August 11, 2021 - Pittsburgh City Paper

INSIDE: WHY ALLEGHENY COUNTY’S EVICTION MORATORIUM EXTENSION IS NECESSARY PITTSBUR PITTSBURGH’S ALTERNATIVE FOR ALTERNAT NEWS, ART ARTS + ENTERTAIN ENTERTAINMENT SINCE 199 1991

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AUG. 11-18, 2021

A Allegheny Land Trust aand Grow Pittsburgh h have set out to p permanently protect

ccommunity gardens

Alyson Fearon of > Allegheny Land Trust

FIRSTSHOT

BY KAYCEE ORWIG

Erika June and the Tunes perform at the Millvale Music Festival on Fri., Aug. 6.

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AUG. 11-18, 2021 VOLUME 30 + ISSUE 32 Editor-In-Chief LISA CUNNINGHAM Director of Advertising JASMINE HUGHES Director of Operations KEVIN SHEPHERD Managing Editor RYAN DETO A&E Editor AMANDA WALTZ Staff Writers DANI JANAE, KIMBERLY ROONEY 냖㵸蔻 Photographer/Videographer JARED WICKERHAM Editorial Designer LUCY CHEN Graphic Designer JEFF SCHRECKENGOST Digital Marketing Coordinator DARYA KHARABI Sales Representatives ZACK DURKIN, OWEN GABBEY, HANNAH MORAN-FUNWELA Circulation Manager JEFF ENGBARTH Featured Contributors REGE BEHE, MIKE CANTON, LYNN CULLEN, TERENEH IDIA, CHARLES ROSENBLUM Interns LAURYN NANIA, KAYCEE ORWIG National Advertising Representative VMG ADVERTISING 1.888.278.9866 OR 1.212.475.2529 Publisher EAGLE MEDIA CORP.

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COVER PHOTO: KAYCEE ORWIG READ THE STORY ON PAGE 4

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7/2/21 PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER AUGUST 11-18, 2021

5:13 PM

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THE BIG STORY

GROWING UP

BY AMANDA WALTZ // AWALTZ@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

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PGHCITYPAPER.COM

I

N TERMS OF LAND OWNERSHIP, a plot measuring .01 acres, or around 430 feet, seems paltry. It appears even more inconsequential when compared to over the 3,100 acres, and counting, Allegheny Land Trust has acquired and preserved over the past few decades.

But even just a tiny plot of land can make a big impact when it comes to urban farming.

And Allegheny Land Trust, a nonprofit preservation group which works with communities to save, and make public, green space throughout the Pittsburgh region, is working to protect existing urban farms in the city.

CP PHOTO: KAYCEE ORWIG

Alyson Fearon of Allegheny Land Trust at the former Healcrest Urban Farm

ALT has expanded its mission to include urban gardens, small-scale agricultural ventures where groups grow fresh produce in abandoned or unoccupied lots. To help accomplish this, ALT joined up with fellow nonprofit, Grow Pittsburgh, to create the Three Rivers Agricultural Land Initiative, or TRALI, a partnership focused on purchasing and protecting urban agricultural lands in perpetuity. This includes Kincaid Street Garden in Garfield, which TRALI announced in July as being permanently protected.

TRALI signals an expanded mission for ALT from acquiring large parcels of land for outdoor recreation and preservation of wilderness, to a focus on urban gardens maintained by neighborhood residents.

The groups hope the change can improve Pittsburgh’s landscape by providing urban gardens and sustainable farming even in popular neighborhoods that are seeing a lot of development.

“Over the years, we feared that the lots could be taken out from under us, as has happened to other community gardens in Pittsburgh,” says Lydia Yoder, one of the 25 volunteers who work the Kincaid Street Garden each year, in a press release. “That fear prevented us from making long-term investments in the garden. We can now plan for a long future for the garden.”

As a result of ALT and Grow Pittsburgh’s initiative, communities with a history of blighted properties and neglect could see a positive shift to increased green space and food security. According to the Pittsburgh Department of City Planning, one in five Pittsburgh residents was food insecure in 2020. This means that over 60,000 residents struggle to have healthy, adequate, and culturally appropriate food.

“WE CAN NOW PLAN FOR A LONG FUTURE FOR THE GARDEN.” More broadly, TRALI would like to see their model extend into the preservation and growth of affordable housing, so that people of all income levels can enjoy the benefits of protected community gardens.

Since forming in 1993, ALT has focused on acquiring large tracts of land for outdoor recreation and other uses. This includes Dead Man’s Hollow, a 450-acre park along the Youghiogheny River just south of McKeesport, to the 148-acre Churchill Valley Greenway, an abandoned former country club spanning the municipalities of Churchill and Penn Hills.

ALT is currently working to preserve Girty’s

TRALI LAND PROTECTION INFORMATION SESSION 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Sat., Sept. 11. Hilltop Urban Garden. 700 Cresswell St., St. Clair.

Free. RSVP required by Sept. 4. alleghenylandtrust.org/events

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER AUGUST 11-18, 2021

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GROWING UP, CONTINUED FROM PG. 5

CP PHOTO: JARED WICKERHAM

A view from Girty’s Woods, one of Allegheny Land Trust’s protected conservation areas

Woods, a 155-acre stretch of woodlands seen as providing vital green space, wildlife habitat, and stormwater management in the municipalities of Millvale, Shaler, and Reserve.

Regardless, ALT spokesperson Lindsay Day says TRALI still fits within the organization’s mission of “conserving and caring for local land that contributes to the quality of life for everyone.”

“These local, small parcels of land are doing a lot,” says Day. “They’re not a Churchill Valley Country Club, but they are helping to provide food security and community building and local close-tohome green space.”

