Category Archive: News Wire Services
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Plan OK’d to Raze UPMC Braddock
CCAC campus and medical clinic planned for siteThursday, September 16, 2010By Deborah M. Todd, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteDuring an emotional meeting, at which the death of Councilwoman Millie Devich was marked with a moment of silence and a bouquet of flowers behind her nameplate in council chambers, motions designed to address Braddock’s financial future added to the fervor.
Borough council voted, 4-0, to approve a memorandum of understanding among the borough, UPMC and the Allegheny County Redevelopment Authority regarding a plan to demolish UPMC Braddock and replace it with a multiuse facility.
Councilman Milan Devich was not in attendance.
The memo calls for UPMC to pay for the hospital’s demolition, estimated at about $5 million, to make way for the potential construction of a building that would feature a Community College of Allegheny County campus as well as a medical clinic.
Most of the land currently being used for parking would be used for new housing, but the Braddock Avenue lot where the former Sky Bank sat would be turned over to the borough once the Redevelopment Authority acquires the title.
The borough also would receive $90,000 per year for the next five years from UPMC as part of the deal.
UPMC would contribute $3 million toward the proposed $29 million development, but that sum is contingent upon the county receiving $3 million from the state to match the effort.
Solicitor M. Lawrence Shields said the state had already earmarked the funds for the borough.
Mr. Shields said the memo should be considered in conjunction with a recent agreement settling a federal civil rights claim filed against UPMC by council President Jesse Brown.
The U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights reached an agreement with UPMC to provide door-to-door transportation for Braddock residents to an outpatient site in Forest Hills and to UPMC McKeesport.
It also requires UPMC to provide six health screenings per year in the community; to have a patient liaison assist residents having difficulties accessing care; to assist health ministries in local churches; and to place strong emphasis on preventative care with its “Steps to a Healthy Community” program.
The agreement is in effect for three years.
“This is a package deal, so to speak, where both of these agreements interrelate,” said Mr. Shields. “Hopefully, through both of these agreements, we believe we’ve obtained the most we could possibly obtain under the circumstances.
“Believe me when I tell you we tried very, very hard to obtain as much as we possibly could for the citizens of Braddock.”
Mr. Brown said HHS representatives would discuss terms of the civil rights settlement at a meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Blazing Bingo Hall on Talbot Avenue.
Choking up during some points of his speech, Mr. Brown encouraged religious leaders, residents and public officials to come to hear exactly how much Braddock had gained thanks to efforts by local officials, and how much it stood to lose without those efforts.
“UPMC wouldn’t give us nothing,” Mr. Brown said. “They would have walked away and would have given Braddock nothing. But we do have some services that are a part of this agreement. We’re going to have an urgent care center, which we didn’t have before, that will be beneficial to the residents of this community.”
In the aftermath of the suspension of borough manager Ella Jones, council approved a number of measures designed to detect and prevent fraud.
Ms. Jones, 58, of Turtle Creek is accused of embezzling more than $170,000 from the borough since 2008.
From now on, all paper checks issued can come from only the borough’s general fund and payroll accounts. If funds from the remaining deposit-only accounts are needed in the event of an emergency, the money would have to be transferred to the general fund to write the check.
All emergencies must be explained to council in writing. Council also started a policy of reviewing a list of bills before approving payment each month.
Interim borough manager Paul Leger was authorized to sign off on borough checks, along with Mr. Brown and Vice President Matthew Thomas.
Mr. Leger also was appointed to the Southeast Allegheny Tax Collection Committee for Earned Income Tax Collection. Councilwoman Tina Doose was appointed to the finance committee.
Mr. Leger said the moves were an attempt to bring the borough in line with earlier suggestions made regarding the borough’s financial controls.
“This stuff is boring, but necessary to bring us in compliance with our audit recommendations,” he said.
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‘Improve the Vue’ Needs a Helping Hand in Bellevue
Thursday, September 16, 2010By Jonathan BarnesBellevue residents and merchants have raised the visibility of the borough’s business district in recent months, gaining county and borough backing of a plan to redevelop the main street area. The plan has been led by the Bellevue Initiative for Growth development group, or B.I.G.
The Initiative helped the borough to get $150,000 last year through Allegheny Together to pay consultants to aid a redevelopment plan that will focus on revitalizing the borough’s Lincoln Avenue business district.
That plan will take months to devise and implement, but in the meantime, members of the Helping Hands committee of the Initiative want to make physical improvements throughout the borough, and they’re looking for hands to help.
