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Saturday, April 26, 2003

By Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Pittsburgh has gotten itself included on yet another list it doesn't want to be on -- "weak market cities," urban centers that saw declines in population and home values from 1990 to 2000, places where tax bases and public services have eroded.

Pittsburgh has a lot of company on that list, according to the Community Development Partnership Network, a national organization of neighborhood groups that is working to improve the economy and living conditions in larger American cities.

There are more than 100 "weak market cities" nationally, including 55 percent of U.S. cities with populations of 100,000 or more. Among them are Philadelphia, Baltimore and Cleveland. Pittsburgh's population in the 1990s fell from about 370,000 to 335,000, a drop of nearly 10 percent.

But the news isn't all doom and gloom, according to a report issued by the network this week, a report which a local redevelopment agency, the Pittsburgh Partnership for Neighborhood Development, helped to fund.

The report praised two growth-oriented initiatives that were developed by groups in Pittsburgh. One is called the Cool Space Locator, a nonprofit commercial real estate brokerage firm that renovates inner-city buildings for small technology and design firms.

"In 2002, the Cool Space Locator helped 10 start-up companies find the space they needed and provided assistance to 71 others," the report said. "In total, these new firms represent approximately 335 employees."

The report also praised a program called the 16:62 Design Zone, developed by the city, the Pittsburgh Partnership and the Lawrenceville Corp., a nonprofit neighborhood group in the Strip District and Lawrenceville.

The community group has developed a marketing campaign to try to turn the area of the Strip and Lawrenceville from 16th to 62nd streets into a center for workplace designers, artists and suppliers of home products.