Penguins reach land-use deal with Black church
PITTSBURGH — More than 60 years ago, a historic Black church was forced to give up its sanctuary — and compensated for what it says was a fraction of the value — to an urban renewal project that wiped out the heart of an African American neighborhood known as the Hill District.
Now, Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church is poised to recoup some of that loss and reclaim a spot near its former home. It has reached an agreement with the Pittsburgh Penguins, who now hold development rights to the site near its arena, for the church to use a 1.5-acre parcel that it envisions utilizing for housing and other revenue-generating development.
The agreement came after years of public calls and demonstrations by the church, which has described its efforts as seeking reparations. The church battle is a microcosm of a larger one over the legacy of the 1950s project, in which leaders in the Black community have long sought redress from the powers that be in Pittsburgh’s political, business and sports realms.
The Penguins didn’t come into existence until 1967, playing first in one arena in the former neighborhood and now in a newer one nearby. But Kevin Acklin, president of business operations for the Penguins, said the team is “recognizing our role here as a steward” of the property and its legacy.
“Mistakes that were made 70 years ago, we can’t fix them, but we can do what we can today for a better future, for restorative justice,” Acklin said.
He hopes the agreement, and the larger efforts to remake the site, can serve as a model for other U.S. cities with the wounds of similar mid-20th-century urban renewal projects.
“We have the ability to do good and work with a group of people and a church that’s trying to do good,” Acklin said, adding a biblical aphorism: “To whom much is given, much is expected.”
The announcement was scheduled for Friday at an outdoor setting on the former arena site, preceded by a worship service, underscoring the role of faith as a motivating and organizing source for Bethel’s efforts.
“Mistakes that were made 70 years ago, we can’t fix them, but we can do what we can today for a better future, for restorative justice.”
Penguins president of business operations Kevin Acklin
The aptly named Hill District, which rises steeply to the east of the city’s central business district, became a hub for Black culture in the 20th century, renowned for its jazz clubs and other touchstones portrayed in many of the plays of acclaimed dramatist August Wilson.
Bethel AME had a prominent role in that community. Founded around 1808 and considered Pittsburgh’s oldest Black church, it was active from its earliest years in childhood education and civil rights. It opened a large brick church in 1906 in the Lower Hill District, with rounded arches and a prominent tower, home to 3,000 members at its peak.
But in the 1950s, public officials from the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh declared much of the Lower Hill to be blighted. It oversaw demolition of about 1,300 buildings across 95 acres, displacing over 8,000 people, more than 400 business and multiple houses of worship — although not a mostly white Catholic church, as Bethel members have noted.
Bethel leaders fought the church’s demolition unsuccessfully, ultimately receiving $240,000 for a property that had been valued at $745,000. The Rev. Dale Snyder, pastor of Bethel, has said that in the racial and political climate of the time, the church had little power to obtain fair compensation.
A crosstown highway, civic arena and some housing were built in the former neighborhood, but other planned structures never materialized. The result was a concrete and asphalt gash between the downtown and the Hill District, which continues to struggle economically.
Under agreements with public authorities, the Penguins have development rights to 28 acres of the former arena site. A 26-story mixed-use building is on the rise, and a small urban park has opened, with other projects on the drawing board.
Bethel, meanwhile, now worships further up in the Hill District. Its more modest, modern sanctuary is bathed in the light of stained-glass windows, telling stories of the Bible and honoring Methodist stalwarts such as AME pioneer Richard Allen.
Among those planning to attend Friday’s announcement is Bishop Kurt Kusserow of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He is among the faith leaders who have supported Bethel in its efforts for reparations. The relationship grew out of a Lutheran-AME dialogue that was rooted in tragedy — the 2015 racist massacre of nine attendees of a Bible study at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
When ELCA leaders learned that the killer had been a member of one of its churches, they called for members of their predominantly white denomination to build ties with AME churches.
“As we learned more about white privilege and all of that reality in our country,” Kusserow said, “it was our responsibility to use that privilege in any possible way to accompany what the AME church was seeking in terms of reparations.”
