Resolution would name park over Pittsburgh's I-579 after activist Frankie Pace

A park being built over Interstate 579 in a $32.3 million project linking Pittsburgh’s Hill District to Downtown would be named after community activist Frankie Pace, under a City Council resolution proposed Monday.

Born in 1905, Pace was a longtime community activist and head of the Hill District Community Council. She also owned Pace Music Store, according to Historic Pittsburgh. She died in 1989.

The proposed resolution, sponsored by Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle, would call the 3-acre public park to be created as part of the I-579 “cap” project.

The measure was sent to the Finance and Law Committee without discussion on Monday. City Council will hold a public hearing to discuss naming the park for Pace, though a hearing has not yet been scheduled.

The “cap” project over I-579, also known as Crosstown Boulevard, is scheduled to be completed next year.

The project is meant to address the separation of the Hill District from Downtown that occurred when Crosstown Boulevard was built in the 1950s.

The park will include pedestrian pathways, bike routes, recreation and educational areas and rain gardens, along with design elements developed by neighborhood artists.

Pace also will be featured on a story wall celebrating her life, according to the city’s plans for the site. Another story wall will honor another Hill District figure — Martin Delany, an abolitionist, journalist and educator.