Business

Derrick Tillman completes Miller Street Apartments in Hill District

NEW PITTSBURGH COURIER — Tillman describes the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit property as an all-electric five-story building designed with exceptional energy efficiency. Of the 36 units, six are handicapped-designed, nine are project-based voucher affiliated and there are eight two-bedroom units. All units are equipped with appliances including washers and dryers. The first floor has a community room and lounge area with a kitchenette, office space for the property management and a concierge desk where residents will receive assistance with resources.

Published

5 years ago

June 18, 2019

Oakland Post

By Diane I. Daniels

May 16 was a great day for Derrick Tillman, president and CEO of Bridging the Gap Development, LLC. One of his many dreams became a reality. The ribbon-cutting ceremony of the 36-unit Miller Street Apartments took place.

Four years ago, he began the development process for the venture and this week, tenants began moving into 328 Miller Street, a $12 million project. “We are changing the face of and raising the bar of affordable housing,” said Tillman as investors, Hill District partners, community supporters and well-wishers witnessed what he considered a historical moment.

Tillman describes the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit property as an all-electric five-story building designed with exceptional energy efficiency. Of the 36 units, six are handicapped-designed, nine are project-based voucher affiliated and there are eight two-bedroom units. All units are equipped with appliances including washers and dryers. The first floor has a community room and lounge area with a kitchenette, office space for the property management and a concierge desk where residents will receive assistance with resources.

“We need more developers like Derrick to be able to flourish in our city. It is great to see such a successful affordable housing project that is not only about the structure but also about the people inside,” commented Pittsburgh Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle during the event. “It is also great that he was able to achieve the levels of minority participation on the development at a level of 45 percent when the city only requires 18 percent. He has exceeded standards. So not only is he developing housing, but he is developing people.”

Along with Tillman’s wife, Nykia, and other family members, officials participating in the ribbon-cutting included state Rep. Jake Wheatley, Chief of Staff Dan Gilman representing the mayor’s office, Diamonte Walker of the Urban Redevelopment Authority of the City of Pittsburgh, Lisa Kelly of First National Bank, Marimba Milliones of the Hill District Community Development Corporation and Bob Meeder of the Energy Innovation Center.

In addition to the architecture and intentional energy efficiency initiative, Tillman and his team have raised the bar for tenants in affordable housing by partnering with leading community organizations to offer a variety of services to the tenants. “We are providing residents with top-class housing and services to aid them in advancing the quality of their lives.”

Services include a trauma center in conjunction with F.O.C.U.S. Pittsburgh, aiding residents in overcoming obstacles that have the potential to present a hindrance for a quality of life, and a speaker series offering insight in various areas of expertise providing motivation and inspiration. CORO Pittsburgh will provide leadership classes providing opportunities to build on essential qualities to advance in their careers and personal goals. The Energy Innovation Center will provide job- and career-readiness training for tenants to aid them in obtaining steady income in an effort to help them advance to the next level financially. Also, financial expert Tayon Mitchell will provide financial literacy classes demonstrating how to better manage finances and begin to build long-term financial goals.

Raised by a single mother in Section 8 housing, Tillman says he knows firsthand what it is like to be displaced. A Westinghouse High School graduate, he recalls as a child his family moving from residence to residence. “We lived all over the area,” he said, recalling his time in Rankin, Wilkinsburg, Homewood, East Liberty and the Hill District. Today, he is committed to bettering the lives of others who’ve had similar experiences.

The Miller Street project not only provides housing and opportunity but possesses historical significance. “Here, we are located on holy ground,” he affirms, standing in the building entrance pointing to two plaques mounted on the wall. Formerly 318 Miller Street, the building was built in 1916 by the local branches of the International Jewish Fraternal Organization. In partnership with other groups, it was founded as the Labor Lyceum Inc., and was used as a center for Jewish labor activities. It is known as the first White-owned organization in Pittsburgh to rent to African American organizations.

Second, the building served as the First Church of God in Christ affiliated church in Pittsburgh founded by Bishop C. H. Mason in 1921. He is also credited as the founding father of the Church of God in Christ in the 1900s, headquartered in Memphis. Representatives from both the Labor Lyceum Inc. and Church of God in Christ attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

A diversified real estate development firm founded in 2006, Tilman says Bridging the Gap Development is committed to excellence in everything they do. Its mission is to rebuild sustainable communities through residential and commercial development by bridging real estate and opportunity gaps.