The committee will be host to Improve The Vue, a communitywide volunteer effort Oct. 9 that will tackle several projects intended to spruce up the borough. The daylong event is being sponsored by West Penn Allegheny Health System.
Chuck Gohn, head pastor of Bellevue Christian Church and a member of the Helping Hands committee, is leading the program. He hopes to involve 500 volunteers in the effort.
Rev. Gohn also is looking for more business sponsors. The day will begin at 7 a.m. in Bayne Park and will involve work on projects at a local food bank, on a trail in Bellevue Memorial Park, in painting curbs and the exteriors of businesses whose owners want a fresh coat of paint on Lincoln Avenue, in fixing the gazebo at Bayne Park and in other tasks.
It is hoped Improve The Vue will become a recurring event, Rev. Gohn said. It also is meant to bring together a pool of volunteers from which to recruit for other volunteer-based community projects, the pastor said.
In coordination with the event, Pittsburgh Trails volunteers will work with Bellevue volunteers on the trail in Bellevue Memorial Park.
“They are breaking ground that day. We will focus a lot of our volunteers there,” Rev. Gohn said.
Volunteers are encouraged to register through the Improve The Vue website, but late arrivals can register the day of the event, starting at 7 a.m. at the registration table in Bayne Park. Part of the thinking behind the day is to show the power of volunteerism, Rev. Gohn said. “We’re trying to increase the livability of Bellevue,” he said.
Longtime Bellevue resident Paul Cusick, current borough treasurer, isn’t a member of the Initiative but regularly attends its meetings. He’s optimistic about Improve The Vue, which is being publicized through fliers, a banner in the business district, and word of mouth.
Those interested in joining can get more information or register at www.improvethevue.org.
“Improve The Vue is putting a lot of good elements of Bellevue out front. Everyone benefits from this,” Mr. Cusick said.
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Blaze Destroys Landmark Building in Edgeworth
Thursday, September 16, 2010By Moriah Balingit, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteIt took just a handful of minutes for a fast-moving blaze to destroy nearly a century and a half of history as it tore through a Edgeworth home Wednesday afternoon
Owners Roger Wiegand and his wife Kay and three or four others were at the house, located at 420 Oliver Road, when smoke detectors went off, alerting local firefighters at 4:18 p.m. Everyone made it out safely, but by the time firefighters and police arrived on scene, the fire had already spread to all floors.
“When I went in … it was full of smoke,” said Patrolman Paul Yonlisky, of the Edgeworth Police Department, who said he was the first on scene. He quickly turned back.
By the time Chief Tim Scott, of the Edgeworth Volunteer Fire Department, arrived on scene, about four minutes after the initial call, he could see fire and smoke on both floors, and flames were licking the eaves of the home.
“It was already into the attic space,” he said.
It took more than three hours and 40 to 50 firefighters from six area companies to extinguish the fire. Chief Scott expected to have firefighters there late into the night to ensure that there were no hot spots.
The fast-moving blaze was likely stoked by the house’s old wooden frame, he said.
The facade of the home that faced Oliver Road, a stately colonial brick structure painted white, remained mostly intact Wednesday evening, as firefighters continued to search for hot spots in the five-bedroom, 7,600 square foot home. But the home’s steep slate roof had caved in and remained intact in only one corner of the house, said Chief Scott. The interior of the home had been gutted in parts, and a stairwell had collapsed.
Still, firefighters who filed in and out of the home carted out artwork, some fronted by shattered glass, delivering it to family members standing nearby. A large flat-screen television also survived the fire.
And Chief Scott said he believes the home can be rebuilt.
Paula Doebler, a close friend of Mrs. Wiegand’s who lives in nearby Sewickley, rushed to the scene when she heard on the news that the house was on fire. She said that Mrs. Wiegand is an interior decorator, and the house, which features a roof porch supported by iconic columns, was among her crown jewels.
Mrs. Wiegand had just remodeled the kitchen and the home’s style was “slowly but surely changing over to contemporary.”
“The home was just beautiful,” she said.
Chief Scott said Mrs. Wiegand was “very upset.”
The family declined comment at the scene.
Built in the mid-1800’s, the mansion was once home to the Edgeworth Female Seminary, a school for girls. It was named for Irish novelist Mary Edgeworth and drew students from New England and the South.
Later, the home become the property of the Edgeworth Social Club. When the borough was founded in 1904, it took the name Edgeworth, according to the borough’s website.
