by Michael Jehn
“In Wilkinsburg, we are all in the same ride: people, plants, birds and butterflies. Home is a habitat which we all share together.”
This simple but powerful statement by resident, volunteer, and nonprofit organizer David Cattell aptly captures the spirit of greater interconnectedness while also alluding to a growing movement toward sustainability that many Wilkinsburg residents believe is crucial to the future of a healthy, thriving borough. Positive change within communities often occurs through the relentless effort and passion of residents, partners, and organizations, all working toward shared goals, sometimes with small and incremental improvements. A great example is the Park Triangle neighborhood—a 101-acre area of Wilkinsburg defined by Swissvale Avenue, Montier Street, McNary Boulevard, and Penn Avenue, and consisting of 740 mostly residential properties—where the work of the Park Triangle Neighborhood Committee has resulted in notable property upgrades, brought touches of beauty through hands-on care, and laid the groundwork for future initiatives.
The first Park Triangle focus group gathering, attended by approximately 50 residents, took place in March 2023. Under the leadership of Autumn Butler of Wilkinsburg Christian Housing and John and Terry Chambers of JC Power Home Improvement, a local contracting business, the Park Triangle Neighborhood Committee was established with a focus on rebuilding and reestablishing community itself: listening to and understanding what residents want and addressing critical needs, including the causes and impacts of blight and vacancy. Property cleanup, human safety, and infrastructure improvements emerged as priorities and three core objectives were identified: building rehabilitation (especially homes); traffic calming along heavily trafficked streets; and beautification, in part, through the introduction of pollinator plants and the establishment of ongoing maintenance.
One notable completed project was the installation of six brick-textured raised bed planter boxes along Swissvale Avenue from the corner of Wallace Avenue to the Grace & Fruit Pollinator Garden and Orchard at the corner of Glenn Avenue (next to the Covenant Fellowship Reformed Presbyterian Church), a garden created in partnership with the Wilkinsburg Pollinator Garden Group representing the spirit of collective public placemaking in Wilkinsburg. These planters were installed with the support of the WCDC as part of an effort to improve what is known as the Swissvale Corridor and is the first of two phases of a project spearheaded by the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Greentech Rising Organization, founded by father–and–son team David and Timothy Cattell. The next phase, an evolving transformation at the corner of Swissvale Avenue and North Avenue, is the Unity Garden, so-called as it rests at the intersection of Wilkinsburg’s three wards. This urban green space is home to pollinator plants and native flowers donated by the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania and features raised bed planters for the cultivation of organic vegetables that can be distributed to neighbors. The Unity Garden has been made possible with the help of various local organizations and the generosity of numerous individual volunteers and donors.
Terry Chambers, of JC Power Home Improvement, became involved with Park Triangle neighborhood efforts just before the pandemic shutdown. Born and raised in Swissvale, she returned to the Pittsburgh area from Denver—where she had been actively engaged in community work—and quickly found ways to contribute in Wilkinsburg, along with her husband John. JC Power’s offices are located along the Swissvale Corridor, directly across from Covenant Fellowship Reformed Presbyterian Church and next to a garden maintained by Upstream Pgh and the Urban EcoStewards program. Terry notes that, following the formation of the Park Triangle Committee, a significant amount of work took place in 2023: a neighborhood-wide awareness campaign; collaborations with Covenant Fellowship Reformed, Wilkinsburg Christian Housing, and the Grace & Fruit garden next to the church; and mobilization on Wilkinsburg cleanup day. With support from the WCDC, three projects were awarded financial support: funding for the Unity Garden and new front porches for two homes, on Hill Avenue and Swissvale Avenue.
Park Triangle Committee member and Wilkinsburg Christian Housing Chairperson Lisa Huber has outlined a proposal for traffic calming utilizing street art at the corner of Swissvale Avenue and Hill Avenue, an intersection that currently lacks a crosswalk and is known to be hazardous. Huber, along withCovenant Fellowship Reformed member Anne McPherson, is collaborating with an engineering firm formerly contracted by the borough (with consulting funding provided by a WCDC grant) to provide aPennDOT–installed official crosswalk and to add a mural to the street surface on the Hill Avenue sections, as street art has been widely demonstrated to help slow traffic. The artwork would involve community input and would ideally be created by a Wilkinsburg artist. At this same intersection, a concrete bench was installed in mid-July of 2024 adjacent to the church parking lot to give people waiting for the bus a place to sit.
Chambers describes potential future projects including the distribution of cleanup kits—including buckets, gift cards, bags, gloves, and trash pickers—to approximately 16 neighbors who requested them during canvassing; the installation of signage at the six Corridor planters and the Unity Garden; and the rehabilitation of homes through collaboration with the WCDC, JC Power, and Wilkinsburg Christian Housing for families already living in Wilkinsburg to incentivize and support home ownership. In addition, Huber identifies another challenge that the Park Triangle Committee hopes to address: due inpart to the aging demographics of Wilkinsburg and a frequent lack of interest among younger relatives in maintaining, living in, or paying taxes on inherited properties, many formerly viable homes become vacant and fall into disrepair. To help bridge the gap between older homeowners and potential inheritors, the Park Triangle Committee proposes hosting a free will-writing event to coincide with a regularSaturday visit by the Wilkinsburg Community Ministry mobile food pantry to Covenant Fellowship Reformed.
Chambers summarizes the positivity of collective action of the Park Triangle Neighborhood Committee this way: “I’m excited to be a part of a collaboration of a wonderful team of people—Hamnett Place, Singer Place, Park Triangle residents and the fabulous WCDC team who are committed to transforming the Wilkinsburg Community. In partnership with the Strong Neighborhoods Initiative we are diligently working and making change, lot by lot, garden by garden, house by house, business by business, church by church to restore Wilkinsburg to a safe, clean, and sustainable neighborhood where residents can be proud to live, work, play, and worship. I believe our future is bright!”
Special thanks to our sponsors who make our Strong Neighborhoods initiative possible including:
Metro Community Health Center, F.N.B Corporation, the Allegheny Foundation, PA Department of Community & Economic Development, WesBanco, Tristate Capital, and Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency