Pittsburgh Land Bank poised to transfer lots to North Side group

The Charles Street Area Corporation has been planning to redevelop a vacant stretch for seven years — almost as long as the land bank has been ramping up. “PublicSource is an independent nonprofit newsroom serving the Pittsburgh region.& Sign up for our free newsletters.” by Eric Jankiewicz, PublicSource Residents of a North Side neighborhood say the spirit of Dorothy Mae Richardson lives on through revitalization efforts that align with the iconic Black housing activist’s belief in homeownership over renting as a way to prevent urban decay.& The Pittsburgh Land Bank board on Friday approved a resolution to buy 13 empty lots from the city in the North Side’s Charles Street area. The land bank aims to sell those empty lots to the Charles Street Area Corporation, a neighborhood organization that intends to build houses on the lots to be sold to area residents.& The land bank’s decision is the latest step for the recently invigorated decade-old institution that suffered from years of unfulfilled promises. In the Charles Street case, the land bank will be executing its core role of clearing the properties’ titles of debt and tax liens before selling them to the community organization. The land bank will use...