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City Council District 8

Councilperson Erika Strassburger

Your bi-monthly update for the neighborhoods of City Council District 8: Oakland, Point Breeze, Shadyside, and Squirrel Hill.

Questions, comments, concerns? Reach out to our office at 412-255-2133 or district8@pittsburghpa.gov.

Our office from left to right: Miranda, Emilie, Erika, and DaVonn participated in the Squirrel Hill Grand Pandemic Clean Up.

Earlier this month, I had the pleasure to attend the public art installation unveiling at Bakery Square. Local artist, Janel Young, revealed her work with students from Lincoln Elementary and Urban Academy. Make sure to stop by and check it out!

PA's pre-emption law prevents municipalities from passing common-sense gun legislation. Myself, other elected officials, and advocates spoke about this issue. I support State Representative Dan Frankel’s legislation & will continue to advocate for common-sense gun laws in order to save lives.

Welcome Interns!

I'm Dan Brown, a senior at Chatham University studying political science. I look forward to learning about City Council's daily operations, and hope to parlay lessons from this internship into a career pursuing environmental sustainability, social justice, and equity. After work I can be found playing disc golf at Schenley Park, distributing groceries with local mutual aid groups, or slinging spells with friends in games of "Magic: The Gathering."

I'm Nicholas Murphy! I'm a rising junior at Carnegie Mellon studying International Relations. I'm from St. Louis MO, but I see Pittsburgh as a second home. I like to play chess, piano, and I'm always excited to meet new people!

Legislative Updates

Teen Mental Health Day

On May 17th, I introduced a proclamation recognizing Teen Mental Health Day here in the City of Pittsburgh. This proclamation recognizes the importance of teen mental health dialogue and policy. Thank you to the Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh and the PA Youth Advocacy Network, which includes representatives from 26 different high schools, for championing this important issue.

Click here for the full Ordinance.

Reimagine Appalachia Will of Council

On May 25th, 2021, I introduced a Will of Council supporting Reimagine Appalachia, and encouraging members of the Pennsylvania Congressional delegation to support the framework of Reimagine Appalachia through federal action and to enact the Appalachian Climate Infrastructure Plan.

Click here for the full Will of Council.

Click here for more information on the Reimagine Appalachia Coalition.

Dr. Larry Gerson Proclamation

On June 8th, I presented a proclamation in honor of Dr. Larry Gerson and his decades-long veterinary career. Dr. Gerson is an advocate for animal welfare, a committed and passionate community member, father, grandfather, and husband. Congrats to Dr. Gerson on your retirement!

Click here for the full Proclamation.

Immigrant Heritage Month

On June 22nd, 2021, I introduced a proclamation recognizing June 2021 as Immigrant Heritage Month in the City of Pittsburgh to recognize the contributions of immigrants and new Americans of the past, present, and future to our economy, culture, & society.

Click here for the full Proclamation

Tasso Katselas Day

On July 13th, I introduced a proclamation recognizing July 15th, 2021 as “Tasso Katselas Day” in the City of Pittsburgh, celebrating the life and achievements of Mr. Tasso Katselas, architect of the Pittsburgh International Airport, the Carnegie Science Center, and many other important structures in Pittsburgh and elsewhere.

Mr. Katselas will be turning 95 on July 15, 2021, now recognized as Tasso Katselas Day in the City of Pittsburgh! Learn more about Mr. Katselas Here - https://www.tassokatselas.com/designs

Click here for the full Proclamation.

District 8 in the News

I was honored to be featured in a Reuters article that focused on cities requesting local authority on setting speed limits. Thank you to Reuters reporter Andy Sullivan for visiting Pittsburgh and for highlighting this important issue. This article compliments my advocacy to the State Legislature to allow cities like Pittsburgh to use other important traffic calming enforcement tools, such as speed cameras, red light cameras, radar, and ticket-by-mail. Let's slow down our city streets and make them safer for all users.

Click here for the full article.

