South Side Slopes Neighborhood Association
"Neighbors working together to make the Slopes a more livable, beautiful, and safe community"
Do you have a photo of the neighborhood that you love and want to share? Enter your best photos (up to three) of the South Side Slopes for a chance to win a gift card and to be featured in a printed 2022 calendar. The photo calendar will be for sale this fall.
Normally, the South Side Slopes Neighborhood Association (SSSNA) celebrates the holiday season with a holiday party inviting all of our neighbors and asking neighbors to bring a toy for the annual Brashear Association Toy Drive benefiting area children. This year, due to Covid-19, we can’t hold our party, but we still want to help build our community. What are we doing instead?
If you have extra this year, we encourage our neighbors to also donate to these programs and shop local this holiday season. Together, we can help each other through this difficult time and spread some joy. #GivingTuesday
Check your mailboxes for a special holiday card from the SSSNA announcing these holiday plans!
For over a hundred years, The Brashear Association has served people in poverty – from those facing temporary challenges to families living in chronic, multi-generational poverty and works to move them toward self-sufficiency. In this time of need, they are changing their Food Pantry to a “Grab and Go” service and expanding the days of the week they offer service. They are facing extra need and need more help to help support our community.
The South Side Slopes Neighborhood Association is excited to announce a $5,000 matching grant for The Brashear Association Food Pantry. In an effort to help our neighbors in this very difficult time, the next $5,000 donated to The Brashear Association will be matched by the Association. To donate, click here: https://www.facebook.com/thebrashearassociation. You can also send a check to The Brashear Association: Food Pantry, 2005 Sarah Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15203 or donate directly on the Brashear Association website: http://www.brashearassociation.org/donate.
Do you have extra supplies? Food Pantry Donations are accepted from 4 to 5 PM Monday to Friday. Please call the main office at 412-431-2236 to schedule a drop off at Brashear 2005 Sarah Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15203. Please do not leave donations unattended. Pantry donations must be scheduled in advance. Suggested donations: Water, canned tuna, chicken, beans, fruit cups, pudding, mac’n’cheese cups, cereal, paper towels, and cleaning supplies.
Do you need help?
The Brashear Association staff are working from home and are available from 9am to 5pm to answer your call, provide support by registering your family for the new Grab and Go Food Pantry, assist with utility assistance, and to help you navigate other available resources. If you are a South Pittsburgh resident (15210, 15211 and 15203, 15227) and need help, they have three numbers that you may call. 412-431-2236 and 412-620-8282 and 412-620-8234. Please reach out if you need assistance getting through this difficult time.
Additionally, NextPittsburgh has compiled a list of city-wide resources here: https://www.nextpittsburgh.com/features/how-to-get-help-in-pittsburgh-during-the-coronavirus-crisis/
The South Side Slopes Neighborhood Association wants to congratulate and is pleased to announce four newly elected and re-elected members of our Board of Directors. At the March general meeting, Lucía Sánchez Madrigal was elected to be a new member of the Executive board. Jamie Balser, Denise Fillip, Cara Jette, Brian Oswald, and Gavin Robb were re-elected to additional terms. We want to thank Dawn Lorincy over 6 years of service on the board, most recently serving as the Treasurer.
The updated board has made the following changes to the executive members. Blake McLaren will be the new President of the Association. Former President, Kristin Raup, will be taking on the role of Secretary. Donna Tarkett was re-elected as Vice President. Cara Jette will transition from Secretary to Treasurer.
While we are all staying home and meeting virtually, stay tuned for new online developments from the board very soon!
The Board of the South Side Slopes Neighborhood Association is proposing the following by-law changes and policy addition for a vote before the membership at our Annual elections meeting on Tuesday October 8, 2019. You can see a copy of the current by-laws here. To summarize, we are instituting term limits for board members and changing the month of our public Annual Meeting. These changes are being proposed in order to register as a Registered Community Organization with the city and to improve the quality of the Board.
By-Laws Change – Article VI, Section 4
Change from:
“Term of Office: The terms of office for Board members will be two (2) years. However, five members of the initial Board of Directors shall serve a term until the next annual meeting, at which time they will stand for election to a full two-year term. There will be no limitation to the number of terms a Board member may serve.”
To:
“Term of Office: The terms of office for Board members will be two (2) years. However, five members of the initial Board of Directors shall serve a term until the next annual meeting, at which time they will stand for election to a full two-year term. Effective for Board members whose terms begin in 2019 and thereafter, Board members may not serve more than five consecutive terms. After being off the Board for at least one (1) year, the Board member shall be eligible to serve on the Board again.”
