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Pittsburg’s ‘Living Green’ project revitalizes area with new walking trail

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Pittsburg’s ‘Living Green’ project revitalizes area with new walking trail


PITTSBURG — Sheila Larson was not particularly fond of walking near Frontage Road. The underutilized section of the area used to be a garbage dumping site and a magnet for homeless encampments.

Now that the Living Green Pittsburg trail project is complete, her perspective has changed.

A $2-million initiative to improve pedestrian accessibility to the Railroad Center BART station and revitalize Railroad Avenue, the project now allows the city to meet its environmental goal to increase its stormwater bioretention area while at the same time providing a safer space for residents.

For Larson, who often walks and cycles near the trail, she said she was happy to see how it has transformed.

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Larson had previously made the city aware that she was concerned about the risk of fire from a nearby homeless encampment before the area was cleared for the project. Her teenage daughter and friends used to worry about walking their dogs along Frontage Road, but now that the trail is in place, they are no longer afraid.

“This (Living Green Pittsburg project) makes the area look cheery and positive,” said Larson at a ribbon-cutting ceremony held on Oct. 25 to unveil the new trail. “It feels safer walking here now.”

Her neighbor, Marilyn Berg Cooper, who has lived in the area for 51 years, said the new trail will be perfect for her walking routine after she recently underwent hip replacement surgery.

“I can’t wait for the trees to grow,” Cooper said. “They (the city) did a wonderful job.”

Cooper said there wasn’t previously a proper, accessible walking trail to the BART station.

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“I feel like it’s mine. Of course, I’ll let others use it too,” she said jokingly.

Brenda Wener, a resident of the Rossmoor area off Frontage Road, said she was happy to see how an eyesore once filled with garbage and weeds has transformed into a trail.

“A lot of people will be able to use the path for cycling and walking, so it’s really nice,” she said.

In 2022, Pittsburg received two Caltrans Clean California grants, including $1,3354,000 for the Living Green Pittsburg project and $2,891,962 for the Reviving the Heart of Pittsburg Pride project for downtown park and landscape improvements, which was completed this year.

The grants were among 16 awarded by Gov. Gavin Newsom to underserved communities in the Bay Area. This was part of the $296 million in Clean California grants announced by Newsom in 2022, which were intended for communities throughout the state to remove litter and transform public spaces. In the Bay Area, other cities besides Pittsburg, such as Oakland, Richmond, Hayward, and San Pablo, also received monies.

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To help make the Living Green Pittsburg project a reality, the city also utilized $812,250 in American Rescue Plan Act funds.

The trail, which is about 0.25 miles, will support an initiative to improve bicycle and pedestrian accessibility to BART, a project that broke ground in April.

According to information provided by city staff, the trail’s amenities include an outdoor exercise station, a bike repair and water filling station, and bioretention basins that treat stormwater runoff from approximately two acres.

Pittsburg Mayor Juan Antonio Banales said the project illustrates Pittsburg’s commitment to reaching every corner of the city, finding ways to utilize local funds and grant money to provide infrastructure and spaces that beautify neighborhoods and provide safe access.

“This project also demonstrates how unused spaces can be made useful and beautiful while helping us achieve our environmental goals, which, in this case, is improving water quality,” said Banales.

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He said city staff has been doing a great job in writing proposals and winning grants.

“The staff does an extraordinary job in this. They have an ongoing list of grants they are applying for,” he said.

The city also launched its Pittsburg Living Green website, which provides residents with information on bike paths and walking trails available to them.

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Pittsburg, PA

Man’s body found underneath trailer behind former Shop ‘n Save in Carrick

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Man’s body found underneath trailer behind former Shop ‘n Save in Carrick



Pittsburgh Police detectives are investigating after a man’s body was found underneath a trailer behind the former Shop ‘n Save store in the city’s Carrick neighborhood.

Pittsburgh Public Safety said late Monday night that detectives from the Violent Crime division responded to the area of Amanda Street and Wynoka Street in Carrick after a man’s body was found around 8:30 p.m.

