Category Archive: Architecture & Architects
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Courthouse centennial – Westmoreland County Courthouse escaped wrecking ball; stands tribute to esteem for law
Thursday, January 31, 2008
By Rick Shrum,
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteIt stands on a bluff, four stories of opulence with thousands of stories to tell.
The panorama from its celebrated dome, 175 feet above street level, is striking — but rivaled by the view of the building from all entrance points to the city.
Granite, marble, stone and the law are the foundations of this place, which was unveiled during the Teddy Roosevelt administration. And which means the wheels of justice there have turned almost as long as the wheels of cars.
Unlike Joan Rivers, however, this stately edifice in Downtown Greensburg has had only one facelift. And it was well done.
The Westmoreland County Courthouse, at the convergence of Main and Pittsburgh streets, is celebrating its centennial today. Inside and outside, it is one of most beautiful county seats sites chronicled in the National Register of Historic Places.
And to think … it nearly was bashed by a wrecking ball.
During the mid-1970s, the county commissioners were planning to level the crumbling courthouse and rebuild. They found that wasn’t a financially sound resolution, though, and sought national historic status — which would merit funding for rehabilitation.
That designation was conferred and restoration began in 1980. This was not a massive undertaking.
“The building didn’t change much, just subtle changes,” said Lou DeRose, an attorney who has worked in the Westmoreland courthouse since he was in law school in 1968.
“All in all,” he said, “it probably looks as good as it did in 1908.”
The good looks include a marble staircase that opens upward to twin spirals on the next floor, marble walls in public halls, 15 wall and ceiling murals painted in the early 1900s by Frenchman Maurice Ingres, floor and ceiling mosaics, outside walls faced with light gray granite, and chandeliers and decorative plaster laurel wreaths enhanced by gold leaf in the courtrooms.
And, of course, there is the central rotunda that rises four stories to the dome ceiling.
The cupola, measuring 85 feet across, was done in Italian Renaissance style and designed by the original architect, William Kauffman.
Light from four semicircular windows at the base of the dome is reflected throughout by the rotunda.
Daniel Ackerman, president judge from 2002-07, has been working in the courthouse since 1980. He remains enamored of the environment.
“Courthouse renovations became popular across the state,” Judge Ackerman said. “But few had the advantage of starting out with a building like this.
“It’s a great place to come to work.”
He was speaking of the courthouse, but it could have been his courtroom. It is an ornate blend of new and old, one of the showpieces being spectator benches that had been in the previous courthouse as early as 1901. They have been restored to their original hue, having once been blackened by countless coats of varnish.
John Blahovec, Judge Ackerman’s successor as president judge, is enamored of the surroundings as well, adding that they reinforce the concept that this is a place of business.
“If it looks like a courthouse,” he said, “people are more likely to act the way they should in a courthouse.”
“I think the advantage of holding court here,” Judge Ackerman said, “is that it makes the impression that things of importance will take place here.”
There are nine courtrooms in the building, up from the original four. The 1980 renovation may not have been an overhaul overall, but it made better use of space.
“We used to have things tucked into every nook and cranny,” Mr. DeRose said. “The files for the ‘Kill for Thrill’ case alone are incredible.”
One courtroom was fashioned out of what originally had been a jurors dormitory.
In the early 20th century, when the automobile was new and roadways were primitive, those summoned for jury duty from faraway Westmoreland towns such as Monessen or Donegal could not easily commute between home and the courthouse. So they slept over in the building where they determined a defendant’s fate.
Actually, this is the fifth incarnation of the Westmoreland courthouse. It began in Hannastown, a two-story log house, about 4 miles away, after Westmoreland County was formed in 1773.
When Greensburg became the permanent county seat in December 1785, a new courthouse was planned. A log house, erected on the current site, had its first court case 13 months later.
Three courthouses followed, opening in 1801, 1854 and 1908.
A few years ago, Judge Ackerman and Mr. DeRose spearheaded a drive to commemorate the upcoming centennial. The celebration began in September and ended with an open house Saturday, in which the public — at no cost — toured the courthouse.
