Colin McNickle At Large

The Hill House & bike lanes

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Word that Pittsburgh’s Hill House Association plans to dissolve by the end of June begins to answer some of the questions surrounding the demise of the heavily subsidized Shop ‘n Save grocery store. Some. But not all.

At the same time, however, it raises serious, if not uncomfortable, public policy questions.

Hill House has had a long and storied history as a nonprofit agency for providing social and other services in the Hill District. But, it says, it fell on hard financial times as federal government and private foundation dollars dwindled.

Was it the economy? Was it poor stewardship?

As the Post-Gazette recently noted, Hill House began to shed some of its offerings to other nonprofits. That, as its ledger book sprouted red.

But it appears the association’s biggest red ink stemmed from its investments in property and the need to maintain those properties – tasks for which it proved to be not especially well suited.

It’s that latter fact that now appears to have been a major contributing factor leading to the recent closure of the Shop ‘n Save.

The other contributing factor apparently was that the site didn’t have much potential for customer traffic. The eternal chicken/egg question – did the former lead to the latter or vice-versa – likely never will be adequately answered as charges and counter-charges fly.

But the bottom line is that the marketplace was perverted in a variety of ways and continuously. An agency in over its head. Demands for a full-service grocery story not supported by consumer demand but by political considerations. Woefully meager private investment in the store.

Gee, what could possibly go wrong?

Hill House is hoping for additional, transitional, support from foundations to wind down its activities and successfully divest of all its properties, including the plaza that housed the Shop ‘n Save. There’s hope that a potential buyer might just be a new grocery store operator.

Will more public dollars be sought? Will politics prevail? Or will the marketplace be heeded?

An official of one of the nonprofits taking over some of Hill House’s previous services noted that “there is always a ram in the bush” – meaning, per the Bible, that God always will provide.

But this mess could have been averted had more sound business practices been employed and had the marketplace not been ignored. Sad to say, though, when it comes to this kind of perversion, there always seems to be plenty of interventionists waiting in the bushes.

From the email inbox, a reader chastises the push for more and more bike lanes on busy streets.

“Instead of putting such bikeways on lower volume streets, where cyclists of all abilities can more safely and more comfortably ride, cities are creating hazardous conditions that set back the effort to make cycling more accessible,” the correspondent noted.

“So why the push to put bike lanes where car traffic is heaviest? Because bike lanes make a good smoke screen for the real agenda: Money. Adding arterial bike lanes lets cities qualify for federal money for their street projects plus it enables them to increase their tax base by turning small business districts over to high-density developers,” he contends.

“But really, do you know any cyclist who enjoys sucking tailpipe exhaust or dodging turning vehicles? Is it smart to put inexperienced cyclists — especially children — alongside heavy traffic? And does it make sense to route bikes through hectic business districts, where cars constantly pulling in and out of parking lots significantly raise the risk of bike/car collisions?”

Interesting points, all. City of Pittsburgh officials should take heed.

Colin McNickle is communications and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).

 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Colin McNickle
Colin McNickle

Colin received his B.G.S. from Ohio University. The 40-year journalism veteran joined the Institute in October 2016. That followed a 22-year career with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 18 as director of editorial pages for Trib Total Media. Prior that, Colin had a long and varied career in media — from radio, newspapers and magazines, to United Press International and The Associated Press.

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Weekly insights on the markets and financial planning.

Recent Posts