Changemaker: Lisa Schroeder, Riverlife Task Force

Warming to her subject, she gestures across a large map spread across a conference room table in the Regional Enterprise Tower. South Shore Riverfront Park hither, Mon Wharf Landing thither, Convention Center Riverfront Park yon. And more.

Three Rivers Park, the area between the West End Bridge on the Ohio to the Hot Metal Bridge on the Monongahela River to the 31st Street Bridge on the Allegheny River -- 13 glorious miles of riverfront -- is what Riverlife Task Force Executive Director Lisa Schroeder calls the region’s first “large-scale holistic vision for connecting all of Pittsburgh’s assets to the rivers.” She pauses. “In so doing, we have set a new paradigm for involving the public in a planning process.

“Riverlife has involved five mayors, 12 non-profits, the support of the philanthropic, foundation, corporate and business communities,” Schroeder adds. “It’s the ultimate example of all hands making light work.”

As in any Renaissance or Russian play, there have been many actors in the drama, and many twists in the plot. Through it all, however, at center stage has been Schroeder, holding numerous planning and government and economic strings in her hand. Certainly, it’s credit that she immediately shares with many others, great and small. Nevertheless, here, at the still small center, in the eye of the hurricane, it’s been Lisa Schroeder all along, a woman who has brought infinite change to Pittsburgh.

Finding Her Inner Harbor
Born in Baltimore, into a family of land-use activists, she “grew up in a city rescuing and redoing its waterfront,” she recalls. Watching the world-famous Inner Harbor take shape, she went off to Hobart College, in Geneva, New York, took a master’s in urban planning and historical preservation from Columbia, and worked to reclaim the Hoboken, New Jersey, waterfront.

Consulting in New York and Connecticut, taking a six-year sojourn in Maine at the Greater Portland Landmarks Association, she landed in Pittsburgh a decade ago, getting involved in what was then a new Task Force, Riverlife. “The public wanted to get to the rivers,” she recalls. “Designers, planners, historians, business people wanted to make Pittsburgh a better place. They all found an umbrella in Riverlife. Riverlife combusted into being – and when it came together, it was a diverse group with nothing in common but bold thought and action. All those people dared to think long-term. They dared to think that all riverfront projects could be connected – all the bridges, trails, communities, water landings. That is the gift that Riverlife will leave behind.

“In many ways,” she continues, “they all discovered that the rivers offer a place where the community can gather at anytime. As such, the rivers become a whole new urban center. Coinciding with the drive for people to move back to cities, rivers are now seen as an urban resource second to none. So our task at Riverlife has been to restore the green edge of the rivers to Downtown.”

Officially coming aboard in January, 2000 to manage the Master Planning Consultant Team, Schroeder recalls that “was an absolute thrill for me.” Initiating a world-wide competition, seeking the world’s best talent to create a waterfront urban design, foster economic development, engender transportation, inspire public art and landscaping, Schroeder led Riverlife through a mind-bending 120 public meetings over two years. Working with her own Urban Design Committee, the Department of City Planning, and with disparate property owners, she moved the Riverlife task inexorably forward. As but one of her Herculean efforts, she negotiated with 20 different property owners. “It sounds basic now,” she allows, “but 10 years ago it was unheard of.”

In October, 2001 Riverlife presented A Vision Plan for Pittsburgh’s Riverfronts, outlining an urban river park that would open up the rivers to the community. Even then, she says, “people still thought of rivers as back doors to the city.” Now, seven years later, with Riverlife’s five major riverfront projects in final design and construction, that perception has completely changed:

Point State Park. Riverlife (along with the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources) has overseen the restoration of the 36-acre park, along with the installation of new waterfront amenities, including a water taxi stand, public splash pool, amphitheater, and boat dock. As the largest park project in Commonwealth history, construction will last another two years. “Here, Riverlife continues a tradition that started some 60 years ago,” Schroeder says. “Point State Park was the first national example of greening a city on a major scale.”

Mon Wharf Landing. In the construction bid stage, the five-acre parking lot will be transformed into a sustainable greenway, boat dock, trail linking Point State Park and the Eliza Furnace Trail (and the Great Allegheny Passage beyond), and floating park mounted on barges.

South Shore Riverfront Park. The lion’s share of the credit for the $10.6 million project goes to the Sofer organization and the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority, Schroeder says, for an entirely new use that scales down some 30 feet from SouthSide Works to water level. There, there’ll be a landing, performance space, trails, boat docking, and walls from the original J&L mill. “This,” she says, “is a major riverfront project yet to come.”

Convention Center Riverfront Park. Now in final design, the area near the Convention Center will include green landscaping and a riverfront trail.

Majestic Star Casino. Including a riverfront park, major water landing, amphitheater, trail, and green bank plantings, the North Shore casino area is the final piece of the current puzzle. “That’s a tremendous amount of improvement to be completed in 18-24 months from now,” Schroeder says. “It’s a significant change in our park system.”

Well sure. Now for a little breathing room? Nah. Riverlife’s too smart to take the pressure off. Looking ahead to 2020 – a mere 11 years away – Schroeder et. al. are working on multiple major projects, including Ohio River Basin North, Ohio River Basin South, a spectacular re-design for the West End Bridge, and others. In addition, she says, “we want to lay the groundwork for water transportation,” water taxis that will whisk people door-to-door on the rivers. With at least a dozen embarkation points planned, “it should really open up the city,” she says.

“We’re on a roll,” Schroeder smiles. “Here we are, with all these major projects. And the best is yet to come.”

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Abby Mendelson’s latest book, End of the Road, a collection of short stories, is available at amazon and bn.com.

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Photographs copyright Brian Cohen