TINA MARKOE/Courier-Post Between these two homes in the neighborhoods in the hills surrounding Pittsburgh an empty plot of land where a steel mill used to stand is visible.

TINA MARKOE/Courier-Post Looking west from Grandview Drive offers view of Pittsburgh and its Three Rivers Stadium.

TINA MARKOE/Courier-Post Brooke Smokelin, Pittsburgh-area artist, talks about her performance piece about people's ties to the river.

Case in point: Alcoa Aluminum built its national headquarters with a waterfront park and trail.

Abandoned railroad bridges are being saved to become part of a riverside heritage trail network. The new football stadium and convention center will be located right on the riverfront. Right field at the new baseball stadium will open up to a sweeping view of the rivers.

The purchase and redevelopment of riverfront land is funded through a $100 million revitalization program. Industry and foundation grants have contributed $40 million. The balance is funded by a $60 million bond referendum.

This pool allows the city to buy and clean up contaminated land, a risk that private developers were unwilling to take. Murphy said this step is integral in keeping businesses from developing on suburban land.

"The market wasn't working. We would have sat and sat with nothing being done for years," Murphy said, quickly striding past houses rising at Washington's Landing on Herr's Island, once the site of a malodorous stockyard and slaughterhouse. "Instead of waiting for developers, we're taking the risk."

The island in the Allegheny was once one of Pittsburgh's most polluted places, contaminated with hazardous chemicals used in the tanning and rendering processes.

The city moved the contaminated soil to an edge of the island and built tennis courts and a park above the landfill. The island has become prime real estate; houses are selling for close to $500,000.

There are other signs people are slowly returning to the waterfront, once considered off limits because of the pollution from the mills and coal mines. They're walking and riding the trails and striding across the maze of bridges into downtown.

For local artist Brooke Smokelin, reconnecting with the rivers is long overdue.

"There has been a lot of abuse and neglect to what I call the spirit of the rivers," she said. "We're so blessed to have all this water here."

Murphy's redevelopment strategy has had its share of detractors, who argue public money shouldn't be used to redevelop land for private companies.

Murphy has tried to counter his critics by phasing out subsidies for individual projects as they progress into final stages of development. And a portion of the new real estate taxes generated by the improved land is used to repay the city's bonds.

For all his attempts to diversify Pittsburgh's economy, Murphy hasn't shut the door on manufacturing. "Pittsburgh still needs to be a place where people make things," he said.

Many, including Sproat, are hinging their hopes on the mayor's vision. She manages the Duquesne Incline, a type of rail line that once shuttled workers down the steep slope of Mount Washington to the mills. Today, it hauls mostly tourists and downtown office workers.

"Gosh, I'm for it," she said of Murphy's plan. "If you don't invest in the future, you're not going to get anything back here. I think the rivers are our investment in the future."