Margaret Krauss

Nov 8, 2023 | wesa.fm | Margaret Krauss

A City of Pittsburgh bond intended to cover significant investments in affordable housing has yet to materialize, a delay that has affected efforts to budget other funds for housing in the city. On June 1, Mayor Ed Gainey announced that his administration, working alongside the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority, would float a bond specifically to advance the creation and preservation of affordable housing. At the time, officials anticipated selling those bonds by the end of the summer.

Nov 7, 2023 | wesa.fm | Margaret Krauss

Pittsburgh’s Zoning Board of Adjustment dealt a setback Monday to a major development planned for the city’s Bloomfield neighborhood on the site of the former ShurSave and current Community Market; the ZBA denied a request for additional height. Echo Realty, which purchased the roughly two-acre site in 2020, proposed to build a new, slightly larger grocery store, a public plaza, and 248 apartments.

Oct 19, 2023 | wesa.fm | Margaret Krauss

The Builders Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh has widened a court challenge to city laws that require some new developments to include affordable housing for lower-income residents. The association filed a revised complaint in federal court this month, adding to its grievances the expansion of Pittsburgh’s inclusionary zoning policy, or IZ, into Oakland. At issue is a new zoning regulation that applies in just one part of the city’s university district: the “Urban Center Employment” or UC-E.

Oct 18, 2023 | wesa.fm | Margaret Krauss

Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority will hold a meeting Wednesday night to update community members on plans for a 15-acre solar farm between Squirrel Hill South and Swisshelm Park, as well as a possible extension of Frick Park. This summer, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection finally approved the URA’s $8.25 million plan to clean up the brownfield site.

Oct 16, 2023 | wesa.fm | Margaret Krauss

Spin’s orange-and-black electric scooters may yet return to Pittsburgh, but the city-led experiment that first brought them here is over. “As a formal entity, MovePGH no longer exists,” said Maria Montaño, press secretary for Mayor Ed Gainey. “That pilot has run its course.”MovePGH hit the streets in 2021 under former Mayor Bill Peduto and DOMI’s then-director, Karina Ricks. The aim was to provide abundant, diverse transportation options to help more people get around without a private vehicle.