Archive: Jul 2010
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170-Year-Old Tavern in Menallen to Serve Up the Past
By Mary Pickels
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Fayette County Historical Society President Jeremy Burnworth is in the restored main room on the second floor of the former Abel Colley Tavern, which will is the society's headquarters. Barry Reeger | Tribune-Review
The Fayette County Historical Society Friday will hold a grand opening of its museum, to be housed in the former Abel Colley Tavern in Menallen.
Open to the public, the 3 p.m. program will showcase the restored red-brick structure at 7083 National Pike.
Last July, Warren and Virginia Dick of Smithfield donated the 170-year-old building to the historical society. Volunteers helped to restore the property, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Society President Jeremy Burnworth credited volunteer Tom Buckelew and former intern Bill Zinn, along with inmates from the State Correctional Institution at Greene, who performed labor through the Community Works Program, for much of the renovation.
Community volunteers pitched in to paint walls, install moulding and restore hardwood floors.
Although some work remains, the majority of the main rooms have been restored, Burnworth said.
Photos to be displayed Friday will show the “before” and “after,” he said. “You will be able to see (the volunteers’) accomplishments in a short amount of time. We want to let people see the beautiful work that has been done.”
Additional work will help take the structure to its next level, becoming a museum, Burnworth said.
“It’s Fayette County’s first-ever historical museum,” he said. “It’s kind of a big deal.”
Friday’s program will include local government officials, Dick family members and representatives from the National Road Heritage Corridor and the Sen. John Heinz History Center. The historical society is an affiliate of the history center and may benefit in the future through a display of Civil War memorabilia, Burnworth said.
In the future, the site will be used for the society’s headquarters. It will be available for fundraisers and meetings.
Donations of historical artifacts pertaining to Fayette County are welcome.
“They can go way back, 50 to 250 years old,” Burnworth said. “For example, think of veterans.”
There has been no place in the county to display photos, uniforms, letters or furniture, he noted.
“We are afraid people will be throwing things away,” he said. “We really want a situation in place, so even if family members are not interested, we can protect and archive (those items). We get lots of calls for information, requests to come to the building and look at the archives and all of the things people think we have.”
Plans include a gift shop, likely to include publications and books on the region’s history. In acknowledgement of the building’s history, keepsake mugs will be sold on Friday.
Public visitation hours have not been set.
“The committee will help determine the direction of ‘what’s next,'” Burnworth said.
For more information, or to donate or volunteer, visit the society’s website at www.fayettehistory.org. Anyone interested in attending Friday’s opening or joining an advisory committee is asked to call 724-439-4422.
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Neighbors in the Strip Accredited as a National Main Street Program
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Pop City Media
Neighbors in the Strip, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting economic development in the Strip District, has been awarded designation as an accredited National Main Street Program by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
The prestigious designation is based on a ten point set of criteria, which ultimately demonstrates that an organization has leveraged local historic and business assets to thoroughly promote revitalization of a neighborhood business district.
Neighbors in the Strip was formed in 1999 by stakeholders wishing to better promote economic transformation in the neighborhood, while maintaining its historic character. A decade ago, “the perception of crime in the strip was very high,” notes Becky Rodgers, Executive Director of NITS. “Looking back over the past ten years, with a lot of hard work from the police, the DA’s office, and the stakeholders, crime has decreased in the Strip by 58 percent. If you want to keep economic development happening, you have to keep crime down.”
In addition to making the neighborhood safer, NITS works with local proprietors to promote business. In fact, forty new businesses are scheduled to open soon, including a public market, which will be opening in August.
“We’re mainly zoned urban-industrial in the Strip, which is sort of the wild west of zoning,” says Becky. “So when a new project comes along, there are certain zoning exceptions that have to go in front of the zoning board, and we go with business owners to the board to support those variances.”
Other factors that lead to the Main Street designation include NITS’ strong cooperation with its partners, which include the City, the URA, and a large number of non-profits, as well as the substantial grant programs they offer. Neighbors in the Strip has played a key role in helping the neighborhood evolve into a residential area in the 2000’s, aided by their Upper Floor Grant, which encourages the residential development of underutilized floors above commercial businesses.
