Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette photos

Dilapidated buildings sit across the street from the new Children's Home of Pittsburgh under construction in the 5300 block of Penn Avenue in Garfield. The city has put a redesign of the Penn Avenue streetscape from Main Street to Penn Circle on hold.

By Diana Nelson Jones
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

After six years of assurances by the city of Pittsburgh, Bloomfield and Garfield stakeholders expected a $15 million update of Penn Avenue to begin in March, on the heels of Pennsylvania Department of Transportation approval.

In December, the city shifted $120,000 from the project for fire equipment and this spring put the project on hold, along with two other transportation improvement projects -- a two-way redesign of Penn Circle in East Liberty and reconstruction of Wood Street, Downtown.

Guy Costa, director of the Department of Public Works, said the reason is that if the city cannot finish the projects, the federal money has to be repaid.

"We are concentrating on projects we already have in motion," he said. "We're being cautious in what we do."

City officials say the tattered budget had more screaming needs.

Penn Avenue reconstruction was estimated to cost from $15 million to $20 million through 2011, with 80 percent federal money. The plan calls for comprehensive updates of water and sewer structures, lighting, traffic signals and patterns, curbs and other street fixtures on Penn, from Main Street to Penn Circle West.

To the city, the Garfield corridor is one project on a long list of needs, but the view is much different in Garfield.

After an intense 30-year battle against blight, led by the Bloomfield-Garfield Corp. and joined more recently by the Garfield Jubilee Association and Friendship Development Associates, momentum had started to shift last fall when Children's Hospital and The Children's Home both broke ground on the corridor.

The Penn Avenue Arts Initiative, in eight years, has placed 42 art entities on the corridor, including Attack Theater, Dance Alloy and the Pittsburgh Glass Center, said Jeffrey Dorsey, arts district manager.

Twenty-five years ago, more than half of the 162 parcels between Mathilda Street and Negley Avenue were vacant or vacant-looking, said Rick Swartz, executive director of the Bloomfield-Garfield Corp. Today, 37 are, and six of those are under agreement or being renovated now, he said.

With PennDOT's approval for the street reconstruction project in March, after "a painfully slow, layered" process, it looked like the future plan was on track, said Aggie Brose, deputy director of Bloomfield-Garfield.

She and a stakeholder delegation met with Mayor Bob O'Connor recently on behalf of the project but got no commitment. Dick Skrinjar, the mayor's spokesman, said the mayor "explained the tremendous needs we have with some bridges and other needs in 88 neighborhoods."

"Our project is at the gate," said Mrs. Brose. "Hundreds of manpower hours have been put behind this already. There hasn't been spending on the infrastructure of Penn Avenue for decades. We really need this."

The design phase was to cost about $1.6 million this year, with construction to begin in 2008, according to the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission.

"Penn Avenue really needs a face-lift," said Dorothy Lengyel, the executive director of the Pittsburgh Partnership for Neighborhood Development. "There's been a lot of focus east of Negley and not a comparative focus west of Negley. But every mayor has his priorities. I think you'll see money moving around a lot."

Mark Fatla, outgoing head of the Community Technical Assistance Center, said shortages are abetted by federal cuts in community development block grants, which were among the funds designated for the Penn Avenue project.

"Grants are lower by 15 [percent] to 20 percent, and they've been declining continuously in the Bush administration," he said. "That jeopardizes all sorts of projects. Many people have been working all these years anticipating the dollars to be there."

Contractors, institutional investors and merchants who are awaiting word on the Penn Avenue project have been either diplomatic or commented off the record, saying they realize the city has many demands on its budget.

"This block [5100 Penn] is the best it's been since I've been here," said Shirley Gleditsch, a 13-year volunteer at the Thomas Merton's Center's East End Community Thrift Store. "We were excited they were going to do this project."

Pam Schanwald, chief executive officer of The Children's Home of Pittsburgh, which is scheduled to open next spring, said the street redesign is important "as a gateway" to new projects that are revitalizing the corridor.

"We understand difficult financial decisions need to be made," she said. "We hope that a mutually beneficial decision can be reached."

Cracked sidewalks and overgrown vegetation are found in the 5300 block of Penn Avenue.
Click photo for larger image.

First Published: May 22, 2006, 4:00 a.m.