Rayden Sorock, director of community projects at Grow Pittsburgh, says he noticed a shift among land trusts in general to look beyond substantial parcels of land and into urban farms and gardens, which could have a more immediate impact.

“If we’re looking at smaller parcels within the city, we’ll actually be able to reach a greater number of people within a mile or so close to that site than some of the spaces that are farther out, and maybe less people interact with them, even though they’re much bigger spaces,” says Sorock.

In the past, many community gardens in Pittsburgh were at the whim of private landowners or even the city, which owns many vacant lots.

But in 2017, ALT and Grow Pittsburgh joined forces to purchase three lots that were already operating as community gardens — the Eastfield Cooperative Garden on Black Street and the Garden Dreams

Urban Farm & Nursery in Wilkinsburg, both of which were officially protected in December 2019, as well as Kincaid. The goal is to preserve this use in perpetuity.

“... BUT THEY ARE HELPING TO PROVIDE FOOD SECURITY AND COMMUNITY BUILDING AND LOCAL CLOSE-TO-HOME GREEN SPACE.” Other cities like Buffalo and New York City, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore already have land trusts or non-city affiliated entities buying property where urban gardens and farms are located.

Alyson Fearon, ALT’s senior director of community conservation and resiliency, says TRALI is looking at acquiring around 10 more urban agricultural projects, including the Ballfield Farm, an organic farming collective in the Perry South neighborhood of Pittsburgh’s North Side.

Sorock says that, while ALT could have created an urban garden protection program on its own, TRALI gave them the chance to combine their organizations’ respective talents and work toward a common goal.

“We aren’t in the business of being a land trust or owning property, and Allegheny Land Trust really isn’t in the business of connecting with community gardens and understanding the urban ag scene, for the most part,” says Sorock.

Sorock says the primary goal of TRALI is to offer protection to groups that have zero rights or knowledge when it comes to land ownership, no matter how long they have worked on a plot.

“We’ve seen gardens struggle and fail for a lot of different reasons,” says Sorock.

“But one of the ones that is the most disheartening is when there’s development pressure, and they’re just not able to stay in that space long term. Or they’re kind of timid about creating long-term investment in that space. Whereas if they were just not worried about being in their space long term, they could focus their energy on other things that are more important, like the community building aspect of it. So we really saw that need.”

TRALI offers a permanent alternative to programs like Adopt-A-Lot, a Department of City Planning arm that gives groups threeyear, renewable leases to take over cityowned vacant lots to grow food or flowers, or set up rain gardens. By 2018, Adopt-A-Lot claimed that 114 vacant lots — a total of 10 acres — had been transformed around the city as part of 40 community projects.

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GROWING UP, CONTINUED FROM PG. 6

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However, Fearon points out that, while desirable in some cases, including, for example, when those with leasing agreements realize that lots are not ideal for growing, Adopt-A-Lot can leave groups in a constant state of uncertainty, as they could be refused a lease if they decide to re-apply.

“Everything you put on the space has to be removable,” says Fearon, pointing out that structures like garden boxes and sheds would not be built into the ground.

Still, she says some of the gardens TRALI works with have gone through the AdoptA-Lot program and have been able to secure the land for upwards of 10 years or more.

The TRALI venture, in essence, takes the stress off of volunteers to actually buy the land permanently, a process that could involve convincing a developer to sell, paying off any taxes owed against the property, transferring city-owned land, and other issues. In the case of Kincaid, Sorock says the process was amicable, as the owners recognized that the lot was not ideal for development and were willing to work with ALT.

‘Nah, go ahead.’ But today, you’d be like, ‘I’ll be right back. Let me go to the bank and get a loan,’ because you can sell a vacant lot for probably $200,000 in Lawrenceville today.”

To help streamline the process, the city released an Open Space Plan in 2013 that laid out how to optimize parks, trails, and, of course, vacant lots. At the time, the plan said that Pittsburgh contained approximately 30,000 vacant, distressed, or undeveloped properties. From there, the city created Adopt-A-Lot in 2015 to give public access to the land, even if it’s temporary.

Because of the high-levels of vacant lots, Danko+Day says something like TRALI is a “great idea,” as it finalizes the fate of a lot, as opposed to leaving it up in the air.

She admits that the city does not have the funding or resources to oversee every single lot, and is looking at ways to reward groups that have successfully managed land during their Adopt-A-Lot leasing with long-term access.

In the meantime, she believes TRALI fills that need, but wonders how the program will fare down the road. Because the land

“LONG TERM ACCESS FOR URBAN GARDENING AND AGRICULTURE IS CRITICAL.” Still, Fearon says garden lot groups still have to meet certain criteria. She says TRALI does outreach at least once a year to educate community gardens about the program, including an upcoming event on Sept. 11 at the Hilltop Urban Farm in Pittsburgh’s St. Clair neighborhood.

From there, groups are invited to apply for the program, but must be at least five years into operation and fulfill other requirements.

Shelly Danko+Day serves as the coordinator of Adopt-A-Lot, and says Pittsburgh deals with many empty lots as a result of the city’s loss of industry in the 1980s, which led to a number of people losing or abandoning their homes. But solving the city’s high level of vacant lots is far more complicated than just selling them off, and can hinge on everything from lots being privately owned to changing markets.

“Say your grandfather had a house in Lawrenceville and left it, and then the city has demolished the house and taken responsibility for it,” says Danko+Day. “And then we contact you and we say, ‘Hey, this house is rightfully yours because you’re the heir.’ And so you can have this house if you give us the $80,000 that’s owed on it. Now, 20 years ago, you would have been like,

is designated for urban agriculture, she wants to see how lots will be transferred or used if a community group no longer wants to work them. And an Adopt-A-Lot model might give some properties more flexibility than permanently designate them as community gardens.