Participants were allowed to go through the dome to the roof outside.
There, they stood on a bluff, four stories high, atop a distinguished landmark.
Rick Shrum can be reached at rshrum@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1911.
First published on January 31, 2008 at 12:00 am
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Decision on Schenley High School postponed
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
By Joe Smydo,
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteThe city school board’s vote on the closing of the Pittsburgh Schenley High School building will be put off until spring so officials can continue to study the feasibility of renovating the building.
A vote on the building’s fate was widely expected at the board’s Feb. 27 legislative meeting.
Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Mark Roosevelt last night said he didn’t want to give Schenley supporters false hope, but wants more time to study “every option” for saving the building.
“We believe we should spend a couple of extra months doing that,” he told board members at a workshop on high school improvement.
School board member Heather Arnet thanked Mr. Roosevelt for considering pleas to spare the historic Oakland building.
Kathy Fine, a Schenley supporter, called the announcement a “very positive move” and a nod to community members who have been brainstorming for ways to raise money and reduce renovation costs.
Mr. Roosevelt unleashed a firestorm last fall when he proposed closing the building at the end of the school year, saying the district couldn’t afford $64 million to address asbestos and other maintenance problems.
He has proposed moving Schenley’s current 10th-, 11th- and 12th-graders to the Reizenstein building in Shadyside next school year and allowing them to remain together until graduation. Students who would have entered Schenley as freshmen next school year would be absorbed by other schools.
The district held a public hearing on the proposal Nov. 27 so the board could vote Feb. 27. State law requires that a hearing be held at least three months before the vote to close a school.
Mr. Roosevelt said he never committed to a Feb. 27 vote on the building’s future, though people have had that impression. He said he will ask the board to vote next month on moving students out of the Schenley building for the next school year.
Whether the building is closed or renovated, he said, students won’t be able to attend class there in 2008-09.
He said the board must vote promptly on reassigning the students so Reizenstein or another building can be readied for them.
Joe Smydo can be reached at jsmydo@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1548.
First published on January 30, 2008 at 12:00 am -
Union Trust sale nears completion
By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, January 26, 2008An investment group led by executives of the Mika Realty Group in Los Angeles is expected to complete the purchase of the historic Union Trust Building next week.
“Things have gone smoothly, and there have been no snags,” said Jeffrey Ackerman, commercial real estate broker with CB Richard Ellis/Pittsburgh, who has been marketing the 11-story, 800,000-square-foot structure on Grant Street since last year.The Tribune-Review reported in November that the building was under purchase agreement to the group that includes Michael Kamen, founder of privately held Mika, and a business associate, Gerson Fox, also of Los Angeles.
A purchase price has not been disclosed, but the building is assessed at $30.75 million, according to Allegheny County records.
Ackerman is working on behalf of the building’s owner, Teal Rock 501 Grant Street LP, a partnership owned by Philadelphia-based Cigna Corp.
“We look at the Union Trust Building as a classic building that can’t be duplicated,” Rick Barreca, CEO of Mika Realty, told the Tribune-Review in November. Barreca also one of the investors in the deal.A list of developers carried by a California business publication showed Mika as the 13th-largest developer in the Los Angeles area, with some 5.9 million square feet in commercial real estate developed.
“The buyers have hired an architectural firm to help design improvements for the building,” Ackerman said. The group has said it wants to upgrade the building without disturbing its historic character.
The building, which has been known as Two Mellon Bank Center, is widely regarded as one of the city’s most architecturally significant landmark buildings. It was designed in Flemish Gothic style by noted Pittsburgh architect F.J. Osterling and built in 1916 for industrialist Henry Clay Frick.
It has been nearly empty since Mellon Financial Corp. — now Bank of New York Mellon Corp. — moved its personnel out of the structure in May 2006.
A small number of mostly retail tenants remain on the first level, the largest being Lorrimer’s clothing store.
CB Richard Ellis will handle management of the building once the sale completed, Ackerman said.
Two of its brokers, Hugh “Herky” Pollock and Jeremy Kronman, already have been working on behalf of the buyers to pitch space there to potential tenants for first floor retail and the upper floor office space, Ackerman said.
