Category Archive: Legislative / Advocacy
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Heidelberg Offers Help With Spacious, Affordable Homes
Thursday, June 24, 2010Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
- Heidelberg Mayor Kenneth LaSota, at podium, and Richard Ranii, Allegheny County Economic Development Housing manager, speak during the dedication of two new homes in Heidelberg. Robin Rombach/Post-Gazette
Tom Wiater, senior construction manager for Action Housing, had the proud look of a new parent Monday afternoon as visitors toured his nearly 2,000-square-foot “baby” at 478 Grant Ave. in Heidelberg.
The guests nodded approvingly at the spacious rooms, walk-in closet and outdoor wooden deck of the newly completed house.
It and its “sister” house, an almost identical home built next door, didn’t follow the typical pattern of being constructed by a private developer who would sell the home on the open market.
They are among four single-family homes built on Grant Avenue as part of a redevelopment program that allows municipalities that suffered flood damage during Hurricane Ivan in 2004 to identify sites outside of the 100-year flood plain that were in need of redevelopment.
They were built through a cooperative effort by Allegheny County, Heidelberg and Action Housing, an agency that works with the county to make housing options available for people with household incomes at or below 80 percent of local median income.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating completion of the last two homes was attended by county and borough officials and by local residents, who toured the homes and listened to speakers who extolled the virtues of the joint housing program.
All four homes have been sold.
Dennis Davin, director of the county Department of Economic Development, said the program to build the new homes would not have come about without the cooperation of Heidelberg.
“These will help to revitalize the community,” Mr. Davin said.
The main commitment Heidelberg made to the project, he said, was a no-interest loan to Action Housing.
The agency then contracted with Jad Contracting Inc. of Findlay to build the homes. When the closings on all the properties are completed, Action Housing will pay back the borough’s loan. The houses were built on vacant lots that were not generating real-estate tax revenues.
The homes dedicated on Monday sold for $110,000 each. Each home features three bedrooms, one-and-a-half baths, a full basement, one-car garage, a fully equipped kitchen with energy saving appliances and an energy-efficient heating and air-conditioning system.
The homes also were built with double-pane windows and adequate insulation to meet energy conservation guidelines for new construction, Mr. Wiater said.
“It’s a nice program. It’s good to see young families able to afford to buy a home,” he said.
Mark and Beth Zyra are in the process of buying the house at 478 Grant Ave., while Brianne Kinney is purchasing the house next door. The houses sold quickly, said borough manager Joe Kauer. Both buyers were on the waiting list from the previous sale of the homes at 602 and 604 Grant Ave., Mr. Kauer said.
Heidelberg Mayor Kenneth LaSota touted the program as a way to rejuvenate the housing stock in Heidelberg, which this year marks its 108th year as a borough and has some houses that are even older than the borough.
He said Heidelberg does have one big advantage over development in newer communities, though.
“The infrastructure is already available,” he said.
The mayor added that by filling and reusing lots in older communities like Heidelberg, there is no need to consume farmland or to promote urban sprawl.
“Heidelberg is a developer’s dream,” he said.
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McKeesport Invests in Itself
Thursday, June 24, 2010The mayor calls it a renaissance. The school superintendent calls it a revitalization. Both agree that more than $80 million worth of construction and upgrades will make Mc-Keesport a more attractive city.
The school district is expected to break ground this summer on its $46.4 million plan to build two new elementary/intermediate schools and renovate a third. The first of three public hearings for that plan began yesterday.
“It’s going to revitalize the entire community,” said Michael Brinkos, superintendent of the McKeesport Area School District.
Mayor James Brewster said having new schools would help with retention.
“When most people go buy a home, they look at the school district first,” he said. “We want our schools to be attractive for someone who is considering a move to our city.”
With upwards of $40 million in infrastructure upgrades throughout Downtown Mc-Keesport, Mr. Brewster said he hoped more businesses would be attracted to the city. “I’m … trying to sell this city to businesses,” said Mr. Brewster, who worked as vice president of retail operations at Mellon Bank for 27 years before entering public service.