Even so, she says TRALI gives spaces like Kincaid a purpose and takes some pressure off the city to manage them.

“It’s on everyone’s radar because what could happen is, if it’s not on anyone’s radar, it’s just a lot and block number in our database and looks like it’s just a vacant lot and we can sell it,” says Danko+Day. “And the community’s use of it is not recorded there at all … So having them registered as adopted and having that recorded in the database is really helpful.”

Speaking to Danko+Day’s concerns, Sorock says that, should a garden fall apart or need to have a major leadership transition, Grow Pittsburgh will be there to “help steward that process.” He adds that a lot can also serve as passive green space in cases where gardening is no longer viable.

“There are so many benefits of these spaces,” says Sorock, pointing out how they can provide stormwater management, places for community engagement,

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A view of Kincaid Street Garden, permanently protected by the Three Rivers Agricultural Land Initiative

and more. “We’re really looking at that whole picture.”

For now, TRALI is not going anywhere, with Sorock saying that ALT and Grow Pittsburgh renewed their joint venture agreement for another three years.

Beyond that, he says TRALI also wants to consider not only keeping the gardens around, but to ensure that the groups caring for them are not priced out as neighborhoods become more popular and developers begin moving in. He hopes that TRALI will empower residents by giving them more ownership over their neighborhoods, but also encourage nonprofit land trusts that work in housing, including City of Bridges and the land trust boards in Garfield and Oakland, to pursue something similar.

“We really need to talk to each other about how green spaces and affordable housing need to go hand in hand,” says Sorock. “People want their neighborhoods to be places where people want to live, like they want amenities in their neighborhoods, and they’re willing to do the work to make that happen. But then, once there are amenities, then the prices go up. And then where do those people go?”

Located approximately at 5414 Kincaid St., the Kincaid Street Garden started in late 2012 when the Pittsburgh Urban Leadership Service Experience worked with the Garfield Community Action Team, Grow Pittsburgh, and Garfield residents to transform vacant parcels into growing space. Through TRALI, the garden was purchased as two parcels, one from East Liberty Development Inc., and the other from Penn Pioneer Enterprises. There are

two adjacent parcels used by the garden that TRALI plans to protect as well.

John V. Stullken lives just a few blocks from Kincaid and has been involved with the garden for about four years. He says Kincaid occupies land on both the north and south sides of Kincaid Street, with the south side featuring individually managed plots where “folks grow typical garden produce such as tomatoes, beans, peppers, and leafy greens.” The north side of the garden is “cooperatively managed by the gardeners and features more perennial plants like herbs, flowers, and some fruit trees and bushes.”

Stullken says acquiring community control of almost any land parcel on the East End and most of Pittsburgh, has become more difficult as the city’s real estate market has heated up. This certainly applies to Kindcaid, he says, as one of the parcels was actively for sale prior to the TRALI deal.

“Long term access for urban gardening and agriculture is critical,” says Stullken, who works professionally as a landscape and civil engineer, and now serves as the garden’s main point person for TRALI. “Urban gardening and healthy, functional green spaces are a key piece to healthy, functional communities. TRALI’s approach is great because it guarantees long term access for communities, and has the money and resources to acquire land amidst other development priorities. Any successful approach to protecting urban gardens and farmlands requires adequate money and resources, and a cleareyed understanding of the myriad other development pressures.”

Follow a&e editor Amanda Waltz on Twitter @AWaltzCP

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CP PHOTO: JARED WICKERHAM

A Pittsburgh resident facing eviction holds up a sign during a rally organized by the Pittsburgh chapter of the United Neighborhood Defense Movement in February 2021.

.NEWS.

HOUSING HELP

BY RYAN DETO // RYANDETO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

F

OR TWO DAYS during the first week

in August, tenants in Allegheny County had no protection in eviction cases due to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s eviction moratorium expiring and not being immediately renewed. The moratorium had been in place for months as a way to protect people from evictions during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to mass unemployment.

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During those two days, Allegheny County eviction filings skyrocketed, as did cases where judges ruled in favor of the landlord and order for possessions, where a tenant can be removed from a unit by a constable. That two-day lapse in the moratorium led to Allegheny County eviction filings multiplying by nearly five times the daily average for 2021, and led to order for possessions spiking by more than seven times the daily 2021 average.

Nearly 60 people were removed from homes by constables over Aug. 2 and Aug. 3, when, under previous circumstances of the CDC moratorium, likely only about seven people would have been removed by constables over those two days.

The moratorium was renewed on Aug. 4 by the CDC, and Allegheny County saw its own eviction moratorium extended beyond the CDC regulations after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court authorized

Allegheny County President Judge Kim Clark’s request to extend local protections.

Allegheny County now has a temporary stay on most eviction cases until Oct. 31.

Advocates say the extension is not only humane to prevent evictions when people still may be unemployed due to shutdowns, taking care of sick loved ones, or quarantining for their own health, but that it’s smart policy because there are still tens of millions of dollars on unspent

“WE TALK TO OVER 100 PEOPLE A WEEK, THEY ARE ALL GOOD, HARDWORKING PEOPLE AND SENIORS, EVERYONE IS SOMEONE THAT HAS BEEN PUNISHED BY THIS PANDEMIC.” rental assistance that can only be funneled to tenants in need.

Abby Rae LaCombe of Rent Help PGH says that 98% of people who apply receive rental assistance, which is then funneled into rent payments to landlords. She says Allegheny County has spent about $20 million of its allocated rent assistance funds on 3,500 households, but there is still about $53 million left to spend. And it can only be spent on rental assistance, according to federal law. LaCombe notes that Allegheny County government, working with local nonprofit group Action Housing, has been comparably very good at distributing rental assistance funds, and says not allowing the adequate time to let that continue would be a huge mistake.

