Lewis Playground in Pittsburgh’s Hazelwood is slated to see more than $500,000 in improvements.
Pittsburgh City Council voted Monday to reallocate money that had been budgeted for the now-scrapped Mon-Oakland Connector project to use at the park instead.
Councilwoman Barb Warwick, D-Greenfield, said the playground is in poor condition and members of the community have been calling for improvements for years, but the city didn’t have funding for the project.
Upgrades will include resurfacing the basketball courts and repairing retaining walls, Warwick said. She also suggested removing an underused hockey deck and replacing it with something that may get more use.
In a preliminary discussion last week, some council members raised questions about how park projects are prioritized, as many council members said their districts also had parks and playgrounds in need of upgrades.
Warwick earlier this year reallocated $320,000 from the defunct Mon-Oakland Connector project for improvements at Four Mile Run Playground in Greenfield. She moved $1.4 million from the Mon-Oakland Connector fund to pay for improvements at Burgwin Recreation Center and to build a new playground in Lincoln Place.
The legislation indicated there was still about $5.4 million left in the Mon-Oakland Connector project’s fund before council moved about $500,000 out of that pot Monday.
