The City of Pittsburgh has dropped Prospect Drive in Schenley Park, the longtime queer gathering place known as the “Fruit Loop,” from consideration for a new Department of Public Works maintenance facility.
Mayor Corey O’Connor’s administration announced the decision in an email from the City’s Office of Community Affairs to residents. Friends of Schenley Park shared the email publicly over Labor Day weekend.
“Following our evaluation, Mayor O’Connor and his staff have determined that Prospect Drive does not meet the needs for the relocation and therefore is not suitable,” the City wrote.
The announcement marks a significant change from plans unveiled this summer. On July 27, the City issued a request for proposals for architectural and engineering services for a new Schenley Division maintenance facility, explicitly identifying Prospect Drive as the location.
The proposed facility, estimated at approximately 10,000 to 11,000 square feet, would support the DPW division responsible for maintaining Schenley Park and other parks in the surrounding area.
The proposal quickly drew opposition from Friends of Schenley Park and nearby residents over the use of parkland for a municipal maintenance operation.
But Prospect Drive is also much more than an undeveloped piece of Schenley Park.
As QBurgh reported, the secluded road and surrounding landscape have served generations of LGBTQ Pittsburghers as a gathering place. Its history includes cruising, but also picnics, community events, sunbathing, volleyball, Pride gatherings, HIV-prevention outreach, and AIDS remembrance.
The area became known within the queer community as the “Fruit Loop,” and historical accounts document queer activity in and around Prospect Drive going back decades.
In 1992, a Pittsburgh City Council resolution marking Pride Week noted that the city’s Pride celebration would conclude with a “picnic and community festival on Prospect Drive in Schenley Park.”
During the AIDS crisis, Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force outreach workers distributed condoms, lubricant and safer-sex information in the area. An informal AIDS Memorial Rose Garden was also established there. Shepherd Wellness Community later preserved pieces of that memorial after the City removed the garden.
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There is currently no historical marker recognizing Prospect Drive’s LGBTQ history.
The O’Connor administration said the decision does not mean it is abandoning plans to relocate the Schenley Park maintenance operation.
“As you know, the Administration is looking at multiple sites to relocate the Division that maintains, services and conserves Schenley Park,” the Office of Community Affairs wrote.
The City said it is continuing to evaluate alternatives and that any future location will need to allow the Parks Maintenance Division to “efficiently, effectively and accessibly maintain Schenley Park.”
Once another site is identified, the administration said it will conduct a community process and establish an EngagePGH website where residents can receive updates and provide feedback.
The City did not identify the other locations under consideration in the announcement.
Friends of Schenley Park celebrated the decision after spending weeks urging the City to find another location.
“Schenley Park is not a land bank,” the organization previously wrote in opposing the proposal. “We believe that the park should be preserved as a park, not as a location for municipal maintenance operations and non-recreational facilities.”
The organization thanked O’Connor and Prospect Drive neighbors after receiving the City’s announcement.
For the Fruit Loop, at least, the immediate question about its future has an answer. The Department of Public Works facility will not be built there.