PITTSBURGH — Saverio “Sam” Strati, who has lived below the railroad tracks in Hazelwood for 48 years, isn’t too happy these days with his neighbor, CSX railroad.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that a few months ago, the railroad fixed the Tecumseh Street crossing, which leads from Second Avenue into Strati’s neighborhood, but workers left debris, including railroad ties with spikes protruding, piled near the tracks.
Now, CSX Transportation has filed notice with the Public Utility Commission that it wants to permanently close one of three entrances to Strati’s neighborhood — a railroad crossing at Hazelwood Avenue near Second Avenue. After closing the crossing for repairs in June, the railroad filed a motion July 10 to make the closing permanent.
Strati said that would leave only two ways in and out for about 300 residents who live below the tracks on Tecumseh and Elizabeth streets. It also would eliminate a key access route linking the 177-acre former LTV Steel site, which is scheduled for redevelopment, to greater Hazelwood.
“Hazelwood Avenue is in the heart of the LTV development. If they restrict this crossing, it will be bad for the city and bad for the neighborhood,” said Strati.
Working with the Hazelwood Initiative, a nonprofit community group that is trying to revitalize the neighborhood, he is circulating a petition opposing the closing.
Lisa Kunst Vavro, chairwoman of the Hazelwood Initiative, said Hazelwood Avenue not only would be the main access to a redeveloped LTV site, but also the main access to the riverfront and a possible marina development. At one time, she said, Hazelwood Avenue extended from Second Avenue to the Monongahela River.
“It is the hope of the Hazelwood Initiative … to reclaim that right of way and reopen the access to the riverfront,” she said.
“By taking away that crossing, it eradicates all our future plans,” said Joan McLaughlin of Hazelwood, author of the petition.
The Hazelwood Initiative is holding a rally at the crossing at 2 p.m. today to protest the railroad’s plans.
The organization has gathered more than 400 signatures, which it is sending to CSX and to the PUC, which will make the final decision on whether the railroad can abandon the crossing.
Until LTV closed its plant in 1998, the Hazelwood Avenue crossing was an access route to the mill. Now, the railroad contends that the crossing is no longer needed.
The city solicitor’s office and city Councilman Bob O’Connor have written letters objecting to the closing.
“As a matter of public safety, I believe that the loss of the crossing would adversely affect police, fire and ambulance access to the neighborhood,” said O’Connor in a letter to James J. McNulty, secretary to the PUC.
The city also has notified CSX that it is opposed to the railroad’s proposed closing of a second rail crossing at South Sixth Street in the South Side, which serves as public access to the riverfront trail and park system under development in the city.
Bob Sullivan, a spokesman for CSX, said the railroad is trying to talk to representatives of the city and PUC about the proposed closures.
“It was never our intent to hurt or harm a community. At the same time, we are always looking at ways to close grade crossings while ensuring that the community has the access that is needed,” he said. “The reason we close crossings is that it reduces exposure for collisions at crossings, which occur, tragically, all too often.”
Last month, a federal bankruptcy judge approved the sale of the old LTV mill site to four Pittsburgh foundations that hope to transform it into a mix of housing, offices, light industrial buildings, parks and marinas. The Heinz, Richard King Mellon, McCune and Benedum foundations plan to acquire the parcel for $9.9 million.
Frank Brooks Robinson Sr., president of Regional Industrial Development Corp. of Southwestern Pennsylvania, a partner in the redevelopment project, said the foundations don’t yet own the land and aren’t taking an active role in tomorrow’s demonstration but are supportive.
“I think it is entirely premature for that crossing to be eliminated,” Robinson said last week. He said the real estate closing on the property is Thursday.
Paul Ostergaard, an architect with Urban Design Associates who was hired to develop a master plan for the LTV site, said the crossing is one of the few access points to the Hazelwood riverfront and is “critical” to the success of the redevelopment.
“Removing this access point would sever the existing community from the new development at a critical point in the community,” he said.
David Hart, manager of rail safety for the PUC, said the commission will hold a field meeting at the crossing at 11:30 a.m. Sept. 23. Those with opinions about the proposed closing can speak.
After that conference, a recommendation is made to an administrative law judge, who issues a recommended decision. The PUC then will adopt or reject the recommendation.
One Hazelwood businessman who already is suffering because of the closure is Alexander Jozsa Bodnar, owner of Jozsa Corner, a Hungarian restaurant in the 4800 block of Second Avenue.
Because of limited parking around Second Avenue, Bodnar’s customers often crossed the railroad tracks at Hazelwood Avenue and parked on Gloster Street. The city recently repaved Gloster but because the rail crossing is closed, the street was blocked.
“It is ridiculous,” Bodnar said last week. “It is affecting my business and creating a traffic hazard here.”
Robinson said the foundations, working through a newly formed consortium called Almono L.P., will start planning redevelopment of the site immediately. As the basis for their work, they will rely on a plan done for the Hazelwood Initiative by The Saratoga Associates, an architectural and planning firm from Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
One of the biggest unanswered questions in the project is whether the northern leg of the Mon-Fayette Expressway will be built through Hazelwood and how it would affect the LTV property. With that issue unresolved, the new owners don’t want to see their options limited before they begin to seriously plan how the property should be developed.
“If the railroad takes that rail crossing out of service, I think it would be hard to restore it,” Robinson said. “I don’t want to lose that flexibility.”