Pittsburgh has won federal designation as a Preserve America Community, but preservation groups missed a Dec. 12 deadline to apply for funds because they didn't know about the honor.

"We missed an opportunity for money," said Dan Holland, founder and chairman of the Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh. He said his group may apply for money by the next application deadline, likely in May or June.

It's a tale of a timeline tinted with politics.

The federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation got Pittsburgh's application for the designation on Sept. 1, after city Councilman William Peduto's office urged Mayor Luke Ravenstahl to sign it, then rushed it to a FedEx office to send it off just in time to meet the deadline. The two are political rivals, and each side blamed the other for the scramble to get the application to Washington.

The advisory council awarded the designation Oct. 22, and sent an initial letter to Mr. Ravenstahl. It sent advisory materials and a large metal Preserve America sign on Nov. 13.

Mayoral spokeswoman Alecia Sirk said the administration viewed the Preserve America designation as Mr. Peduto's project, and didn't want to interfere.

Mr. Peduto, though, said he wasn't told about the designation until early this month, when he contacted Washington for news. He then wrote to Mr. Ravenstahl urging him to make preservation groups aware of the honor.

"It should've been presented to the groups that wrote the letters in the application immediately," he said.

Interior Department Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett plans to come to Pittsburgh April 17 to formally unveil the designation.

Groups operating in Preserve America communities can get as much as $150,000 of $7.5 million in federal funding designated for backing historic tourism, preservation education and planning.

Preservationists said they could have met the Dec. 12 deadline to apply for this fiscal year's first round of federal funds if they had known about the designation in October.

"We do things in that length of time, and sometimes even less," said Arthur Ziegler, president of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. When he got a copy of Mr. Peduto's letter to the mayor, he forwarded it to his education director to explore whether Preserve America could be a future funding source.

Steven Paul, executive director of Preservation Pittsburgh, said his organization might seek funds to save the Woods House, a late-18th-century home in Hazelwood, though he's not sure the funding will support that activity.

Mr. Holland said he'll likely seek funding to train residents, developers, bankers, civic groups and real estate agents to recognize preservation opportunities and pursue federal and state funding available for historic rehabilitation.

"This is a great opportunity for the city to really showcase itself," he said.