Vote on North Shore Developments Delayed

Despite a two-week delay for the final vote on a controversial North Shore amphitheater development, protesting Pittsburghers marched today from the City Planning Commission’s regular meeting to the mayor’s office to demand executive intervention. Co-Chair of North Side United Michael Glass says after two years of campaigning, North Siders are tired of waiting. “These developments are being built in our front yard. The people that are being most impacted by it, the people who live and work and raise of families on the North side… we’ve had no input on this development. It’s unfair, it’s unconscionable, and now’s the time for the mayor to step up and do something about it,” says Glass.

The Commission is expected to approve the plan at a July 21st meeting, their last before a summer hiatus takes effect. Commission Chairwoman Wrenna Watson says the delay was not the commissioners’ choice. “The developer requested to have it withdrawn from the agenda today and have it placed on the agenda two weeks from today, which is a customary and standard practice,” says Watson. “I don’t have any idea why they chose to do that, and they don’t really have to have a reason why. Any developer can come in and say, ‘We don’t want to be on the agenda for today.” She says the developer probably won’t delay any further, because building costs will rise from the summer to the autumn.