Earlier this month, I appeared on WESA radio's The Confluence show regarding single-use plastic bag legislation that I look forward to introducing later this year. The conversation covers the benefits and challenges of tackling single-use plastic at the city level. The full interview starts at 9:00 and can be found here.

Philadelphia And Pittsburgh Move Ahead With Plastic Bag Bans As Pennsylvania's Preemption Nears Its End, WESA article found here.

Beloved Pittsburgh veterinarian ‘just overwhelmed’ by ‘Lawrence Gerson, VMD, Day’, Post-Gazette article found here.

Top 10 toxic polluters in Pittsburgh: Meet the new #1. PublicSource article found here.

COVID-19 Update

Pittsburgh has made tremendous strides against the Covid-19 pandemic as vaccines have become available. In mid-December, Allegheny County saw over one thousand new coronavirus infections every day. This month, however, has yet to see any day with more than fifty new infections. This progress is thanks to the 70% of seniors, 60% of adults, and 50% of all residents in Allegheny County who are now fully vaccinated. With a seven-day average of just two infections per 100,000 residents, many Pittsburghers are now able to return to their favorite activities and gather with family and friends.

Unvaccinated residents should continue to exercise caution. Covid-19's “Delta” variant is more virulent than previous strains, and experts expect a spike in cases among unvaccinated Americans in coming months. These residents should be particularly careful when travelling outside of Pittsburgh, as all surrounding counties still report elevated infection rates.

Getting vaccinated could save your life -- it’s completely free and safe. Click here to find a vaccine provider near you.

City of Pittsburgh Updates

Resource Spotlight:

For this month’s resource spotlight, we’d like to focus on the EngagePGH tool!

EngagePGH was procured by the City in 2020 to support community engagement processes for the Department of City Planning (DCP), the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure (DOMI), and other city departments. The website features project webpages with opportunities for forums, interactive maps, polling, and other ways for reaching the community.

In District 8, EngagePGH has been an important tool for the Oakland Plan planning process as well as city-wide projects like ForgingPGH, Pittsburgh’s first comprehensive plan, as well as the MoveForwardPGH initiative to implement the new Bike (+) plan and the 2022 City of Pittsburgh Budgets.

The City of Pittsburgh’s Independence Day celebration returned to the Point on July 4th!

If you missed the finale, you can view a video re-play here!

The City of Pittsburgh announced the launch of their Childcare Quality Fund, which will allow licensed childcare centers in the city to apply for grant funding for facility and program improvements. This funding will support childcare facilities’ investments in strategic areas that can help improve their state Keystone STARS quality rating while minimizing incurred debt.

The launch of the fund comes just after the City announced the Childcare Reinvestment Business Fund (CRiB), administered by Invest PGH with generous funding from the PNC Foundation. Childcare businesses are able to apply for assistance from both programs as the funding is specified for different uses.
Read More here.

Department of Mobility and Infrastructure’s Pedestrian Safety Action Plan

The City of Pittsburgh’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure (DOMI) is proud to release and begin implementing the city's first Pedestrian Safety Action Plan.

Founded over 250 years ago, Pittsburgh was originally designed to be navigated on foot with sidewalks, pedestrian paths, and public steps connecting neighborhoods to schools and employment destinations. Many neighborhoods are within walking distance of main street business districts that feature varied architecture and often historic buildings, which provide interesting backdrops to the route. Pittsburgh has one of the highest rates of commuting on foot in the country and is one of the least-dependent on cars for commuting (U.S. Census, 2008-2012 and BikePGH, 2016).

Information can be found on the plan here.

DOMI is pleased to announce the activation of a new signal at the intersection of Negley & Walnut. The new signal features audible pedestrian pushbuttons, pedestrian countdown signals and new LED signal units.

Mellon Park Action Plan:

Mellon Park Action Plan | Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy

The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy will be working with the City of Pittsburgh, park users, neighbors, and Friends of Mellon Park to create a unified vision for the future, and we want your input!

