the week in review
A BR IEF ROUNDUP OF THE LOCAL NEWS OF THE WEEK
We’re still seeing record numbers of COVID-19 cases here and across the state, prompting staff writer Mick Stinelli to report on new warnings from health officials.
“We have to remember that there are not an unlimited number of hospital beds,” state Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said Thursday. “But more importantly, there are not an unlimited number of staff. Doctors, nurses, support staff, EMTs, health care workers in the most general sense — the people who make our system work are relying on you to do the right thing.”
The “right thing,” of course, is all the precautions and protocols they’ve been drilling into us all year. So what’s her response to someone who says, “I’m not sick”?
“You might not need hospital care right now, you might not have a loved one in the hospital right now, but what is happening in our hospitals has a direct impact on you,” Dr. Levine said.
Allegheny County’s Health Department Director Dr. Debra Bogen followed up with a sobering comment.
“It pains me to report these numbers,” she said. “I had hoped we’d never see this level of community spread. This heartbreaking milestone must move our community into action. I implore to you cancel parties, weddings, gatherings, events and stay home whenever possible.
“My heart goes out to all the families who have lost loved ones throughout this pandemic. We can, and we must do better.”
But the future could be brighter
We interrupt this recount of last week’s gloomy news to take a look at the days ahead.
The big news, reported Friday by staff writer Kris B. Mamula, is that the state health department soon will announce distribution plans for the the first wave of COVID-19 vaccine for use in hospitals and long-term care facilities.
The Food and Drug Administration will meet Thursday to consider emergency approval of the vaccine developed by PfizerBioNTech.
Optimistic state health officials are determined to have distribution plans in place so they can hit the ground running. They’ve been mapping it out for a while, and an announcement could come in a day or two.
Only hospitals with the capacity to store the Pfizer vaccine at ultracool temperatures, including the Allegheny Health Network and UPMC in the Pittsburgh region, will get supplies of the vaccines. How much they’ll get wasn’t clear yet.
But all caregivers at hospitals and nursing homes are expected to be vaccinated within months, Dr. Levine said Friday. The general public isn’t expected to start getting shots until early summer.
Presuming everyone doesn’t call in sick
Staff writer Ashley Murray reported that the mayor’s office will go before Pittsburgh City Council on Monday to face questions about providing all workers in city limits paid sick leave for COVID-19.
Dan Gilman, Mayor Bill Peduto’s chief of staff, will be doing the answering. There will be no public comment.
The city won its fight for paid sick leave in July 2019, when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the local ordinance following four years of legal challenges from private employers. Workers employed within municipal boundaries are entitled to up to 40 hours of paid sick time, depending on the size of the employer.
The Peduto administration wants to expand those rights to include additional time off for workers who are diagnosed with COVID19 or those who need to isolate after exposure.
“The prime example I’ve given is somebody who works in an environment [where] another colleague has tested positive, and the health department or their employer has said, ‘Jane or John Doe, you can’t work for the next 10 days. You have to go home and quarantine and you won’t be paid because you’re not working.’ For those people, that is their lifeline for food on the table,” Mr. Gilman said Wednesday.
Schools have to deal with basic virus math
Pittsburgh Public Schools has resolved to bring in the 2021 budget at $686.6 million, an increase of $3.7 million over last year, but hold the currenttax rate steady.
It’s probably going to involve running a deficit. But who isn’t doing that nowadays?
Superintendent Anthony Hamlet said last week they’ll also be looking at “reducing expenditures.”
An online public hearing for the spending plan is set for noon Monday, followed by a vote on Dec. 16. You can view the preliminary budget and get more information at www.pghschools.org.
Target aims to explain plan
Tuesday is a big day for the city’s planning commission, which is going to be briefed on Target’s plan for the former Kaufmann’s/ Macy’s department store building at the corner of Smithfield Street and Fifth Avenue.
The Minneapolis retailer is thinking along the lines of a smaller Target, with more of an urban format, on the ground floor. The inventory would include groceries, home goods, beauty products and other items, all on a smaller scale.
Despite a pandemic that has hit many retailers hard, Target is committed to opening the Downtown store, said John Jackson, the Cushman & Wakefield/ Grant Street Associates senior vice president who spent more than three years recruiting the retailer.
“They’re full steam ahead. They haven’t batted an eye,” he told staff writer Mark Belko. “No one should worry about them not moving forward.”
C’mon, guys! That’s our river!
Staff writer Torsten Ove reported that Hussey Copper in Leetsdale, charged with violations of the Clean Water Act, will plead guilty before U.S. District Judge William Stickman IV.
Hussey Copper wound up in federal court Nov. 30, facing accusations of discharging oil, copper and other pollutants into the Ohio River. Sentencing is set for Dec. 15.