The city’s projects are funded mostly by state and federal dollars, according to city clerk Patricia Williams, and include:
• $1.1 million face-lift to West Fifth Avenue
• $1.3 million Streetscape Project
• $540,000 improvement to the walking trail
• $700,000 Marshall Drive Extension
• $33 million Mansfield Bridge renewal.
Improvements to the walking trail and the Marshall Drive Extension were completed in May, the W. Fifth Avenue and Streetscape efforts are under way, and work on the Mansfield Bridge will begin in 2011.
City Controller Ray Malinchak agrees “those things need attention. … We have to make the city more attractive.”
The work being done along West Fifth Avenue involves the removal of old streetcar tracks and resurfacing the Tenth Ward between Rebecca and John streets. Donegal Construction Corp. is assigned to the job.
The Streetscape project is designed to renew Fifth Avenue throughout the city’s business district and seeks to make the avenue a two-way street between the Palisades and Coursin Street. The street will be widened, the curb lines will be moved back, new asphalt will be poured, and a new sidewalk will be added as needed.
New lighting, benches, planters, signs, handicap ramps, catch basins and gas lines also are included in the work, which is being done by Power Contracting Co. of Carnegie. Traffic signals also are being added at Market and Walnut streets.
Finished last month, the Marshall Drive Extension adds a traffic signal and links Haler Heights to Route 48, providing a safer passage for Serra Catholic High School students and patrons of Tom Clark Chevrolet.
The work was done by 12th Congressional Regional Equipment Co. Inc., a Blairsville nonprofit created by the late U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Johnstown, who wanted to use excess military equipment for local government projects.
Upgrades to the walking trail include improved parking areas, signs, lane striping and the completion of a trail cul-de-sac at the point where the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers meet. The trail is part of the Great Allegheny Passage, a network of hiking and biking trails spanning 150 miles from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, Md.
The trail improvements could be McKeesport’s greatest draw, according to Hannah Hardy, vice president at Allegheny Trail Alliance, a partnership of seven trail organizations based throughout southwestern Pennsylvania and western Maryland.
“We’re seeing huge development in trail towns already and expect to see more,” she said.
Small businesses like ice cream shops and delis have been popping up as part of that growth, she said.
“We’re providing opportunities for businesses and making McKeesport a safer, more beautiful place to live,” Mr. Brewster said. “We see this as our renaissance.”
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Pennsylvania Rail Museum Gets Critical $5M
By Marie Wilson
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, June 4, 2010More than 40 pieces of Pennsylvania’s railroad history are deteriorating from sun, rain, snow and wind as they sit outside the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Lancaster County.
But $5 million from Gov. Ed Rendell’s office will help build an indoor facility to house the artifacts.
“That kind of money will certainly enable it to be upgraded and attract a much larger audience,” said Arthur Ziegler, president of Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. “That’s good for Pennsylvania particularly — not only because it’s a nostalgic interest in railroads and a historic interest in how they served the country, but railroads are on the way back.”
Design of a roundhouse — an indoor shelter for locomotives — will require about $500,000 of the money released Thursday, said Charles Fox, museum director. The remainder will go toward design and construction of an interpretive exhibit to better explain the commonwealth’s railroad history.
The focus of the exhibit’s redesign is not to acquire artifacts but, instead, to better connect the railroad industry’s past to the present, said Kirk Wilson, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
“It is important to the future of the railroad and to be able to tell an aspect of Pennsylvania history,” Wilson said.
The museum hired Gerard Hilferty and Associates, an Ohio-based museum design company, to redesign the internal exhibit, Wilson said. Hiring a design company is the next step in constructing the roundhouse.
“We don’t want it to be all about the machines,” Fox said. “It’s a way to tie it all together into a comprehensive story and to make it about people.”
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Pa. Historical Panel Raises Concerns About Mellon Arena
Thursday, June 17, 2010By Katie Falloon, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteThe Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission has expressed concerns about the speed of the planned demolition of the Mellon Arena, prompting a response today from the Sports & Exhibition Authority.
In the commission’s letter sent Wednesday, director Jean Cutler requested more information.
“We are sympathetic with the need to move quickly, however we also want to ensure that we have received all crucial information in a fashion that allows us to fully understand both the process and the project’s effects on historic resources,” Ms. Cutler said in the letter.