“A number of large office users have looked at the building, and they also have some very exciting prospects for the retail,” said Ackerman, without disclosing names of companies involved.
“The office market really is very active right now,” said Kronman. He’s shown the building to numerous prospective tenants, in fact, “enough to fill up four times the available space,” he said.
“We have people looking for 50,000- to 200,000-square-foot blocks, and we haven’t really started our leasing campaign,” he said.
The national credit crunch that has had a major impact on the U.S. residential market hasn’t caused any problems with the Union Trust building deal, Ackerman said.
“The buyer has secured lender financing,” he said.
Securing financing was said to be a problem with a previous potential buyer, a New York investment group that included Houlihan-Parnes/iCap Realty Advisors of White Plains and J.J. Operating Corp. of New York City.
Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907.
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Signs of past life
By Adam Brandolph
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, January 15, 2008Look up.
Faded advertisements flake off the sides of exposed brick buildings throughout the city. Remnants of a bygone era, these markers tell the story of our city’s rich history.
From companies like Otto Milk, formerly in the Strip District, to the German National Bank on Liberty Avenue, Downtown, and leisure activities like Penn Bowling Lanes, these reminders preserve a piece of how Pittsburghers used to live.
The ads often are pointed out to people on the public walking tours offered by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, executive director Louise Sturgess said. “These snapshots of history are wonderful,” Sturgess said.
But why do these signs remain after so many years? Even the Cathedral of Learning was cleaned last year.
“These signs remain because some building owners have no reason to remove them and are content to let them age along with the building,” Sturgess said. “The signs bring a layer of Pittsburgh history to life, and once you notice them, they are great conversation pieces, especially when you are with a Pittsburgher who remembers the business or product featured in the sign.”
While some signs are beaten and battered, the ones that grace the sides of Joe Mama’s, Uncle Sam’s and Fuel & Fuddle restaurants on Oakland Avenue in Oakland are comparatively new and shiny.
The sides of the stores feature three vintage-looking wall advertisements for Coca-Cola, despite none of them being more than 15 years-old, according to Michael Hanley, co-owner of all three stores.
Hanley said the themes of the restaurants are kind of old-school, so the handpainted ads make sense. “Coke adds to the timelessness,” he said, “and an older aesthetic helps convey our message.”
Adam Brandolph can be reached at abrandolph@tribweb.com or 412-320-7936
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Preservationist seeks delay in sale of land for library
Thursday, December 27, 2007
By Rich Lord,
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteA historic preservationist yesterday asked Pittsburgh City Council to withhold approval of a land sale that would allow the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh to move its Allegheny Regional branch, warning that he and others may sue.
David Tessitor argued in a letter to Council President Doug Shields that because the old library is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, federal and state law demand that a study be done before it is altered.
He said he and others will “pursue legal remedies” should council approve the sale of a Central North Side plot to the library system without analysis of alternatives. The sale is on the agenda for council’s meeting today, and if not aproved would need to be reintroduced next year.
The Allegheny Regional branch in Allegheny Center was damaged by lightning in April 2006, and has been closed ever since. The library system wants to move it to the corner of Federal and Parkhurst streets, near the Federal North development.
“The longer the process goes on, the longer there isn’t library service,” said Suzanne Thinnes, communications manager for the library system. There is paperwork to be done even after the city approves the sale of the plot, now owned by its Urban Redevelopment Authority. “Barring any complications, or any unforeseen circumstances, the groundbreaking will occur in April.”
The old library, though repaired since the lightning strike, is inconvenient and inefficient, the library system has argued. It is now being used to house rare books and artifacts, and Ms. Thinnes said no decision has been made regarding its future. It is owned by the city.
“I guess we would all like to see the library stay in the library,” said Arthur Ziegler, president of the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation. At the same time, he added, “We have to be sympathetic to the library’s economic situation. … I wish we had time to get to a global solution.”
Mr. Tessitor, of Allegheny West, and other activists engineered a Dec. 18 public hearing on the library’s fate. “That’s important to the federal courts, that you’ve done everything you can” before suing, he said.