By-Laws Change – Article V, Section 1
Change from:
“Annual Meeting: The annual meeting will be held during the month of October at a location and time to be announced to the membership one month in advance for the purpose of electing directors and for the transaction of such business as may come before the meeting.”
To:
“Annual Meeting: The annual meeting will be held during the month of March at a location and time to be announced to the membership one month in advance for the purpose of electing directors and for the transaction of such business as may come before the meeting.”
NEW POLICY
Non-Discrimination Policy
The South Side Slopes Neighborhood Association shall not discriminate against any person on the basis of age, sex, race, color, national origin, ethnicity, sexual orientation, marital status, gender identity, disability, or political or religious opinion or affiliation in any of its policies, procedures or practices.
Submitted by Beverly Bagosi Boggio, founding board member 1998-2008, past president and past StepTrek chair
On Memorial Day weekend 1998, there was a fire in a home on Holt Street that destroyed three homes in the time that it took the Fire Department to arrive and stage their equipment. Due to the unique topography of the South Side Slopes, narrow hilly streets and tight corners, the fire won. Because of this, a group of active Slopes neighbors were galvanized. Throughout the summer, several meetings were held and by October 1998 a Board of Directors was chosen and the South Side Slopes Association was born. The initial slogan was “SOS/Save Our Slopes”. Thanks to the partnership with the Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire, the Firefighter’s Union and several Fire engine manufacturers, within a year, the City had the plans to order 4 smaller pumper trucks with a tighter turning radius and narrow wheel span to safely travel all of the hilly City neighborhoods, not just the Slopes. This was ambitious and the Board was focused. Keep in mind that the internet of 1998 was not what it is today. We got our first “AOL” email address in 2002, followed by our first website, later that year.
In those early days, the SSSNA Board was tenacious and committed – a spirit that carries on in today’s Board. The projects were large and the budget was shoestring. Each month, the Board members addressing and mailing the newsletter would bring stamps, as there was no funding. The first grant was $250 from the City and we felt like millionaires. In the beginning, we partnered with the former South Side Local Development Company/SSLDC under their 501(c)3 nonprofit umbrella. That is how we were able to obtain grants to improve the Slopes. We were also able to survey housing stock and catalog our steps and their condition. We received 501(c)3 designation in 2005. We continued our partnership until the SSLDC completed their mission in 2012. We received an Elm Street designation for five years to feather into the Main Street designation that SSLDC had from the State. (Learn about Elm Street and Main Street designations here: https://padowntown.org/programs/elm-street-program)
SSSNA also became a member organization of the South Side Planning Forum. We gave input for the South Side Works development and participated in the new land use designations of MAP Pittsburgh. We attended City zoning hearings and invited developers with plans to build/restore in the Slopes, to share their plans and get our input from the community at our meetings. We began long‐standing relationships with City, County and State agencies and officials, as well as the Pittsburgh police. Many of the City partnerships and projects involved public safety. In 2002, we worked to get two pedestrian footbridges over the railroad tracks at 10th and 15th Streets replaced with Core ten steel, adding safety lighting three years later. We also had safety lighting installed under the railroad underpasses on 18th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 26th and 27th Streets.
Another big focus was, and still is, beautification. We began gateway garden developmental by partnering with the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC). We built gardens along Josephine Street at Greeley and Barry Streets in 2000. More gardens followed along 18th Street, then Brosville and continue to be created throughout the Slopes. There were thousands of cleanups over the years that continue today. Thousands of discarded tires have been removed, as well as tons of trash and recyclables.
What was our most successful, hair‐brained idea? StepTrek. While other neighborhoods had home tours, we knew that the Slopes was unique and should be showcased differently. Author Bob Regan and photographer Tim Fabian were collaborating on a book (The Steps of Pittsburgh: Portrait of a City) about the public stairways throughout the City – which would create some buzz about the steps. Slopes residents Ed Jacob and Mike Milberger brought an idea to the board that the City steps should be celebrated. The fledgling board decided to give it a try, and StepTrek was a go. In 2000, we held the first StepTrek. Hundreds of people paid money to walk miles of steps – for a good cause. We got the City to repair steps and clean up the routes each year prior to the event. We changed the routes every year to keep up maintenance on all of our stairways. Now in its 18th year, StepTrek has enabled thousands of people to experience the amazing views that we get to see every day.
