Oak Hill -- for subsidized housing or for sports fields ???

Neither sounds best.

Pittsburgh Tuesday takes - PittsburghLIVE.com The Oak Hill debate: All one really has to know about Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy's latest scheme to dismiss it is this -- the public subsidy for Hizzhoner's plan to build 250 houses in Oak Hill would be, by one accounting, about $60,000 per home (including public infrastructure). But a competing University of Pittsburgh plan that would take the property off the tax rolls for a sports complex doesn't exactly shout 'best use!' There is another choice, of course -- private development through private financing that creates wealth instead of transferring it.

I don't trust Mayor Murphy to cut any deal that is going to be a long-term benefit for the city and its citizens.

I don't think the out of town developers should hang their hat upon a letter from the former housing authority director that says Pitt won't get the property. That's old news from a departed (thankfully) boss of an agency that didn't perform well.

Notice how the Water and Sewer Authority is holding a keystone chip in the bargins for the development. Why didn't Murphy think to put a parking lot up there too, is beyond me. The wires are all tangled and confused -- by design.

Pitt has to do a great deal of self evaluation as well, before it gets support for expansion. Pitt moved into the South Side with the football facility and broke a number of important promises. They can be fixed and need to be fixed before they screw up again.