The public hearing on the Paramount Pictures Film Exchange to be held last Tuesday, Nov. 17, was postponed to January 12, 2010.
A Wikipedia entry has been prepared: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramount_Film_Exchange_%28Pittsburgh%29
Here's reporter Diana Nelson Jones' blog on the Paramount Nomination:
Council's "Oops!" moment, Nov 18: http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/citywalkabout/archive/2009/11/18/council-s-latest-big-quot-oops-quot.aspx
In the meantime, Duquesne University is now opposed to the designation. Could this be a possible conflict of interest?
Charles J. Dougherty, Ph.D.
Duquesne University President
He is a member of the board of directors of UPMC Mercy Hospital, where he chairs the Ethics Committee;
the Senator John Heinz History Center, The Allegheny Conference on Community Development and the
Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh.
YPA’s offer to buy the building for $100,000 was rejected (we had lined up the financing, too). Meanwhile, the owners are willing to sell for much less--as little as $60,000.
In addition, a review of property ownership in the Bluff/Uptown shows that UPMC and Duquesne University own just about everything. They have assembled a huge amount of land that could only be used for one thing: to construct a monster building.
Or a parking lot.
UPMC's Ethics Committee, eh? I'll refrain from further comment.
ReplyDeleteAnd I always thought it was illegal to refuse to sell property to the highest bidder out of prejudice. After all, UPMC's official stance is that they have no plans for the property so it shouldn't matter to them. Guess I'm wrong though.