Following today’s SEA board meeting, Executive Director Mary Conturo said members think moving through the process quickly is best, Ms. Conturo said. Mellon Arena will be vacant come August, and the costs of maintaining the building will fall on SEA, she said.
Utilities and insurance for the arena will cost between $78,000 and $100,000 per month, depending on whether the intention is to keep the arena dark or there is an opportunity for reuse, said Christen Cieslak, principal at Chronicle Consulting.
“We think everything done to date is very thorough and very well done,” Ms. Conturo said.
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Pittsburgh City Council Approves Bill to Inventory War Monuments
Wednesday, June 16, 2010Pittsburgh Post-GazettePittsburgh’s public works, planning and parks and recreation departments must inventory war monuments in the city and develop a 10-year maintenance plan under legislation given final approval Tuesday by Pittsburgh City Council.
Council also passed bills creating a trust fund for war monument maintenance citywide and earmarking $20,000 from Council President Darlene Harris’ discretionary funds to repair a Troy Hill monument run over by a minivan in February.
Mrs. Harris, who sponsored the bills, said she saw a need to improve memorial care because little has been done so far to repair the Troy Hill landmark.
City officials have said the restoration of that monument has been delayed by legal and insurance issues involving the minivan driver. Under Mrs. Harris’ legislation, any money recouped from that case will be used to maintain other memorials on the North Side.
The trust fund will hold money the city budgets or receives to care for war monuments citywide. Under an amendment Mrs. Harris offered at the meeting, the fund also will hold money used to repair monuments to “citizen soldiers,” such as police and other public-safety servants.
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Community Groups Seek Input on City Spending
Wednesday, June 16, 2010By Joe Smydo, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteAbout two dozen Pittsburgh residents and community leaders showed up at the City-County Building this morning to demand more public input and other changes to the city’s capital budget process.
Many attended a press conference by Councilman Ricky Burgess, who has introduced bills to ensure that more city dollars are spent in poor neighborhoods and to ensure that community groups get a bigger say in which projects get funded.
Community groups are the “ground troops,” Mr. Burgess said. “They are in the best position to tell us what the needs are.”
Black Political Empowerment Project and North Side Coalition For Fair Housing said they supported Mr. Burgess’ legislation.
Ronell Guy, coalition executive director, said North Side neighborhoods aren’t getting their fair share of city and federal investment dollars, even as other neighborhoods thrive.
“There’s no way we can keep up with the limited resources that we have,” she said.
Councilwoman Natalia Rudiak also has introduced legislation to refine the capital planning process and give the public greater input.
Aggie Brose, deputy director of Bloomfield-Garfield Corp., said she’s pleased that two council members are “singing the same song.”
Both council members’ legislation will be discussed at council’s standing committee meeting today.
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Remarks by Louise Sturgess at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Public Forum
Monday, December 14, 2009
4:00 p.m.,
Carnegie Library Lecture Hall, OaklandTwo-minute remarks presented by Louise Sturgess, Executive Director
Pittsburgh History & Landmarks FoundationDuring the Great Depression, the hours of all Carnegie branch libraries were extended and no branch libraries were closed. That fact can inspire all of us in our efforts to keep the Carnegie branch libraries open and funded. That shows how important the branch libraries were then to Pittsburghers and to individual neighborhoods. And, their importance has not diminished over time. Pittsburgh’s branch libraries are essential educational and community centers, adding, in many cases, to main-street activity that community development groups and citizens are working hard to protect and promote.
Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation encourages the Carnegie Library Board and staff to see the historic branch library buildings as assets, rather than liabilities, and to re-focus and concentrate resources on keeping the existing buildings open and bringing them into compliance with accessibility codes and modern HVAC standards. We are not in favor of using funds to construct new library facilities, or move existing branches into alternate spaces, or commission studies from groups removed from the communities.
Just as the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum used a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to fund a nationwide design competition showing how 2 historic buildings could be combined with new construction to create an award-winning 21st-century museum, the Carnegie Libraries of Pittsburgh could apply for an NEA grant so design professionals could prepare a comprehensive plan for renovating the historic branch libraries.