Tillman said Bridging the Gap Development has developed a variety of properties, including multi-family affordable housing, market-rate rental and homeownership properties, as well as mixed-use and commercial development projects.

With over 15 years of experience in real estate development, commercial brokerage and leasing, real estate sales and acquisition, real estate negotiations, real estate rehabbing, property management, business management, restaurant management and operations, marketing and consulting, Tillman is looking forward to a bright and positive future.

So, what’s next for Tillman? Working in partnership with two Hill District nonprofit entities (Amani Christian Community Development and the Macedonia Development Corporation) was his answer, to develop 22 single-family townhouses throughout the Hill.

Leaning on his faith, his goal is to continue to be patient and go where God leads him, believing that his dreams to produce major rehab and new construction projects in his hometown and other states while continuously helping others will become a reality.

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This article originally appeared in the New Pittsburgh Courier.

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‘Jim Crow Was and Remains Real in Alameda County (and) It Is What We Are Challenging and Trying to Fix Every Day,’ Says D.A. Pamela Price

“The legacy of Jim Crow is not just a legacy in Alameda County. It’s real. It is what is happening and how (the system is) operating, and that is what we are challenging and trying to fix every day,” said D.A. Price, speaking to the Oakland Post by telephone for over an hour last Saturday. “Racial disparities in this county have never been effectively eliminated, and we are applying and training our lawyers on the (state’s) Racial Justice Act, and we’re implementing it in Alameda County every day,” she said.

Published

34 mins ago

November 2, 2024

Oakland Post

Exclusive interview with County D.A. Price days before recall election. Photo by Ken Epstein.

By Ken Epstein

Part One

Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price gave an exclusive in-depth interview, speaking with the Oakland Post about the continuing legacy of Jim Crow injustice that she is working to overturn and her major achievements, including:

restoring and expanding services for victims of crime,
finding funding for an alternative to incarceration and/or prosecution for substance use and mental health-related misdemeanors and
aggressively prosecuting corporations for toxic pollution and consumer violations.

“Racial disparities in this county have never been effectively eliminated, and we are applying and training our lawyers on the (state’s) Racial Justice Act, and we’re implementing it in Alameda County every day,” she said.

Passed by the State Legislature, this law “is an extremely helpful tool for us to address the racial disparities that continue to exist in our system,” she said.

(The law addresses) “the racial disparities that we find in our juvenile justice system, where 86% of all felony juvenile arrests in the county are Black or Brown children.

“We trained the entire workforce on the Racial Justice Act. We are creating a data system that will allow us to look at the trends and to clearly identify where racism has infected the process. We know that where law enforcement is still engaging in racial profiling and unfair targeting and arresting, we’re trying to make sure we’re catching that.”

Many people do not know much about the magnitude of Alameda County District Attorney’s job. Her office is a sprawling organization with 10 offices serving 1.6 million people living in 14 cities and six unincorporated areas, with a budget this year of about $104 million.

Asked about her major achievements since she took office last year, she is especially proud of the expanded and renewed victims’ services division in the DA’s Office, she said.

“We have expanded and reorganized the entire claims division so that we are now expediting as much as possible the benefits that victims are entitled to. Under my predecessor, they were having to wait anywhere, sometimes as long as a year, to 400 days to get benefits.

“Claims had been denied that should not have been denied. So, we’re helping people file appeals on claims that were denied under her tenure,” D.A. Price said.

“Under my predecessor, (the victims’ service office) was staffed by people who were not trained to provide trauma-informed services to victims, and yet they were the only people that the victims were in contact with. We immediately stopped that practice,” she continued.

“We had to expand the advocate workforce to include people who speak Hmong, the indigenous language of so many people in this county who are victims of crime.”

More African Americans advocates were hired because they represent the largest percentage of crime victims and we hired a transgender advocate and advocates who speak Cantonese and Mandarin. “The predominantly Chinese American community in Oakland was not being served by advocates who speak the language,” said D Price

“We reduced the lag time from the delivery of benefits to victims from 300 to 400 days down to less than 60 days.”

She increased victim advocacy by 38%, providing critical support to over 22,500 victims, a key component of community safety.

Other major achievements:

She recently filed 12 felony charges against a man accused of multiple armed robberies, demonstrating her seriousness about prosecuting violent crimes
In October, a jury delivered a guilty verdict in the double murder trial of former Alameda County Sheriff’s Deputy Devin Williams, showing DA Price’s commitment to holding law enforcement accountable.
She recently charged a man and woman in unincorporated San Leandro with murder, felony unlawful firearm activity, and felony carrying a loaded firearm in public.
A. Price’s office was awarded a $6 million grant by the state for its CARES Navigation Center diversion program. In partnership with the UnCuffed Project at a Seventh Day Adventist Church in Oakland, the program provides resources and referrals for services to residents as an alternative to incarceration and/or prosecution for substance use and mental health-related misdemeanors.

