PITTSBURGH — A handful of Hill District community members filled most of the seats at the Kaufman Center Monday night. Most in attendance at the New Hill Voices Community meeting all shared a similar concern: Where is the money?
Back in September the city announced $7.1 million that had been deposited in The Greater Hill District Neighborhood Reinvestment Fund. Administered by the Urban Redevelopment Authority, the funds can be used for various projects including land and business development and social services.
“This is the historic Hill District, I just don’t understand why we aren’t preserving our community,” said Carmen Pace.” I hear about lots of millions of dollars over 30 years. Have I seen it? Have I seen anything change? No. I haven’t.”
Hill District business owners like Jacquelyn Wright of Kelly’s Kingdom child care center tell Channel 11 its unclear how the money, coming from Pennsylvania’s Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance Act, or LERTA, will actually be distributed.
“I’m here to find out today what are they going to do to help us,” said Wright. “No one is actually coming out to educate us on how we can pull from these resources. I am affiliated with a lot of the local businesses in the Hill and they don’t know anything that’s going on right now.”
Pittsburgh council member Daniel Lavelle, who represents the neighborhood, heard similar concerns including the demands for more transparency on how the LERTA funds will be allocated and how they can be accessed.
“We need to have more community meetings to ensure when we begin having LERTA meetings that those meeting to the extent are public. We are immediately sharing minutes and providing the community with as much information as possible and they can feel confident in the decision we are making on their behalf.”
Lavelle says he also plans to tell the community when applications for funds are ready and when funds are ready to be spent.
The next New Hill Voices Community meeting will be held Nov. 18.
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