New Arena Testimony to City of Pittsburgh Planning Commission

It is inexplicable how a development project of this magnitude can come this far in the public planning process without regard for the surrounding streets & neighborhoods. There are fundamental flaws in the planning process which we cannot solve here; but we CAN prevent these flaws from damaging the community in which this project will reside for certainly the rest of our lives.

There has been an absence of community planning that has led us to plans today that cannot demonstrate effective integration into the surrounding communities. Please understand that the community input process undertaken by UDA on behalf of the Penguins does not approximate community planning in any way; that was merely an operation to let community members sound off & ask questions, questions limited to the arena building itself. Any other questions were explicitly & consistently denied an answer.

Further, there have been significant design changes in the arena plan that have not been shared with the community, despite an elaborate community input process. The Planning Commission is being asked today to approve a design that the community has not seen, let alone had the chance to understand.

While there has been an ongoing CBA negotiation with the community, there has been no resolution to date. I urge the Planning Commission to commit to not approving the New Arena Master Plan until a legally binding CBA is in place.

Whatever project gets decided upon by this body, it will be constructed and will stand in the Hill District for the next 50 years. The quality of the planning will dictate the quality of the completed project. Whatever mistakes we make will be broadcast by these structures to anybody to sees them. Likewise, high-quality planning will broadcast that only high standards are sufficient for our great city. Isn’t it worth taking a few extra weeks to do it right, to do it the way it was intended to be done, in order to make a statement about this city that will last for decades?

Please elect to postpone this vote until the project can be demonstrated to effectively integrate into the existing community.

I believe that the new arena development can serve many masters well, and that it ultimately will. I urge the Planning Commission to commit to requiring that the new arena master plan be demonstrated to effectively integrate with an approved Hill District Community Benefits Agreement, as a condition for approval. Thank you.

Steven Paul

Executive Director

Preservation Pittsburgh

January 14, 2008