Statement on OPDC's work related to development

OPDC seeks to mitigate impacts of development in order to protect the community. 

While OPDC never sought a contribution, Wexford Science + Technology ultimately proposed a holistic, win-win agreement that would benefit the entire community.  This agreement is unique in that the parties reached this compromise to resolve a legal dispute and does not represent OPDC providing carte blanche approval of the development. 

OPDC is proud of this transparent, community-focused resolution to protracted litigation.  OPDC’s priority is the residents of Oakland, especially those lower wealth individuals who can be left behind when development pressure raises prices in the neighborhood and squeezes people out of opportunity.

Green Grocer

The Green Grocer mobile farmer’s market delivers to Oakland on Thursdays through March.

By: Maura McCampbell, Marketing & Community Programs Coordinator 

March 25, 2021 UPDATE: The Green Grocer delivery service is finished for the season but plans to resume in December 2021. In-person markets start in April; the closest stop to Oakland is in the Hill District at the Centre Heldman Plaza on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month until November. Please click here for the full schedule.

Eating your veggies just got easier! The Green Grocer mobile farmers market now serves Oakland with weekly produce deliveries. Green Grocer, an operation of The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, offers doorstep delivery of 31 different fruits and vegetables. With affordable prices, no minimum order requirement, and no delivery charge, it's a service you don't want to miss. 

In addition to convenient delivery, Green Grocer’s new program addresses food insecurity in Pittsburgh. One in every five Pittsburghers qualifies as food insecure, meaning they cannot consistently meet their basic nutritional needs. This rate is nearly twice the national average and is distributed unevenly across the city. As of 2017, food insecurity rates ranged from 27-39% in South, Central, and West Oakland, with the pandemic sharply accelerating food insecurity in some Pittsburgh communities. Like many Pittsburgh neighborhoods, Oakland does not have a full-service grocery store, leaving residents to drive, walk, or take public transit outside of their communities for groceries.  

This food insecurity is precisely what Green Grocer is working to address. The program began setting up seasonal pop-up markets in Pittsburgh's food deserts in 2015. It started the delivery service this January as a COVID-safe way to continue services throughout the winter.

“People need fresh, healthy food all year round," Mobile Market coordinator Jordan Bailley said. "While we typically run a mobile farmers market, the low winter temperatures have consistently forced us to cancel about half of our January and February markets over the past few years. We thought a weekly produce delivery service would be helpful to anyone interested, especially those without affordable, reliable transportation and those without an ability to feel safe leaving their homes during the ongoing pandemic."

Green Grocer does not require an income qualification, meaning the service is available to anyone who lives in a delivery zone. In addition to feeless delivery, they accept a range of food vouchers. Customers can pay for produce with SNAP/EBT, Food Bucks, Food Bucks Rx, Just Harvest tokens, or FMNP Bucks. Customers receive a $2 Food Bucks coupon for every $2 of produce purchased on a SNAP/EBT card. 

South Oakland resident Randy Sargent was ecstatic to learn of Green Grocer's services. "It's fantastic to have a delivery option for SNAP purchases that brings fresh produce to the home without any delivery fee," Sargent said. "Many Pittsburgh residents don't have cars, and South Oakland is a food desert, far from the nearest supermarket." 

Currently scheduled to run through March 2021, the delivery service could continue if there’s enough interest. To place an order with Green Grocer, you can call 412-745-6598 Mondays between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. or order online at greengrocerpgh.shop. (Note that the web address must be entered without www. in front of it). Orders for Oakland must be placed by Wednesday at 9:00 a.m., with delivery happening Thursdays between 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. You can find a complete list of zip codes and their delivery days here. 

You can call 412-745-6499 or email GreenGrocer@PittsburghFoodBank.org for more information about the service.  

Looking for more food assistance services? Here are some local operations to check out:

·       Community Human Services (CHS) Food Pantry Distribution: Thursdays: 3 – 6:00 p.m. and

Fridays: 11:00 a.m. - 2 p.m.

·       Friendship Community Church: 3rd Thursday of the month: 4 – 6:00 p.m.

·       Islamic Center of Pittsburgh Food Distribution: 3rd Saturday of the month:

10:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

·       South Oakland Food Distribution at Frazier Field House: Tuesdays and

Thursdays: 3 – 5:00 p.m.

·       St. George Cathedral: 3rd Saturday of the month: 10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

·        Pitt Pantry Distribution: Wednesdays: 3 - 7:00 p.m. and Fridays: 1 – 5:00 p.m.

Pittsburgh’s Disruptive Properties office is on the case

By: Maura McCampbell, Marketing & Community Programs Coordinator 

Oakland residents know first-hand what it’s like to live near disruptive properties. But what exactly is a disruptive property as the city defines it?  

A disruptive property is one that “places a substantial threat and burden on the common health, safety, and welfare of the residents of the City of Pittsburgh.” That “substantial threat and burden” means that police or city inspectors have had to respond to three or more complaints of disruptive activity within a one-year window.  

Once a property is declared disruptive by the city, the defendant has the opportunity to appear before the Disruptive Properties Board in a scheduled hearing. The hearings are closed to the public but the complaining organization, citizen, police, or city inspector will be notified of the hearing and can attend in order to testify.  

The list of violations that can lead to being classified as a disruptive property is long, and may sound familiar: noise, underage drinking, scattered garbage/litter, excessively tall weeds, public drunkenness, and disorderly conduct – just to name a few. The complete list can be found athttps://pittsburghpa.gov/publicsafety/disruptive-properties 

Recently, OPDC sat down, via Zoom, with John Tokarski and Ian Reynolds, Pittsburgh Safer Together Coordinators at the city’s Disruptive Properties Office, to answer a few questions from Oakland residents. 