“Protecting Western Pennsylvania’s precious natural resources is a serious responsibility and a priority of this office,“U.S. Attorney Scott Brady said in a statement Tuesday announcing the charges. ”As the filing of this Criminal Information makes clear, polluting Western Pennsylvania’s waterways and lying about it are crimes that will not be tolerated. If you pollute and try to cover it up, you will be investigated and prosecuted.”
Hussey Copper makes flat-rolled copper products for the electrical distribution, industrial and residential construction markets and manages a wastewater treatment plant along the river.
The charges also allege it engaged in a years-long pattern of discharging enough oil into the Ohio River to create sheens in violation of the Clean
Water Act. The company failed to report any of the them as required.
The investigation was conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division.
Winter still means chairs in the streets
It’s not just a near-empty Heinz Field during a Steelers game that causes us pain. The Downtown restaurants, retailers and cultural institutions are hurting, too.
Staff writer Mark Belko rounded up some numbers last week and found that the Golden Triangle usually pulses with more than 110,000 people a day. Now, because of the pandemic, there’s only between 10,000 to 18,000 on average.
“It’s had a devastating impact on the core because we’re a neighborhood that’s built for density,” Jeremy Waldrup, Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership president and CEO, told a virtual gathering sponsored by the Pittsburgh Technology Council on Friday. “We’re all about bringing people together, albeit in their offices, in the theaters, the convention center, sporting events. All those things are what makes our economy hum.”
While about 16,000 people live in or near Downtown, there’ s no way they’ve been able to make up in purchasing power what has been lost without the office workforce and cultural and sports attractions, he noted.
The results have not been pretty. Some restaurants, including a number in popular Market Square, have closed. Retailers have strugged. The Jos. A. Bank men’s store, a longtime Downtown fixture, shut its doors in August.
In the meantime, Downtown merchants and the PDP have tried to make the best out of a bad situation.
Outdoor dining has expanded dramatically, with parts of sidewalks, streets, and bike lanes being used for that purpose. Heaters and even dining igloos have become commonplace with the advent of cold weather.
Nonetheless, with cases spiking, “We’re all looking at a pretty hard winter,” Mr. Waldrup said. “It’s going to be rough until March. That’s kind of what we’re looking at now.”
Landlords pursue new leases on life
How are the Downtown landlords responding? Staff writer Tim Grant found that some are reducing rents and offering new renters credit on their first month.
The Downtown luxury rental market has been hit the hardest in terms of higher vacancies and falling rents. Many of the new apartment communities were built around communal areas like gyms and lounge rooms, which aren’t as attractive as they were before the pandemic.
About half of the 25 multifamily projects that were developed in the Downtown market since 2010 are trying to fill vacant units by offering some kind of concession for renters who’ll sign leases.
It’s not just that nobody’s moving Downtown. It’s also the growing demand in neighboring counties.
“It’s just kind of an interesting shift in renter preferences,” said Ben Atwood, of CoStar Market Analytics, a Washington, D.C.-based real estate research firm. “City life was supposed to be the thing, and the coronavirus changed that pretty quickly.”
Paving the way to more delays
Looks like we can leave those orange barrels and traffic cones in the garages.
Staff writer Ed Blazina reported Thursday that the state Department of Transportation is delaying six road and bridge projects in Allegheny County worth $15.5 million to $28.5 million because of funding problems related to COVID-19.
The projects were scheduled to go out for bids this month, but PennDOT is postponing them because reduced driving during the pandemic has slowed collection of gasoline tax revenue that pays for a large part of road and bridge work. The department estimates it will receive $500 million to $600 million less in revenue this year.
The folks in Harrisburg shifted some money in the state treasury to cover ongoing projects, but even those could grind to a halt if more money isn’t found.
The projects being put on hold include milling and paving a section of Route 19/Washington Road in Mount Lebanon, Bethel Park and Upper St. Clair.
Other projects include bridge work in Collier, South Fayette and Tarentum; a joint sewer overflow project with Alcosan and Millvale; and a bike and pedestrian trail in Harrison.
They could be delayed until July.
Promises made, promises kept
Just over 10,000 high school graduates have received the Pittsburgh Promise scholarship, a milestone the organization touts as a sign of success in keeping young people in the region.
Started in 2008, the scholarship fund picks up the tuition, fees and room and board bills, up to $5,000 per year after all other scholarships and grants have been exhausted, for eligible Pittsburgh Public Schools graduates who attend college or trade school in Pennsylvania.
So far, the organization has spent $150 million, particularly helping students from lower-income families, according to the fund’s figures.
“By providing students with a pathway to their dreams, our entire region shares in their successes. said Saleem Ghubril, executive director of the organization. “We value each of our 10,033 students; they are all worthy of educational opportunities that empower them to experience economic mobility and health and family stability.”
The Promise estimates its alumni have become employed by 650 regional companies.