lost. And now rather than retool their proposal, LG Realty is litigating it. I think ELDI would be opposed regardless (I talked to a staffer there a few years back who was really terrified about their plans) but even if they weren't they'd need to oppose such a bad actor in order to retain community credibility.

The other group is the "Friends of Enright Parklet" who, as far as I can determine, are a few NIMBYs who live on nearby streets like Amber and S Saint Clair and wish to use the park as an excuse to stop any development which impacts them. They've variously opposed designs which allow for street continuity again, modify the orientation of the park, and require mature trees to be cut down. I think they're bad actors, but I think if ELDI is won over, their opposition can be dealt with.

[SteelCityRising]

Aren't NIMBY's also the reason why the Garden Theater block in the Mexican War Streets still looks like a third-world country? NIMBY's in this city are out of control.

[gg]

Originally Posted by eschaton

The fight isn't really about Whole Foods - it's about affordable housing.

I know that was my point. It is killing growth. That Civic Arena sight is in the same boat. Just a big empty parking lot. Just build and grow. Pittsburgh needs higher end development to offset that massive amount of poverty dragging our city down. It takes money to build infrastructure and better schools, not catering to those that can't help the city. I hate to sound harsh, but with a city falling apart and a school system that ranks as one of the lowest in the state, we need growth. East Liberty is important. It will never be as great as it once was, but it can still be nice.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Aren't NIMBY's also the reason why the Garden Theater block in the Mexican War Streets still looks like a third-world country? NIMBY's in this city are out of control.

In that case it's not even NIMBYs. It's a NIMBY in singular. The project was supported by all of the community groups, but two property owners on nearby streets blocked it. One of them dropped out. The last guy litigating the issue isn't even a Pittsburgh resident - he lives in NYC most of the time, but owns a house on Boyle Street.

Originally Posted by gg

I know that was my point. It is killing growth. That Civic Arena sight is in the same boat. Just a big empty parking lot. Just build and grow. Pittsburgh needs higher end development to offset that massive amount of poverty dragging our city down. It takes money to build infrastructure and better schools, not catering to those that can't help the city. I hate to sound harsh, but with a city falling apart and a school system that ranks as one of the lowest in the state, we need growth. East Liberty is important. It will never be as great as it once was, but it can still be nice.

Again, ELDI is not anti market-rate development. They allowed the new Walnut Capital projects to go through, along with Eastside Bond. They're general MO is to allow for new market rate development to go in, but to replace old affordable units with new ones if the buildings in question need to be scrapped. You can see this process going on right now - they moved the East Liberty Gardens residents into the new apartments on East Liberty Boulevard (which are half in East Liberty, half in Larimer) and now they're going to knock down East Liberty Gardens and build new mixed-income there, moving people from some other affordable units.

The problem is LG wouldn't get with the program. ELDI would have agreed to 200 more market rate units there if they were within a mixed-income development, or if land was set aside for a new development which would replace the lost apartments at Penn Plaza. There was no serious attempt to make this happen on the part of LG however.

[UKyank]

For me East Liberty has been the only neighborhood that has truly gone from 'don't go there' to 'you can't afford to live there' in the time since I moved here.

[xdv8]

NIMBYs hard at work:

https://www.facebook.com/SaveEnrightParklet/

https://www.facebook.com/BuildPennSquare/

Their tactic seems to involve actively talking down East Liberty to discourage any investment.

[Joe Magarac]

Originally Posted by eschaton

ELDI is not anti market-rate development. They allowed the new Walnut Capital projects to go through, along with Eastside Bond ...

The problem is LG wouldn't get with the program. ELDI would have agreed to 200 more market rate units there if they were within a mixed-income development, or if land was set aside for a new development which would replace the lost apartments at Penn Plaza. There was no serious attempt to make this happen on the part of LG however.

This is a fair summary of what's going on in East Liberty. I think what irks me - hence my emphasis in bold - is the notion that a developer who owns land, and who wants to develop it in a manner that is completely permissible under current ordinances and zoning regulations, has to "get with the program" by doing a bunch of extra stuff that the City and ELDI both want for political reasons, before it will be "allowed" to develop the land.


I'm all for affordable housing. But I think that developers should be allowed to be insensitive jerks, as long as they follow the law. And as far as I can tell, LG has followed the law.

[xdv8]

Originally Posted by Joe Magarac

This is a fair summary of what's going on in East Liberty. I think what irks me - hence my emphasis in bold - is the notion that a developer who owns land, and who wants to develop it in a manner that is completely permissible under current ordinances and zoning regulations, has to "get with the program" by doing a bunch of extra stuff that the City and ELDI both want for political reasons, before it will be "allowed" to develop the land.


I'm all for affordable housing. But I think that developers should be allowed to be insensitive jerks, as long as they follow the law. And as far as I can tell, LG has followed the law.

I feel the same way. If ELDI and the City were really concerned they should have already added affordable housing covenants into City regulations. Now they are using questionable tactics to persuade a developer and it's a mess. I'm a fan of this administration, but they dropped the ball by not getting ahead of the issue.

From LGs perspective, the city and NIMBYs are just taking and taking. Why would they offer any more concessions when the good will isn't there on the other side?