It has been an amazing journey. It is hard to imagine 20 years ago how much would be accomplished. The loss of homes to the fire in 1998 was terrible, but from that tragedy came a community focused on safety, advocacy and continuous improvement. Since 1998, the SSSNA board has had dozens of amazing neighbors who have served and added to the energy and progress of this community. Thank you to all who served, partnered, volunteered, cleaned, photographed, documented, shared, trekked and donated. The success of SSSNA and the neighborhood is because of you! Cheers to the next 20 years!
Welcome to Jamie Balser to the Board of the South Side Slopes Neighborhood Association. Jamie has been a vocal and active participant in the Friends of South Side Park and many many volunteer days for South Side Park and other Slopes events.
Dawn Lorincy, Denise Filip, Dawn Lorincy, Brian Oswald, and Cara Jette were re-elected for additional 2-year terms as well.
Thank you to Elizabeth Heidenreich for her year of service on the Board!
Congratulations and welcome to the newest members of the South Side Slopes Neighborhood Association Board of Directors:
Thank you to our departing members: Sarah Alessio Shea, Laura Officer, and Pavel Yakovlev.
This year StepTrek is partnering with Steppin Stanzas, a new performance arts project created to promote the use of Pittsburgh’s public steps and celebrate the city’s rich heritage, its diversity, and distinctive geography.
Steppin Stanzas co-founders and lead artists Paola Corso, a poet and literary activist, and Andrew Edwards, a poet and performance artist/translator will launch their project by creating original work inspired by city steps and performed along a StepTrek route this year.
“Along with its three rivers, Pittsburgh’s hills and the stairs that traverse them are one of the most unique, recognizable, and defining characteristics of our city, “says Corso. “Steppin Stanzas brings art to a new venue that few other cities could offer.”
“We intend to use art and spoken word performances to draw attention to city steps and challenge the audience to see them in a new way,” Edwards added.
Steppin Stanzas artists will perform poetry with music and movement at the registration area and during water breaks.
“The South Side Slopes Neighborhood Association will provide the water. Steppin Stanzas will provide the words to help refuel trekkers as they finish the last leg of the two courses. They will already have climbed more than a thousand steps. We’ll cheer them on as they catch their breath and carry on,” Corso said.
Corso is the author of six books of fiction and poetry set in her native Pittsburgh, most recently The Laundress Catches Her Breath, winner of the Tillie Olsen Award for Creative Writing from the Working Class Studies Association, and Edwards, who studied Spanish and creative writing at Ohio Wesleyan University with a focus in modern poetics, is the author of The Kobe Reality Series, a book of poetry based on his experience living in Japan.
Corso and Edwards will collaborate with guest artists Aaron LeFebvre, an acoustic finger-style guitarist combining traditional and folk with modern sounds, and movement artist Daniel Dongilli for their Steppin Stanzas launch, which was awarded a Sprout Fund grant.
The South Side Slopes Neighborhood Association (SSSNA) is excited to announce the installation of signs marking the “Church Route” through the South Side Slopes. The Church Route is a walking tour that goes up and down our unique stairways providing beautiful views of the city, and featuring glimpses of the eccentric hillside architecture and historic churches. For 10 years this route was a part of the SSSNA’s annual StepTrek but the association decided to formalize the route into a permanently signed walk instead. Funding for the signage was provided by the SSSNA in partnership with the City of Pittsburgh, who manufactured and installed the wayfinding signs.
Adam Jette, a volunteer for the annual StepTrek event stated, “It will be nice to have a self-guided tour that residents of Pittsburgh and visitors to our city can use to explore the crazy hillsides of this city. StepTrek is only one day a year but these signs will be available every day.”
The signs are posted at intersections leading from the start of the route at 15th and E. Carson Streets. The Church Route travels up 15th Street eventually ascending many different stairways and adjacent to the historical church of the Slopes. St. Adalabert’s, St. Michael’s, St. Paul’s, and St. Josephat’s churches are highlights of the trip, along with several stunning views of the city and the streets made of stairways.
In keeping with the tradition of StepTrek, an annual tour of two different courses up and down the South Side Slopes, a narrative of the route is provided on the website here: http://www.southsideslopes.org/steptrek/church-route. A brochure with a map and helpful navigation information will be printed this summer, and will be available at the South Side Chamber of Commerce office on 11th and Carson Streets. In addition to a map, the brochure will provide historical anecdotes about the churches and community as well ongoing improvements and changes to the neighborhood.
Press Release: Church Route Signage Press Release