In California-Kirkbride and the Charles Street Valley, resident advocates struggle for home ownership as forces threaten to reshape their neighborhoods.
by Rich Lord
Long, dry grass crunched under Angela Williams’ workout shoes as she walked into the field she’s pondered for 32 years.
From this flat expanse in Perry South, you can drive seven minutes south and join the North Shore’s bustle, or seven minutes north for the quiet of Riverview Park. There’s a playground — empty on this warm March day — just a block down North Charles Street.
“There could be people playing here, kids playing here, families sitting out on their front porch, their back porch, enjoying this beautiful day,” said Williams, who leads the Charles Street Area Council and the nonprofit Charles Street Area Corp.
The field Williams has lived above since 1989 is flanked by a few remaining houses. “What it looks like to me is a barren desert. Right?”
Barren or not, the field is a largely city-owned expanse that, per Williams, could be enlivened with homes for residents who might otherwise be pushed out by gentrification. It’s also close to other developments that seem to be advancing.
Williams and her ally, Debbie Reed, a founder of California-Kirkbride Neighbors, are watching millions of public dollars flow into affordable apartment renovations in their communities. They’re warily eyeing the plans of would-be developers from the Mexican War Streets. And they’re cautiously participating in a planning process hatched by another community group and the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh to redo the nearby Allegheny Dwellings public housing complex.
To Reed, those efforts don’t adequately consider “the low-income people that have been there when there were buildings caving in on each other and litter everywhere,” and who stayed and worked to improve the neighborhood. She said they “deserve to benefit from the process” of redevelopment.
Debbie Reed, left, of California-Kirkbride Neighbors, and Angela Williams, of the Charles Street Area Council, stand on a field along North Charles Street on which they would like to see owner-occupied houses. (Photo by Jay Manning/PublicSource)
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