SHUC Snapshots

Update from SHUC Executive Director, Maria Cohen

AS SPRING QUICKLY APPROACHES, we look forward to being On The Move in our communities and to enjoying new adventures. Our energy can now move to fun outdoor activities, spring plantings, and new, enjoyable ways to explore Squirrel Hill, the East End, and Pittsburgh.

The Fern Hollow Bridge re-opened in record time! The bridge rebuild was expected to take approximately two years but reopened in approximately 11 months. The bridge plays an integral role in connecting Squirrel Hill with Point Breeze and Regent Square. We missed that connection and are very happy to have it back!

Special thanks and accolades to our SHUC BikePed committee, Ken Doyno and the Briar Cliff Road Association, Ted King-Smith, Anna Tang and Paul Heckert of Bike Pittsburgh, our local, state and national politicians and officials, PennDOT, and all who quickly came together to create alternative bike routes and detours and to ensure a good, safe, well-designed solution that reopened to our community much faster than expected. Kudos to everyone involved!

We feel very fortunate to have hosted a fun, familyfriendly, successful, in-person Lunar New Year parade in our Squirrel Hill community this year! With hate rhetoric still an unfortunate reality, it was particularly imperative for our community, in partnership with the JCC Center for Loving Kindness, to stand in support of Asian neighbors and to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit. Thanks to all who were able to join us!

Entering spring, we look forward to Earth Day! Our in-person Spring Litter Patrol Event will be hosted on Sunday, April 23. For those who enjoyed the convenience and safety of being able to pick up anytime, SHUC is again hosting a weeklong clean-up starting on Saturday, April 22 (Earth Day!) through Sunday, April 30. Please sign up via our newsletter, social media, or our shuc.org site. There will be various prizes offered from local merchants. We are so thankful to Barb Grover, who will be passing the torch to Rachel Lecrone as Litter Patrol Lead, our past volunteers, and regular Litter Patrol members who helped plan this event and made past events such a success!

The Coalition is looking forward to all of the upcoming spring and summer events! We are very excited for Bach, Beethoven and Brunch concerts, Arbor Day in Mellon Park, the Mother’s Day Wine Walk, the Squirrel Hill Farmers Market, Night Markets, and more!

Save the date—we’ll be hosting our annual Treasure Awards Dinner on Wednesday, November 8 at the Pittsburgh Golf Club! We are very optimistic for a backto-normal, fun event and will always work to ensure the safety of our guests. Please mark your calendars!

Please reach out to share with me what you would like the Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition to continue, feedback about changes that you would like to see in our Squirrel Hill community, and your thoughts and ideas to help support us in preserving, improving, and celebrating the quality of life in our vibrant Squirrel Hill community. You can connect with me at mcohen@shuc.org.

Holiday Events Recap

‘Twas the season to enjoy Squirrel Hill businesses this past winter!

Ten Thousand Villages kicked off the holiday shopping season with a Community Shopping Event on November 29. Thank you to everyone who stopped by to shop and say hello, including Councilperson Erika Strassburger and SHUC Board President Mardi Isler. SHUC is grateful to have received a portion of the store’s sales proceeds during the event.

In early December, visitors strolled the business district during the annual Winter Wine Walk sponsored by Uncover Squirrel Hill. SHUC set up its table at The Refillery on Murray Avenue, where we offered snacks and sparkling water to complement the wine sampled at other stops. What a wonderful way to meet new friends and explore local businesses.

On other days in December, those travelling through Squirrel Hill came across symbols of the season. At the treelighting ceremony on Forbes, near the mid-block crosswalk, Murray the Squirrel greeted neighbors and furry friends. Thank you to Patrick Beck from Sestili Nursery and Jamison Combs from Uncover Squirrel Hill/Brandywine Communities for helping make downtown Squirrel Hill look so festive! A menorahlighting celebration at Murray and Beacon, which was organized by Chabad of Squirrel Hill, combined a celebration of Hanukkah with a collection for the Squirrel Hill Food Pantry. The special menorah was constructed from canned goods donated by Giant Eagle and community members. Thank you for your generosity!

Latest From The Log House

The biggest end-of-year news for the Friends of Neill Log House (FONLH) was an award of $75,000 toward construction costs from the Allegheny Foundation. When combined with other funds previously approved from the Stewart Foundation, Burke Family Foundation, ColCom Foundation, and PA Department of Community and Economic Development, plus individual contributions, this means that FONLH’s reconstruction fundraising goal was achieved. Completing work during 2023 is now realistic. Before reconstruction can begin, FONLH will be negotiating its long-term lease for the building with the City of Pittsburgh. Once this is concluded, the group will be able to hire contractors and make other decisions going forward.

The next phases of the project will draw upon behind-the-scenes work completed in 2022. Object conservators inspected every item in the Log House furnishings collection; now, decisions need to be made about which of them best represent the period and are appropriate for restoration. Artifacts and furnishings from the Log House are currently in a space donated by Guardian Storage. Planning for educational programming will use existing and new sources of information about the era of the building’s construction, its first occupant (Robert Neill), and the tenants who later lived in the house. The work started last fall by Madison Smith, a Chatham History Department student intern, to structure the expanding files of research on the house will go a long way toward this end. Smith presented her organizational system to staff at the Detre Library & Archives of the Senator John Heinz History Center, where the files of FONLH will one day be digitally archived.

CMU Students Study SHUC

Last fall, a group of students from Carnegie Mellon’s Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy partnered with SHUC on a class project. With the help of Professor T. K. Lim, SHUC Executive Director Maria Cohen coordinated their study of Squirrel Hill Magazine’s budget. The group produced an insightful review of our community-supported magazine that proved just how important community partnerships are. Thank you for your efforts, Professor T.K., Evan, Gabby, Morgan, Maraika, and Laura! If you would like to support the magazine, consider donating to SHUC, becoming an advertiser, or volunteering with us.

Thank You To Fox Chapel Seeders And Weeders

Fundraising continues for later phase site work and usage plans for when the house is ultimately open to the public. Donations to this effort are greatly appreciated—go to shuc.org, click on Projects link at the top of the Home Page, then click on Friends of Neill Log House.

Ever since the Post Office Parklet was opened in 2015, the Seeders and Weeders garden club members have taken care of the garden that surrounds the seating area. They planted bulbs that bloom every spring and some perennials and annuals to provide flowers all summer. They also weed as their name suggests! The residents of Squirrel Hill who enjoy the respite that the parklet space offers appreciate the dedication of the Seeders and Weeders, and SHUC sends then a huge thank you.