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Concerns include ads, foot traffic flow

Tuesday, March 05, 2002

By Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Letters were mailed in December announcing the start of construction on 300 new bus shelters throughout the city, but some Downtown property owners seemed surprised to get the news, even though City Council approved the shelters more than a year ago.

	Stanley Cohen, owner of Art R. Cohen Co. on Penn Avenue and a member of the Downtown partnership board, is worried about the size of advertisements on new bus shelters that are going up around the city. Cohen said the ads seem to conflict with City Council's opposition to large signs atop Downtown buildings and on building walls. (Bill Wade, Post-Gazette)

And some property owners aren't happy about the presence of the all-glass bus shelters, which will have commercial advertising on one of their two side panels. About 40 of them have now been erected, with more to come in the coming months.

The letters, from ClearChannel Adshel, mentioned the company's exclusive deal with the city to erect the bus shelters on sidewalks in city neighborhoods, including up to 72 on Downtown streets.

Among the groups concerned about the shelters are the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership and the Building Owners and Managers Association, both of which have scheduled meetings next week to discuss the situation. Some property owners have also met with Deputy Mayor Sal Sirabella to discuss their concerns.

Property owners say they're worried that the bus shelters, which are 5 feet deep, about 7 feet high and either 9 or 13 feet long, will take up too much space on sidewalks and make it difficult for pedestrians to get by, especially on some of the city's narrower sidewalks.

Advertising takes up one entire side panel, making it impossible to see through that panel. The other side has clear glass and smaller public service announcements and Port Authority information for riders.

The back of each shelter is clear "safety glass," one-quarter-inch thick, and the roof, made of Plexiglas, will be lighted at night. The front is open so riders can enter to wait for buses.

Building owners worry that homeless people will camp inside the shelters at night, possibly frightening passers-by, or that criminals will hide inside and jump out at people.

Property owners also worry about graffiti being sprayed on the advertising panels and litter and trash collecting inside the shelters, making them unsightly additions to Downtown.

While City Council approved the deal with Adshel more than a year ago, its implementation was delayed until recently because of court appeals. Council sees the bus shelters, in part, as a revenue-raising move, and hopes to get up to $2 million over 10 years from the sale of advertising.

Tom Harrington, general manager of the U.S. Steel Tower, said he's been told that two shelters are planned for Grant Street in front of his building.

"We don't want them to take up so much room that it constricts the sidewalk, and we don't want the shelters to become a safety concern," he said.

Stanley Cohen, owner of a business on Penn Avenue and a member of the Downtown partnership board, said the growth of this new form of sign advertising seems to conflict with council's previous opposition to large signs atop Downtown buildings and on their walls.

Tom Christ, operations manager for Adshel, insisted yesterday that such fears are unfounded.

"We have a maintenance program in place that is impeccable," he said, noting that the shelters will all be cleaned twice a week and any graffiti promptly removed.

Shelters now stand in front of the Carnegie Science Center, Peabody High School and at two Downtown locations, on Fort Duquesne Boulevard at Seventh Street and on Fort Pitt Boulevard near Smithfield Street.

"We haven't had any problems to date, and some people are begging us to put more in," Christ said, citing Carnegie Mellon University's desire for a third shelter in addition to the two already planned along Forbes Avenue near the campus.

He said the number of shelters planned for Downtown has been reduced from 72 to 60 because some of the locations haven't panned out as feasible for the structures.