Such a design process would be of interest to communities nationwide since Carnegie Libraries elsewhere are being closed due to renovation needs and lack of funds. Just as Pittsburgh led the nation in designing a branch library system between 1898 and 1903, why not lead the nation in renovating the architecturally significant buildings that continue to serve their neighborhoods today?
Remember too that Pittsburgh has been designated a Preserve America Community. The City can apply for federal funds for projects that:- “protect and celebrate . . . heritage;
- use . . . historic assets for . . . community revitalization; and
- encourage people to experience and appreciate local historic resources through education . . .”
- According to the guidelines, successful applicants “. . . serve as models to communities nationwide. . .”
As an organization, Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation has written about the significance of the Carnegie branch libraries, successfully nominated them as City Historic Structures, held educational programs inside them, and showed them off during Main Street Walking Tours. We have been consistently working with the Library staff and board to ensure that what has been given to Pittsburgh and its citizens is cared for responsibly.
We are in favor of keeping the libraries open, and keeping them where they are. We would support the efforts of the Library and City to raise funds for needed improvements and renovations so Pittsburgh’s branch library system can serve, once again, as a model for the nation.
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Act Now to Take Advantage of and to Preserve the Enhanced Federal Tax Incentive for Easements
Any individual who donates a preservation easement to a qualified charity, such as Landmarks, is allowed to deduct the value of the easement as a charitable contribution, provided the donation meets certain requirements specified in the Tax Code. Congress recently increased the incentives for donating conservation easements by raising the deduction limit for charitable donations of conservation easements to 50% of an individual’s adjusted gross income, 100% in the case of certain donations with respect to farmland, and extending the carry-forward period for donations that exceed that limit to 15 years. These enhanced deduction limits are set to expire on December 31, 2009. After that date, unless Congress acts, donations of conservation easements will be deductible only to the extent of 30% of adjusted gross income and the carry-forward period for excess donations will be reduced to 5 years.Landmarks accepts donations of preservation easements on historic buildings and farms. To date, Landmarks has received more than twenty preservation easements, protecting a wide range of historic properties including major downtown commercial buildings, unique residential structures, and approximately 1,600 acres of farmland.If you are interested in donating a preservation easement on your historic home, you need to act by December 31, 2009 in order to take advantage of the increased deduction limit.If you think Congress should encourage historic preservation by making the increased deduction limit permanent, you are not alone. Bipartisan legislation has been introduced in Congress to make the enhanced incentives permanent through the Conservation Easement Incentive Act, H.R. 1831, and the Rural Heritage Conservation Act, S. 812. To learn more about the enhanced tax incentives for conservation easements and how you can help make them permanent, please visit The Land Trust Alliance’s website at www.lta.org.Any individual who donates a preservation easement to a qualified charity, such as Landmarks, is allowed to deduct the value of the easement as a charitable contribution, provided the donation meets certain requirements specified in the Tax Code.
Congress recently increased the incentives for donating conservation easements by raising the deduction limit for charitable donations of conservation easements to 50% of an individual’s adjusted gross income, 100% in the case of certain donations with respect to farmland, and extending the carry-forward period for donations that exceed that limit to 15 years.
These enhanced deduction limits are set to expire on December 31, 2009. After that date, unless Congress acts, donations of conservation easements will be deductible only to the extent of 30% of adjusted gross income and the carry-forward period for excess donations will be reduced to 5 years.
Landmarks accepts donations of preservation easements on historic buildings and farms. To date, Landmarks has received more than twenty preservation easements, protecting a wide range of historic properties including major downtown commercial buildings, unique residential structures, and approximately 1,600 acres of farmland.
If you are interested in donating a preservation easement on your historic home, you need to act by December 31, 2009 in order to take advantage of the increased deduction limit.
If you think Congress should encourage historic preservation by making the increased deduction limit permanent, you are not alone. Bipartisan legislation has been introduced in Congress to make the enhanced incentives permanent through the Conservation Easement Incentive Act, H.R. 1831, and the Rural Heritage Conservation Act, S. 812.
To learn more about the enhanced tax incentives for conservation easements and how you can help make them permanent, please visit The Land Trust Alliance’s website at www.lta.org.