Public Safety said the man’s body was found underneath a trailer and that he was pronounced dead by medics at the scene.

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Pittsburgh Police detectives are investigating after a man’s body was found underneath a trailer in the city’s Carrick neighborhood on Monday night.

Pittsburgh Public Safety


A photo provided by Pittsburgh Public Safety shows officers surrounding a taped off area and what appears to be a refrigerated trailer parked at the loading dock along Amanda Street behind the former Brownsville Shop n’ Save, which closed its doors last month

No details surrounding the circumstances of the man’s death were provided by Public Safety, who said that the cause and the manner of the man’s death will be determined by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office.

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The man’s identity has not been released.

Public Safety said the investigation into the man’s death is “ongoing.”



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Record number of peregrine falcons counted in Allegheny County

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Record number of peregrine falcons counted in Allegheny County



In the early 1960s, the peregrine falcon population declined so sharply that the raptors weren’t even nesting in Pennsylvania. But now, the National Aviary says a record number have been counted in Allegheny County.

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The National Aviary says six peregrine falcons were recorded in the county during the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count. The nation’s longest-running citizen science project collects data on bird populations for ornithologists, the aviary says. It also plays a role in guiding conservation action, like what was needed to bring peregrine falcons back from the brink of extinction. 

Because of the use of DDT, peregrine falcons were no longer nesting in the state of Pennsylvania by the early 1960s, the aviary said. But after the harmful pesticide, which negatively affects reproduction rates in birds, was banned in 1972, conservation efforts have helped the peregrine falcon rebound. It was removed from the federal endangered species list in 1999 and Pennsylvania’s list in 2021. 

The record number of peregrine falcons in Allegheny County is thanks in part to the nest on top of Pitt’s Cathedral of Learning in Oakland. For the past two years, biologists with the Pennsylvania Game Commission have banded chicks born in the nest. Three were banded last year, and two the year before that. 

People can watch Carla and Ecco raise their family in the nest on a livestream camera run by the National Aviary. Carla laid her first egg of the breeding season on March 16 last year, so the aviary says the start of another season isn’t too far away. 

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Police investigating two late-night McKeesport shootings

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Police investigating two late-night McKeesport shootings



Police are investigating two shootings that happened less than 30 minutes apart on Sunday night in McKeesport. 

Two men were injured in the shootings that happened at two different locations. 

Allegheny County Police said that the department’s Homicide Unit was requested and responded to assist in the shooting investigations.

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According to police, officers were first called to the area of Lysle Boulevard and Huey Street, where a man was shot just after 10:30 p.m. on Sunday night.

KDKA’s news crew at the scene saw the outside of the Sunoco gas station along Lysle Boulevard lined with crime tape and what appeared to be blood on the front door of the store. 

Police are investigating two late-night shootings that happened in McKeesport on Sunday. Officers were called to a gas station along Lysle Boulevard and an alleyway near Madison Avenue around 30 minutes apart Sunday night.It’s unclear at this time if the two shootings are related or connected.

KDKA Photojournalist Bryce Lutz

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Police also had an area taped off around the intersection of nearby 5th Avenue and Huey Street.  The man who was shot in the area was taken to the hospital in stable condition.

Police said they are also investigating a shooting that happened in the area of an alleyway behind Madison Avenue, where another man was shot Dispatchers said the second shooting happened around 25 minutes after the first.

The two shooting scenes in McKeesport are located around 1/4 of a mile apart.

At the second shooting scene, KDKA’s news crew at the scene saw police taping off an alleyway between Madison Avenue and Petty Street. 

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Police are investigating two late-night shootings that happened in McKeesport on Sunday. Officers were called to a gas station along Lysle Boulevard and an alleyway near Madison Avenue around 30 minutes apart Sunday night.

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KDKA Photojournalist Bryce Lutz


Officers at the scene were shining flashlights and looking into a black sedan that had its flashers on.  The man who was shot in the area of Madison Avenue was taken to the hospital in stable condition.

Police didn’t specify if the two shootings are believed to be related.



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