🚀 go-pugleaf

Paul S Galvanek (psg+@pitt.edu) wrote:

> No, actually I was talking about the building at the intersection of 
> Beechwood/Hazelwood ave & Brown's Hill Rd.  It's been abandoned for at 
> least ten years as several attempts to open everything from a CoGos to 
> a Pizza joint were opposed by the SHUC.

I lived one block from that corner (which is in Squirrel Hill) for several 
years. The word from the neighborhood residents, who of course included 
many folks who'd lived there when the business was open and knew the 
owner, contradicts that story. According to them, the owner of the 
property -- not the SHUC -- was the naysayer, the one who refused to 
allow certain types of businesses to move there. Supposedly the owner 
insisted on selling only to someone who would agree too build another 
service station. The city itself is said to have tried to pressure the 
owner into giving up this eyesore, unsuccessfully. 

Neighborhood rumors often slant the truth, so who knows how many of the 
above claims are accurate? Of course, if the neighbors are correct -- if 
the greater part of the  delay resulted from the owner's obstinance -- I 
doubt that you'd wish to complain, as you don't often approve of 
governments coercing private citizens on the matter of property rights.

FWIW, the property was not *entirely* unused. Christmas tree vendors used 
the lot two months out of twelve. :)

-brian
-- 
"Saints fly only in the eyes of their disciples."  - Hindu proverb