Margaret Krauss

Pittsburgh

Development and Transportation Reporter at WESA-FM (Pittsburgh, PA)

Development & Transportation reporter @905WESA. Formerly @PaCrossroads. Opinions my own. Bike enthusiast. she / her

Articles

New year, new money: Pittsburgh raises $30 million for affordable housing with bond issue

Dec 29, 2023 | wesa.fm | Margaret Krauss

The City of Pittsburgh will start 2024 with an extra $30 million to invest in affordable housing. On Thursday the city announced that the Urban Redevelopment Authority closed on a bond whose proceeds will be dedicated entirely to the preservation and creation of affordable homes. Affordable housing is “absolutely critical for our communities to continue to thrive and allow our residents to remain in the place they call home,” Mayor Ed Gainey said in a statement Thursday.
Developer of Bloomfield ShurSave appeals zoning board rejection

Dec 6, 2023 | wesa.fm | Margaret Krauss

Pittsburgh-based development company Echo Realty says rejection of its plan to build a new apartment building and grocery store at the former ShurSave site in Bloomfield should be reversed. That’s according to an appeal filed Monday with the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.
Work to overhaul Pittsburgh’s zoning continues, officials say

Nov 28, 2023 | wesa.fm | Margaret Krauss

Pittsburgh’s Department of City Planning will begin work on a city-wide comprehensive plan in 2024, and one of the major goals of that years-long process will be to recommend zoning-code changes to support a long-term vision for what the city should become. But during a Monday budget discussion, staff reassured City Councilors that the department would not leave neighborhoods in limbo.
Pittsburgh officials weigh protections for Frick Park, help for child care providers

Nov 15, 2023 | wesa.fm | Margaret Krauss

Officials briefed the Pittsburgh Planning Commission Tuesday on two very different proposals to improve residents’ quality of life: changes to how the city regulates child care businesses and a historic nomination for Frick Park. More than 6,000 children are on waiting lists for child care facilities, said Mohammed Burny, chief of staff to City Councilor Bobby Wilson, who earlier this year introduced legislation to change the zoning regulations for such businesses.
Pittsburgh’s URA continues to expand affordable housing investment

Nov 10, 2023 | wesa.fm | Margaret Krauss

The board of Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority Thursday moved to protect 170 units of affordable housing. The URA will make $3.6 million in loans from its . Officials say the loans close critical funding gaps that would otherwise have prevented the five projects from moving forward. Money for the program comes from federal pandemic aid provided by the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, passed in 2021.
Pittsburgh’s affordable housing bond still coming soon

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.
Development plans for the former Bloomfield ShurSave hit a snag

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.
Local builders group expands a legal challenge to Pittsburgh housing policy

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.
A planned Pittsburgh solar farm generates continued interest with neighbors

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.
Pittsburgh’s MovePGH experiment is over, but it could still shape the city

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.