Michael DiBerardinis got a seaman's view of Pittsburgh yesterday.

	Martha Rial, Post-Gazette Michael DiBerardinis, secretary of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, examines the Del Monte Foods building under construction on the North Shore yesterday. Click photo for larger image.

Not content to sit the secretary of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources in a conference room to detail the work being done along the city's shorelines, the Riverlife Task Force gave him a boat ride instead.

It seemed like the decent thing to do, given that the day before DiBerardinis had arrived in town with $1 million in grants to help fund improvements taking place on the city's north and south shores.

So, for more than two hours, DiBerardinis, accompanied by a couple of dozen others, including DCNR staff members, rode the city's rivers from Washington's Landing to the SouthSide Works to get a sense of what already has been done -- and what is left to do.

He was enthralled by what he saw.

"It's pretty spectacular. I think it bodes well for the city" he said before getting off the Gateway Clipper boat donated for the morning cruise. "There's really a foundation for revitalizing the city."

Pittsburgh, DiBerardinis said, has reshaped its riverfronts better than any other city in the commonwealth. Such progress, he said, is one of the things the state looks for in determining where to invest public dollars.

"Here, it's clear that the state investment and the public investment are working hand in hand with private investment and that resources are being upgraded," he said.

Riverlife Task Force Executive Director Lisa Schroeder said the boat cruise was a way to show the effectiveness of riverfront investment and just how the state money was being spent. In recent years, DCNR, through the Growing Greener program, has invested nearly $3 million in Pittsburgh's riverfronts.

A question on the May 17 ballot will ask voters to authorize a $625 million bond issue for Growing Greener II for projects throughout the state.

Yesterday's tour started near Heinz Field, where the $30 million North Shore riverfront park cuts a mile-long path from the stadium past PNC Park to the Roberto Clemente Bridge. On Tuesday, DiBerardinis had delivered a $700,000 check for a causeway that will connect the park to a trail near Carnegie Science Center.

As the boat churned up the Allegheny River, DiBerardinis was briefed on plans for an $8 million two-tiered riverfront park outside of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center that the city-Allegheny County Sports & Exhibition Authority hopes to finance through corporate and public contributions.

He also got a look at the new $70 million Heinz Lofts apartment complex and the thriving residential development at Washington's Landing, where a new pedestrian bridge is being planned on the Millvale side of the island.

But much of the action these days is happening on the Monongahela River along the south shoreline. Forest City Enterprises has plans for a water landing and marina to be installed at Station Square this summer. Schroeder said the landing should be in place by Memorial Day.

The city also is expected to complete in early July a missing piece of South Side riverfront trail between Fourth and 10th streets. With the link the trail will stretch from Station Square to the Glenwood Bridge, except for a gap near Fourth Street.

At 10th Street, the city also is hoping to secure funding to rehabilitate stairs that run to the river and create a kayak landing area. With the help of a $100,000 DCNR grant, the city also expects to complete the improvements to the South Side Riverfront Park boat launch by May 31, in time for the 2005 Bassmaster Classic this summer.

Perhaps the most ambitious project in the planning stages is River Place, a multimillion dollar riverfront park being developed by the Soffer Organization as part of the SouthSide Works complex.

The park would feature a promenade at the river's edge, a stepped area leading from the river up the hill to SouthSide Works near the proposed Hofbrauhaus beer garden and a vehicle drop-off area.

It also would connect the river to the existing South Side trail network, to Tunnel Park, through the SouthSide Works complex, and to the South Side neighborhood itself.

At the same time, the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority plans to begin a $6.5 million project this fall to turn the Hot Metal Bridge, once used to haul molten iron over the Mon, into a pedestrian crossing connecting South Side trails to the Eliza Furnace Trail near Second Avenue.

By the end of yesterday's ride, DiBerardinis said he was impressed by what he had seen as well as by the level of cooperation he sensed between public and private sectors in revitalizing riverfronts.

"There's still more to do and challenges ahead, but the pay off at this point is clear and measurable," he said.