Rich Lord can be reached at rlord@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1542.
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Library’s plan to build anew on North Side meets strong opposition
Monday, December 17, 2007
By Diana Nelson Jones,
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteWhen Carnegie Library officials decided last year not to reopen the Allegheny Regional branch — the second Carnegie Library in the country and one that had been damaged in April 2006 by lightning — traditionalists and preservationists were livid.
After heated public meetings, most North Siders accepted plans for new construction at the site at Federal and Parkhurst streets, even some persnickety advocates of preservation.
The hoped-for groundbreaking this fall is now set back to spring, but there could be another delay.
Two weeks ago, in the wake of City Council’s draft of a resolution to approve transfer of land for the new library, it received a petition for a public hearing, from people who want to reopen the old branch. The hearing will be tomorrow at 5 p.m. in the New Hazlett Theater in Allegheny Center. (To speak before council, register in advance by calling the city clerk’s office at 412-255-2138.)
The library’s administration has been unequivocal about the need to leave the current location, but one petitioner, Glenn Walsh of Mt. Lebanon, wrote in an e-mail, “Carnegie Library is not a private club that can do as they please. Carnegie Library is a public trust, funded by the taxpayers! They operate out of buildings owned by the taxpayers. This is all intentional, the specific will of Andrew Carnegie.”
Of 58 petitioners, 16 live outside the North Side but in Allegheny County. Two live near Harrisburg.
Most are residents of Allegheny West, whose civic council in November 2006 opposed the relocation in its minutes, said Gloria Rayman, the civic council president.
“We also support opening Federal and East Ohio streets [cutting through a traffic circle] to make the existing library building more viable,” she said.
The site of the new construction at 1210 Federal St. in the Central North Side, was approved unanimously by that neighborhood council in September 2006, said Claudia Keyes, president of the board.
The Manchester Citizens Corp. and East Allegheny Community Council have not taken positions.
Of 19 library branches to be updated, six have been completed, either by renovation or new building, said library spokeswoman Suzanne Thinnes. The Allegheny branch jumped to the front in priority after the lightning hit. While subsequent repairs cost $2 million, library officials had already determined that the cost of adapting the building for energy efficiency, accessibility and technological upgrades could not be justified against the needs of the other branches. There has been no service at the library for the past 18 months.
The proposed new building would be 15,000 square feet and include a children’s room and program space, a separate area for teens, a meeting room and a room for Allegheny City history materials.
Tomorrow’s hearing prompted a rash of chat on North Side Web sites, most in favor of the move.
The branch in Allegheny Center, with its Richardsonian Romanesque style, is protected from demolition by historic status.
Denise Mahone, a young mother on the Central North Side, credits the Carnegie’s decision to build on a stretch that, for years, has not been child friendly or socially well integrated.
She said the Federal Street location was “site specific in the best sense of the term.”
“Preservation and new spaces are not mutually exclusive,” she said. “In this neighborhood, the emphasis will always be to marry the historic with places that reflect the present.”
David Shlapak, a Central North Sider, said the fight against a new library “is a classic case of people knowing how to spend other people’s money.”
“We can continue to fight until we get a perfect solution no one can pay for, or we can say, ‘This is a positive step, let’s go forward.’
“The Federal-North corridor is the heart of the North Side, and revitalizing that area should be a high priority,” he said.
Petitioners, however, say the best way to preserve Carnegie Library buildings is to use them as libraries.
David Tessitor, an Allegheny West resident who spearheaded the petition drive with Mr. Walsh, said the new construction “is a way to support under-performing real estate speculation projects” at Federal-North while the best chance for success on Federal is to build north from Allegheny Center by first unblocking its arteries.
“There’s a strong sense among neighborhood residents of seeing Ohio Street opened through and Federal reconnected” by getting rid of Allegheny Center’s traffic circle,” Mr. Tessitor said.
“With the library gone, there’s less impetus for that to happen. When we build new, we undermine the history that’s there.”
Diana Nelson Jones can be reached at djones@post-gazette.com or412-263-1626.
