EDITORIAL – City to take green out of Schenley Plaza

There will be a little less green in Oakland now that the City Council has decided to… There will be a little less green in Oakland now that the City Council has decided to develop a portion of Schenley Plaza into an Atria’s Restaurant and Tavern.

To a non-Pittsburgher, the name Schenley Plaza probably sounds like the title of a suburban strip mall where one typically finds a chain restaurant like Atria’s. But to us, the name can be associated with a 1-acre patch of grass that offers a sort of oasis for Oakland’s many students, employees and visitors – in a way, representing the antithesis of the commercial development that we’ve gotten used to in a bustling city.

While Schenley Plaza was only recently restored to park form, the land came into the hands of the city more than a hundred years ago when Pittsburgh land heiress Mary Schenley donated 300 acres to the city for “the use of the people of Pittsburgh and the public as a public park and for the use and purpose of establishing on said ground a public park and place of free attractive and healthful resort and open air recreation.”

The area now known as Schenley Plaza began as a ravine but was later filled in and converted to a parking lot. But in 2004, in an effort to bring more green into the city, the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy decided to restore the area back into an extension of Schenley Park.

Since its opening in 2006, Schenley Plaza has become a hit with Oakland employees and residents, offering a place to relax, grab a bite to eat from local venders, take a ride on the plaza’s signature carousel or sit out and enjoy the rare sunny Pittsburgh day – a vision we’re sure Mary Schenley would have been proud of.

What we’re more skeptical about, however, is how Mary Schenley would feel about the planned construction of Atria’s, a Pittsburgh-based chain restaurant, in the area that currently stands as the fenced-off portion of the plaza.

According to Dan Gilman, the chief of staff for Councilman Bill Peduto, it had always been part of the plan to have an anchor restaurant in the plaza, which was modeled off of New York City’s Bryant Park.

While putting a restaurant in Schenley Plaza isn’t necessarily a bad idea, constructing a large chain restaurant in the area hardly seems consistent with Mary Schenley’s vision of a free, open area for the public.

The City Council has promised that the restaurant will contribute to the beauty of the plaza with a steel, open air structure – and we’re sure it will. But couldn’t the area have been equally – or better – served by a smaller, locally owned caf’eacute;?

With the vendors currently located in the plaza, along with the scores of restaurants that line nearby Oakland streets, the last thing we need – or can accommodate, for that matter – is another chain restaurant.

Ultimately, the largest objection to the construction of a large chain restaurant in the Schenley Plaza is also the most obvious: We constructed Schenley Plaza in order to put more green in the city, and now, there will be less.