Planetizen; West End Mural

Try this Public Land Bank governance concept on for size, special from the Comet:

Three (3) Mayoral appointees, three (3) by City Council, and three (3) by the new Opportunity-Laden Neighborhood Community Advisory Council (OLNCAC).

Participating community organizations and residents will submit to the City bylaws for the OLNCAC, and the City shall approve the agreement with the association by ordnance and may revoke it only by ordinance. The OLNCAC’s bylaws must include adequate measures to ensure a diversity of representation, participation and inclusion among land banking “affected” neighborhoods (by the terms of Burgess/Lavelle). The OLNCAC may participate in other activities.

If that is too radically community engaging, then how about five appointees by the Mayor, four by City Council, and several restrictions on the choices to ensure adequate “affected” neighborhood interest representation by either side, while an Advisory Council still makes its advice known.

SPEAKING OF TRUST: Jordan Miles will re-plead his case before an all-white jury.

SPEAKING OF ISSUES: The P-G’s Gary Rotstein thinks Peduto-Romoff may have been more perfunctory even than cordial; yet the Trib’s Eric Heyl thinks it a win for the cause of UPMC workers.

Shel Silverstein

1. Open Data is moving forward, and fostering a community of people excited to look at it.

2. UPDATED: Read Balingit. Proposed amendments to the Land Bank bill are being circulated and marked up. Some of these are on-point and necessary changes; others are less helpful. Proponents of the land bank will be assailed from their left using whatever means available.

3. In the next Jordan Miles civil trial, reconsiderations on the admissibility of evidence provide evidence of data yet to be addressed. (Updated.)

4. The Democratic race for Governor just changed more (and even further.) We appear to have a friend in Pennsylvania. The mayor explains.

5. The City and UPMC will pick up conversing when the time is right.

6. The Mayor’s nominee to direct BBI is completing her state certification.

7. Scott Bricker of BikePGH has been appointed to the SPC – and here is how.

pinoberry

Technical proficiency is not a tempting magnet for public school students around here. That seems counterintuitive.

Carrick has more CTE offerings than any other district school. Its six offerings include finance technology, culinary arts, health careers, information technology, carpentry, and business of sports administration. Other programs at Allderdice, Perry, Brashear and Westinghouse include engineering technology, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), auto body, machine operations, automotive technology and cosmetology. (C-P, Rebecca Nuttall)

Mull that. Functions of the engineering, information and health science industries are gathered here, together in what had been called “Vo-Tech” or simply trades. Continue reading →

We have an interesting opportunity where the Golden Triangle meets the Hill District…

Mapsburgh

Dwarves of Erebor. First, we have to be clear in what we discuss. Second, we have to remain clear in what we discuss. Third we should focus on City obligations, and fourth we should pursue conservative approaches to enhancing livability and inclusion. Continue reading →

Blackle Mag

About that zoning…

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto said he sees the timing of the development’s start as a secondary issue to the need for the Penguins to work with the Hill and all parties to shape the development.

As long as the team is engaging the community, “we’re willing to work with them on the timing,” he said.

City Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle, who represents the Hill, said neighborhood leaders “would have to understand the reasoning for the extension before we could even consider it.”

“Right now, the timeline is the timeline and everyone should be doing their best to stick to it,” he said.

Mr. Lavelle believes there still is time to get the disputed issues resolved with the community and meet the deadline. (P-G, Mark Belko)

The operative word is “engaging”. It is not synonymous with “meeting”. Continue reading →

fbtb

City Council on Wednesday held a special meeting to reeducate and review its major frictions with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, including labor, taxation and market competition issues.

Nine or ten clergy were cited on Thursday, down at the other end of Grant Street, for charges incurred in impressing such pleadings upon UPMC.

On Monday, hundreds will gather Continue reading →

Warner Bros.

Real quick...

Kennedy was asked by two listeners from Pittsburgh about the possibilities of what she called “Blight Court,” where legal issues over vacant and tax delinquent property get a hearing. She suggested such an approach was less a major bureaucratic reorganization than some coordinated effort with some judges. (PBT, Tim Schooley)

Sounds as though good old-fashioned Act 90 blight law grants us one tool… perhaps a much better one with a City Land Bank on the opposite end as necessary, with a well-selected and proscribed board, to coordinate with the community.

One of the sauciest terms in the Schooley piece is “extradition”.

Tangentially, the Comet wishes Kennedy the best among others with her new appointment southwest of the T — in this case as we call it around here BBI – and basically smooth sailing through City Council… right? Nobody said this Mayor wasn’t going to be different and exciting. Apparently the right “housekeeping”-related skills, experiences and attributes render “optics” a distraction. Inevitably this unique approach will get its due.

MORE: Schooley at 200 words into PBT paybridge.