First published on December 17, 2007 at 12:00 am -
Pittsburgh architect draws admirers, awards
By David M. Brown
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, November 25, 2007Pittsburgh architect Art Lubetz admires the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, the 20th-century visionary who designed Fallingwater in Fayette County and other masterpieces inspiring to generations of architects.
Lubetz differs with the master, though, on one professional observation.
“Frank Lloyd Wright used to say he didn’t draw a line until he had the whole building in his mind,” says Lubetz, 67, of Oakland. “That might be true. He might have been a super-duper genius. But for schleps like me and most other architects, it’s hard work to get there.”
The self-effacing comment hardly meshes with how others see him.
Lubetz is a visionary thinker in his own right, a gifted architect whose designs have added flare, vigor and rare dimensions to many buildings and abodes throughout his native Western Pennsylvania and other locales across the nation, say his peers, associates and a former student.
He speaks out to preserve worthy old structures, loves cats, collects vivid Czechoslovakian vases, reads vociferously, draws insight from 17th century philosopher Baruch Spinoza and admits that years ago, he once pushed his Alfa Romeo to 118 mph late at night on the Parkway West.
Lubetz recently received an American Institute of Architects Honor Award at the Design Pittsburgh Awards. He was recognized for “extremely well done” work in the expansion and renovation of the Squirrel Hill branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. He is founder and president of Lubetz Architects, an Oakland-based firm celebrating its 40th anniversary this fall.
“It’s notable that Art brings that kind of passionate approach to all the work he does, whether it’s residential, commercial or a public building, like a library,” said Anne-Marie Lubenau, an architect and executive director of the Community Design Center of Pittsburgh, a nonprofit that supports quality architecture.
“He is continually searching to bring fresh ideas to architecture, thinking out of the box, and creating places for people that are inspiring,” she said.
The library project, completed in April 2005, transformed what had been a nondescript structure at the corner of Forbes and Murray avenues into an architectural showcase with copper trimmings and abundant aqua glass. The glass-cube lobby juts out an angle toward Forbes Avenue. The $4.7 million renovation added 7,000 square feet, or 38 percent, new space for library users.
“Our buildings generally are noticeable,” says Lubetz, petting a pair of calico cats — Za and Ha — that paw at the architect for a share of his attention. The cats, sisters, are named after architect Zaha Hadid.
“As a result, people imagine that we are arrogant or something,” he says, “but it’s not for people to notice us. It’s for people to notice the architecture and notice what’s been done, so that maybe their awareness will be raised when they think about architecture.”
“I’m very intrigued by materials that are acted on by nature and change over time. We like copper because it changes. Glass changes throughout the day depending on how the sun hits it.”
The library’s glass walls and skylights were designed to let in sufficient sunlight to create the feeling of reading on a porch.
“Lots of light. That’s one characteristic of almost all our work. Light activates the life within architecture,” Lubetz said.
The panel of architects that bestowed the award said the library’s design “makes people re-think any preconceptions” about urban public libraries. “We bet this place just hops because it really strikes us as a place the community can own,” the panel said.
Among previous awards, Lubetz received honors for his Lincoln Towers housing complex near New York City and his design of the Hartford, Conn., City Hall.
He has taught architectural studio courses at Carnegie Mellon University since 1988. His wife, Karen Myres, a former CMU educator, is president of the Executive Women’s Council.
Former student Dan Cohen, 23, of Squirrel Hill, a recent CMU graduate, described Lubetz as inspirational.
“He taught us architecture is more than just four walls and a roof. It’s more than a pretty facade,” Cohen said. “It’s about putting into it this extra level of thought, which hopefully can translate over to something that the user can experience, and that’s what makes great architecture.”
As president of Preservation Pittsburgh in 2000, Lubetz was one of the leaders of a successful effort to block an attempt to demolish six square blocks of buildings in Downtown — the core of then-Mayor Tom Murphy’s development plan in the Fifth and Forbes corridor.
“He is a Pittsburgh architect who has long been in the forefront of modern design, but has enormous respect for the architecture of our past, and he is willing to stand up and defend it,” said Arthur Ziegler, president of Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, another organization that opposed the plan to raze 68 buildings.
