The City of Pittsburgh is joining with Just Harvest to promote a healthy new incentive for food stamps at 14 area farmers markets this summer.
For the first time, for every $5 shoppers spend using their food stamps at participating farmers markets, they will receive an additional $2 coupon to spend on fruits and vegetables. The coupons are called Food Bucks and are available at 13 Fresh Access farmers markets in Allegheny County and one in Washington County.
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Accessible bathrooms available at: Forbes Tower, 3600 Forbes Ave., 3rd Floor
As a kick off to the Oakland For All initiative, the Ramp Crawl event also coincides with the National Council on Disability’s annual meeting in Pittsburgh.
We hope that you will join us for this fun, positive experience that is intended to provide an opportunity for everyone to become more engaged in the discussion about the importance of ensuring “Accessibility for All”.
Suggested donation of $20 goes toward providing businesses with technical assistance and the on-going advancement of the Oakland For All, Beyond Accessible initiative – a project that seeks to make Oakland a model community for accessibility.

pdf icon UPMCPlans2016.pdf

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"​UPMC is moving forward with plans to make major improvements that ​will bring more green space and enhanced traffic flow to the vibrant city neighborhood of Oakland.
The project will remove the top six floors of the South Tower (formerly Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh) and portions of the bottom eight floors.  The pedestrian bridge between the Falk Medical Building and UPMC Presbyterian also will be removed.
Large-scale demolition of the South Tower is scheduled to begin mid-June.  Project completion is anticipated in the summer of 2016."
Mayor William Peduto sent 36 nominations for seats on City boards, commissions and authorities to Pittsburgh City Council today.
The nominations will be officially introduced at the regular meeting of council Tuesday. Some, but not all, will be subject to council interviews and votes.
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Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens announced that it has received the 2014 Global Best Project Award in the Green Project category from Engineering News Record (ENR) for the Center for Sustainable Landscapes (CSL). This competition was established to honor and identify project teams behind outstanding design and construction efforts across the globe, and the CSL is one of only 20 such projects worldwide, and one of only two in the U.S., to win an award.

(March 2, 2015) Roles are still open for volunteers interested in neighborhood issues such as building codes, disruptive properties and water bills, and for preservationists who can help oversee the City’s archives.
Last month the Peduto administration announced openings for several volunteer roles in City boards, authorities and commissions. Interest has been high in the positions, but the City is still seeking more applicants for the following:
  • Building Code Board of Appeals
  • Commission on City Archives
  • Disruptive Property Appeals Board
  • Water Exoneration Hearing Board
They are among the openings on nine bodies, all of which are listed here on the City website. Links for each group describe the volunteer roles and whether city residency or professional certificates are required for the positions.

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Save the Date for the Home Share Summit
Wednesday, March 18, 2015, 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm
Social Work Conference Center
Cathedral of Learning, Room 2017
Organized by Hartford Partnership Program for Aging Education
University of Pittsburgh MSW Students

To attend, please RSVP to: Breann Farrier at bnf11@pitt.edu by Tuesday, March 10th

Home Share Program
Speaker: Janet Hunko, LMSW
Director at UMHS Housing Bureau for Seniors*, Ann Arbor, MI
The Home-Sharing movement is an innovative community response to help older adults age at home, retaining the highest level of independence possible while simultaneously promoting intergenerational living and mutual support. Such programs promote shared housing among older adults and between older adults and younger members of the community, often university students. This Home Share Summit explores the potential benefits of Home-Sharing through a presentation about a successful program in Michigan followed by a brief Q & A and a discussion of the possibilities and opportunities in the Pittsburgh area. Please join us if you are interested in learning more about this model and meeting others who are also interested in the possibility of bringing it to the Pittsburgh area.

*The Housing Bureau for Seniors is a community supported program of University of Michigan Health System

Central Page with Research Project Links

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UPDATE 2/18/15

The hydroponics workshop will be 3-4pm Sunday 2/22 at Frazier Fieldhouse.

pdf icon Workshop Flyer
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Update:  With some work on actual installations now done, and since there probably aren’t many “ideal” windows in South Oakland, the specs and guidelines have changed a bit for site installations.  There will be fluorescent lights on all installations, and the size has been significantly reduced.

For anyone that was interested in hosting a hydroponics installation, but didn’t contact us yet, here’s a few pictures of the 2.5’x6′ system and a CAD sketch of the 22″x32″ system that’s going into two locations so far:

The first two are the same system in progress, planned to have three channels, each with 5 plants in it. The PVC pipes above are for holding lights not shown in pic.

 

 
The third picture is a much smaller installation with four U-shaped tiers and a vertical post that will hold two fluorescent tube lights. 
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A Shadyside developer wants to build 352 market-rate apartments at the Pittsburgh Technology Center along Second Avenue in Oakland.

The city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority owns the land where Walnut Capital would build. The URA’s board is scheduled to vote Thursday to negotiate with Walnut Capital for up to 90 days to sell the four-acre property to the developer, a meeting agenda shows.

The land is appraised at $1.4 million. If the sale goes through, the developer would submit a building proposal to the city Planning Commission.

URA Chairman Kevin Acklin said the potential development “further confirms the growing strength of our city’s housing market.”

The development would be called Technology Center Living. Amenities would include an outdoor pool, sun deck and sports court, along with parking for cars and bicycles, URA documents show.

Work would be done in two equal phases, the documents show.


pdf icon OPDC_Participant_Survey.pdf

Oakland Planning and Development Corporation is collecting information from Oakland residents about their engagement in the neighborhood. The survey is a part of a pilot data project that the Pittsburgh Foundation is funding to test new ways of collecting, accessing and using data for planning, decision-making and evaluative purposes.

Having more responses will help OPDC better identify and meet the needs of residents as well as make the case with funders for continued or increased support of The Oakland 2025 Master Plan implementation.

Follow this link or copy and paste it into your browser to complete the short survey: http://goo.gl/Da9JK8     If you have problems with the link, you can use the attached PDF file to print and fill out and contact OPDC to get the paper version to them.

Please email or call David Zwier at 412-621-7863 ext.14 if you have any questions or concerns.

City Council approved this week an extension to file real estate taxes early to receive the 2% discount. Instead of February 10, residents will now have until February 28 to file their city taxes early. The decision came as a result of tax bills being received by residents on January 31, which would have given them 10 days fewer to file early for the discount.
The Mayor’s Office in partnership with the URA will host a complimentary, government focused, Small Business Resource Fair.
The purpose of the event is to offer small business owners in-person access to representatives from all relevant departments within city services (zoning, permits, ADA compliance, etc.). You will have the opportunity to have all of your questions answered ― all in one location. This event would be ideal for small business owners such as restaurateurs, retail owners, contractors, etc.
When:    Monday, February 2, 6:00 – 8:30pm
Where:    City County Building
               6th Floor
               414 Grant Street
              ​ Pittsburgh, PA 15219
**Street parking is free after 6 p.m.
Mayor William Peduto today made the following statement about Senate Bill 4, which seeks to amend the Pennsylvania Constitution to make the Legislature the sole authority on what is a purely public charity:
“After giving this secretive and rushed legislation a review, I continue to stand with Pittsburgh’s delegation in Harrisburg and Mayors from across the state to affirm my strong opposition to it.
My administration has shown good faith by trying to come up with a local solution to the nonprofit issue in Pittsburgh, and Senate Bill 4 further stacks the deck against all communities working to find common sense solutions. Those talks have been constructive and robust, as we have focused on ways we can jointly support the city we share. But these 11th hour moves, made without full hearings or accounting, threaten to damage the fragile relationships Pittsburgh and other cities statewide have built with our nonprofit partners.