“Lifting the moratorium when the money is there is absurd,” says LaCombe. “It takes time to get your application through, especially if you are elderly and don’t have computer access, or a single mom with two kids.”

LaCombe says she sympathizes with some landlords in terms of dealing with problem tenants, but says that over the two-day moratorium lapse, the vast majority of cases filed were not tenants who were destroying property or other extreme cases. They were people still struggling economically because of the coronavirus shutdowns. She says most of the people Rent Help PGH works with on eviction cases are single mothers, and about 20-25% are seniors on fixed incomes.

“We talk to over 100 people a week, they are all good, hard-working people and seniors, everyone is someone that has been punished by this pandemic,” says LaCombe.

If the rate of eviction cases and rulings during the lapse kept its pace, LaCombe says there would be no places for many Allegheny County residents to go, citing the region’s shortage of affordable, subsidized housing, and how many tenants facing possible eviction have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic. LaCombe says many of Rent Help PGH’s clients sold their cars during the pandemic to make ends meet, and don’t even have the option

anymore of sleeping in their vehicles if evicted. Without a moratorium, LaCombe says local social services would be overwhelmed in trying to help people.

“No, it’s not sustainable,” says LaCombe.

“It’s like watching a Mack truck head straight down the road for you.”

Anne Wright of Carnegie Mellon University’s CREATE Lab has been tracking eviction cases throughout the pandemic in Allegheny County.

She says there was one other spike in cases during the pandemic that occurred when the state eviction moratorium lapsed for less than a day in September 2020. Other than that day — which saw the highest spike in cases of the pandemic — the highest daily total of cases during the pandemic in Allegheny County was 51 filings.

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Both Aug. 2 and Aug. 3 easily eclipsed that with 75 and 80 filings, respectively.

After news of the renewed moratorium hit and Judge Clark’s request was authorized, filings dropped off significantly. On Aug. 6, there were 17 eviction cases filed in Allegheny County.

Landlords are still technically able to file eviction cases throughout the CDC moratorium, citing extreme examples of tenant negligence and other violations.

This could lead some to believe that eviction filings might remain steady even under the moratorium, but Wright says the filing data shows that moratoriums and announcements of moratoriums had a tangible effect on landlords filing eviction cases.

“If you hypothesize that it won’t make a difference because they can still file with the CDC declaration, that is not what happened,” says Wright.

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CP PHOTO: BRIAN COOK

Morgan Overton and Martell Covington

.BLACK-LED COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT.

DIFFERENT SHADES OF BLUE W

BY DANI JANAE // DANIJANAE@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

HEN MORGAN OVERTON and

Martell Covington met during their time at New Leaders Council of Pittsburgh in 2019, a friendship began. New Leaders, which describes itself as “the hub for progressive millennial thought leadership,” serves as a think tank for young progressives interested in leadership development.

The pair would reunite during their time at the Young Democrats of Allegheny County, the official affiliate of the Democratic Party for voters 18-40 years old in the county. Now, they serve as the Young Democrats president and vice president, respectively, the first Black people to hold these positions in the organization’s history.

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“I would say we’re a chocolate box.

We do a whole bunch of different things,” says Overton. “A lot of our work entails networking events, teaching people about the political process really, and Martell was pivotal in holding judicial forums to demystify judicial races.”

Overton and Covington were announced as president and vice president on July 28. The path to the Young Democrats was natural for Covington, but not so much for Overton. Overton studied at the University of Pittsburgh for both undergraduate and graduate degrees, earning a bachelors in psychology and a masters in social work. Covington went to the historically Black Howard University and earned

his bachelors in business administration.

Overton says she took her first foray into public affairs and public service in 2012.

“I served as an Obama for America fellow for his re-election campaign,” she says. “I was a freshman at the University of Pittsburgh then, and I was studying psychology. Like I said, I didn’t think I would end up being passionate about politics. It was just something I put on the side, but I don’t know who does politics on the side?”

For Covington, he says he was always interested in politics.

“I’ve always had an interest in government and politics as far back as I can remember. I remember being in second or third grade and looking at encyclopedias

and remembering the presidents and knowing who our governor was. And it was just something that I always had an interest in,” he says.

For both Overton and Covington, the 2008 and 2012 elections were important in forming their political histories. Overton says she got to vote in her first election in 2012; Covington in 2008.

They both voted for or volunteered for the Obama campaigns in some capacity.

Both Pittsburgh natives, Covington had to fill out an absentee ballot to vote in the Pennsylvania election but still says he felt the weight of the importance of the moment.

Being a spokesperson for the Young Democrats of Allegheny County is a job Overton and Covington both seem proud to inhabit. Their individual passion for the party and the work they do is evident, but they both acknowledge that people in Pennsylvania and beyond have suffered from a bit of disillusionment with the political process.

that sort of experience: not seeing politicians who look like you and have your specific needs and concerns in mind. She says being the first Black people to hold the president and vice president positions in the Young Dems is bittersweet.

YOUNG DEMOCRATS OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY facebook.com/YDofAlleghenyCo

Saturday, September 4, 2021

“We’re making history and that’s beautiful, but it’s 2021, right?” she says. “And apparently YDAC has been around, at least I’ve heard, since the 1980s. It’s still murky.”

Both say they hope that early experiences like the one Covington had with Young Dems are a thing of the past now that they are in leadership positions.

“So for me to be the first Black male vice president, it’s cool but it took a long time to get here,” says Covington. “While I’m honored to be the first, you know, there are

“OUR GOAL IS TO REALLY BUILD A PIPELINE OF PEOPLE FROM ALL DIVERSE INTERSECTIONS TO RECOGNIZE THAT THEY DO HOLD POLITICAL POWER AND THEY LITERALLY ARE THE FUTURE.” “During my speech for vice president, one thing that I said was that I want to make sure that inclusion, empowerment, and education are some of the things that we focus on through Young Dems because even people who I know personally have a distrust for politics based on bad experiences, based on things that they may have heard or learned, or, you know, just watching the news,” says Covington. “So I feel like it’s important that us, being in this position, kind of change the narrative of politics in our region.”

