A Hill District group that state Rep. Jake Wheatley organized is poised to hire an executive director as it taps into a fund that will contain $3 million from Pittsburgh's casino.
But at least one critic, who struggled to give Hill District residents a voice in how money from the casino is spent, questions how the Greater Hill District Growth Development Fund Committee is spending $200,000 of the principal and whether it is open to public input when selecting members and granting funding requests.
Wheatley, D-Hill District, said members likely will vote in November to name attorney Carl Cooper, a former city Urban Redevelopment Authority executive, to oversee its efforts to spur development beyond Crawford Street. The area below Crawford includes the Civic Arena, Consol Energy Center and 28 acres for which the Penguins hold 10 years of development rights.
"For the first time in history, that I know of, there's a pool of money that's controlled by this community to do some of the things that we envision happening with our master plan," Wheatley said. "I want it to be as helpful to as many as we can, but it isn't a lot of money for development."
Wheatley, 39, hopes to obtain matching grants and encourage others to invest in residential and commercial projects in the neighborhood.
The committee gave $200,000 to its first recipient, the Hill District Community Development Corp., and the CDC could get more each year if it meets benchmarks based on the neighborhood's 144-page master plan. That plan envisions transforming Centre Avenue into a retail "main street," turning Bedford Avenue into a "residential corridor" that capitalizes on its views of Downtown and encouraging rapid transit along Centre to Oakland.
Not everyone is happy with Wheatley's development committee, a challenge he acknowledged.
Bonnie Young Laing, co-director of the Hill District Consensus Group, recently resigned from the committee. She deferred comment to Carl Redwood Jr., the Consensus Group's director and founder.
"Major fund decisions were made without community input," said Redwood, who fought to include Hill District residents in decision-making when public officials forged a deal for the Penguins' arena. "This can be easily resolved for the future by having an open process."
Redwood said he's not pleased that Wheatley chose the board's members and sought no input when awarding the $200,000 from Holdings Acquisition Co., which runs Rivers Casino.
Wheatley said Redwood is unhappy that board members hesitated to give him $50,000 to hire a development specialist at Hill District Consensus Group. Wheatley said board members want to avoid using the money to provide organizations with operational support.
He said the members are from many groups that protested in 2008 when public officials gave the Penguins development rights. Wheatley said he added a person from Hill District Federal Credit Union at Redwood's request.
"There has not been 1 cent spent outside the original intent," Wheatley said.
None of the committee's seven voting members returned calls or messages from the Tribune-Review seeking comment.
Cooper, 67, of Highland Park said he hasn't met with Wheatley's committee to discuss responsibilities. He declined to comment further.
Mulugetta Birru, former URA head, said he hired Cooper to work at the authority as director of real estate.
"He really did an outstanding job. He ran a strong department," Birru said. "He's a great choice. He's very well connected with the URA and he knows the process, and he's well connected with the county."
Wheatley said the fund's rules are laid out in a nine-page agreement between Holdings Acquisition and the Downtown-based POISE Foundation, which will administer the money from Rivers Casino. The money is coming in $1 million annual installments.
Founded in 1980 with a mission of assisting growth in black communities, POISE is charging $30,000 to administer the accounts, said Mark Lewis, its president and CEO. Lewis said the agreement permits spending the fund's principal.
"We're going to make sure that the money is used for the purpose that it was intended for," Lewis said.
Detroit businessman Don Barden promised $3 million each to the Hill and the North Side when he won the license to develop Pittsburgh's casino in 2006. Chicago billionaire Neil Bluhm led an investor group to take over the casino's construction in 2008 when Barden ran out of money. Barden died in May.
