Thank you Mayor Gainey for putting an end to the Mon Oakland Connector

For over six long years, residents of Hazelwood, Four Mile Run, and the surrounding neighborhoods have organized to say that public investment needs to meet public needs.

All of their efforts finally paid off on February 17th. In front of a packed community meeting filled with 100+ residents of Hazelwood and Greenfield, Mayor Ed Gainey announced: “The Mon-Oakland Connector shuttle project will not move forward.”  

The crowd erupted in cheers. Since 2015, residents have hosted rallies, circulated petitions, and organized marches to uplift the community-generated mobility plan, “Our Money. Our Solutions."  They have created protest signs, artwork, and videos. They have attended countless meetings, delivered public comments, and researched public documents. They did so to oppose the Mon-Oakland Connector—and to push for a reinvestment of its funds in real community needs: affordable housing, accessible transportation, better bus facilities, and safer sidewalks..

Join us now and sign our thank-you card to Mayor Ed Gainey for moving on from the Mon-Oakland Connector. 

Now it is time to invest in Our Money. Our Solutions.

March 1, 2022

Dear Mayor Ed Gainey,

What we have to say is simple: Thank you for listening to the community and putting an end to the Mon-Oakland Connector. Now it is time to reallocate these resources to support the community-generated solutions that we know will improve our communities. The members and supporters of Pittsburghers for Public Transit are behind you 100% in making these investments real. This is our public money, meant to fund the public's solutions.

In August 2015, residents learned about the Mon-Oakland Connector from an article in the paper. The article announced that the City of Pittsburgh and the Urban Redevelopment Authority had submitted a $3 million application to build a roadway through Schenley Park, Oakland, Greenfield, and Hazelwood to connect the universities to the Hazelwood Green development site. On the roadway, experimental autonomous shuttles would ferry 8 passengers at a time between the Hazelwood Green development site and the universities in Oakland. 

No community members nor neighborhood organizations were involved in writing the application. No outreach was done. From the start, it was clear that the Mon-Oakland Connector was a development project for universities and owners of Hazelwood Green, not for residents of Hazelwood. With your help, a project that funneled public money away from the community was finally put to a stop.

Greater Hazelwood families need accessible and affordable connections to grocery stores, jobs, schools, childcare, and doctors' offices; the Mon-Oakland Connector would do none of that. In 2019 residents of these communities—Hazelwood, Four Mile Run, Greenfield, Oakland, Panther Hollow, and Squirrel Hill—all worked together to draft the “Our Money. Our Solutions.” plan that leads with the wisdom that is in communities. The plan identifies equitable investments in bus shelters, sidewalks, affordable housing, and safe bike connections. Though these things might not be flashy, or techy, or make a splash in the headlines, they are things we know the City can do to improve our access. The boldest, most innovative step your administration can take is to invest in the simple solutions that communities uplift for their basic needs: affordable housing and effective, safe, and dignified public transportation. 

Our city is at an inflection point. This is a moment for change. The truth is, the issues with the Mon-Oakland Connector were never just about a road. The issues were first and foremost about how communities are involved in the process of development—and how we are using public money to best meet public needs. 

We thank you for the new leadership you bring to the Mayor's office. Now we are ready to stand behind you and work with you to ensure that the millions of dollars that were allocated to the Mon-Oakland Connector get re-allocated to meet true community needs.

Signed,

Pittsburghers for Public Transit