Covington says that, when he first thought about joining the Young Democrats a few years ago, he visited the website and saw that there was no one who looked like him on their promotional materials. He decided then that it was a space where he wouldn’t feel welcomed or comfortable.

Overton added that much of the disillusionment with politics comes from just

so many other great people that have kind of done it before me. I want to just highlight that representation matters.”

Both seem very excited to get started in their roles, and to begin to help change the political landscape of Allegheny County.

“So our goal is to really build a pipeline of people from all diverse intersections to recognize that they do hold political power and they literally are the future,” says Overton. “It’s not up to the status quo, but we can shift the culture. So this is bigger than just, you know, a little club that people are part of. This is really building a home.”

The Young Democrats of Allegheny County is currently looking to expand its membership, and for just $20 a year, the pair says those interested can join their efforts to build a more politically aware Pittsburgh. More information can be found on the Young Dems Facebook page.

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Follow staff writer Dani Janae on Twitter @figwidow PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER AUGUST 11-18, 2021

13

.FOOD.

CHOOSING CHINA

BY KIMBERLY ROONEY 냖㵸蔻 KIMROONEY@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

I

N PITTSBURGH’S SQUIRREL HILL neigh-

borhood, Chinese and Taiwanese cuisine options abound, from Everyday Noodles and Taiwanese Bistro Cafe 33’s more subtle and lighter Taiwanese options to Sichuan Gourmet and Chengdu Gourmet’s spicier Sichuanese cuisines.

Although Northeastern Kitchen, which specialized in Dongbei cuisine, closed in late 2020, Jian’s Kitchen has since taken over the location and continues to offer Dongbei, or Northeastern, cuisine in addition to a variety of cuisines from throughout China that Pittsburgh diners might not know about.

Jian’s Kitchen, or ⿁娡⶟, opened in December 2020 after owner and chef Michael Chou took over the restaurant.

With a long love of cooking and experience working in a variety of Chinese restaurants, Chou expanded the menu to offer cuisines from various regions — including Sichuan, Hunan, Guangdong, and Taiwan — and his practiced and precise cooking brings out the best flavors of each.

The restaurant’s names reflect the reasons Chou wanted to open the restaurant. The English name celebrates his wife, Jian, whom he wanted to name a restaurant after, and the Chinese name refers to the region south of the Yangtze River and encourages people to taste and savor the cuisines, which Chou worked hard to learn. Following the suggestion, I ordered food representing a variety of Chinese cuisines to more fully appreciate Chou’s expansive expertise.

JIAN’S KITCHEN 5824 Forbes Ave., Squirrel Hill. jianskitchen.com

On Chou’s recommendation, I tried the Kyoto Pork ◺齉缜, which, along with the Xiangxi Braised Chicken 崻重揢ꦎ and Grilled Fish Zigong Style 舅靹懭뇹, is among the restaurant’s most popular dishes. With one bite into the crispy, tender pork, I quickly learned why. The sweet brown Kyoto sauce coats the wok-fried crunchy surface of the pork and brings out

CP PHOTO: KAYCEE ORWIG

Michael Chou prepares the pork with kyoto sauce.

the juiciness of the meat as the fat melts on your tongue.

To enjoy this dish at its prime, eat it as soon as you can. While the flavors are still excellent even after the fat resolidifies, the juxtaposition of crispy and melty textures made it the highlight of my meal.

Staying on the Northeast Speciality section of the menu, I also tried the Northeastern Mung Bean Clear Noodle with Shredded Vegetable 典⴮㛻䥽汷.

Northeastern Chinese cuisine is influenced by the harsher climate, especially the longer winters, as well as the region’s proximity to Siberia and North Korea. The cuisine tends to use fewer peppers, instead favoring napa cabbage, potatoes, carrots, wheat, and corn.

These noodles, tossed in a house-made chili oil sauce, followed this trend and featured cabbage, carrot, dried tofu shreds,

cilantro, and mung bean noodles, which were thick and delightfully chewy. Rather than the hot spice of Sichuan and Hunan cuisine, this dish was slightly vinegary with a more subtle, cool spice that left me feeling refreshed and ready to try a dish from Guangdong, or Canton, where Jian is from.

Taking a small leap of faith, I ordered the Cantonese Delights 䊷典㵸慑, which doesn’t have a menu description. It lived up to its name, delivering the signature wok hei flavor of Cantonese food, which is achieved through a difficult heating technique that Chou seems to have mastered. The slightly smoky, concentrated aroma filled my nostrils as soon as I opened the take-out container, and the lotus root, carrot, and onion created a crunchy juxtaposition for the tender calamari and pork.

Follow staff writer Kimberly Rooney 냖㵸蔻 on Twitter @kimlypso

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PGHCITYPAPER.COM

Finally, I sampled the Chongqing Hot Spicy Chicken 㸔㒮鰸㯹ꦎ, one of my favorite dishes. The dish is from Chongqing, one of Sichuan’s neighboring provinces in Southcentral China, and its food is a branch of Sichuan cuisine. Chou’s version of the dish maintained the tenderness of the chicken while creating a slightly crispy, dry, spiced exterior. The dish was lighter on oil than other variations I’ve tried around the city, and as a result, the dry-hot spice blend of Sichuan peppercorns and Chinese red peppers was front and center in every bite.

Each dish came with plenty of food, meaning there were lots of leftovers.

