Hill District effort aims to find the rivers
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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Wow. Downtown is straight ahead. Just to the left is the Monongahela River. And just beyond is the South Side and the Slopes. All that from a backwoods lane that, on the map, hangs like a loose thread over the Boulevard of the Allies.
"People do a double take when I show them images of these views," Denys Candy said. "They say, 'I know this is in Pittsburgh, but where?' "
The Hill District never has been touted for its views, but Find the Rivers! -- a collaboration of Hill District advocates, the Riverlife Task Force and Carnegie Mellon University's Urban Lab -- is out to change that.
The vistas are just one piece of the broader goal of patching the neighborhood back into the city quilt and contributing to its economic rebirth.
Mr. Candy and Terri Baltimore are steering Find the Rivers! His vehicle is the Community Partners Institute, a consulting firm he founded. Hers is the Hill House Association, where she directs art and neighborhood development.
Darrell Sapp, Post-GazetteTerri Baltimore and Denys Candy view the Strip District from Arcena Street District. Nearby the concrete footers still stand from an incline that use to go down the cliff. Ms. Baltimore and Mr. Candy are steering a group called Find the Rivers!
Darrell Sapp, Post-GazetteKirkpatrick Street intersects with Centre Avenue in the Hill District. The street is important as it acts as a connector between the South Side and Polish Hill.
Click photo for larger image.
Ms. Baltimore invited Mr. Candy to join design discussions for the Urban Lab's Hill design study several years ago. He conceived Find the Rivers! in 2002 and, with his collaborators, began holding community idea sessions. More than 150 people have participated throughout, he said.
The imperative has been "dream, dream big," he said, and people did. In their discussions, they freed the natural streams from their culverts. They also envisioned trails, an elevated walkway through the woods, outlooks, a new incline to the Strip and an amphitheater in the woods, one developed from a natural bowl below Burrows Street. The participants already have dubbed it the August Wilson Amphitheater.
First Published December 12, 2005 12:00 am
