Spring Hill Residents Filing Lawsuit To Get Help For Landslides
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Six families, forced from their homes because of landslides in Pittsburgh's Spring Hill section, now say the city is backing off a promise to fix the hillside.
It's been more than 10 months since Randal Miller and five of his neighbors were forced from their homes. The City of Pittsburgh condemned their properties and told them to get out.
To say it's been frustrating is putting it mildly.
"They had been fairly unresponsive for several months. You would leave a hundred voicemails, and maybe, if you're lucky, get a call back in three months," Miller said.
Miller says they had hoped the city would secure the hill behind his home and allow them back in. But now comes word from the city's lawyers that they'll have to sue to get help.
"Finding out last week that we would need to file a suit against them to have them do anything, is pretty frustrating," said Miller.
In the meantime, Miller is keeping track of his neighbors and organizing a lawsuit.
"Bernie's living with her daughter, and she's 90-years-old. I don't know what Lisa's up to. This was a rental that's just been abandoned. And Preston, he's staying in hotels," said Miller of his neighbors.
Miller considers himself lucky. He and his wife are staying with a friend. Even so, there's no place like home.
"We just would hope that there is some way that we can get help. We just want to move home," he says.
Miller and his neighbors will confront City Council about the landslide during a budget hearing next Tuesday. The mayor's budget proposal for next year includes $6 million for landslide repairs.
So far, KDKA has been unable to get a response from the city on this problem.
