Volume 28 No. 4 April 2012
Local banks support NSLC By Kelsey Shea Two serious financial commitments were made to the Northside this month when First Niagara Bank and First National Bank each pledged $300,000 over the course of six years to the Northside Leadership Conference . Both banks will contribute $50,000 a year to the NSLC under the Neighborhood Partnership Program, which encourages the collaboration of corporations and community development funds using tax credits as incentives. First National and First Niagara joined H.J. Heinz Co., The Pittsburgh Steelers, Huntington Bank and E&O Partners as corporate partners with the NSLC through the NPP program. On March 13, First National presented a check to the NSLC at the Modern Café on Western Avenue, a street whose revitalization Rayman noted was largely financed through First National Bank. First National provided a loan that helped pay for the $1.7 million reconstruction of Western Avenue’s sidewalks, curbs, trees and utility relocations. “Our investment helps drive continued success in the exceptional revitalization that is occurring in the neighborhoods of the city’s Northside. We’re very pleased to support these efforts,” said Vincent J. Delie, Jr., CEO of First National Bank, who noted the company’s deep roots in the Northside community. On March 8, First Niagara presented the NSLC with a check for $50,000 at 431-432 E. Ohio St.
See NSLC, page 9
Photo by Kelsey Shea
A crowd gathered in Gateway Station Downtown to take the first ride on the North Shore Connector.
North Shore Connector officially opens By Kelsey Shea In Downtown’s newly reopened Gateway T Station, two Northsiders Mark Fatla and Darlene Harris tried to put a number on the years spent working towards the day’s event ¬– the grand opening of the North Shore Connector. Darlene Harris, Pittsburgh city council president and Spring Hill resident, remembered attending meetings for it in the late ’80s, while Fatla, executive director of the Northside Leadership Conference, said he has planning models in his office from the ’60s that show a rail system spanning the Allegheny River.
But under or over, ’60s or ’80s, both Fatla and Harris agreed that the new link between Downtown and the North Shore was a good thing, not just for stadium and casino business, but for the neighborhoods of the Northside as well. “It’s not optimal and it’s certainly not a substitute for busses in the neighborhoods but it’s an upgrade,” said Fatla who noted that the Connector would enhance Northside development, cut commuter cost and open up amenities for Northsiders. At 1 p.m. on March 23, the North Shore Connector, an extension of the T system that links the Northside to Downtown through a tunnel under
the Allegheny River, held its grand opening after eight years of planning and construction. As well as Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, former mayor Sophie Masloff, Port Authority CEO Steve Bland, Art Rooney and Congressman Mike Doyle, volunteers in costume from the Pennsylvania Trolley museum were in attendance to help herd the several hundred attendees on and off the trains. “The boundaries of our Downtown neighborhood have been expanded,” said Bland, who noted that easier access would help development
See Connector, page 23