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Money Tagged for I-579 Project Could Be Used at New Arena
By Jeremy Boren
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, September 13, 2010Federal money intended to plug an unsightly concrete gap next to Interstate 579 might be used at Consol Energy Center instead.
At the request of the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh, Sen. Bob Casey proposed redirecting the $974,000 earmark to pay for most of a walkway that would hug the exterior of the Penguins’ new home and connect its Fifth Avenue and Centre Avenue entrances.
People working on a master plan for the Lower Hill District and trying to preserve the Civic Arena question whether a Consol walkway is the best use of federal money in a neighborhood struggling with crime and poverty.
“If we’re going to move it around anyway, we need it for public safety on Centre Avenue,” said Carl Redwood, founder of the Hill District Consensus Group. “That takes priority.”
Redwood supports the concept of the $1.5 million walkway at Consol but said his group lobbied city police to address concerns about drug deals occurring near the Zone 2 station on Centre, not far from the arena.
Casey, D-Pa., declined to say whether he believes there’s a better use for the money, but he’s aware no consensus exists.
“If there are better ways to target the dollars, we try to be responsive to that. It doesn’t always work,” the senator said. “What I try not to do is to be an urban planner or a local government official. That really has to be a decision made here in Pittsburgh.”
The Consol walkway, dubbed “Curtain Call” by California artist Walter J. Hood, would feature 15-foot-tall stainless-steel curtains, a lighted path and photos of Hill District life embedded in the steel sheets.
URA Executive Director Rob Stephany said an “engineer’s sketch” of the I-579 “cap” project between the Hill District and Downtown would cost an estimated $15 million.
The original application for federal money from Casey’s office touts the cap as “a new urban green space that finally reconnects the Lower Hill District to downtown.”
After learning from the Sports & Exhibition Authority, which owns the new $321 million arena, that it lacked enough money to pay for Curtain Call, URA officials requested the money from Casey, Stephany said.
Rob Pfaffmann, a Downtown architect and frequent critic of the hockey team’s desire to demolish the Civic Arena and develop its 28-acre site, supports Curtain Call. Pfaffmann formed the grass-roots group Reuse the Igloo.
He believes the connection between Fifth and Centre is crucial because walking outside from one side of Consol to the other is difficult.
“Frankly, the Penguins should have paid for it,” Pfaffmann said.
In 2007, the Penguins agreed to contribute $4.1 million a year for 30 years to pay for part of the arena. Pittsburgh’s Rivers Casino pays $7.5 million a year from gambling revenue, and the state funding fueled by casino taxes chips in another $7.5 million a year.
The city Planning Commission required the walkway at the arena, Stephany said, noting the team never wanted anything so elaborate.
“We kind of fell in love with that notion of a public art project and pedestrian way,” he said.
The walkway would be open to everyone, not just hockey fans, he said.
“Will it make for a great experience for people at a game? Yes. Will it make for a great connector for a student on his way to a grocery store? Yes.”
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Between a Ramp and a Hard Place
Friday, September 10, 2010 11:33 AMWritten by Diana Nelson Jones
To some people, the historic standards that prohibit vinyl windows and metal awnings are dictatorial. To others, those standards safeguard authenticity and dumbing down is not an option.
When it’s your own budget, a little gray can seep into the argument.
Even someone who appreciates the high standards that are supposed to be followed in an historic district can sympathize with a building owner who needs to replace five 10-foot-tall windows in a group of Victorian row houses. Ouch.
Calvary United Methodist Church
But when you buy in an historic district you’re investing in more than a building.
The people of Calvary United Methodist Church in Allegheny West have been diligent in following the historic course. Their partner, the Allegheny Historic Preservation Society, helped them raise the more than $2 million needed for interior and exterior repairs in the late 1990s. That included removing some of the world’s largest Tiffany windows for cleaning and releading.
Visit their web site at www.calvarypgh.com.
They have raised about $180,000 for the next “must-do” project — making their fellowship hall in the basement accessible to the increasing numbers of people who use the church. They are anticipating six bids for a job that calls for an elevator, a new door carved into the side off the parking lot and a 30-foot ramp with an historically acceptable railing and ramp foundation. Which means limestone.
Based on the first bids to come in, Rev. Larry Homitsky tells me, the church is short somewhere between $75,000 and $120,000. The Historic Review Commission offered some flexibility on the railing but insisted on the limestone. Rev. Homitsky and the church’s architect will reappear before the HRC next month, maybe with hat in hand.
