Category Archives: Property Survey

Class trip to Homewood to tour Cluster 4

Recently, Dr. Grossmann’s master-level course, Building Sustainable and Resilient Cities took a field trip to Homewood to have a tour of Cluster 4 with Operation Better Block’s (OBB) Gabby DeMarchi. The current Homewood grant project team members are in this class along with other first and second year Falk School of Sustainability graduate students. Gabby […]



Updates on Morgan’s Homewood research

Morgan has interviewed 13 people living in Homewood so far. An overwhelming majority of respondents are in favor of some type of inclusionary zoning model to incorporate an equitable amount of affordable housing in an apartment complex. Most of the respondents view East Liberty negatively, with one factor as the perceptive displacement of long-term residents. Respondents […]




Camilla Cook – Tree Inventory Update #7

Today, I surveyed Block 14 and inventoried a total of nine trees – which were a mix of Pyrus calleryana (Callery pear), Liquidambar styraciflua (Sweetgum), and Ulmus rubra (Slippery Elm). The only significant issues present with these trees were that the majority of the P. calleryana’s had some dead or missing branches, some leaf discoloration, […]


Camilla Cook: Tree Inventory Update #6

On August 7 and 9, I completed Blocks 1, 11, and 12 – finishing the Business and Institutional Core Cluster! On the small portion of Block 1 (Hamilton Avenue), I identified Catalpa speciosa (Northern Catalpa). On Block 11, there were Cornus florida (Flowering Dogwood), Taxodium distichum (Baldcypress), Tilia cordata (Littlelead Linden), and Liquidambar styraciflua (Sweetgum), as […]


Morgan Block: Conducting Property Surveys in West Homewood

At Operation Better Block, we are continuously conducting property surveys throughout the rest of the summer. According to our survey map, many of the homes surveyed are owned by either the City of Pittsburgh or the Urban Redevelopment Authority, which is an interesting find for anyone thinking about the future of Homewood. A stark contrast […]