You may have seen a few newspaper headlines and some tweets about land banks today. I know several people that have been working on bringing land banking to Pittsburgh for several years. Today, City Councilwoman Deb Gross introduced legislation (2014-0025) that would create the legal structure for a land bank in the City of Pittsburgh.
What is a Land Bank?
A land bank is a way for cities to manage unused, usually vacant or abandoned property.
From Wikipedia :
Land Banks are quasi-governmental entities created by counties or municipalities to effectively manage and repurpose an inventory of underused, abandoned, or… Read the rest
Image by wallyg via FlickrA few years ago I attended an informational meeting about the Sprout Fund’s public art program to learn more about murals in cities. What I took away from that brief meeting was a new appreciation of the idea of public art – I had never thought much about the idea of bringing art to people in their neighborhoods. Museums are great and Pittsburgh has some great museums but you have to go there to see the art. The Sprout Fund’s program was based on the public art program in Philadelphia which now has over 2200 murals… Read the rest