The Mellon Park Action Plan looks to create a unified vision for the park based on community and municipal priorities for park restoration, developments, and activity. This work is also focused on better connecting the two sections of park separated by Fifth Avenue.

The team will be holding a series of focus group meetings to dive into specific topics as we look to develop an Action Plan for Mellon Park. Each meeting will take place at 6pm, and we'll meet at the end of the parking lot on the north side of the park, by the playground and spray park. Please use the links below to register for the meetings that interest you!

Wednesday 7/7 -Organized Sports and Athletic Facilities
Monday 7/12 -Stormwater and Ecology
Tuesday 7/13 -Safety and Access
Monday 7/19 -Arts, Culture, History
Tuesday 7/20 -Programming and Events
Wednesday 7/21 -Dogs

Take the Mellon Park Action Plan survey here.

Citizen Spotlight

Danielle Krajnac, Squirrel Hill Resident

Danielle has lived in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood with her husband and kids for the past 10 years. She and her family hold their Jewish identity very close to them. When she first visited Squirrel Hill, she “...stopped at the Starbucks, and there were Israeli contractors hanging out outside the Starbucks talking in Hebrew, which really made me feel at home, because I had lived for a time in Israel.” Danielle said. “As we were driving up Murray Avenue, we saw a Jewish bookstore and we saw a kosher grocery store. And then as we came on to Forbes, we saw a toy store. We saw a lot of ice cream places. We felt like this was it. Like this was the place we could imagine ourselves living here.”

Danielle was trained as a historian and a medievalist, having studied medieval Jewish history for many years. For the past 8 years, she worked as a Senior Jewish Educator at the Hillel Jewish University Center and had the opportunity to work with students form Carnegie Mellon, Chatham, University of Pittsburgh, and Duquesne. She just recently took a position at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, which is an international think-tank.

While working at Hillel International, Danielle worked on a project called the Kranjec test. “One of the things that I that I always tried to do on campus, and in general, is make sure that people see themselves reflected in their tradition. So I think it can be really hard if you have a historically marginalized identity, and you don't see yourself reflected in the leadership around you, or in the kinds of texts that are studied, it can feel very alienating,” Danielle said. “So it was always really important to me that when I'm teaching, I make sure that what I'm teaching reflects and connects to the identities of the people in the room. So that was part of the work that I was doing the Kranjec test.” The work was motivated in part by the tragic shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue.

“I think Jewish students on campus felt so much pain. And part of the difficulty of that pain is that maybe the Tree of Life synagogue wasn't their synagogue, like they didn't necessarily participate in those prayer communities or know those people, but they felt a connection as, as Jews.” At the Hillel Jewish University Center, Danielle also helped with a student-led initiative called “Challah for Hunger” where students all around Pittsburgh would come together to sell loaves of challah and donate all the money to hunger advocacy groups or hunger relief organizations locally and nationally. And following the tragic incident, the members of Challah for Hunger took action. “They just had this feeling of like they had to do something and so they organized an event.” Instead of selling loaves of challah, members of the community donated challah and gave the sweet bread directly to the mourning families who were impacted by the Tree of Life tragedy.

Danielle says that she’s extremely lucky to live on her street and in Squirrel Hill. “...It's a very special street with a lot of history of connection to the community and of connecting people to one another.” The family Danielle and her family purchased their home from were very involved in their community, so they have continued that tradition in their honor.

One message she’d like to share to the others in her community and the rest of Pittsburgh is, “...We're at a time where people feel very polarized and very distanced from each other. And I think I would ask people to just hold each other with open heart and an open mind, because I think in a neighborhood, we have something that's shared between us that's binding us together, where we live, whether we think we have anything else in common or not. And so just to hold each other with an open heart.”

Community Group Updates

  • Friends of Wightman Park: If you live near Wightman Park, or just want to get involved, we encourage you to join the newly formed Friends of Wightman Park. More information below. Please email info@shuc.org to get involved!

