Brookline residents feeling blindsided after trees at park are cut down for PWSA, PennDOT project

PITTSBURGH — Neighbors in Pittsburgh’s Brookline neighborhood tell Channel 11 News they were caught off guard after trees at a popular park were leveled.

It happened at the Moore Park Greenway.

Neighbors say they’ve been protective of the space and had no idea it was happening.

“It’s barren. It’s been bulldozed,” Paul Ganser said. He’s lived near the park for decades. “I go back 50 years in these woods. I’ve seen these trees grow up and fall over. I miss them.”

Dozens of trees have been removed. Dirt is all that’s left.

“Shocked. It’s so extensive. It looked to me like there’s some kind of development. They’re telling me that’s not true, which is great to hear,” Matt Buckley said. He’s Paul Ganser’s grandson and discovered the work while walking his dog. “The amount of work that’s gone into this already and no one even knew it was happening.”

Councilman Anthony Coghill says he’s been getting calls about the situation all day.

“This is our greenway. We love our greenways. There is not a housing plan. This is not a farm. This is not anything of that nature,” he said.

Instead, it’s all part of a project; a joint venture between PennDOT and PWSA. The goal of it is to reduce pollution run-off, reduce sediment, increase storm water capacity and remove invasive species.

Channel 11 spoke over the phone to a PWSA representative. She admitted there was a “disconnect” in informing the community. She told Channel 11 PWSA is working on getting information to the community on its website, via signage and, possibly, through a community meeting.

Neighbors are skeptical.

“Perception is reality in a lot of cases. When it feels like they are trying to do something behind the scenes, without telling anybody,” Buckley said.

Part of the project involves restoring the bulldozed area.

“You’re not going to put those big trees back there. It’s going to be years. I’ll be gone before those trees are back,” Ganser said.

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