The Chongqing Hot Spicy Chicken and Cantonese Delights reheated the best for the next day’s lunch, and both left me excited to try more from Jian’s Kitchen.

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15

.ART.

ART BEYOND BARS

BY AMANDA WALTZ // AWALTZ@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

P

RISON ART PROGRAMS are hard to

come by, especially if the particular prison houses women. Avis Lee knows this well as a formerly incarcerated person at SCI Cambridge Springs, a women’s state prison in Mercer County.

“It’s, ‘What can we do for the men?’” says Lee. “And at the end of that, right before everybody gets ready to shuffle their papers together and get up and walk away from the meeting table, they’re, like, ‘Oh, yeah, and there’s two women’s prisons, let’s just see what we can do for them. Let’s let them have pink yarn in addition to yellow.’ And then the meeting’s over.”

The lack of art supplies is just one of many ways Lee says the prison system discriminates against certain groups of incarcerated people. For years, she has fought for the rights of women and trans people inside prisons as the re-entry coordinator and co-founder of the Pittsburgh-based group Let’s Get Free, along with fellow co-founder etta cetera.

Now Let’s Get Free is accepting submissions for the fifth iteration of its annual art show, titled Empathy is the Seed, calling on artists in and outside of prison to contribute their work. For the first time, the organization is also calling on poets to submit.

“We just want to be expansive because not everybody is a visual artist,” says cetera.

LET’S GET FREE’S “EMPATHY IS THE SEED” ART SHOW SUBMISSIONS creative-resistance.org/ empathy-is-the-seed-art-show

The submission process continues through Mon., Aug. 30, and will be followed by an exhibition taking place later this year at the Brew House Association in the South Side.

This year’s show is themed EMPATHY is the seed, TRUTH is the water, SOLIDARITY is the bloomage, a saying cetera credits to Kempis “Ghani” Songster of the Redemption Project, an organization connecting former felons to employment through education and mentorship.

“We were enamored with the poetry of it,” says cetera.

Founded in 2013, Let’s Get Free is described on its website as working to end death by incarceration, a term referring to life without parole sentencing. It also helps “build a pathway out of the prisons back to our communities through commutation reform, support successful possibilities for people formerly and currently incarcerated, and shift to a culture of transformative justice.”

“WE JUST WANT TO BE EXPANSIVE BECAUSE NOT EVERYBODY IS A VISUAL ARTIST.” The group started after cetera connected and became friends with Lee, who was serving a life sentence for a seconddegree felony murder charge related to an incident that happened when she was an 18-year-old college student. Lee, now 60, has since had her sentence commuted and was finally released in February 2021.

According to the Abolitionist Law Center, which followed the difficult, yearslong process to commute her sentence, Lee was serving as the lookout on a botched armed robbery outside the Pittsburgh Athletic Association building in 1981.

As cetera points out, Lee’s story, as well as the stories of other former and current inmates working with Let’s Get Free, highlight how little support is given to incarcerated women and trans people, particularly those who are Black. While art may seem like a strange avenue, the show provides a way to explore the clear disparities between incarcerated men and those who are female or trans, as well as provides a creative outlet for those inside prison.

“If you see the artwork that comes in from the prisons, the women are painting and drawing on the backs of manila folders, whereas the men have canvases and stuff,” says cetera. “And that’s because

PHOTO: COURTESY OF LET’S GET FREE

Regret by Todd “Hyung-Rae” Tarselli, 2021; made with coffee, white pencil on a brown paper lunch bag

PHOTO: COURTESY OF LET’S GET FREE

Be Not Afraid to Change by Latosha Gross, 2020; cross-stitch CONTINUES ON PG. 18

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17

ART BEYOND BARS, CONTINUED FROM PG. 16

PHOTO: COURTESY OF LET’S GET FREE

End Death by Incarceration by Angela Hellman, 2020; colored pencil on a manila envelope

they have more family support because a lot of the people who support people in prison are women. So women have less support in general.”

Lee expands on this, recalling her time in a co-ed prison where she observed how female and trans people were treated differently than men.

“I felt like they were respected more,” says Lee. “They were spoken to differently, for sure, with just a kinder, more respectful tone. I’ve definitely seen where trans people have been totally discriminated against, just with their peers in general, who will make nasty comments about them. At the medical department, when they were trying to get their hormones, or get prescriptions renewed, or get levels checked. A lot of people were really judgmental towards them, trans men and trans women.”

of art, evident in past shows that have included everything from painting, illustration, and drawing, to ceramic jewelry and weaving.

This year, cetera says they already received a cardboard sculpture from a trans incarcerated person in Minnesota, which also speaks to their continued efforts to expand their outreach. This is accomplished through a number of methods, including networking, advertising in the magazine Prison Legal News, and sending mailers.

Besides accepting poetry, another new aspect of the show this year is that it’s a contest where contributors can win $100 prizes in various categories, or prison art supply scholarships.

As a fundraiser, cetera says the show serves as the organization’s primary source of money for the whole year. In the past, she says the show has raised up to $5,000,

THE ART SHOW WOULD ALSO SERVE TO HIGHLIGHT THE RACIAL BIASES IN THE INCARCERATION SYSTEM. The art show would also serve to highlight the racial biases in the incarceration system, with cetera pointing out how 70% of people sentenced to life without parole are people of color and Black people.

“I’ve often wondered if Avis was white, if she would have even gotten a light sentence,” says cetera.

Besides organizing the event, Lee has also participated by submitting cross-stitch pieces. Submissions are open to all types

18

PGHCITYPAPER.COM

and any money raised goes towards various operational costs at Let’s Get Free, such as transportation for prison visits, as well as direct relief for incarcerated people. They also hope to fund a billboard campaign.

While the show fulfills many roles in Let’s Get Free’s mission, this year it holds particular significance for Lee. “Well, I’m excited that this is the first year I’ll actually be able to attend the art show in person,” she says.

