Vacant Lots: Rehabilitating Pittsburgh’s Environment and Economy

Starting with an idea and seeing it through to its final production requires stages of progression and at least one person willing to carry the project through. Fortunately, the non-profit environmentally conscious organizations of Pittsburgh surround themselves with a community of support with the end goal of rehabilitation and survival of Pittsburgh’s neighborhoods.

In the past 11 years, the non-profit organization GTECH Strategies (Growth Through Energy and Community Health) belief in a green economy has resulted in a partnership with citizens, businesses, and organizations, to educate and improve economic and environmental health of neighborhoods. GTECH Strategies primarily works with citizens to transition littered, wasted and abandoned lands into viable resources. Hundreds of Western Pennsylvania residents work on small-scale, developing projects for vacant lots with guidance and monetary grant support from GTECH Strategies. Citizen and attorney Ayanna Lee-Davis serves as a successful example of GTECH’s partnership. Lee-Davis learned of GTECH Strategies’ volunteer community ambassadors program and secured permission from the city to create a garden community space in a small vacant section of the North Side. With her $3000 budget and 20 volunteers, she cleared away debris and weeds, established solid foundations, and beautified the space with children’s creations in a matter of 4 months.

Vacant lots are a growing concern for Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania because they drain residents of their quality of life with environmental hazards and public health issues, and increase the economic burden with taxes. Currently, there are over 25,000 vacant lots in Pittsburgh. In 2015, GTECH Strategies partnered with the City of Pittsburgh Department of City Planning and the Pittsburgh Greenspace Alliance to create the website LotstoLove.org, an interactive map resource guide to find vacant lots in need of rehabilitation in Allegheny County. The redevelopment of vacant lots stimulates the economic and environmental growth of underdeveloped neighborhoods. Revitalized vacant lots also create safe and appealing sites for a community to bond together. As well as identifying vacant lots with potential idea status, Lots to Love also lists “in progress” and “implemented” projects and all the organization partners involved such as GTECH Strategies and the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.

While exploring LotstoLove.org, I discovered that Community Human Services Corporation (CHS) in the East End of Oakland has an “implemented” project listed from 2015. CHS provides individuals and families with access to food, housing, and community building. In previous years, I had volunteered at CHS for school purposes and donated food to their pantry. This was the first I learned of their teaching garden project, which is supported by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. The teaching garden serves its CHS community with fresh self-grown produce. Although a relatively small and privately owned lot, CHS’ space incorporates all the important issues surrounding redeveloping lots. The space helps the quality of life, promotes a healthy and natural environment, and brings together a community for a common purpose of sustainability. With the help of organizations like GTECH Strategies, CHS, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, and other businesses, and individuals in Pittsburgh, we can act and come together for the common purpose of the long-term vitality of Pittsburgh’s neighborhoods and its citizens.

Kathleen Mannard is a junior at the University of Pittsburgh with a major in Anthropology. She is the environmental justice writing intern for the Thomas Merton Center.

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