Community History
Once the shopping hub of the east end, East Liberty's Commercial Core suffered one of the largest Urban Renewal Projects in nation. On April 5th 1963 The Urban Redevelopment Authority sent a Redevelopment Proposal to the City Council asking for, among other things, the right to take away over 1 million square feet of development. The plan was later amended in June of 1966.
While well-intentioned, the end result of the government-driven project left the commercial core in economic and physical shambles. Almost as soon as it was complete The Urban Renewal Project started showing signs of failure. Efforts began to take corrective actions including opening pedestrian malls up to automobile traffic, the development of a mass transit busway alongside the existing railroad tracks and in 1979 ELDI was formed to focus on the problems.
In more recent years, many positive developments have unfolded that have, in large part, helped to correct some of the more structural problems left from Urban Renewal and keep the neighborhood stabilized and positioned for change. However, it was ultimately a grass-roots community planning process completed in 1999 that helped codify the vision of the district as a diverse, urban, dense "Town in the City." This plan set the stage for new developments driven by market forces that brought economic and employment opportunity to a community once struggling for self-sufficiency. The residential development in the area has led to the demolition of dilapidated, underutilized housing and construction of quality, well-managed facilities.
Now most of the goals set forth in the original plan have been accomplished and ELDI, in partnership with a number of neighborhood stakeholders, is setting new benchmarks to continue East Liberty’s revitalization.