After weeks of confrontations, the Steelers and Pirates sat down with representatives of the proposed North Shore casino yesterday to try to find some common ground.

All three were among major North Shore interests who met to reconvene a working group originally set up during construction of PNC Park and Heinz Field to discuss and resolve issues short of the courtroom.

The parties came together yesterday a week after the two teams filed appeals with the state Supreme Court over city planning commission approval of the casino master plan.

But the session was not directly related to the litigation or the traffic issues that caused it.

Pat Ford, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's director of economic and community development, said he hopes to establish through the working group something akin to a "good neighbor policy" between the various groups.

"We all need to be good neighbors. We all need to be talking about what the issues are. We all need to be talking about what you're doing today, how does that relate to what I'm doing today and collectively do we have enough manpower out there to manage it," he said.

"What we're here to do is to work out the immediate operational and functional issues that arise on a daily, if not weekly, basis during design, construction and operation of the casino," he said.

The working group will report to the gaming task force formed by the mayor and Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato.

Mark Hart, the Steelers' director of business, said the working group is designed to address "nuts and bolts issues" affecting North Shore interests.

"We're rolling up our sleeves to get to the tasks at hand. We all want to move forward," said Dennis DaPra, Pirates senior vice president and general manager of PNC Park.

Also at yesterday's meeting were representatives of Carnegie Science Center, which reached a last-minute agreement with casino developer Don Barden to avoid a court battle; Alco Parking Corp.; and the Community College of Allegheny County. North Side community groups were not represented.

Bob Oltmanns, a casino spokesman, said the working group is "entirely consistent with Mr. Barden's stated commitment to be an active and involved member of the community."

Although the Steelers and Pirates had missed two previous transportation subcommittee meetings related to the gaming task force, "We're glad that everyone is now at the table and we hope we can talk through these issues in a reasonable and productive way," Mr. Oltmanns said.