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Pittsburgh's Hillsides And Aging Infrastructure Are No Match For This Rollercoaster Winter

Keith Srakocic
/
AP
Clearing work continues Monday, Feb. 26, 2018, as power company employees walk past a home destroyed by a landslide that started the previous Friday. The landslide in Duquesne Heights poured over a retaining wall and closed a section of roadway.

This winter’s saturating rains and repeated freeze-thaw cycles have led to damaged roofs, thousands of potholes and landslides across several steep city hillsides. What are Pittsburgh leaders doing to help the 20 families displaced by Mother Nature, and how can they better address infrastructure needs?

90.5 WESA's Margaret J. Krauss joins the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Bob Bauder to discuss.

Coming up next....

Pittsburgh City Council will officially welcome a familiar face next month when District 8 Chief of Staff Erika Strassburger takes the reigns of the East End post full-time. She beat three other candidates with 64 percent of the vote in a special election held Tuesday to replace former Councilman Dan Gilman, who joined Mayor Bill Peduto's administration in January. The Incline's Colin Deppen has more.

Then...

City Councilman Corey O'Connor introduced legislation this week that would add to the city’s Code of Ordinances, calling for a website that would make it easier to find the employment, affiliations, professional organizations and political committees of elected officials in Pittsburgh. And as The Incline's MJ Slaby reports, that would include both lobbyists who approach city leaders and those who represent Pittsburgh in Harrisburg and Washington D.C. 

Next up...

A Pittsburgh Post-Gazette inquiry found Pittsburgh police aren’t tracking allegations of officer-involved domestic violence, despite decade-old city laws that require it. Reporter Shelly Bradbury explains.

Later in the program...

Medical marijuana dispensaries ran out of product less than a month after sales became legal in Pennsylvania. WESA's Sarah Boden and the Pittsburgh Trib's Ben Schmitt both found the shortage is an expected "growing pain" in an industry that came online quickly without enough producers to meet demand. 

And finally...

90.5 WESA’s Good Question! series celebrates one year answering your best stumpers. WESA's Katie Blackley has covered nearly 30 so far, with many more still in the works. Contribute your own question here.

The Confluence, where the news comes together, is 90.5 WESA’s weekly news program. Each week, reporters, editors and storytellers join veteran journalist and host Kevin Gavin to take an in-depth look at stories important to the Pittsburgh region. Find more episodes of The Confluence here.

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