It’s been 10 years since residents of Penn Plaza in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood had to pick up their lives and move for a redevelopment that still hasn’t come.
The Penn Plaza Apartments were once home to over 200 people, including seniors and low to moderate-income families. They were displaced when the apartments were demolished for a new development that was never built.
“It was a community, it was a neighborhood, neighbors knew neighbors at Penn Plaza,” said Randall Taylor, a former resident.
Taylor was notified in 2015 that his lease wouldn’t be renewed. He wasn’t alone.
“My father called me in a panic and said that we have to move out. I don’t know where to go. Can you help me?” recalled Crystal Jennings Rivera, whose father was also a tenant.
Tenants had just 90 days to leave their homes.
“People got displaced from their relatives, from their clergy, from their doctor’s office, from their jobs, some people moved into areas where there is no transit.”
Rivera says tenants were forced out of the city to places like Wilmerding and McKeesport.
The owner, LG Realty, had redevelopment plans that included a Whole Foods Market along with mixed-use development featuring office and retail space. So, in 2017, the buildings were demolished.
Ten years later, a portion of the lot is still empty.
Rivera and Taylor are hoping the upcoming city council vote on an inclusionary zoning bill will change that.
“We need a comprehensive housing policy so that we don’t have developers who can just acquire land and do whatever they want to do.”
The proposed plan would require developers of larger residential projects to set aside a portion of units for affordable housing.
“I would love to see people like myself come back to where they grew up, where they call home.”
It’s unclear if the bill will be taken up at the regularly scheduled council meeting next week or after the summer recess.
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