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Source: Becky Rodgers, Executive Director of Neighbors in the Strip
Writer: John Farley -
Movie Money Spurs Vandergrift Spending Ideas
By Rossilynne Skena and Dale Mann, VALLEY NEWS DISPATCH
Monday, July 19, 2010The borough received $15,000 for opening its streets in June to crews filming “I am Number IV,” an action-packed thriller.
Of the money received from DreamWorks, $5,400 has be allocated to parking meters. There are about 250 parking meters on the borough streets, and those meters need constant updates, council president Brian Carricato said.
The average parking meter costs about $110. Fifty new meters will be purchased and will go into circulation where meters are broken or missing.
Council will vote at its August meeting about how to spend the remaining $9,600.
Carricato would like to see the full sum of the money remaining go toward the recreation committee.
DreamWorks wants to see the money applied to something such as recreation, something the town can look back on in 10 years as an accomplishment, Carricato said.
Typically, he said, recreation is an area where budgets can be cut because other things are more essential.
“There’s not too many times that you do have the opportunity to invest back into your recreation department,” Carricato said.
Christine Wilson, a council member who serves as chairwoman of the budget committee, proposed another plan.
She too would like to see the $5,400 go toward meters, and then allocate $6,500 to codify the borough’s ordinances, which haven’t been updated since 1998. The remaining $3,100 would go to recreation.
Carricato said there’s money in the general fund to use for codifying ordinances.
“We have $42,000 from gas wells in the general fund that should be used for codifying the ordinances,” Carricato said, adding that two more gas wells, located near the Vandergrift Cemetery, will be starting up in the next few weeks.
Wilson said that $20,000 is put into the bank up front for each gas well, and that money is supposed to be used for emergencies.
“I don’t like dipping into that money that we’re putting into the bank for emergency-use only,” Wilson said.
The three operational gas wells brought in more than $25,519.30 for the borough between January and June 30, Borough Secretary Steve DelleDonne said. Wells are located behind the municipal garage, on the Ninth Street Alley above East Vandergrift and on hillside dropping into East Vandergrift, Carricato said.
Wilson disagreed with using any of the gas well funds. Carricato said the money from the gas wells is budgeted into the general fund as anticipated revenue.
Discussion of what to do next was tabled until the next meeting, Wilson said, at which point the recreation committee will bring proposals of how to use the funding.
Carricato and two others recreation committee will meet to discuss ideas, but as for what ideas they have, residents will be in suspense until council meets.
“We’ve already been brainstorming,” Carricato said.
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Charleroi’s Historic Goaziou Shop to Reopen With Tours, Open House
By Ron Paglia
FOR THE PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, July 18, 2010One of the community’s oldest and most historic buildings will be the focus of attention Monday when the official reopening of The Goaziou Shop is celebrated beginning at noon.
The open house, presented by the Charleroi Area Historical Society, will run until 3:30 p.m. at the site at 807 Fallowfield Ave. and is open to the public. Light refreshments will be served, and tours of the building will be available.
The Goaziou Shop, in Charleroi’s historic district, was the commercial print shop and residence of the late Franco-American Louis Goaziou, a union socialist and main advocate for the North American Co-Masonry movement, for which the first charter was established in Charleroi.
The building, which opened at the turn of the last century, also housed a printing shop owned and operated for many years by Herb Goaziou.
The building’s accommodations for disabled visitors are made available through a grant from the Washington County Tourism and Promotion Agency.
Regular visiting hours at The Goaziou Shop are from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday and Friday.
Additional information is available at the historical society’s administration office and the Genealogy and History Research Center at 608 Fallowfield Ave., 724-483-2030, or The Goaziou Shop, 724-483-4961.
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Nonprofits Urge Estate Tax at ’09 Levels
By Bill Zlatos
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, July 20, 2010The head of the nation’s largest umbrella group for nonprofits urged reinstatement of the estate tax to 2009 levels to encourage charitable giving.
“Permanent repeal of the estate tax could result in the loss of $1 trillion in tax revenue over 10 years,” said Diana Aviv, president and CEO of Independent Sector, a Washington-based organization composed of nonprofit groups, foundations and corporate-giving programs.