He said the church has had “tremendous support” over the years in grants and other gifts. Many people see Calvary as more than a church, in part because it is on the National Register of Historic Places and also because thousands of people a week, mostly from the community but not necessarily in the congregation, use it to practice yoga, square dance, learn art and confirm the day-at-a-time struggle against addiction. The Allegheny West Civic Council meets there the second Tuesday of every month. A lot of brides who want a beautiful church for their wedding pick Calvary instead of the one they go to. More than 1,000 Christmas house tourists converge on the church as a point of interest.
The time, effort and money spent in being an historic property is important, said Rev. Homitsky. That, set alongside the “ministry value” of functioning for people is the challenge.
If you want to help Calvary make their basement accessible and do it at historic standards, they will take donations. Specify on your check that it is meant for the ramp and elevator project and mail it to the church at 971 Beech Ave., Pittsburgh 15233.
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Between a Ramp and a Hard Place
Friday, September 10, 2010 11:33 AMWritten by Diana Nelson Jones
To some people, the historic standards that prohibit vinyl windows and metal awnings are dictatorial. To others, those standards safeguard authenticity and dumbing down is not an option.
When it’s your own budget, a little gray can seep into the argument.
Even someone who appreciates the high standards that are supposed to be followed in an historic district can sympathize with a building owner who needs to replace five 10-foot-tall windows in a group of Victorian row houses. Ouch.
Calvary United Methodist Church
But when you buy in an historic district you’re investing in more than a building.
The people of Calvary United Methodist Church in Allegheny West have been diligent in following the historic course. Their partner, the Allegheny Historic Preservation Society, helped them raise the more than $2 million needed for interior and exterior repairs in the late 1990s. That included removing some of the world’s largest Tiffany windows for cleaning and releading.
Visit their web site at www.calvarypgh.com.
They have raised about $180,000 for the next “must-do” project — making their fellowship hall in the basement accessible to the increasing numbers of people who use the church. They are anticipating six bids for a job that calls for an elevator, a new door carved into the side off the parking lot and a 30-foot ramp with an historically acceptable railing and ramp foundation. Which means limestone.
Based on the first bids to come in, Rev. Larry Homitsky tells me, the church is short somewhere between $75,000 and $120,000. The Historic Review Commission offered some flexibility on the railing but insisted on the limestone. Rev. Homitsky and the church’s architect will reappear before the HRC next month, maybe with hat in hand.
He said the church has had “tremendous support” over the years in grants and other gifts. Many people see Calvary as more than a church, in part because it is on the National Register of Historic Places and also because thousands of people a week, mostly from the community but not necessarily in the congregation, use it to practice yoga, square dance, learn art and confirm the day-at-a-time struggle against addiction. The Allegheny West Civic Council meets there the second Tuesday of every month. A lot of brides who want a beautiful church for their wedding pick Calvary instead of the one they go to. More than 1,000 Christmas house tourists converge on the church as a point of interest.
The time, effort and money spent in being an historic property is important, said Rev. Homitsky. That, set alongside the “ministry value” of functioning for people is the challenge.
If you want to help Calvary make their basement accessible and do it at historic standards, they will take donations. Specify on your check that it is meant for the ramp and elevator project and mail it to the church at 971 Beech Ave., Pittsburgh 15233.
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Poke Run Presbyterian Church Divided Over Historic Building
By Chuck Biedka, VALLEY NEWS DISPATCH
Friday, September 10, 2010
Last updated: 7:11 am
From left, Emma and Jim Dunmire, of Washington Township; Jack and Eleanor Zerbini, of Salem Township; Maynard Miller, of Kiski Township; and Kathy Moneymaker, of Washington Township, all gather together in front of the Academy Building located beside the Poke Run Church located in Washington Township on Thursday. Erica Hilliard/Valley News Dispatch
Nine members of Poke Run Presbyterian Church are asking Westmoreland County Court to side with history and preserve the church’s academy building and its contents.
The four couples and one individual filed a lawsuit Thursday to stop their congregation from demolishing the academy building and prevent the sale of antiques or other items inside.
Trustees insist that the congregation followed all congregational and Redstone Presbytery rules when it voted, 61-49, in June to demolish the wooden academy building, said trustee Vice President Walt Lange yesterday.
Trustee President Vince Goodiski said the congregation, organized in 1785, attracts 150 people to its two Sunday services. The church is located along Poke Run Church Road in Washington Township, across Route 66 from the intersection with Route 366.
