Thursday, February 20, 2025, 5:29PM |  20°
MENU
Advertisement
Hikers on Mount Washington's Emerald View Park in September 2015.
1
MORE

Shaking the pagoda tree: City should take responsibility for its parks, trees

Bob Kripp

Shaking the pagoda tree: City should take responsibility for its parks, trees

Special taxes represent an end run around the city’s elected officials

The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy is barking up the wrong tree with a ballot initiative asking Pittsburgh voters to approve a real-estate tax hike exclusively for park projects.

But the group deserves credit for shining light on an important issue: The city needs to take better care of its trees, and that includes those lining the streets.

At various times over the years, the city has had to pay damages to motorists whose cars were damaged when limbs from city-owned trees fell on them. It has also repeatedly shelled out money to settle claims that roots from city trees damaged sidewalks, buildings and utility lines.

Advertisement

Poor tree maintenance is one part of the city’s wide-ranging infrastructure problem. During the years it was financially distressed and operating under state financial oversight, the city had less money to spend on paving, demolition of condemned houses, hillside maintenance and parks. The work piled up.

Public parts of Schenley Plaza were closed this past weekend due to a wedding ceremony.
Brian O'Neill
Brian O'Neill: The cost of renting a public park

The conservancy gathered enough signatures to put a referendum on the November ballot asking voters whether they want to raise real estate taxes by a half mill — $50 for every $100,000 of assessed value — to generate a $10 million-a-year pool for park maintenance. The group estimates that the city’s 165 parks have a backlog of projects totaling $400 million, and that the small neighborhood parks and parklets have been especially neglected.

Voters should vote no on the ballot question because special taxes represent an end run around the city’s elected officials. It’s the responsibility of the mayor and City Council to set tax rates and decide how money is spent. That’s the power these officials regained in full when the state lifted financial oversight last year, and the city shouldn’t have to cede it again because a well-meaning group — this year, the conservancy; next year, maybe someone else — wants a steady revenue stream for pet projects.

Now that the city is out of oversight and on its feet, officials should address infrastructure backlogs in a comprehensive way.   That will mean spending more money on parks but also better caring for the trees that line the streets in commercial districts and residential neighborhoods.

Advertisement

Residents want well-maintained parks; they’re a draw to prospective residents and employers. But people also want well-pruned, healthy-looking trees in front of their houses and businesses. No one wants to buy a house on a street where the trees are buckling the sidewalk or appear likely to collapse the next time the wind blows.

The city is lucky to have a parks conservancy. But city-owned parks and city-owned trees are primarily the city’s responsibility.

Go to section

First Published: August 26, 2019, 10:00 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
Penguins hall of fame broadcaster Mike Lange works the play-by-play during the Alumni game at Heinz Field on Dec. 31, 2010.
1
sports
Mike Lange, longtime Penguins broadcaster, dies at 76
Mike Lange be­gan an­nounc­ing for the Penguns in 1974.
2
sports
How the hockey world is reacting to the death of Penguins broadcaster Mike Lange
Penguins broadcaster Mike Lange during a press conference at Consol Energy Center.
3
sports
Jason Mackey: What Mike Lange meant to me, and why we must carry on his incredible legacy
Dr. Sylvia Owusu-Ansah helped writers of "The Pitt" with her perspective working in emergency medicine.
4
a&e
'It's very real,' says the Pittsburgh ER doctor who consulted on 'The Pitt' TV show
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, GM Kevin Colbert and president Art Rooney II watch afternoon practice Friday, July 27, 2018, at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe.
5
sports
Brian Batko’s Steelers mailbag: Should there have been a better long-term plan at quarterback?
Hikers on Mount Washington's Emerald View Park in September 2015.  (Bob Kripp)
Bob Kripp
Advertisement
LATEST opinion
Advertisement
TOP
Email a Story