Lubetz has battled through some tough challenges — physical and professional — over the course of his life.
As a 19-year-old architecture student at then-Carnegie Institute of Technology, Lubetz was diagnosed with cornea disease that was leading to blindness. The prognosis threatened his career, but cornea transplants saved his vision. In his early 40s, he suffered a bout of multiple sclerosis that debilitated his right leg. A rigorous therapy regiment restored his use of it.
In July 1996, tragedy struck when his partner, architect Jill Watson, was killed in the crash of TWA Flight 800 near Long Island, N.Y. “She was a partner in the firm and in life and even in drawing. We would fight each other to put the next line on the paper,” Lubetz said at the time.
At a 40th anniversary celebration for his business, a guest asked Lubetz: “Wow. How did you do it?”
“Sometimes I can’t figure it out,” says Lubetz. “Our work is and has always been unusual.
“I think three characteristics I have gotten me through. I’m doggedly determined because I love what I do. I’m tenacious. And I have a major ability to deal with disappointment. I work hard for what I want and I work even harder to be happy with what I end up getting.”
David M. Brown can be reached at dbrown@tribweb.com or 412-380-5614.
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District presses to close Schenley
By Bill Zlatos
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, November 20, 2007Sixty-eight percent of the materials tested at Schenley High School contained asbestos, according to a report released Monday by city schools Superintendent Mark Roosevelt.
AGX Inc., Wexford-based environmental consultants, collected 406 samples from the plaster, ceiling, tiles, carpet and other areas of the Oakland school and found that 277 contained asbestos.The firm collected the samples five years ago, but the Pittsburgh Public Schools released the data for the first time to quell concerns that the district was overreacting to the asbestos problem.
“This is the only building I know (in the district) where every ceiling, every wall on every floor has asbestos in it,” said Richard Fellers, the district’s chief operating officer, during a tour of the building with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
The danger of the asbestos and falling plaster, coupled with the cost of renovating the school, has prompted Roosevelt to recommend for a second time that the school board close Schenley after this school year.
During the past four years, estimates for the cost of abating the asbestos and renovating the building’s mechanical systems have ranged from $42.4 million to $86.9 million. Roosevelt has touted $64.4 million as the best estimate.“You’re talking about a basic gut job where every system needs to be replaced,” Roosevelt said at a news conference yesterday.
Fellers and a team of architects and other professionals noted some of the 10,000 patches made to repair falling plaster last summer. Asbestos was used in the 91-year-old building for binding plaster, insulation and as a fire retardant.
Patches, bubbles or sites of fallen plaster sealed with bridging compound could be seen in some hallways. In some stairwells, hallways or classrooms, fallen plaster had caused holes or exposed the brick behind a radiator.
Roosevelt assured that the school is safe. He said the district monitors the plaster three times a week and the air quality once a week.
“Every decision I make is based on the question: ‘Would this be right for my child?’ ” Roosevelt said.
He has suggested that Schenley’s ninth-, 10th- and 11th-graders go to the former Reizenstein school in East Liberty and graduate with a Schenley diploma.
Schenley’s asbestos problem is compounded by a lack of ventilation that causes the plaster to bubble and fall. Because of the school’s historic status, Fellers said, the district was required to choose a type of window that preserved the building’s architectural character but accelerated its deterioration through insufficient ventilation.
The proposal to close Schenley has stirred student and parent protests. Schenley advocates went to Allegheny Common Pleas Court last week in an unsuccessful attempt to block the school board from hiring an architect and construction manager for the renovation of Reizenstein.
The uncertainty over the school’s fate has caused a family feud.
Vidya Patil, the district’s acting director of facilities, is in charge of maintaining the building and keeping it safe. His daughter, Oona, 16, is a junior at Schenley and unhappy with the proposal to close it.
“I’m very concerned about the deteriorating condition in the building — particularly the asbestos,” Patil said. “The amount of monitoring and dollars it takes to keep it safe is almost unbearable.”
Bill Zlatos can be reached at bzlatos@tribweb.com or 412-320-7828.