Ground Broken For Hill Dist. Grocery

Community leaders and politicians have been fighting for nearly 30 years to bring a full-service grocery store back to the Hill District. It appears they have finally won.

Ground was officially broken this morning for the 36-thousand square foot Heldman Plaza on Center Ave across from the Hill House. When it opens in November its main tenant will be a full service Shop ‘n Save grocery.

Some politicians have described the neighborhood as a “food desert.” Residents either have to travel to other parts of the city to get groceries or shop at expensive convenience stores. Despite the physical size of the potential market, time after time investors and developers have investigated and passed on opportunities to open a grocery store in the Hill.

Pittsburgh City Councilman Daniel Lavelle says it took a partnership to get to this point and there will need to be a new kind a partnership moving forward. “I want to stress to you that once this Shop ‘n Save is built, that we, the community, are going to vigorously shop at Shop ‘n Save,” said Lavelle.

State Representative Jake Wheatley echoed Lavelle’s thoughts, “Rise or fall, this will be ours. We need to take ownership of it. We need to honor it because this store is symbolic of our community and how we treat it and how we let others treat it is an example of what we will take from us.”

Funding for the building comes from federal and local government grants, the Penguins and various local foundations. A $1.5 million commercial loan was secured this morning to finish off the financing.

Shop ‘n Save owner and operator Jeff Ross says the Hill is a very different place than it was in the past and he is confident that with community support he will be able to keep the store open.

PA Legislators Push Affirmative Action Set Asides

A short list of Pennsylvania House members including Rep. Jake Wheatley of the Hill District gathered a panel of minority, women and veteran owned business advocates this week to urge fellow lawmakers to pass a bill that would create set aside goals for under represented businesses. H.B. 2149 died last session without coming up for a vote. It would have set affirmative action goals for state contracts. Wheatley hopes to offer similar legislation in the current session.

Western Pennsylvania Minority Supplier Development Council President Lawrence Nichols was among those on the panel. He says the only department in the state that seems to be doing a good job of contracting with minority owned firms is the Department of Welfare. He says there are other states that Pennsylvania can turn to as a model. He says at this time no one seems to know how well minority owned firms do in state contracts. “I’ve never done a survey of my organizations… to see how many of them have active contracts with the state,” says Nichols.

The Western Pennsylvania Minority Supplier Development Council represents about 120 minority owned businesses. Nichols says that includes businesses owned by African Americans, Asians, Hispanics and Indians. Groups representing women owned business and veteran owned business were also on the panel. Some argue that there are not enough minority, women and veteran owned businesses in the state to support set asides. Others argue that without the set asides there will never be enough of those businesses.

Nichols says he plans to return to Harrisburg several times in the coming months to promote the pending legislation. He says one of the first tasks will be making sure the new governor is on board.

Legislation to Ban the "R" Word

Two state lawmakers this week introduced identical bills in the House and Senate that would remove the term "mentally retarded" from Pennsylvania laws. Legislation authored by Representative Jake Wheatley of Pittsburgh and Senator Andy Dinniman of Chester County would redefine the term "mental retardation as "intellectual disability" in state laws.

"The point is this: words do matter," said Dinniman. "They carry weight and they carry power. It's time that we abandon the use of this archaic and derisive terminology in favor of language that is inclusive and accepted by the physical, intellectual and developmental disabilities community."

Allegheny County changed the name of its Office of Mental Retardation last July to the Office of Intellectual Disability. Don Clark is the deputy director of that office and says nationally the terminology began to change in 2007. Clark says it's more than a matter of perception..."But also describing better that these are people with strengths and can contribute to their community. Many are out holding down jobs, living independently in the community. Some need additional support but many are contributing to their society."

Clark said they support this legislation because language is very powerful..."The words mentally retarded and retarded have some very negative connotations." He says by changing the terminology "it's hoped that this language will allow people to look at people individually and view them through their strengths."

Wheatley's bill has been sent to the House Judiciary Committee and Dinniman's to the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee.

Wheatley Wants 'Equitable' PAT Fares

State Representative Jake Wheatley says the Port Authority of Allegheny County's plan to hike fares for Pittsburgh bus routes is unfair because it doesn't raise rates for suburban routes.


Wheatley says while city routes are cost-effective, suburban routes aren't. He says with that in mind, the Port Authority should increase fares across the board, including the city's “T” system.


The Allegheny County Democrat says in general, suburban riders could also better afford a rate hike than city riders.


The current plan would increase Zone 1 fares by 25 cents and Zone 2 fares by 50 cents. The Port Authority says it dropped its plan to impose $4 'premium' fares on suburban and light rail routes because it didn't want to “complicate” those systems.


With the premium fares, PAT says it would offset about $5 million of its projected $47 million budget deficit. If PAT only increases Zone 1 and 2 fares, that offset would shrink to $3.5 million. The Board must make a decision on 2011 fare increases at its November 24 meeting.


Wheatley says as a member of the House Transportation Committee, he'd vote against any state funding increases for PAT unless its fare increases are equitable for all routes.

Rep. Wheatley Continues Minority-Owned Business Hearing

A state representative is continuing to assist minority- and women-owned businesses by talking with prime contractors to improve communications and relationships with one another. Representative Jake Wheatley is Chairman of the House Select Committee on Minority, Women and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Inclusion. Synterra Ltd. CEO Myrna Toro says disadvantaged business owners are a misunderstood sector to those in the mainstream, but they are a valuable asset. She adds that these business owners deserve to get contractors based on their own merit, and not because of a quota. Gibane Building Company Manager Andrew Notarfrancesco says minority- and women-owned businesses face additional challenges. In particular, there are financial, procedural, and current supply firm challenges. House Select Committee on Minority, Women and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Inclusion, which the House adopted in March, is to focus on understanding barriers to participation and to remedy those issues.

Select Committee to Review State Contracting

State Representative Jake Wheatley, who represents about 15 Pittsburgh neighborhoods, recently passed legislation establishing a select committee to review the issuance of all state contracts from the years 2000 to 2008. The committee, which will be composed of 4 House Democrats and 3 Republicans, will review the amount of state contracts awarded to minority-, women-, and disadvantaged-owned businesses. Wheatley says prior to the Rendell administration, women and minority-owned businesses received less than one percent of all state contracts. Since Rendell took office in 2003, that number has reached as high as twelve percent and settled around five to six percent. Wheatley says he's happy with this improvement but would like to see more, especially here in the western half of the state where minority- and women-owned businesses receive less than one percent of all state contracting in the region. The select committee will also review ways to increase state contracting to women- and minority-owned businesses. A report from the committee is scheduled in six months. Wheatley says it's a crucial time to review state contracting practices, especially since billions of dollars in stimulus money will be flowing into the state. Local minority- and women-owned businesses are encouraged to contact Wheatley's office to testify before the select committee about their experiences with state contracting.