Requests for Lawsuits Against
the University of Pittsburgh

By Carlino Giampolo
September 16, 2021

President Jake Oresick
Board of Directors
Oakland Planning and Development Corporation

Re: Requests for Lawsuits Against the University of Pittsburgh

Mr. Oresick,

The letters to University of Pittsburgh Vice Chancellor Paul Supowitz on September 6 and August 9, 2021, went unanswered. We are therefore following through on what we said we will do, and are making these requests:

1) On behalf of your Registered Community Organization, the Oakland Planning and Development Corporation (OPDC), please file a lawsuit against the University of Pittsburgh requesting at least university email addresses for members of the university's Board of Trustees.

2) On behalf of your Registered Community Organization, the Oakland Planning and Development Corporation (OPDC), please file a lawsuit against the University of Pittsburgh requesting an honest confirmation of the number of full- and part-time students at their Oakland campus.

By refusing to answer the letters, university administrators are showing they feel confident that OPDC will do nothing. However, the above actions by OPDC will mark a turning point in Oakland history. The domination, manipulation, and instilling of fear by university administrators, as well as their lack of transparency, will end.

On September 15, an article appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette titled: "Walnut Capital eyeing big plans to bring more apartments, other amenities to central and south Oakland"

The mostly secretive plans described in the article were, beyond a doubt, made in collaboration and with the support of University of Pittsburgh administrators, although no administrators were mentioned. Chancellor Patrick Gallagher and his administration cannot claim ignorance of these massive plans.

The article should be a wake-up call, and an epiphany, to the leaders of OPDC that this is one more reason why these two lawsuits are absolutely necessary. Once again, the university is attempting to control the future lifestyles of long-time Oakland residents. These lawsuits will forever change that Pitthetic attempt.

The article revealed that OPDC has been unceremoniously both insulted and betrayed by Walnut Capital and the University of Pittsburgh.

Walnut Capital President Todd Reidbord asserted that OPDC is a "fringe group" that doesn't represent the overall Oakland community. President Reidbord made that egregious comment even though OPDC has, on occasion, supported Walnut Capital and the university in their expansion plans. These lawsuits will put an end to these two entities' insulting OPDC.

OPDC has often referred to the University of Pittsburgh as a "partner." However, President Reidbord's "fringe group" comment makes it very clear that the partnership was not reciprocated by the University of Pittsburgh. Rather, comment shows a total lack of respect for the leaders of OPDC. University administrators are more in partnership with Walnut Capital, than they are with OPDC. The lawsuits will put an end to these two entities' betrayals of OPDC.

The article also mentioned that despite the objections of OPDC, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald supports these massive plans, as he has supported all expansion plans of university administrators and their supporters. These expansions decimated the business and residential districts of Oakland, and have brought untold pain and suffering to Oakland's residents. At a public meeting, i asked Mr. Fitzgerald why he supports this uncontrolled expansion, and he replied: "Because the university is the economic engine of the city." These lawsuits will end the kind of consciousness in which economic profit takes precedence over human dignity.

Members of the university's Board of Trustees do not live, nor do they want to live, in Oakland. You may find also that many of them are "clueless" as to the decimation the university has brought to our neighborhood. These members are given information provided to them by administrators and, more often than not, they are just rubber stamps for university policies.

Our community has the right to articulate our thoughts and feelings to members of the Board of Trustees whose choices and decisions impact us directly. That freedom of speech is inalienable to us, and university administrators must not interfere with those communications.

These lawsuits will make certain that all of our voices will be heard directly by each member of the University of Pittsburgh Board of Trustees, and that the secrecy of university administrators will come to an end.

Thank you

Carlino Giampolo

Voices for a World Becoming New

You can muffle the drum, and you can loosen the strings of the lyre, but who shall command the skylark not to sing?

-- Kahlil Gibran

Note: There has been no response from OPDC. The letters to Paul Supowitz mentioned above are on Link 117.