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER AUGUST 11-18, 2021

19

SEVEN DAYS IN PITTSBURGH

PHOTO: HEATHER MULL

^ An Odyssey at Schenley Park Ice Skating Rink

THU., AUG. 12 STAGE • IRL Little Lake Theatre presents Mrs. Mannerly, a comedic play set in the 1960s. The show follows 10-year-old Jeffrey attending an etiquette class taught by infamous and strict teacher, Mrs. Mannerly. In her 36 years of teaching etiquette, Mrs. Mannerly has never handed out a perfect grade.

However, Jeffrey stumbles upon a secret from his teacher’s past, and an A+ looks a little more promising in his future. 7:30 p.m. Continues through Aug. 21. 500 Lakeside Drive, Canonsburg. $16-22. littlelake.org mrs-mannerly

FRI., AUG. 13 EVENT • IRL TrueT Pittsburgh is hosting a Blackout Weekend, an opportunity to support the LGBTQIA+ tri-state community, and a “celebration of excellence, magic, and joy.”

The event includes a showing of the movie Leave it on the Floor from Sheldon Larry in the parking lot of the Hugh Lane Wellness Foundation. Saturday will see two events:

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PGHCITYPAPER.COM

Blacks Who Brunch, and the Blackout 2K Party and Mini Ball. Sunday will close out the string of events with the I AM HUMAN TOO Benefit Show. Continues through Sun., Aug. 15. 925 Brighton Road, North Side.

Free. truetpgh.com

COMEDY • IRL Arcade Comedy Theater welcomes best-selling author and comedian Myq Kaplan for a weekend filled with laughter at Allegheny Overlook. Kaplan has appeared on prominent late night talk shows and has released several comedy albums, including his most recent one A.K.A. Comedians Liz Glazer and Ed Bailey will open Kaplan’s performance. Drinks from Brew Gentlemen and food trucks will be available during each show. Continues through Sat., Aug. 14. Fort Duquesne Boulevard between Seventh and Stanwix Street, Downtown. $18. arcadecomedytheater.com

SAT., AUG. 14 KIDS • IRL Dress up in black and gold — or anything else that represents Pittsburgh — for the

Yinzer 4.12K and Lil’ Yinzer Fun Run. Whether you decide to dress as a Heinz ketchup bottle or your favorite bridge, you can run the race in-person or as a virtual event. Light of Life Rescue Mission is hosting the race in partnership with P3R, and all proceeds will benefit Life of Life Rescue Mission, which offers men, women, and families support through poverty, addiction, and homelessness.

An extra $5 from virtual registrations will go to the Mission. 8:30 a.m. Lil’ Yinzer race, 9 a.m. Art Rooney Avenue and North Shore Drive Lot, North Side. $45 4.12K, $25 Lil’ Yinzer Fun Run. tinyurl.com/yinzer412k

EVENT • IRL If you started sewing or creating fabric projects during quarantine, and have kept up with the hobby, you’ll love this Fabric Swap and Sewcial at Tupelo Teas. Presented in partnership with Sew Pittsburgh and the Millvale Community Library, this event is a leave something, take something opportunity, so bring any scraps you’d like to exchange in favor of something a little fresher. The library will have a printer to print out patterns from online and a station to piece them together. 12-4 p.m. 211 Grant Ave., Millvale. Free. tupelohoneyteas.com

EVENT • IRL Bloomfield Garden Club travels to the Union Project to feature three different local artists and their work in dance, poetry, and ceramics. The pop-up is a part of the second season of Bloomfield Garden Club, which highlights different local and regional artists, and gives them an experimental platform to create new work. The artists being showcased this month are Gia Cacalano, Chardae Jones, and Janet Watkins. Continues through Sun., Aug. 15. 801 N. Negley Ave., Highland Park. $10-25. tinadillman.com/thebloomfield-garden-club

SUN., AUG. 15 OUTDOOR • IRL Gather the kids and head to Allegheny Commons Park for the perfect summer day. The regularly held Family Day will be filled with numerous free, kid-friendly activities, including balloon artists, crafting, live performances, and special guests.

2-4 p.m. 810 Arch St., North Side.

Free. pittsburghparks.org/event

IRL = IN REAL LIFE EVENT VIRTUAL = STREAMING OR ONLINE-ONLY EVENT

PHOTO: KATIE STONE/COURTESY OF BOXHEART GALLERY

^ GRRL at BoxHeart Gallery

MON., AUG. 16 FOOD • IRL Support a variety of local restaurants during Pittsburgh Restaurant Week Summer 2021, and enjoy discounted special meals featuring an array of cuisines. Diners can choose from 27 restaurants filtered by categories such as outdoor seating, online reservations, and eating sustainably.

You can try French onion soup, truite meuniere, and mousse au chocolate at East Liberty’s Paris 66, watermelon and frisee salad, lobster tortellini, and lime crème brulee at Vue 412 in Mount Washington, and much more. Continues through Sun., Aug. 22. Locations and prices vary. pittsburghrestaurantweek.com

insecurity. 8 p.m. Continues through Sept. 5.

