CALL TO ACTION!!!
IF YOU SUPPORT BLACK EVENTS IN DOWNTOWN PITTSBURGH!
WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED
JUST LIKE A TREE STANDING BY THE WATER
WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED!
In 2019, We started the Pittsburgh Soul Food Festival in honor of Black Business Pioneers and Entrepreneurs, hosting the Festival inside PPG Plaza and Market Square, on the streets later designated by Pittsburgh City Council as "Pittsburgh's Black Wall Street" because of the number of Black produced and historic businesses on 3rd avenue and inside PPG Plaza. This location in PPG Plaza housed the original Print Office of The Mystery Newspaper by Black Nationalist, Hero and Icon, U.S. Army Major/Dr. Martin R. Delany and Benjamin Richards, the Black millionaire and prior owner of present-day PPG Plaza!
Since the start of the Pittsburgh Soul Food Festival in 2019, some Pittsburgh City Officials and some White Property and Business Owners have not wanted the influx of Black residents and Black culture promoted in that area. In 2019, the present-day Pittsburgh Special Events Committee Manager, Brain Katze, using racial stereotypes and untruths, accumulated secret email complaints against Allegheny County Black Food Vendors in an attempt to stop and deny Mr. Marshall's application to host the Soul Food Festival in Market Square and PPG Plaza.
In 2020, We met with the Property Owners and Agents of PPG Plaza about the Soul Food Festival, where Mr. Andy Wisniewski (then President of Highwood Properties now with JLL) complained about the music sound of the festival in PPG outside space - specifically, Mr. Wisniewski highlighted the "base sound" as a problem for tenants. Because of this complaint, we agreed not to start any Band music during the festival in PPG Plaza until after 5pm, when all workers should be gone from the work place areas as we understood how Black Music, with its base undertone, could be offensive and annoying to White people.
From 2019 through 2023, the Soul Food Fest has grown and expanded in its local and national popularity, and in 2022 was designated One of 7 Festivals that Black People Must Experience in the national by Black Cultural Publication
"Because of Them We Can".
CLICK HERE
In 2023, because of the growth of the Festival, we expanded its Footprint, moving on to the Blvd of the Allies.
On Sept. 8th, Jessica Canovali of JLL Company (Pittsburgh's Commercial Real Estate Service) sent us an email explaining that because of tenant noise complaints and logistics, Highwood Property Owners and JLL
"is willing to support [the Soul Food Fest] for the future." She also claimed that some people were arguing and had an altercation with customers and that someone had been arrested.
Ms. Canovali asked us to find another location to host the event... In response to this email, we advised Ms. Canovali that we had no major incidents at the Festival and that it was a great success as in previous years. That we planned to continue this event as done in previous years.
During the 2023 Soul Food Festival we saw 20,000-30,000 attendees and generated millions of dollars for businesses in Downtown Pittsburgh, and for Business tenants of Highwood properties inside Market Square and PPG Plaza.
In 2023, JLL and Highwood Property supported and sponsored Pittsburgh's Pickleburgh Festival in PPG Plaza and the Blvd of the Allies. The Picklesburgh Fest claims to have seen over 200,000 attendees, used the same space areas and blocked off the same street locations as the Soul Food Fest, and had two stages of loud music activities
On Oct. 13, I received an email from Ms. Canovali informed me that "... the ownership's decision not to host the Soul Food Festival [in PPG Plaza] going forward has not changed... After sponsoring this event for three years, we believe it is time for a change in venue and expect you and the city will be able to find a suitable alternative."
Unfortunately, similar to other Cities in America,
Pittsburgh is still experiencing an issue of overt racism in its treatment of Black residents and some peoples desire to stop or eliminate Black activities in its main Downtown districts.
Highwoods Properties and JLL do not host, sponsor or promote any events that cater to the Black residents of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.
We are requesting all considered residents, Black or White of the City of Pittsburgh to email Mr. Wisniewski (Andy.Wisniewski@jll.com) expressing your concern about the move to push Black residents out of PPG Plaza as a bias and unfair practice.
COPY US ON YOUR EMAIL
StoptheViolencePgh@Yahoo.com
