Shameful Planning Commission
Meeting on Oakland Crossings,
March 22

The following letter was sent March 24, 2022
By Carlino Giampolo

Mayor Ed Gainey,

When it was announced on February 16, 2022 that you abandoned the Mon-Oakland Connector roadway project, you became a hero to many residents, You inspired hope that you were on the Path of Dignity and that you brought a new, enlightened consciousness at city hall. Our letter of gratitude that was published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on March 3 expressed those sentiments.

However, your continued support for the Oakland Crossings project since then has diminished that hope, for you are now being perceived, like your predecessor, as being a puppet and pawn of the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. 

You are at a defining moment in your tenure as mayor. We strongly urge you to pause and reflect on the very real and very painful impacts the Oakland Crossings project will have on the many innocent Oakland residents, especially the elderly, longtime residents, and abandon your support for the Oakland Crossings project.

Both the shameful Mon-Oakland Connector and Oakland Crossings projects started from a process of moral turpitude. You ended the shame of the Mon-Oakland Connector roadway project. However, the shame of the Oakland Crossings project has not ended, and has now spread to you and your administration. You can choose to either end that shame too, or you can mask, deny, and ignore the shame and allow it to continue to grow.

That shame has already grown exponentially with the sophomoric Planning Commission's Oakland Crossings meeting on March 22, which was a total embarrassment to the City of Pittsburgh and its residents as it was viewed worldwide on YouTube.

The inept and farcical meeting began with no mention of individuals like myself who had provided written testimonies in strong opposition to the Oakland Crossings project. It was as if our testimonies were meaningless. The same could be said of the treatment of the intelligent and eloquent oral testimonies of numerous individuals who were also in opposition.

Commissioners Jennifer Askey, Sabina Deitrick, and Rachel O'Neill were absent from this important meeting. Commission Chair Christine Mondor inexplicably left at the start of the meeting, and never gave comments or cast a vote.

Commissioners Lashawn Burton-Faulk, Becky Mingo, Jean Holland Dick, Fred Brown and Dina Blackwell voted unanimously to pass the project with caveats, and it now moves forward to the Pittsburgh City Council.

It was apparently a "DONE DEAL" that the project would pass the Planning Commission. The project will also be a "DONE DEAL" when the hearings begin at the Pittsburgh City Council.

One city councilmember remarked at an October 5, 2021 city council meeting that he would vote for the project regardless of the decision made by the Planning Commission. The moral corruption at city council is overly blatant, and you have become an integral part of that dishonorable consciousness with your support of this project.

Why did the chair of the Planning Commission leave at the start of the March 22 meeting? Could it be that she believes this sordid project will eventually be settled in a courtroom, and that she doesn't want to be a part of this project anymore?

There has always been a double standard when issues are brought before the Planning Commission, Zoning Board of Adjustment, and the Pittsburgh City Council. One standard involves issues involving the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, and their developer friends. The other standard is for individuals and developers whose issues are not affiliated with these two universities.

That fundamental truth was once again brought to light when a developer, not affiliated with these universities, was recently denied a variance by the Zoning Board of Adjustment for a proposed seven-story,10-unit condominium building in Shadyside. The request was only for an additional increase of 25 feet in height and a reduction of 20 feet in property setbacks.

The reasons given for denial was that the project would "alter the essential character of the neighborhood" and that the proposed height was "self-serving". The board also noted that even though there are taller buildings nearby, the project will still impact its neighbors.

Contrast that denial with the approval of the much larger, Pitthetic, and Pittiful Oakland Crossings project, and you should come to the same conclusion that there is a double standard.

Please do not tarnish your image any further, and restore the trust that residents once had in you. Return to the Path of Dignity where you belong. Abandon your support for the shameful Oakland Crossings project.