It began on a boat ride in 1999. The trip on the river included captains of industry, real estate folks, public officials, philanthropists and Pittsburgh’s own Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough. “Make this a place where you want to bring the people you love,” McCullough told those on board.
That same year they created the Riverlife Task Force, which became Riverlife, an organization that creates, activates and celebrates Pittsburgh’s riverfronts. “They were on that boat for an organizing opportunity,” said Matthew Galluzzo, president and CEO of Riverlife. “David provided a beautiful speech.
That trip served as the catalyst for the organization, which included a broad cross-section of Pittsburgh leadership led by former Mayor Tom Murphy.” The Ohio, Allegheny and Monongahela rivers bring life to this region, said Galluzzo, who joined Riverlife nearly five years ago. “The rivers are our calling card as a region,” Galluzzo said.
“Most people in the region have some reference to the rivers. There is no other city like it.” Since its inception in 1999, Riverlife has overseen a $150 million investment in the city’s waterfront transformation, catalyzing $4.
2 billion in related economic development, arts and culture spending and ecological sustainability on or adjacent to the city’s riverbanks, according to the organization. There was a time when people thought of the riverfronts as unapproachable and that a swamp monster might swallow them, or.