Talks To Continue Between City, County Hill District Over Development

POSTED: 4:53 pm EST January 9, 2008
UPDATED: 5:53 pm EST January 9, 2008

PITTSBURGH -- Forty-eight hours after the One Hill Coalition group refused to accept the city's master plan to redevelop the Hill District, local leaders said there might be room to talk about making changes.

Hill District activists are angry over what they claim are shortcomings. In the new Pittsburgh arena community benefits agreement proposal, leaders will get the face-to-face time with Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and County Executive Dan Onorato that they're demanding.

"The mayor and I have made it clear that we're willing to sit down and meet and continue talking about different issues," said Onorato.

"I have just this morning, in fact, told the folks of the Hill District that I'd be willing to sit down and meet with them again and talk about any specifics that they want to talk about in terms of tweaking of the language that's currently there," Ravenstahl said.

But that doesn't mean the Hill District will get the millions of dollars in development funds controlled by the community they're looking for.

"There's going to be things we agree to and things we don't agree to," Onorato said. "Obviously, there's not going to be a $10 million development fund that's established. There is going to be community input to all of the development that takes place there."

"If that is the sticking point, then we are indeed going to have a problem," Ravenstahl said. "But if it is and they're genuine in their concerns about the language that currently exists, that's something that we're going to sit down and have a discussion about."

Ravenstahl and Onorato said city and county agencies will control development project funds for the Hill District.

"The mayor and I have said we're willing to sign a community benefits agreement that makes sense for everybody," said Onorato.

"We're trying here," said Ravenstahl. "We're working as hard as we can. You know, I'm not sure how much else we can do. We're trying to invest. We want to invest. We've shown good faith efforts. We've signed our names on the dotted line."

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