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Murphy clashes with turnpike officials
Friday, October 19, 2001 By Marylynne Pitz, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Mayor Tom Murphy has accused Pennsylvania Turnpike officials of seeking to stifle criticism of the proposed Mon-Fayette Expressway.
In the latest signal of the mayor's ambivalence about the highway project, Murphy on Wednesday night accused turnpike officials of trying to silence a University of Pittsburgh law professor whose students are representing expressway foes.
Murphy said the turnpike pressured Pitt officials to fire Thomas Buchele, director of the law school's Environmental Law Clinic. The clinic's clients include Citizens Against New Toll Roads.
When turnpike assistant chief engineer Frank Kempf denied the accusation at a public meeting Wednesday night, Murphy called him a liar.
The dustup revived questions about whether Murphy, who has been described as a "conditional supporter" of the expressway, will wind up trying to block the northernmost section, which would cross into the city at Squirrel Hill and pass through Hazelwood and other city neighborhoods.
Murphy organized three meetings this month for public input from city residents along the proposed highway corridor. Many of them spoke in opposition to the expressway.
Wednesday's meeting, at Burgwin Elementary School in Hazelwood, drew about 200 people. All but about 30 had left when Murphy said he would not allow the turnpike commission to deprive poor Hazelwood residents of the Pitt clinic's free legal representation.
If the turnpike commission wants to play hardball, Murphy said, the city will play hardball.
Buchele, who left the meeting before Murphy spoke, said yesterday he was gratified by the mayor's support.
"The fact that a politician would stand up and go to bat for me when there's nothing in it for him has restored some of my faith in politicians," said Buchele.
But Tom Fox, a spokesman for the turnpike commission, said the mayor's remarks were "uncalled for. I don't think the mayor would appreciate our using that tone of voice and making those kinds of unfounded accusations in public against anyone. We were all kind of shocked."
The law clinic has been targeted by legislators, business interests and even a state Supreme Court justice because of its representation of expressway foes and opponents of timbering in the Allegheny National Forest.
Last week, Pitt informed Buchele that the clinic would be charged nearly $63,000 for administrative and overhead costs from its $102,000 annual budget. That and other actions taken by the university threaten to bankrupt the clinic, he said.
In the past few months, the clinic has come under heavy criticism in letters to Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg and elected officials from Joseph Kirk, executive director of the Mon Valley Progress Council, a highway supporter. Kirk believes it inappropriate for the university-affiliated clinic to take stands on public policy matters.
The $63,000 assessment was levied shortly after the Sept. 24 meeting of the law school's independent review and advisory group, the Board of Visitors. During that meeting, state Supreme Court Justice Ralph J. Cappy, the board chairman, criticized the clinic's operation and clients.
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