City looks for ways to revitalize Homewood
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Jerome Jackson of Homewood's Operation Better Block at blighted row houses in the 7300 block of Sterrett Way. -
Jerome Jackson of Homewood's Operation Better Block at blighted row houses owned by a California company, RFS Investment LLC.
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Longtime Homewood residents remember how their neighborhood once bustled with movie theaters, grocery stores and a business district that supplied the community's needs.
"Now, we have to leave our neighborhood for practically everything. We can't even buy a bottle of aspirin. There's no pharmacy," said Lucille Prater-Holliday, a candidate for the District 9 seat on Pittsburgh City Council.
Homewood's decline is a top issue in the council race and for city government overall. The racially charged debate over Jordan Miles' treatment at the hands of three white undercover police officers is part of the predominately black neighborhood's larger struggle for respect and resurgence.
Days before the U.S. Justice Department announced that the officers wouldn't be charged with violating Mr. Miles' civil rights, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Councilman Ricky Burgess appeared at the Homewood-Brushton YMCA to announce seed money for Homewood's revitalization.
"I think the community has waited long enough," Mr. Burgess said.
A new report by University of Pittsburgh researchers shows how challenging a comeback will be.
Homewood's population dropped from 30,000 in 1950, to 20,000 in 1970, to 9,200 in 2000 and to 6,600 in 2010.
In southern and western parts of the neighborhood, one-third of the population is older than 65, an indication that long-settled residents are "aging in place" as the old community disappears before their eyes.
In 2009, the average sale price for a Homewood house was $9,060, one-tenth the citywide average.
"This 2009 price represents a substantial loss of home equity from 20 years earlier, when the average home sold for over $22,000 in current (2010) dollars," says the report by the Urban and Research Analysis Program at Pitt's University Center for Social and Urban Research. The report will be posted online as part of the center's Pittsburgh Neighborhood and Community Information System.
First Published May 9, 2011 12:00 am