Acklin said the 1.5-acre site is larger than the 13,000-square-foot property that Bethel formerly owned and which has been designated for other uses. He sees the agreement as part of larger efforts to work with the Hill District community to restore its former connections to downtown.
In 2014, all the major parties involved — which include the city, county and two public authorities — agreed to a plan intended to include Hill District stakeholders. But the long process has required vigilance to ensure the new developments benefit the neighborhood, said Marimba Milliones, president of Hill Community Development Corp.
“When we’re talking about addressing a historic wrong, it has to be for the entire site,” Milliones said. “The return of this land [to Bethel] is important, and we should celebrate it, but we have to keep our eyes on the broader development as we celebrate because the whole site is entangled in questions of morality and questions of good urban development and equity.”
MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee’s Joey Ortiz went on the 10-day injured list with a strained left hamstring Friday, leaving the NL Central-leading Brewers without their starting shortstop.
The Brewers also reinstated first baseman/outfielder Jake Bauers from the injured list and sent outfielder Jackson Chourio to a rehabilitation assignment with Triple-A Nashville.
Ortiz left a 4-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Thursday after hurting himself while grounding out in the fifth inning. Manager Pat Murphy said he has been told it’s a low-grade strain, an indication that Ortiz’s stay on the IL might not be too long.
Ortiz, 27, is hitting .233 with seven homers, 43 RBIs and 11 steals in 125 games. He has batted .343 with an .830 OPS in August.
“I felt like I was finally kind of getting a groove going, especially offensively, that I was starting to swing the bat as I feel I can,” Ortiz said. “Things happen. It’s baseball. It’s going to happen. I’ve just got to do what I can to get back.”
Murphy said Andruw Monasterio will be the Brewers’ primary shortstop while Ortiz is out. Monasterio, 28, has hit .254 with two homers and 11 RBIs in 43 games.
Bauers, 29, was dealing with a left shoulder impingement and last played in the majors on July 18. Bauers is hitting .197 with five homers and 18 RBIs in 59 games. He had gone just 2-for-23 in July while dealing with the shoulder issue before finally going on the injured list.
“Since April, May, I’ve been dealing with it,” Bauers said.
Chourio, 21, hasn’t played since straining his right hamstring while running out a triple in a 9-3 victory over the Cubs on July 29.
“He’s got to be able to get comfortable standing on the diamond back-to-back days,” Murphy said. “He’s got to be comfortable playing all nine (innings) in the outfield back-to-back days, because you can’t bring him back here and then just [go] zero to 100.”
Chourio is hitting .276 with 17 homers, 67 RBIs and 18 steals in 106 games.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Hall of Fame third baseman Adrian Beltré now has a statue in Arlington to go with his bust in Cooperstown.
The Texas Rangers unveiled a life-sized bronze statue of the first-ballot Hall of Famer on Friday, one with him posed hitting a home run with his knee on the ground like he did so often in his career. Beltré is the third player to have a statue outside the team’s stadium, joining two other Hall of Famers, strikeout king Nolan Ryan and 14-time All-Star catcher Iván “Pudge” Rodríguez.
AB forever in bronze. pic.twitter.com/fg2HcPw5k2
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) August 22, 2025
Beltré spent the last eight of his 21 big league seasons with Texas, the team he played with the longest. He retired after the 2018 season, had his No. 29 jersey retired by the Rangers the following year and was enshrined in baseball’s Hall of Fame last summer.
The statue is situated where it appears that Beltré is glancing toward the old ballpark that still stands across the street. It was there that he became the first player from the Dominican Republic to reach 3,000 career hits on July 30, 2017, two years after hitting his 400th homer. That is also where he had all three of his MLB record-tying three career cycles, one as a visitor with Seattle in 2008, and two more with the Rangers, on Aug. 24, 2012, and Aug. 3, 2015.
The dedication came before the opener of a three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians. The Rangers on Saturday will present Beltré with a smaller version of his bronze statue and he will catch a ceremonial first pitch thrown by Mike Tabor, the Texas artist who sculpted it, and the first 20,000 fans entering the ballpark before that game will get replica versions.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment3 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike