Pittsburgh Dish

North Side neighborhood plagued by landslide

City officials ignore neighbors' pleas for help.

Story and photos by Janet Gunter

On September 17, 2004, Henry Hohmann, a longtime resident in a house on Perrysville Avenue heard a strange sound. He remembers it well, for it was the night filled with the pounding rain of Hurricane Ivan. He went out to see what was happening, and witnessed the hillside sliding onto Perrysville Avenue.

Since then, little has changed for Mr. Hohmann or his neighbors.

In 1986, a condominium project was built on a hillside in Pittsburgh on the North Side's Perry Hilltop. Nearly 20 units, many with breathtaking views of the city, were built above Clayton Avenue. It was a large construction project that built Lookout Point, and the fill created by excavating large amounts of earth was simply pushed over the low side of Clayton Avenue. Over the years the fill sprouted underbrush, scrub trees and attracted birds and squirrels.

According to the Allegheny County Real Estate Web Site a developer bought five parcels of that sparsely wooded hillside in 2000 and paid $1 dollar for each empty plot. Between 2002 and 2003 those parcels, now completely outfitted with townhouses, decks and garages sold for nearly $200,000.

But these fine homes with great views came at the expense of neighbors below.

Many of them were awakened early one weekend morning to the sound of chainsaws. The trees below the townhouses were blocking the townhouse views and the owners above requested that the developer take care of this problem. A crew was hired to "top" the trees. A few weeks later the townhouse owners decided that their view from the top wasn't good enough.

A crew was hired to remediate and for several days heavy equipment moved back and forth across the hillside pushing tree stumps, dirt and boulders around. The old-time neighbors warned them that like many North Side hillsides, this one likely hid natural springs and that disturbing the flow of water could be disastrous. The crew found one source of water flow and routed it via flexible pipe from the hillside onto the street.

The constant stream of water has caused a slippery green slime to form on Perrysville in summer months, and a broad band of dangerous ice during winter.

Large concrete barriers were placed on Perrysville Avenue in an apparent attempt to hold back the hillside. So far, the entire seven feet of both sidewalk and roadway of Perrysville Avenue have been lost to the landslide. Also lost have been sideview mirrors from resident's cars, because of the necessary lane narrowing. The barriers and displaced earth also translate into the loss of on-street parking.

For months the landslide crept further out onto Perrysville Avenue, a busy route for thousands that live in upper North Side neighborhoods and the popular 11D Perrysville bus route.

That was last year.

Recently, the weight of the sliding earth caused Equitable Gas to question the gas line that feeds the five houses below the townhouse development. A possible bow in the underground line forced the gas company to temporarily shut off service to one home, and forced all five homeowners to move their gas meters to the opposite side of their houses, all at the homeowner's expense. The gas company equipment caused residents to park their cars blocks from their homes.

So far, city officials have had no response to this dilemma. Mr. Hohmann has made frequent calls to both the past and present Mayors' offices with no reply. He's also made calls to his North Side City Council representatives, both Tonya Payne and Luke Ravenstahl, with no response.

North Side theater to be restored

Grant money will revive Hazlett.

Story and photos by Janet Gunter

A very “Big Check” presentation took place in the lobby of the New Hazlett Theater on Friday, March 3rd, where State Representatives Jake Wheatley and Don Walko handed over a $1 million grant towards the efforts of restoring and renovating the historic theater.

The theater, originally built in 1889 as the Music Hall portion of the Carnegie Free Library, was officially renamed the Hazlett after the president of the A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust. With funding from the Trust and under Ted Hazlett's leadership, the North Side's Carnegie Music Hall was renovated as a theater and reopened as the original home of the Pittsburgh Public Theater in 1975. The PublicTheater moved downtown to the O'Reilly Theater in 1999. Since 2000, the Hazlett has occasionally been rented from the City by several performing arts organizations including the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, New Horizons Theater, Unseam’d Shakespeare Company, Prime Stage and Chatham Baroque.

Friday’s presentation brought out some of those most able to support art in Pittsburgh: Mayor Bob O’Connor and County Chief Executive Dan Onorato. Dan Onorato reminded the Mayor that now that he’s Mayor, he “doesn’t need a passport to came to the North Side.” This prompted the Mayor to remind the crowd that he has owned a business not far from The Hazlett and is very familiar with the area.

Representative Jake Wheatley expressed gratitude for all the hard work that Sara Radelet, The Hazlett’s new Executive Director, has put into making The Hazlett renovations a success.

Representative Walko said, “It’s extremely important to support the arts community in our neighborhoods. This new venue will be a vital cog on the greater campus of the North Side.”

The Hazlett Board of Directors include members of several arts organizations, including Attack Theatre, the Children’s Museum, the Andy Warhol Museum, Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild, PrimeStage Theater, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, as well as representatives from the City and residents of the North Side.

When it opens this fall the new theater, designed by EDGE Studio, will boast a thrust stage, flexible seating risers, total possible seating of 450 and loading and rehearsal facilities.

We all look forward to this new addition to the North Side.

Photos: The Former North Side Carnegie Music Hall, now a reborn Hazlett Theater; Allegheny County Chief Executive Officer Dan Onorato, Pittsburgh Mayor Bob O'Connor, State Representative Jake Wheatley, New Hazlett Theater Executive Director Sara Radelet and State Representative Don Walko; State Representative Jake Wheatley and Executive Director Sara Radelet