Poke Run Presbyterian Church in Washington Township
Goodiski, a member since the 1980s, said the members voted to use the space to add an elevator and ground-floor access to the fellowship hall in the basement of the church.
The academy building has “no amenities, a crumbling foundation, musty smell,” and its metal roof recently sustained wind damage, he said.
Goodiski also said an older $10,000 ramp leading to the front of the church is inadequate and, at the back of the church, a $7,000 chair lift needs to be replaced to accommodate wheelchairs.
“It’s not feasible to fix the lift, and people who use the ramp and come into the church late are immediately seen by everyone else,” he said.
The nine members believe the handicap access is sufficient, and they want to have the building that opened in 1889 classified as a historic structure, member Maynard Miller said.
Both sides in the dispute retain deep emotional attachment to the church, even if they disagree about the fate of the academy building. Many have attended the church for decades.
Miller, whose name appears first on the lawsuit, said the academy served as the township’s first high school, starting in about 1919 and lasting about 10 years.
Miller said his wife, Martha, was baptized in the church, and she married him there in 1946.
James W. Dunmire is among those who are asking for an injunction.
“This is historic. We don’t want the building destroyed,” Dunmire said.
Goodski said the congregation has dealt with the issue for “at least five or six years” and this is “not something that came up as a last minute thing as they are trying to say.”
Goodski said they have offered the building to the nine “and anyone else to move it.”
One solution may be to “put the building on a slab” and move it elsewhere on the church property, he said, although that could be tricky because of the condition of the academy and its maintenance budget.
Goodiski could not say how much the church has spent on the building.
The church land includes the academy and church as well as an education building.
Goodiski and Lange believe the education building can be enlarged to handle community meetings, including those for the Kiski Valley Habitat for Humanity and Beaver Run Community 4-H Club.
He said the congregation wants to remove the building “so that we can better reach out into the community.”
The complaint includes a request for an injunction but a hearing on that hasn’t been scheduled.
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Hiding in Plain Sight: A House as Old as Larryville
The house on the southwest corner of 38th St. and Charlotte Street in Lawrenceville is up for sale. It was bult a decade after Lawrenceville became a town in 1814.
We know this because house historian Carol Peterson, a denizen of Larryville, researched the records. The house you see now — ruddy-colored clapboards, patched in part with old tin advertisements — encloses the original log home that was built in the 1820s. The “new” part is from the 1870s. That’s Michael Connors in front of it. Michael has been part of the Lawrenceville Historical Sociaty’s efforts over the years to get it, and to have it renovated.
Read Michael’s “Next Page” in the Post-Gazette on Sept. 12 for a story about one of the buildings past inhibitants, a teenager who packed munitions and died in the deadly arsenal explosion of 1882. And, by the way, thanks to Matt Smith, who was walking along with a smart phone and agreed to take the photo you see. (So, OK, the sun was in the wrong place.)
For some time, heavy hitters including the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, Sen. Jim Ferlo and other public officials, were at least cheering on the historical society’s effort, Michael tells me.
Arthur Ziegler, president of Landmarks, said the interest and needed money could not be reconciled. “We don’t have many log houses left and we would like to save them,” he said, “but this had been so changed over the years, to put it back the way it was would have meant cutting new logs.”
The historical society “knew it was way beyond our ability” to afford and renovate, Michael said.
It is owned by a limited partnership. Historical Society members toured it a few years ago when the owners wanted $39,000. We’re trying to find out the asking price from the Realtor.
This building was part of the original town of Lawrenceville that composer Stephen Foster’s father subdivided. In 1841, Lawrenceville town was carved out of Pitt Township roughly from 38th to 41st Streets and from Woolslayer to the Allegheny River, Carol said. Lawrenceville was incorporated as a borough in 1834.
“Just think that someone in this house could have walked up the street to see the Marquis de Lafayette when he visited Pittsburgh” in 1825, Michael said. In case history isn’t your subject, Lafayette was a hero of both the French and American revolutions and knew George Washington.
He was our first president.
Michael said his dream is that UPMC, whose Children’s Hospital presence is “the biggest and newest” in the neighborhood, offers the needed largesse “for the smallest and oldest” and help Lawrenceville showcase one of its original structures, which could be an attraction for visitors to the hospital.
Walkabout is putting it out there, like a butterfly wish that might merge with the fluttering fancy of the right person…or institution.