Aviv spoke Monday to about 100 leaders of the region’s nonprofit community at a seminar sponsored by Grantmakers of Western Pennsylvania in the August Wilson Center for African American Culture, Downtown.
The estate tax expired at the end of 2009 and is scheduled to return Jan. 1, with a $1 million exemption and the balance of the estate taxed at 55 percent.
Some senators, however, are trying to reinstate the estate tax sooner under terms that Independent Sector believes could hurt charities.
Aviv favors the reinstatement of the 2009 terms, which are supported by the House and President Obama. Last year, the first $3.5 million of an individual’s estate, or $7 million for a couple, was exempt, and the balance was taxed at 45 percent.
Aviv urged support of the Nonprofit Sector and Community Solutions Act of 2010, proposed by Rep. Betty McCollum, a Democrat from Minnesota.
The bill would create a 16-member council to strengthen the links among Congress, the White House and the nonprofit community. It would create an interagency working group consisting of cabinet members and directors of relevant agencies, and would require the federal government to collect data on nonprofits.
“I don’t think anybody thinks it will be passed this year,” Aviv said. “The hope is that the next two or three years will build enough support to get it passed.”
Aviv contends that nonprofits deserve a seat at the table in Washington. Some 13 million people work full time for nonprofits, or 10 percent of America’s work force.
“I like the idea that the federal government, in addition to mandating regulations, might help the nonprofit sector do what it does better,” said Gregg Behr, executive director of The Grable Foundation, a Downtown philanthropy.
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Old School Steps to Front of the Class
By Eric Heyl
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
The former South Hills High School in Mt. Washington
Consider it a textbook example of how to transform a dilapidated eyesore into a potential community jewel.
For nearly a quarter-century, the former South Hills High School in Mt. Washington slowly deteriorated while various redevelopment proposals were about as successful as the initial Hindenburg launch.
As recently as 18 months ago, the enormous 155,000-square foot building occupying an entire city block at the corner of Ruth and Eureka streets stood empty and decaying.
Surrounded by an imposing chain link fence, the old school appeared as though it never would be anything more than a refuge for birds seeking shelter through the holes in the roof.
Since then, the scene has changed dramatically.
“We’ve come a long way,” Victor Rodriguez said Tuesday, standing in the vicinity of where the principal’s office used to be. “I think this is pretty monumental in terms of what we’ve accomplished.”
Rodriguez is senior vice president of a.m. Rodriguez Associates, which purchased the building from the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority two years ago for $1. Given the structure’s condition at the time, Rodriguez might have overpaid for it.
But following a $23 million makeover that included $10 million in public money, the structure will reopen in about six weeks as the South Hills Retirement Residence.
The place is proving popular among the senior crowd even before the first tenants move in. As contractors scurry to apply the finishing touches, 42 of the building’s 106 units have been leased.
Rodriguez yesterday provided me a tour of the building, the inside of which looks virtually nothing like it did when the Class of ’86 closed the school for good.
Although some of the original hardwood and ornate metal railings were incorporated into the interior design, it’s unlikely the 2,200 members of the school’s alumni association would recognize the place.
That’s a good thing.
Rodriguez removed several unsalvageable portions of the former school, including the auditorium and the swimming pool, while adding amenities the 94-year-old building desperately needed — elevators and air conditioning.
In addition, a portion of the building is expected to house medical offices, which should further increase foot traffic in what had become a desolate neighborhood. An early childhood development center also might occupy some space.
“What we’re striving for here is something community-changing,” Rodriguez said.
Joshua “J.T.” Smith, board president of the Mt. Washington Community Development Corp., lives about two blocks away and is thrilled with how the place looks.
“For years, that building created a real negative mood with all of that prison-style fencing around it,” he said. “It’s great to walk by now and see something vibrant and alive, with the new trees and the clean sidewalks. This is going to alter the mentality of the whole neighborhood.”
Again, it’s a textbook example of transformation.
For an old school, what could be more appropriate?
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Artists on Board for Mural Project Behind Tarentum Station Restaurant
By Tom Yerace
VALLEY NEWS DISPATCH
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Last updated: 7:41 amThe mural project for the wall behind the Tarentum Station restaurant is picking up steam, according to borough officials.
