Communications with Pitt

Although the chancellor of Pitt and his administrators have received numerous communications from our grassroots movement since we began in 2007 to resolve the many university related problems in our community, we have not received a single page of correspondence from the chancellor, and only around 10 pages collectively from all the members of his administration.

Below are two of the numerous correspondences that have been sent to the chancellor.

The following letter was sent to Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg on March 1, 2009. The request for funding of The SOUL Program continues to be denied.

“To Chancellor Mark Nordenberg:

There is a student grassroots movement emerging at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University that is in solidarity with the grassroots movement of the long-time residents of South Oakland.

The focus of these movements is the implementation of THE SOUL PROGRAM. My letter to you on February 22, 2009 outlined clearly how the program would be implemented. The only component missing is a commitment and a deeper caring of our community from you and Mr. Jeffrey Romoff to provide funding for this program.

For the past two years the elderly long-time residents of South Oakland have too often heard the words “we have no money” from you and Mr. Jeffrey Romoff when we have asked for support to end the problems of litter and trash in our community.

We deserve to live in a clean and healthy environment. We believe our request for funding of THE SOUL PROGRAM is justified when the following are considered:

1) In December 2008, the university gave a 10-year, $4.9 million dollar, commitment to a Greensburg developer (which has no ties to our community) to rent office space at a site that was once a restaurant in North Oakland. The developer had paid $2.2 million dollars for the site. That same month UPMC denied our request for $30,000 in seed money for THE SOUL PROGRAM.

2) The University of Pittsburgh, on Form 990 (Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax), for the last three years had an average yearly surplus of $190 million dollars.

3) The university has a $2.4 billion dollar endowment.

4) In a memo to your staff a few months ago, you wrote to them that there was record-breaking fundraising in the past year.

5) An article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last week stated that on February 2 the university sent $5 million dollars to an investment firm that has possibly defrauded the university out of tens of millions of dollars. To the best of my knowledge, in Pitt’s 100-year history in Oakland, that amount has never been invested in the residential community.

6) UPMC has earned well over a billion dollars in profit for the past three years.

7) We sense that an in-depth financial investigation of Pitt and UPMC by the national or local media would reveal even greater surpluses and profits than what any of us now know. And such an investigation also may show more financial waste.

8) No other community in the city of Pittsburgh has been as adversely impacted by the presence of Pitt and UPMC than that of South Oakland. Instead of you and Mr. Romoff asking the long-time residents “What more can we do for you,” the two of you have denied our request for assistance to improve our quality of life.

In light of all of the above, and most of all because elderly long-time residents have suffered long enough, we are making the following affordable and reasonable request:

We are asking for a 10-year, $1.2 million dollar, commitment of $120,000 per year by Pitt and UPMC for THE SOUL PROGRAM. This amount will allow YouthPlaces and Peoples Oakland to hire ten youths at a salary for each of $10,000 per year. The additional amount of $20,000 would go towards beautification projects and other environmental causes in South Oakland which our residents and student supporters would agree to implement. The community of South Oakland deserves no less.

You and Mr. Romoff certainly have freedom of choice to stonewall, ignore or deny our request and if so, the grassroots movements of long-time residents and students will initiate a petition drive, both locally and nationally to gather further support for our just cause.

Too many long-time residents of South Oakland have died without experiencing a new environment under the leadership of you and Jeffrey Romoff. That tragedy must end. Expansion and the earning of billions of dollars must never take precedence over human dignity. ENOUGH is ENOUGH!

Sincerely,

Carlino Giampolo”

Note: Pitt and UPMC have refused any financial support for the SOUL Program.

The following letter was hand delivered to Chancellor Mark Nordenberg on Oct. 18, 2010.

“Chancellor Mark Nordenberg:

Once again, I am bringing to your attention the very serious issue of the University of Pittsburgh’s 2010 fireworks display, which is scheduled to take place from Mazeroski Field.

The first firework explosion from last year’s display awakened my 90+ year-old parents from their usual deep sleep and caused me to jump off of the living room couch, unsure if a bomb had gone off in the street. The sound of the exploding fireworks for the next 20 minutes reverberated through my body. If it rattled me, I can only imagine what my parents, who are of advanced age and have weaker constitutions, must have felt. It was a harrowing experience, and I hope that my parents and I never need to suffer through that terror again.

My parents stayed in their bed for 20 minutes, waiting for the fireworks display to end. The exploding firebombs have very serious potential health consequences including: the sudden burst of noise from exploding shells can adversely affect the function of the heart, and the loudness of the booms can lead to hearing loss.

You are knowingly and willingly ignoring the very serious health risks to the residents and numerous hospital patients in our neighborhood. Your own interests are deemed far more important than the health, safety and well-being of the residents and hospital patients.

In addition, ash from the exploding firebombs has landed on rooftops and in the yards of neighbors. How could you choose a fireworks display site that is within 300 feet of residential homes and an adjacent tree-filled hillside? That hillside and nearby homes can easily catch on fire endangering the lives of residents. Do you care? Also, those fireworks traumatize animals in the neighborhood. No cruelty is justifiable.

It is clearly illegal to launch fireworks from Mazeroski Field.

You are avoiding responsibility for this fireworks display by stating that the City of Pittsburgh Department of Public Safety and the City of Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire have given their approval of this event in past years. Although it is true that the city must be held accountable for allowing this event to occur, you are responsible for initiating this event and doing nothing to prevent it, despite claims that point to its potential dangerousness. I am putting you on notice that should there be a medical emergency concerning my parents as a result of this event, civil charges will be made against you.

Several weeks ago (and the following event can be verified by Pitt Police Officer Ron Bennett) a student told a long-time resident; “This is a campus neighborhood. If you don’t like it, then move.” This occurred when the resident asked students to keep their volume down during a drunken party. Your attitude is very similar to the student's. By your inaction, you are implicitly telling my parents that if they don’t like the fireworks, then they should leave their home and return when it is over.

But my parents will not leave their home. They intend to keep their dignity. My 94-year old father was born and raised in this neighborhood and lived here his entire life, with the exception of the four years he spent fighting for our country in the Second World War. My mother has been here for 68 of her 90 years. They didn’t ask for this fireworks display to take place in our neighborhood, and they will not stand by as helpless victims.

Attached is a petition signed by twenty-one long-time residents of Panther Hollow. You will note that the majority of them are between the ages of 71 to 94 years. All of us are speaking to you with one voice and one message – move the fireworks display to another venue outside of Oakland.

Sincerely,

Carlino Giampolo

Note: Chancellor Mark Nordenberg refused to move the fireworks display, and it continues as of August 2019.