10341 Overlook Drive, Oakland. Tickets start at $38. quantumtheatre.com/anodyssey

LIT • IRL Following the success of her books Baby Teeth and Wonderland, Zoje Stage is bringing the launch for her newest novel, Getaway, to Riverstone Books in Squirrel Hill. Getaway tells the story of Imogen and Beck, two sisters who decide to go on a deep hike into the Grand Canyon’s backcountry with a friend after Imogen survives a traumatic attack. As they journey into the tough terrain, tensions rise between the women, and they realize they aren’t alone. 7:30 p.m. 5825 Forbes Ave., Squirrel Hill. Free. Registration required. riverstonebookstore.com

TUE., AUG. 17

WED., AUG. 18

STAGE • IRL

ART • IRL

In a new take on a Greek classic, Quantum Theatre presents An Odyssey at the Schenley Park Ice Skating Rink. In this adaptation

by Jay Bell and directed by Jed Allen Harris, Quantum promises to explore “what keeps us coming back to these ancient tales of a war and of a journey home,” while emphasizing female characters who were cast to the side in the original and finding new humor in the old tale. Concessions and boxed dinners from NearBuy will be available for all shows, and each dollar spent on boxed dinners will be matched and distributed to neighbors experiencing food

See the two latest art exhibitions now on view at BoxHeart Gallery. GRRL by sculptor Katie Stone is described on BoxHeart’s website as revealing a coming-of-age story with themes of intersectional feminism and deconstructing expectations of womanhood. The Divide and The Light by Jessica Alpern Brown will be featured on the gallery’s second floor, and showcases the multidisciplinary artist’s focus on fine art and design for homes, public realms, and the built environment. Continues through Sept. 3. 4523 Liberty Ave., Bloomfield. Free. boxheartgallery.com • PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER AUGUST 11-18, 2021

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LIFE OF BRIAN

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1. Apricot leftovers 5. Having more skills to pay the bills 10. Sukkah builder 13. Clinton’s collective, familiarly 15. Hit the road 16. Constitution, in D.C. 17. Say a few disparaging words about a baseball hat?

19. Place to fill up on grass 20. Job that entails informing people that they have overdue library books?

22. Streaming service abbr.

23. National Little League Mo. 24. Break in the action 25. “Like now, srsly” 27. Quick tug 31. City where you’ll find bouchon restaurants 32. Oversimplified 35. John Wayne Airport location, for short 37. “I need that coiled-wire switch”?

41. Perform extremely well

42. Pulls back a bit 44. Tree-filled spot 47. Steering wheel 49. Grace 50. Where Roosevelt met Stalin 52. Cuatro estaciones 55. Green lights 56. No longer have enough sails?

61. D-backs on scoreboards 62. Lack the courage to play Othello?

64. Excellent score 65. Fit to be tied 66. Tarred fiber used to seal gaps 67. Brian added to this puzzle’s theme answers 68. Water balloon fight sound 69. Small drinks

DOWN 1. Like a rained out game: Abbr.

2. “That was such a bummer” 3. Fishy Tex-Mex option 4. Kleenex collection 5. Commercial script 6. Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Stephens 7. Mathematical points 8. Rescue mission

by air 9. Turn off 10. It’s in and out of shops regularly 11. Really terribly 12. Defang 14. 17th letters 18. Evansville-toBloomington dir.

21. Omeros poet Derek 22. Butterfingers 26. Pepper often stuffed in Manzanilla olives 28. Chain unit, perhaps 29. Seattle Kraken org.

30. Hull piece 33. Old law 34. With 36-Down, all collectively

36. See 34-Down 38. “You follow?”

39. First Japanese player to win a PGA Tour event 40. A pushover 43. Scoreboard nos.

44. Spin around 45. Country singer ___ Alaina 46. Water-warming phenomenon 48. Attractive item 51. SQ5 and SQ7 53. Fresh start?

54. “___ victory!”

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NAME CHANGE

NAME CHANGE

FINANCIAL

FINANCIAL

IN The Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: No. GD-21-7493. In re petition of Justin John Tognarine for change of name to Justin John Williams. To all persons interested: Notice is hereby given that an order of said Court authorized the filing of said petition and fixed the 13th day of September, 2021, at 9:30 a.m., as the time and the Motions Room, City-County Building, Pittsburgh, PA, as the place for a hearing, when and where all persons may show cause, if any they have, why said name should not be changed as prayed for

IN The Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: No. GD-21-008080, In re petition of Amy L. Pail parent and legal guardian of Ryley Kathleen Shaw-Petro for change of name to Ryley Kathleen Shaw. To all persons interested: Notice is hereby given that an order of said Court authorized the filing of said petition and fixed the 15th day of September 2021, at 9:30 a.m., as the time and the Motions Room, City-County Building, Pittsburgh, PA, as the place for a hearing, when and where all persons may show cause, if any they have, why said name should not be changed as prayed for.

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THE BOARD OF PUBLIC EDUCATION SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PITTSBURGH

ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS Sealed proposals shall be deposited at the Administration Building, Bellefield Entrance Lobby, 341 South Bellefield Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15213, on September 7, 2021, until 2:00 P.M., local prevailing time for:

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HELP HEal all WITH NO JUDGEMENT

PITTSBURGH GRANDVIEW PREK-5 • Window/Curtainwall Replacement and Masonry Restoration • General, Mechanical, Electrical, and Asbestos Abatement Primes Project Manual and Drawings will be available for purchase on August 2, 2021 at Modern Reproductions (412-488-7700), 127 McKean Street, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15219 between 9:00 A.M. and 4:00 P.M. The cost of the Project Manual Documents is non-refundable.

Project details and dates are described in each project manual.

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your body & soul

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• ALL INSURANCES ACCEPTED • WALK INS WELCOME • tRANSPORATION PROGRAM • NO INSURANCE? WE CAN HELP North Shore - 127 Anderson Street - Suite 101 Timber Court Building, PIttsburgh, PA 15212 Phone: (412) 322-4151 washington, pa - 95 Leonard Avenue Suite 203, Washington PA 15301 Phone: (724) 249-2517 beaver county - 2360 hospital drive Suite 1, aliquippa, pa 15001 Phone: (724)707-1155 Erie - 3104 State Street, Erie, PA 16508 PHONE: (814) 619-4009

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER AUGUST 11-18, 2021

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