Tuesday, February 11, 2025, 9:21PM |  34°
MENU
Advertisement
1
MORE

North Side's vacant parcels surveyed

North Side's vacant parcels surveyed

When three North Siders began counting vacant lots in the area’s 19 neighborhoods last spring, they used the city’s designations to define them and, with help from a nonprofit that focuses on green redevelopment, came up with 5,399.

But numbers can mislead: 38 percent of the total is woods; 11 percent comprises side yards people use, legally or not. That takes care of about 50 percent of the North Side’s vacancy. What is left are gardens, little parks and parking lots, temporarily “greened” links between commercial buildings, and a whopping 2,039 lots in need of love.

GTECH [Growth Through Energy and Community Health] Strategies hired residents to help collect data with funding from the Buhl Foundation. The Reclaim Northside survey took three months. GTECH, a nonprofit social enterprise investing in community revitalization through green economic development initiatives, is now doing an in-depth review of the data.

Advertisement

Beyond its North Side project, GTECH has been working on a mapping tool in partnership with the tech firm LocalData, which developed the digital platform. The work will help standardize the way conditions are measured and how they are described in inventories to eliminate inconsistency for sharing and comparing across neighborhoods, said Evaine Sing, operations, policy and research director for GTECH.

People still have to do the legwork, but they don’t have to go back to an office to transcribe. Electronic tablets show parcels and addresses on an aerial photo. Information can be entered on the spot.

 
Pittsburgh North Side: unimproved lots

Ruth McCartan, of McCandless, was one of the three counters. She thought she knew the North Side pretty well, having lived and operated a hardware store there for many years.

“I went to places I had never been or known about,” she said. “Walking is a completely different story. It was a wonderful way to get an appreciation of the North Side, a very rewarding experience.

Advertisement

“It was fun being with young people who have completely different perspectives on Pittsburgh, who are not from Pittsburgh but chose to come here.” 

She and GTECH data collectors happened upon the sites of old foundations, remnants of a part of East Street that was consumed by Interstate 279 North, and what looked like the early shoots of a knotweed farm in Fineview.

“In the North Hills, the only people who walk the streets are exercising,” she said, “and nobody asks what you are doing. On the North Side, people come out and ask and they talk.“

Many people told her they have been calling the city to ”do something“ about vacant lots near their homes, although many of these lots are privately owned.

She said she was surprised at the numbers. ”A lot of them were full of invasive species.“

Ms. Sing said the data will help return such lots to purposeful use with precise information about their potential and their ownership.

GTECH is also putting its North Side data into play for this fall’s group of “community ambassadors,” a program it has sponsored for the last two years — the first year on the North Side and last year in the southern hilltop neighborhoods. 

Through this month, GTECH is taking applications from North Siders who want to work on individual projects, either of their own choosing or from the data collection list. The ambassadors are expected to pair their projects with a community anchor, such as a church or nonprofit organization.

Ten will be chosen in September to begin a year-long project. To apply, visit https://gtechstrategies.org/reclaim-northside-ambassadors-2014-2015/.

“Unimproved lots are what we’re focusing on,” Ms. Sing said. “We have mapped usable sites that are near schools, churches and community centers, anywhere people gather.”

The data from the land inventory is expected to be part of a finished draft on the GTECH website later this month. The site is https://gtechstrategies.org.

First Published: August 18, 2014, 4:00 a.m.

RELATED
SHOW COMMENTS (0)  
Join the Conversation
Commenting policy | How to Report Abuse
If you would like your comment to be considered for a published letter to the editor, please send it to letters@post-gazette.com. Letters must be under 250 words and may be edited for length and clarity.
Partners
Advertisement
Marc Fogel with his mother Malphine.
1
news
Oakmont teacher Marc Fogel released from Russian prison after more than 3 years
Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II walks around the field before an NFL football game between the Denver Broncos and the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Denver.
2
sports
‘Trade Tomlin or sell the team’: Billboard put up in Pittsburgh targeting Steelers ownership
George Pickens of the Pittsburgh Steelers looks on during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Acrisure Stadium on January 04, 2025, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
3
sports
Ray Fittipaldo's Steelers chat transcript: 02.11.25
A pair of pedestrians stop on the Clemente Bridge to take a picture of icy conditions and snow falling on the Allegheny River Downtown Sunday Jan. 19, 2025.  #winter #weather
4
news
Pittsburgh region will avoid major impacts from winter storms this week. The weekend could be a different story.
Pittsburgh Pirates owner Bob Nutting, center, attends batting practice before a baseball game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Houston Astros in Pittsburgh, Monday, April 10, 2023.
5
sports
Jason Mackey: Goodbye to a frustrating Pirates offseason that never started and wouldn't end
Advertisement
LATEST local
Advertisement
TOP
Email a Story