Leader From Allegheny And Butler Counties Meet To Rebuild And Redevelop Communities In Southwestern Pa.
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- As President Joe Biden fights for his infrastructure and jobs plan, local leaders met to figure out how to improve southwestern Pennsylvania.
At a roundtable discussion on Monday, leaders from Allegheny and Butler counties discussed how to bring life back to deteriorating communities. They talked about the need for more accessible transportation and repurposing buildings, among other things.
"We go in, clean up the site, bring back the jobs, reestablish the tax space and help build the communities," said Tim White, the vice president of RDIC.
White and RDIC are doing that right now in Hazelwood.
"The extension of the East Busway, which now ends in Rankin and Braddock, we'd now like to take that off into Braddock, into East Pittsburgh, out to McKeesport. Connecting some of the Mon Valley that's been cut off," said Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald.
With this work, they hope to not only provide thousands of much-needed jobs to the region but also revitalize areas that need it the most.
"Hazelwood has dealt with a lot of plights since the steel mill closed a couple of decades ago," Fitzgerald said. "So this is an opportunity to give some folks who haven't seen a lot of economic opportunities these opportunities."
The group believes improving the infrastructure and adding jobs closer to home is about investing in people. They said the more that can be done, the better the quality of life will be.