  • Shadyside Action Coalition
    Join Shadyside Action Coalition (SAC) for their monthly meeting on Thursday July 8th, 2021 at 6:30PM. SAC meets the second Thursday of each month.
    For more information click here.

  • Bellefield Area Citizens Association
    Join Bellefield Area Citizens Association (BACA) for their monthly meeting on Tuesday, July 13th from 7PM-8PM. BACA meets the second Tuesday of each month.
    For more information please contact Mary Fletcher at bacaprez15213@gmail.com.

  • Baum-Centre Initiative
    Join Baum-Center Initiative (BCI) for their monthly meeting on Tuesday July 20th from 6PM-7PM. BCI is a group of citizens and business owners who work to improve the quality of life, and review development proposals in the Baum-Centre corridor.
    BCI meets the third Tuesday of each month.
    For more information please contact Lenore Williams at leefabilli@aol.com.

  • Zone 4 Public Safety Council Meeting
    Join the Zone 4 Public Safety Council for their monthly meeting to be held on Thursday July 15th, 2021 from 6PM-7PM.
    Zone 4 Public Safety Council meets the third Thursday of every month beginning at 6:00 PM.
    This month’s meeting will be back in person at the JCC - please email pghzone4publicsafetycouncil@gmail.com with questions.

  • Oakland-Wide Community Meeting
    Oakland-Wide Community Meeting
    Join Oakland Planning and Development Corporation (OPDC) on Wednesday, July 21st, 2021 from 6PM-7:30PM for the Let’s Talk Oakland meeting. For more information on joining this meeting click here.
    OPDC holds monthly public meetings to facilitate community discussion about development, policy, and topics of interest to neighbors.

Fun Summer Activities

City of Pittsburgh’s 2021 Summer Event Schedule

The City will be hosting 75+ free concerns and movie presentations in a variety of park settings. Throughout July and August, City of Pittsburgh venues will host Dollar Bank Cinema in the Park, three concert series and Summer Soul Line Dancing.

For complete details, visit www.pittsburghpa.gov/events, follow @PghEventsOffice on Twitter, LIKE @PghEventsOffice on Facebook or call the Special Events hotline at 412-255-2493.

Help support businesses on Walnut Street and the surrounding shopping district!

July 28 through August 1, come on down for outdoor shopping, sales, and — most importantly — supporting businesses in Shadyside.

Bach, Beethoven and Brunch: On Sunday mornings this summer, bring a picnic to Mellon Park and enjoy the outdoors, classical music, and our community! Performances are confirmed for July 11th, 18th and 25th, with additional dates likely through early August. 2021 details will be available here soon!

Where: Mellon Park @ Shady and Fifth Avenues (Map)

When: Sundays from 10:30am – 12pm

The Squirrel Hill Night Market is happening twice this summer: first on August 28th, and again five weeks later (October 2nd). This free festival will feature 75+ local artists, live music, food trucks, activities for children -- all surrounded by your favorite Squirrel Hill restaurants and shops. Here is the official “Night Markets” website!

Where: Murray Ave. Between Forbes and Beacon St. (Map)

When: Saturday 8/28 + Saturday 10/2, 6pm – 10pm

Squirrel Hill Farmers Market Feed yourself, your family, and your friends with the freshest produce available in the ‘burgh. The Squirrel Hill Farmers market is back for 2021, featuring top-quality fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, baked goods, flowers and gifts! This farmers market accepts credit/debit cards and food stamps -- it’s as easy as ever to buy healthy and local. More details are available here!

Where: Beacon-Bartlett Parking Lot (Map)

When: Sundays from 9am – 1pm (through November 21st)

The 2021 City of Pittsburgh Great Race

Started in 1977 by Mayor Richard S. Caliguiri as a “community fun run,” the Great Race has become a Pittsburgh tradition over the last 44 years. With 10K, 5K, and Junior races planned, these mostly downhill courses offer something for runners of all ages. You can register for the 2021 Great Race here!

When: September 25th-26th (Saturday and Sunday)

Where: 10K begins at Frick Park, ending at Point State Park

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