Pens say things not as perceived...Committed to helping Hill
As a former labor organizer and political campaign operative, David Morehouse said he can appreciate some of the tactics employed by the One Hill Community Benefits Agreement Coalition, but that doesn’t mean the Pittsburgh Penguins president is not going to respond.
During a Feb. 22 meeting with the New Pittsburgh Courier’s editorial board, Morehouse and senior consultant Ron Porter essentially said they are not the bad guys they’ve been made out to be, bent on bulldozing the Hill District—again—for their own enrichment.
“That’s the construct that’s out there,” said Morehouse. “Fifty years ago, the Penguins built the arena and kicked everyone out—the same as now. First of all, the Penguins didn’t exist 50 years ago. Secondly, no person or business has been forced out. We even bought out the synagogue. And the new arena is closer to the business area than to homes in the Hill.”
Morehouse said there is another argument painting the Penguins in a bad light based on the fallacy that the team is swimming in money because it got $100 million to stay in Pittsburgh. Not so, he said.
“When we cut our deal, Kansas City had a “sold” arena already built. And frankly, it was a better deal,” he said. “But the deal we made with the state allowed us to stay.”
The perception of the deal as publicly financed, using “taxpayer dollars,” is also flawed and being used against the Penguins he said.
“Half of that is coming from (Majestic Star Casino owner) Don Barden, because he wanted to help improve the Hill, and half is from gaming revenue,” said Morehouse. “So the only people being ‘taxed’ are the gamblers.”
The $15 million received from those two sources annually for 30 years will pay the debt service on the bond to build the $290 million facility. The Penguins also negotiated all the parking revenue from its lots, and they also will receive development tax credits for the 28 acres where the current Mellon Arena now stands. But for each year the land remains undeveloped after the new arena is complete, the credits are lost.
“So that’s pie in the sky,” said Morehouse. “All that said, there’s no disagreement that the Penguins should do something for the Hill—never has been. We want to be good neighbors.”
To that end, Morehouse said the Penguins conducted a door-to-door survey of Hill District needs and it mirrored a survey conducted by One Hill, indicating job training and a grocery store as the chief needs. The team also commissioned a market study (still being assembled) that indicates the Hill can, contrary to earlier assessments, support a grocery.
The Penguins have promised $1 million to assist in bringing a grocery store to the Hill, which again has been portrayed, against community demands that ranged from a $10 million community fund to all the city-owned property in the Hill, as “cheap.”
Currently, the major sticking point in the negotiations among One Hill, the city, the county and the Penguins is a demand by the Service Employees International Union—which is backing One Hill financially and already represents the Mellon Arena employees—that it represent all future employees of whatever entity might wind up in the as yet undeveloped 28 acres.
As for other points, Morehouse said the team remains committed to supporting job development in the Hill and hiring from the Hill first. He said the team plans to have a practice rink at the new arena which youth hockey teams like those in its Hockey in the Hood program can use.
Porter, however, said despite the teams efforts, the “arcane and thick” politics of the Hill community may remain difficult to work through.
“The mentality of entitlement is a tough one to crack.”