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Landslide Threat Hangs Over Many Pittsburgh Homes

City Council President Wants Buyout Plan For Homeowners

POSTED: 3:18 pm EDT May 12, 2008
UPDATED: 6:10 pm EDT May 12, 2008

PITTSBURGH -- Dozens of homes throughout Pittsburgh are threatened by landslides, according to a study that was released at a council meeting on Monday.

After an 18-month study, architecture consulting firm Perkins Eastman revealed that generations of developers have built houses on some of the most unstable land throughout the city.

City Council President Doug Shields said he wants the city to establish a buyout plan for owners of about 47 homes that are in danger.

Those families are at risk to lose money because their homes will not generate fair market value if put up for sale, Shields said.

"These people need help now," said Shields. "If we begin to do a buyout program, at least we stop the bleeding here."

Currently, no local or state aid is available for homeowners living on top of landslide danger zones.

One city councilman said Pittsburgh's residential hillsides are like putting a 5-pound dumbbell on top of a birthday cake, saying, like the cake, the ground crumbles and like the dumbbell, the houses sink.

Greenfield, which is part of Shields' council district, has been hit particularly hard in recent years. Landslides caused major damage on Ivondale Street and Beechwood Boulevard in April 2007.

Gary Moser, who lives along Flemington Avenue above Beechwood Boulevard, said his house sits on landslide-prone land.

"I'd say probably 20 feet of my back yard has fallen," said Moser.

South Side Slopes homes have also been damaged by landslides in the past.

"Approximately 25 more homes, top and bottom, talking approximately 50 homes that could potentially be affected during the next rainfall that we have," said Pittsburgh resident George Sliman.

"I have nowhere else to turn," said Pittsburgh resident Brian Murray. "All the money that I have saved up is gone. I need help. We need help."

Two weeks after the remnants of Hurricane Ivan brought record-breaking rain to Pittsburgh in 2004, a massive hillside slid onto a home on Venture Street on the North Side, wiping out the front steps and leaving the basement full of mud.

Landslides also damaged Corfu Street in the West End, South 18th Street on the South Side and Windom Street in Mount Washington that year.

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