How can residents report a disruptive property?
If you witness a dangerous situation, such as underage drinking, or if police action is needed immediately – call 911.  

The best way to make sure complaints are tracked by the Disruptive Properties Office is to call the city’s helpline at 311 (online at www.pittsburghpa.gov/311 or tweet to @pgh311).

In addition, people can contact John Tokarski (412-225-2117 or john.tokarski@pittsburghpa.gov) to notify him of a disruptive property. Doing so allows him to pull all of the logged information on a specific property from 311 and the police. Find out more about landlords and 311 complaints in the following videos. 

Who’s in the Disruptive Properties Office? 

Safer Together Coordinators Ian Reynolds and John Tokarski represent Pittsburgh’s six zones, with Mr. Reynolds taking zones 2, 3, and 5, and Mr. Tokarski taking zones 1, 4, and 6.  Since Oakland’s neighborhoods are in Zone 4, John Tokarski handles disruptive properties in Oakland.  

The Disruptive Properties Board currently has several vacancies. Interested in being on the board? Disruptive Properties is looking for dedicated applicants who will help hold offenders accountable and advance the office's work. Email Ian Reynolds at ian.reynolds@pittsburghpa.gov to learn how to apply.  

Learn more about the Disruptive Properties Board in this video segment. 

OPDC is grateful to Mr. Reynolds and Mr. Tokarski for their time and consideration in talking with us. 

If you want to learn more about the Disruptive Properties Office, please email John Tokarski at or john.tokarski@pittsburghpa.gov or Ian Reynolds at ian.reynolds@pittsburghpa.gov. 

If you have an Oakland-specific complaint or observation, please contact Oakwatch via Lizabeth Gray at lgray@opdc.org or 412-335-0993. 

Oakwatch Mission:  The Oakland Code Enforcement Project works to improve the quality of life in Oakland by bringing people and institutions together to identify code violations, advocate for their remediation and monitor the outcomes.

For more on Oakwatch, including upcoming meetings and previous minutes, please click here.

Latest return to campus plans for Pittsburgh universities

We’ve compiled the most current information about local universities’ plans for students’ return to campus.

All students traveling in from out of state are required by the order of the Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Health to either have a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours prior to entering the Commonwealth or to quarantine for 10 days upon entry into Pennsylvania.

University of Pittsburgh - Pitt students start classes remotely on January 19; the university has advised all students who are traveling to campus communities plan to arrive beginning Friday, January 29. Student returns will be phased in cohorts:

Cohort 1: Friday, January 29
Cohort 2: Sunday, January 31
Cohort 3: Wednesday, February 3
Cohort 4: Friday, February 5

Students should shelter in place for seven days prior to travel. Pitt will provide one COVID test through Quest for all students returning to on-campus housing; students must test negative to be permitted to enter the dorms.

More information at coronavirus.pitt.edu.

Carlow University - Residence halls reopened on January 9 to 200 students. The university asked residents to quarantine at home before return, and are in the process of receiving two tests - one antigen and one PCR, four days apart. Carlow tested nearly 200 students on Monday, January 11, and all were negative. Classes began on January 11 and are online through the end of January and then hybrid for the rest of the term (pending evolving guidance). Employees are still almost entirely working from home.

More information at carlow.edu.

Carnegie Mellon University - Students can return to their dorm rooms from January 23 - 31. The first day of classes is February 1. Classes will be remote the first week, then hybrid the rest of the semester, with an online option unless there are changes. Students are required to quarantine 14 days before in-class or in-person activities start. Students are to take a COVID test the 15th day after they are quarantined and before going to in-person classes. (Students may also get a test if they have symptoms.)

The university will administer random testing to students throughout the semester and weekly tests to staff and faculty.

More information at cmu.edu.

Duquesne University - Students can return to their dorms between January 17 and 20. The first day of classes is January 21. Classes are hybrid. Duquesne will send students returning to campus a COVID test to take before their return to campus. 

More information at duq.edu.

Point Park University - Classes resume January 19 both in-person and remote. Tests are available to all students, faculty, and staff in the week of January 19 and all are encouraged to get tested. Tests are required for all students living in on-campus housing.

More information at pointpark.edu.

Information compiled by Jaclyn Karolski, Urban Studies Intern

Won't you be a Pen Pal?

Oakland residents of all ages are encouraged to make new connections through the Pen Pal program.

OPDC is starting a pen pal program! We believe that every day is a good day to get to know your neighbors.

While COVID-19 has halted the in-person community gatherings we usually enjoy, we now rise to the challenge of finding new (and old) ways of connecting.  

As colder weather sets in, we are matching interested Oakland residents together for a pen pal relationship that allows folks to meet new neighbors from the socially distanced comforts of their homes. 

Andrea Boykowycz is OPDC’s Community Services Director and an Oakland homeowner. Andrea looks forward to the new program, saying, “My Oakland neighbors and I keep tabs on each other through porch and sidewalk encounters — but this winter, those encounters will be a lot rarer than in years past. OPDC’s community services team is always looking for ways to help residents feel better connected with each other, and we’re hoping that matching eager letter writers with pen pals will help forge new friendships — even while we’re all keeping our distance.” 

To be matched with a pen pal, please fill out this google form or call Marketing and Community Programs Coordinator Maura McCampbell at 412-621-7863 x17 (please leave a voicemail and she will return your call since we are working remotely.) Tell us a bit about yourself and your communication preferences, and we will pair you with another interested Oakland resident after the start of the new year.  

Once matched, you will receive a letter or email (depending on your chosen mode of correspondence) with your pen pal’s name and contact information.  

Happy writing!