In advance of tonight's meeting, below is an article I wrote for the December, 2003 Highland Park Newsletter that outlined the issues as seen from that date. While there have been changes over the past four years in the schedule and details of the work, the "big idea" of the Heth's Run opportunity has remained much the same as presented below. Please join us tonight at 6pm the Zoo for a kick-off meeting with the engineering and landscape design team selected by the City to transform Heth's Run in the years ahead. Note that there is also an article in today's Post-Gazette on the project. Dave Hance, President Highland Park Community Development Corporation "Most of us know Heth's Run as the location of the Zoo's parking lot, and for what used to be there, the City's Dept. of Public Works storage yard. Once a year, we'd haul our old Christmas tree "down there", or, perhaps, we'd walk down the path below the King Estate, past the remains of the burned-out cars, to view out at the asphalt plain that caps the Run's upper reaches. Once a dramatic feature of the East End landscape, Heth's Run is now a wasteland. That may be about to change. After decades of neglect, Heth's Run is suddenly the focus of significant new interest: * PennDOT is moving toward the replacement of the once-beautiful, but now buried and deteriorated bridge at Allegheny River Boulevard; * The City has abandoned its dumping grounds at the upper portion of the Run; * Green soccer fields will soon replace some of the gray asphalt; * The Pittsburgh Zoo is planning to upgrade it's "front door" parking lot and entry drive; * A riverfront trail is planned along the south bank of the Allegheny River; and * The new Highland Park Master Plan has highlighted the potential of the Run to make fundamentally exciting new connections between neighborhoods, the Park, the Zoo, and the River. If coordinated properly, all of these efforts can be combined to create a whole that is far greater than the sum of their parts. Heth's Run can be reinvented in the process, and our City and our neighborhood stand to gain greatly. Years of neglect and environmental abuse can be undone in the process. The Highland Park Community Club and CDC, along with the Morningside Area Community Council, and the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, are leading the charge for a comprehensive design process to seize this one time opportunity to create a new Heth's Run. We are pleased to be working closely with the Mayor and City Planning, the Riverlife Task Force, and the Zoo to create the "new Heth's Run." There are significant challenges remaining, not least of which is money. But, great progress has already been made: Heth's Run Bridge: Stand at the center of the existing bridge today, and look up Heth's Run. The view is dominated by asphalt. Millions of cubic yards of fill material were placed in Heth's Run by the City from the 40's to the 70's, and the stream that once ran 85 ft. below your feet is now captured by two large buried culverts. The bridge you are standing on dates to 1914, and now is in need of replacement. As Allegheny River Boulevard is also PA Route 8, replacing the bridge is the responsibility of PennDOT. Working closely with the City and PennDOT, we have been successful in shifting the new bridge design towards one that fits in this remarkable, historic setting. From our February letter to PennDOT: "The original bridge enhanced its setting because it worked with it: a single arched span, springing from masonry abutments anchored into the sides of the ravine, united the landscape and allowed Heth's Run to join with the Allegheny River in a most graceful way. It acted as a true gateway to the City, to the Park, and to the Zoo. We believe the new bridge (shown) should be evocative of the original." Soccer Fields: A State grant was secured in recent years by the City to place new soccer fields at the former DPW yard. The Club has seen drawings of this design, and public meetings have taken place at the Zoo. Subsequent studies have shown that the lack of soil at this upper portion of Heth's Run will make soccer fields exceedingly costly. A break though occurred this summer, however, when it was suggested that the soccer fields would be a better fit at the other end of Heth's Run, near the bridge where soil conditions were better. Moving the soccer fields to the bridge brings many advantages: it "greens up" the lower third of Heth's Run with playing fields and park plantings, thereby transforming the image of this crucial entry to City, Zoo, and Park; it provides a compatible setting for grading of the trail that would wind down from parking lot level to the riverfront trail along the Allegheny; it allows the Zoo's parking to expand in the less-public upper reaches of the Run; and it allows for a more orderly phasing of the construction of soccer fields-bridge-parking lot-trails over the next few years. Connections: One of the least costly, but most exciting aspects of this project are the new connections that will be formed. Via trails connecting up into the neighborhoods, Highland Park and Morningside residents will be minutes away by foot or bicycle from the Allegheny River Trail, and the Zoo. Land that is actually part of the Park will be accessible to the public for the first time. The Port Authority's Eastern Corridor Transit Study has identified the railroad right-of-way below the bridge as a possible future light rail line. The Highland Park Lock & Dam may one day house a visitor's center. And, we will live in a more attractive neighborhood as a result of any or all of these. Next Steps: Key parts of this vision are in place: PennDOT has agreed to build a bridge that is sensitive to its natural and historic context; the soccer field money is in hand; and the Zoo was already planning for parking and entry upgrades. The piece still to be identified is the cost of removing and relocating the excess soil material from the bridge area. This is necessary to partially recreate the ravine, thus allowing a proper setting for the bridge, and the critical trail pathway passing underneath. Thanks to the leadership and financial support of the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy (with a partial match pledged by the HPCDC), the design of this final component is underway. Previously unconnected design initiatives will be pulled together on one plan, and a fund-raising strategy can be put together at that time." This message is sent by Perkins Eastman Architects, PC, and/or its Affiliates, and is intended exclusively for the persons to which it is addressed. This communication may contain information that is privileged or confidential. If you are not the named addressee, you are not authorized to read, print, retain, copy or disseminate any part of this message.