“This is the largest grant investment in the history of the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office,” said D.A. Price.

She explained that the program now has a mobile unit. “We have washers and dryers. We have a living room. We have a television. It’s a place where people can decompress, get themselves stabilized,” she said.

The project has “the ability to refer people to housing, to more long-term mental health services, to social services, and to assist them in other ways.”

Her office joined in a $49 million statewide settlement with Kaiser Health Plan and Hospitals, resolving allegations that the healthcare provider unlawfully disposed of hazardous waste, medical waste, and protected health information. The settlement, which involved the state and a half dozen counties, resulted in Alameda County receiving $7 million for its residents.
DA Price charged a former trucking company employee for embezzling over $4.3 million, showing her commitment to tackling white-collar crime.
For the first time, Alameda County won a criminal grand jury indictment of a major corporation with two corporate officers that have been sources of pollution. “They had a record of settlements and pollution in this community, and they had a fire that constituted a grave danger,” she said.

Attorney Walter Riley contributed to this article.

See Part Two

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Oakland Post: Week of October 30 – November 5, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of October 30 – November 5, 2024

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24 hours ago

November 1, 2024

Oakland Post

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Chevron Reports Progress in Flaring, Emissions at Community Town Hall

At the first in a series of community town halls on Oct. 16, Chevron Richmond reported a reduction in year-over-year flaring incidents, both in number and duration, and detailed new technologies and processes that will further drive down emissions and heighten community awareness about operations. Chevron employees also answered questions from the community and listened to concerns at the town hall, which was hosted by Ceres Policy Research and held at CoBiz in downtown Richmond.

Published

5 days ago

October 28, 2024

Oakland Post

Community member Kathleen Sullivan speaks at the Chevron town hall. Photo courtesy Richmond Standard.

By Mike Aldax

The Richmond Standard

Chevron employees also answered questions from the community and listened to concerns at the town hall, which was hosted by Ceres Policy Research and held at CoBiz in downtown Richmond.

Similar town halls will be held twice per year over the next five years as part of a settlement agreement with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD).

The goal is to increase transparency about flaring and increase opportunities for the community to get answers to their questions about potential impacts to the community.

A key output is the creation of a Community Action Plan, or CAP. The CAP aims to create a two-way dialogue between Chevron and neighbors around flaring and environmental compliance.

“Chevron’s focus in this process is one of learning and engagement,” said Brian Hubinger, public affairs manager at Chevron Richmond. “We felt the most efficient way was to bring together a broad selection of community members rather than just think about what it would take to comply with the settlement agreement.”

The first town hall drew a few dozen members of the community, including Chevron employees, representatives of fence-line neighborhoods and members of local environmental organizations.

During the event, Chevron employees reported that 19 BAAQMD-reportable flaring incidents occurred at the refinery from October 2022 to September 2023 with a total duration of 270 hours. During the same period this year, 18 flaring incidents occurred with a total duration of 159 hours, marking a 41% decrease in duration.

Further gains are expected with the implementation of Flare IQ, set to be installed this year and next on all of the refinery’s flaring systems. Flare IQ is described as a supercomputer with an algorithm that gathers data from operations and enables employees to address potential issues before they occur.

Chevron also reported a 40% decrease in particulate matter emissions since the completion of the refinery modernization project in 2018.

In addition, flare gas volume related to Chevron’s new hydrogen plant project, built as part of the modernization project, decreased by 85% since 2019. The hydrogen plant has also reportedly made the refinery 20% more efficient.

“We’re really proud about that,” said Kris Battleson, manager of health, safety and environment at Chevon Richmond.

Neighborhood council leaders joined the president of the local NAACP in lauding the effort toward transparency and accountability. Among them was Vernon Whitmore, president of the Sante Fe Neighborhood Council and member of the 15-person CAP committee.

“The way we were able to talk openly and freely with Chevron – honestly, bluntly and frankly – while developing this program was very good,” Whitmore said. “And it was something that was well-needed at this time.”

Still, residents are skeptical, including Kathleen Sullivan, a longtime community advocate who also serves on the CAP committee. But she added, “you can’t complain about something and not be involved in the solution.”