Mayor Luke Ravenstahl was joined by students from Pittsburgh’s Weil PreK-5 as well as other residents of the Hill District, to open the City’s newest Green Up project called The Promise Park.
“An important day for us to dedicate this park directly across from their school (Weil PreK-5); as students and the future of our community, we want to continue to make sure that not only do they have a great education but they also have an opportunity to have good public spaces to come together and have fun with their friends, and that’s what this park will allow us to do,” said Mayor Ravenstahl.
The Mayor said “Greening Up” the city is critically important to enhancing to the quality of life of our neighborhoods.
“This is a site that formerly had abandoned houses on it; it then went to a vacant overgrown lot; now it’s cleaned up, “Greened Up”, it has trees & benches and is a place where people can come together. It is a much better neighborhood now because of this project, and our public works crews do a great job in cleaning these sites up & preparing them, and it’s another great amenity here in the Hill District and all the other communities where we’ve been able to get this done.”
Target donated over $700 worth of material to go toward the Christmas tree in the park. Mayor Ravenstahl, along with the students, hung angels on the tree to represent the 26 victims of the “senseless” tragedy in Newtown, CT.
“In our own small way here in Pittsburgh, I think it’s important that we recognize those victims and continue to pray for them and continue to do whatever it is that we can to make sure that these types of things don’t happen in the future and we keep our most vulnerable residents and young ones safe in any way that we can.”
Mayor Ravenstahl said he is thankful for the memories he had as a child during Christmas time. He has enjoyed the ones he has been able to have with his son.
“We’re all blessed, especially in this holiday season when you think of the tragedy in Connecticut and how difficult it is for those families who won’t experience that. I think it will, in a special way this year, for all of us, make us squeeze our loved ones a little bit harder and make us appreciate how blessed we are top live in this country and to be safe & alive.”
