unBlight

Homewood, PGH + Dr. Mindy Fullilove + 9 Elements of Urban Restoration

If only every community planning process included a psychiatrist….

I’ve had the pleasure of sitting in the presence of Dr. Mindy Fullilove during some comprehensive planning sessions in the predominately African American Pittsburgh neighborhood of Homewood (more on this later).  Dr. Fullilove, a professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Clinical Socialmedical Sciences at Columbia University, wrote Root Shock: How Tearing Up City Neighborhoods Hurts America, and What We Can Do About It. 

At an April meeting she identified nine elements of urban restoration, which she explores in her upcoming book, Urban Alchemy, Restoring Joy in America’s Fractured Cities.  

1. Have a city in mind
2. Find out what you’re FOR
3. Make a mark
4. Unpuzzle- have others see the city
5. Unslum- create a place where people want to stay
6. Do meaningful placemaking
7. Strengthen the region
8. Solidarity- identify, rather than compare
9. Celebrate!

I like this list because there’s action as well as thinking/ analyzing/ planning.  Cities and neighborhoods can and must do both.  

Activating Vacant Public Spaces- The Larimer Village Green

The Larimer Green Team recently reached a critical moment within the organization. Members have begun to ask themselves, “what do we do now?”  The Larimer Community Garden and Urban Farm is a huge success.  A study of the garden, conducted by students of Chatham University’s School of Sustainability and the Environment, concluded that residents overwhelmingly saw the garden as an important community asset, and appreciated the value it brings to revitalizing the neighborhood.  As the June 2nd planting day approaches almost all of the beds on one half of the garden are occupied (yours truly has been roped into purchasing a bed).  A children’s play space is in the works for the other half the garden lot and a rain garden is being installed on a lot one block away in the coming months.

On Saturday, May 19, 2012, “What do we do now?” happened.  The Larimer Green Team partnered with its fellow Action Team, Celebrate!, and the Faith Based committee of the Larimer Consensus Group to organize the first Larimer Community Gospel Fest.  Residents and visitors brought their children and chairs to the garden and listened to live gospel performances, ate barbeque and chatted with neighbors and friends.  A vendor was on hand to provide the children with icy treats.  Many explored the Environment and Energy Community Outreach Center (EECO Center) which was opened its doors for the event.  

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Larimer Green Team: Greening While in Transition

The Larimer Green Team (LGT) is one of the five Action Teams that emerged from the three year visioning process that created the Larimer Vision Plan.  The organization is made up of Larimer residents, including longtime resident and LGT chairwoman Carolyn Peeks, Larimer business owners, residents in neighboring communities of Lincoln-Lemington and East Liberty as well as students from nearby colleges and universities.  Staff from the offices of elected officials and governmental agencies participate in meetings and group activities to provide technical assistance.  Seeding Prosperity and Revitalizing Corridors (SPARC) has provided administrative and financial assistance for the LGT over the past three years, and will continue to do so as the neighborhood seeks to implement the recommendations of the vision plan.

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Larimer: A Rebirth Modeled on Sustainability

The neighborhood of Larimer takes its name from the railroad tycoon and land speculator, William Larimer (who is more famously known as the founder of Denver, Colorado).  In the mid-nineteenth century, after making his fortune in the railroad industry, Mr. Larimer built a home, on what would eventually be called “Larimer Lane,” and today, Larimer Avenue.  Larimer’s daughter, Rachel, married James Mellon, who brought the area under the control of the prominent Mellon family. As with neighboring East Liberty, the Mellons sold or rented this land and used the proceeds to finance Pittsburgh’s coal, steel, and gas industries. 

During the late 1800s and early 1900s Italian immigrants began to settle in Larimer to work in area mills and factories.  By the 1940s the neighborhood swelled to 13,000 residents, with successful businesses that lined a vibrant Larimer Avenue corridor.  Pittsburgh’s urban renewal program of the 1950s and 1960s, dispersed many of its poor African American residents to the city’s East End (see previous post: Hill District: The Crossroads of the World).  And as African Americans moved into Larimer, its Italian population abandoned the neighborhood, moving to other parts of the city and surrounding suburbs.  

