City Parks Blog » pittsburgh

Some news from around…

Elissa Hoagland Izmailyan — Fri, 14 May 2010 18:00:25 +0000

New plans for a greenway along the Allegheny Riverfront in Pittsburgh. Next American City has the story, along with a fantastic picture of Point State Park.
Kaid Benfield at NRDC reviews Peter Harnik’s “Urban Green: Innovative Parks for Resurgent Cities.”
Jonathan Lerner at Miller-McCune discusses the connections between urban planning and public health, highlighting the importance of large destination parks and small, neighborhood parks where children can play.
Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square becomes a battleground in the struggle of how to pay for city parks. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Planning begins for the Bronx’s historic pedestrian/bike High Bridge, which stretches across the Harlem River. Mayor Bloomberg has devoted $50 million to restoring the span, which connects to Highbridge Park. (New York Times)

Pittsburgh’s Schenley Plaza Receives International Recognition

Ben Welle — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:14:01 +0000

Schenley Plaza, Pittsburgh, Before Redevelopment

Schenley Plaza in Pittsburgh continues to garner national and now international praise. The parking lot-to-park project of the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy won a 2009 International Award for Livable Communities (the “LivCom” Awards) this past week in the Czech Republic and last month won the Pinnacle Award from the International Downtown Association.

“It has been wonderful to see Schenley Plaza grow and develop over the past four years, and we are thrilled that it has received international recognition,” said Meg Cheever, President and CEO of the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy.

The project has greatly improved the quality of life in the area, says Cheever. A model in terms of reorienting urban space from cars to people, the $12 million initiative was the product of a community wide effort between the city, nearby universities, businesses and residents. Completed in 2006, the five-acre parcel of Schenley Park is located in the Oakland area of Pittsburgh between the Carnegie and Hillman libraries, and is the busiest entrance to the larger 450-acre green space.

Cars replaced by many more people, After Renovation.

Once home to an unreceptive asphalt parking lot, the site was was transformed into a vibrant, public space and restored to its original purpose as a grand and welcoming gateway to Schenley Park. The Parks Conservancy operates the Plaza in partnership with the City of Pittsburgh and provides public programming. The site includes a lush open lawn, food kiosks and performance area.

Looking at the success of Schenley Plaza, other cities might be looking at the acres and acres of parking lots gracing their downtowns and commercial districts and asking, “how about a new park?”

(A case study on the plaza’s conversion can be found here.)

Pittsburgh’s Mellon Square

Ben Welle — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:11:40 +0000

The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy’s blog has a nice post up profiling that city’s Mellon Square. The almost 1.5-acre downtown park was last year named one of the country’s top 10 public spaces by the American Planning Association, but still has a bit of a weathered look. The Conservancy, city and other private partners are teaming up to give it a fresh look.

Today, Mellon Square remains an active space, but is showing serious signs of physical wear and tear. Its deterioration makes the space feel rundown rather than vibrant–an impression that works directly against the site’s cultural and economic value. With funding from the Richard King Mellon Foundation and the Bank of New York Mellon, the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy is developing a restoration and management plan for Mellon Square. To be completed early this year, the plan will serve as a comprehensive tool addressing physical preservation, maintenance, and programming. The planning team is led by landscape architect Patricia O’Donnell of Heritage Landscapes. Key partners include the Pittsburgh Parking Authority, City of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, and Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation.

Pittsburgh’s Parks Showcased at Urban Parks Conference

Ben Welle — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:15:42 +0000

This past week City Parks Blog attended the International Urban Parks Conference in Pittsburgh, Penn. We’ll be posting on some of the ideas presented there, but want to first mention the fantastic things going on in the host city, described in an article in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, to turn former industrial space into parks and trails and revitalize its historic parks. Here’s the brief story:

Pittsburgh’s parks — created between 1889 and 1927 — have traditional designs, said Susan Rademacher, curator for the conservancy. “They come out of an era when nature was the rule.” As the city’s steel mills closed in the late 1970s and early ’80s, Pittsburgh’s taxpayer-funded parks fell into neglect. By the early 1990s, trails were paths for sewer overflows and dilapidated park buildings were slated for demolition.

Beginning in 1995, the city gained revenue for the parks from the Allegheny County’s 1 percent addition to the sales tax. Since then, the sales tax has generated $67.7 million in revenue for upkeep of the city’s big parks.

In the mid-1990s, [Meg] Cheever, of Shadyside, gathered friends to suggest forming a group to care for her favorite park, Schenley. Then-Mayor Tom Murphy gave the go-ahead, but asked the group to include the three other parks. The conservancy grew to 14 full-time staffers and has completed more than $37 million in restorations, ranging from the Schenley Park Visitor’s Center to Highland Park’s Victorian entrance garden. The conservancy has a $114 million master plan covering the four major parks, but no project is started without full funding.

Pittsburgh may have a ways to go in its recovery from post-industrial doldrums, but parks are playing a big role in turning the city that was “hell with the lid off” during its steel production years into America’s Most Livable City.