The community of South Oakland in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is “home” to the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). This community provided the foundation for the growth and development for both of these multi-billion dollar institutions.

South Oakland is also the “home away from home” for students of Pitt and UPMC. Although most people will agree that the vast majority of these students cause no problems, there are tremendous problems in our community caused by those students who do not have a deep sense of caring and respect for the elderly long-time residents of South Oakland.

The impact of Pitt and UPMC’s expansion in our community has helped to contribute to a decline in population of long-time residents, whereby long-time residents now may comprise only 20-30% of the present day population. Nevertheless, these elderly long-time residents deserve to live out the remainder of their lives with dignity.

There are many problems in regard to University related issues in our community. These include but are not limited to: never-ending expansion, binge drinking, litter and trash, fireworks danger, lack of transparency, pitiful funding, no faculty support, illegal dumping, and inadequate student support.

There are certainly many communities such as ours throughout America that face similar problems. The fact that this website exists at all is a testament to the frustration of our community at not having the numerous problems resolved. We hope this website will bring to light the need for all leaders at Pitt and UPMC to have a deeper sense of caring, and to assume greater responsibility for the community they have impacted so severely.

We will not mention the names of all the individuals involved in our correspondences, because the solution to our community’s problems involves the changing of a collective consciousness within Pitt and UPMC. The leaders of these institutions are mentioned though, because they are representative of this consciousness and of the resistance our community is facing.

We look forward to the day when the long-time residents of South Oakland will enjoy the quality of life they so well deserve and this website will no longer be necessary.