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Hill District: “The Crossroads of the World”

The Hill District, referred to as the Hill to local residents, is a neighborhood in central Pittsburgh.  It borders the second and third largest economic districts in the Pennsylvania- Downtown Pittsburgh and Oakland.  The Hill District is comprised of six neighborhoods- Bedford Dwellings, Crawford Roberts, Middle Hill, Terrace Village Upper Hill and Uptown.  

Historically it has been the cultural center of African American life in Pittsburgh.  According to the Historic Hill Institute, the Hill served as the hub of the Underground Railroad and home to many of the region’s abolitionist activities.  Although most African Americans migrated to the Hill immediately after WWI and during the 1940s and 50s, many began migrating to the area in the 1880s and 90s.  These early settlers lived among the existing mix of ethnic groups which included Jewish, Italian, German, Syrian and Polish immigrants.  

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“Welcome to Pittsburgh! Why Are You Here?!?!”

Before I dive into my project looking at four predominately African American neighborhoods in Pittsburgh fighting blight, I want to explain why I am here and how I got here. I am a 40 year-old African American woman who moved to Pittsburgh from Harlem, New York.  I moved here with neither family ties nor established friendships. To most white residents, my story is not unusual.  For many African American residents I meet, this is quite shocking and requires an explanation.   

Pittsburgh Steelers, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s

As a young girl, I enjoyed watching sports with my father.  It was the only time I heard him curse (which was fun to hear).  Although we lived in New York City and rooted for the Jets and the Giants, my father, the truest example of a blue-collar worker I have ever known, was a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan.  So whenever there was a Steelers game on television, I was right there next to him watching it.  And that was the sum total of my knowledge and interest in Pittsburgh before moving to the area almost three years ago.  The Steelers.

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Communities Confronting Blight in Pittsburgh, PA

I’ve been away for a while (new job, new home) and I’m returning with a new project.  I will be profiling four neighborhoods/ communities in Pittsburgh, PA that are addressing issues of blight.   The Greater Hill District, Homewood, Larimer and Beltzhoover are home to a majority of the under-served residents in Pittsburgh.  They are all at the beginning stages of comprehensive planning and development activities to improve the lives of its residents and attract more to their neighborhoods.  

As a recent “transplant” working in these communities (and others) I am amazed and impressed with the vigilance its residents have in actively reimagining the places they call home.  Through photos, videos, text and testimonials, I want to communicate the successes, challenges, failures, hopes and dreams through their eyes, but also through the eyes of outsiders.  I live in a neighborhood called Uptown (Bluff is the “official” name) which is part of the Greater Hill District.  As a Harlemite, I know the growing pains of transformation from blight to bright, and I hope to do these residents justice in telling their story, their journey, their rise.  

Construction Junction

Construction Junction is a non-profit at the forefront the used building materials industry in Allegheny County and an advocate for deconstruction.  Founded in 1999 with the support of the Pennsylvania Resources Council, Construction Junction is Western Pennsylvania’s first non-profit retail business that promotes conservation by deconstructing buildings and selling salvaged building materials.  Construction Junction’s primary objective is to reduce the environmental impact of construction and demolition activities and its goals are directly tied to each aspect of sustainable development.  From a social equity perspective, Construction Junction seeks out other non-profits to form partnerships geared toward training unemployed and underemployed workers from a variety of backgrounds, including those with disabilities and criminal records.  

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The Dismantling of America- An up and coming industry

I just discovered the book, Punching Out: One Year in a Closing Auto Plant, written by Detroit native, Paul Clemens.  In a recent television interview, Mr. Clemens described what he witnessed as an observer of the disassembly of an auto parts plant in Michigan, as the growth of the dismantling industry in the United States.  

We’re in the midst of a slow reversal of more than a century of manufacturing- cars, ships, infrastructure, etc. - and are now in the demanufacturing age.  Steel plants, harbors and automobile plants are disappearing and being sold, along with their related jobs, to other countries.  It makes me wonder if the residential and commercial structures we’re deconstructing will be sold to the rising middle class in India, China and Brazil.  If so, where does that leave US workers and businesses?  Will we be shipping out finest brick and woodwork to India and China and end up living and working in cheaply made structures?  Where does that leave our jobs and neighborhoods?  What, if anything, can state and local governments do to reverse this trend?  

Although the author does not profess to have answers to these questions, I’m sixth on the reserve list for one of the two books at the local library.  I also have it in my Amazon shopping cart.  I don’t know how long I can wait to get my hands on it.