Borough Manager Bill Rossey said he has been contacted by five local artists who want to volunteer their services for the project.
Councilman Ray Kerr, who is coordinating the project with Rossey, said more artists are needed on a volunteer basis since the borough wasn’t able to secure a grant to pay for the project.
He said paint for the mural is being donated by two borough paint stores: Van Sciver’s Wall Covering and Paint and Verner’s Paint Center.
“Right now we are moving pretty good on it,” Kerr said.
Rossey said a primer was applied to the wall over the weekend.
It’s ready for the mural, which will be 175 feet long and range from 6 feet to 4 feet high.
Kerr and Rossey said the mural will have a historical theme, using the image of a train, but with the cars of the train depicting historical people and events related to the borough.
“What we need now are people (subjects) from Tarentum,” Kerr said. “We need faces if anybody can come up with some pictures, they would be welcomed.”
Kerr said the project should be completed before the end of summer.
“It will certainly be a point of interest for people coming through town to pass by and look at that wall, ” Rossey said.
In other business:
• Council approved applying for a federal Community Development Block Grant for Streetscape improvements to the business district.
The application will be for $105,000 to do the actual improvements, such as new sidewalks and lighting, according to Rossey. He said that will supplement a $60,000 grant the borough received this year to pay for planning of the improvements.
Rossey said the borough will be putting out a request for proposals on designs soon.
In addition to the $60,000, the borough also has set aside $15,000 from its budget for planning costs, Rossey said.
He also said that it also is reserving $45,000 to use for the improvements and could use money left over from the $75,000 reserved for planning to pay for the actual work.
He said borough officials believe they can do at least one block of E. Sixth Avenue and try to do subsequent blocks every year.
• Council has granted permission for the Alle-Kiski Historical Society to hold a Civil War encampment in Riverview Park. The encampment by re-enactors will be Aug. 21 and 22.
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Firms Pitch Building Plans for Garden Theater Area
By Bill Vidonic
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, July 20, 2010The owner of a central North Side business only wanted to hear one issue addressed Monday about the redevelopment of the block surrounding the vacant Garden Theater.
“Parking, parking, parking,” said Irene Karavolos, co-owner of Steve’s New York Hot Dogs on Federal Street. “You can’t bring in more businesses when little businesses already are starving for parking.”
More than 200 people crowded into an auditorium at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh to hear several proposals for the block surrounding the former X-rated theater, with five developers promising to spend tens of millions of dollars to revitalize the blighted section of the North Side.
All submitted proposals calling for a mix of retail and residential development; two called for the partial or complete destruction of the vacant Garden Theater auditorium.
Kirk Burkley, president of Northside Tomorrow, which is coordinating redevelopment efforts, said the Garden wouldn’t vanish entirely under any of the proposals. City and national historical designations mean the building’s facade must be preserved.
“This project affects more than just the central North Side,” Burkley said.
North Side resident Matt Long said he’d like to see the Garden restored as an independent filmhouse.
“I don’t think retail would be what I’d put there,” Long said.
Tom Hardy, a consultant with Northside Tomorrow, said a decision could come in the next couple of months.
“We have some momentum now,” Hardy said. “There’s an interest in keeping that momentum going.”
North Side visionsDevelopment proposals for the Garden Theater block:
• Barron Commercial Real Estate, Pittsburgh: Demolish the former Garden Theater auditorium, but preserve and restore the remaining historic properties into a mix of housing and retail development.
• Wells and Company, Spokane, Wash.: Restore the Garden Theater auditorium for a performing arts center; build apartments in the former Masonic building, along with a first-floor restaurant/brew pub; and restore buildings along West North Avenue and Reddour Street.
• Zukin Development Corp., Philadelphia: Create retail space, including a specialty grocery store, by demolishing part of the Garden Theater; create retail space and apartments in the Masonic Hall, the Bradberry apartment building and other properties.
• Aaron Stubna and William Porco, Coraopolis: Convert the Garden into a multi-purpose theater hosting live entertainment and films.
• Resaca LLC, Pittsburgh: Redevelop the Bradberry into 16 one-bedroom apartments.
Source: Northside Tomorrow LLC