Category Archive: News Wire Services
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Forbes Field remnants restored
By Tony LaRussa
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, May 6, 2006Pirates fans and historic preservationists with a fondness for Forbes Field are making sure what remains of the old ballpark will look its best when thousands of people stream into the city for the Major League All-Star Game in July.
Work has begun to restore the remnants of the red-brick wall along Roberto Clemente Drive in Oakland in preparation for a ceremony to unveil a marker from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
The marker ceremony is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. July 7, including live music, “ballpark” style refreshments and a “throwback” youth baseball game at nearby Mazeroski Field featuring players wearing historic jerseys from the Pittsburgh Pirates and Crawfords, and the Homestead Grays.
The All-Star game will be played July 11 at PNC Park on the North Side.
“We’re hoping that the celebration on July 7 will help focus attention — and draw community and financial support — for showcasing the wall, which is an important part of Pittsburgh’s history,” said state Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park. Ferlo has been spearheading efforts to turn the area around the wall into a “walk of fame” with plaques, benches, decorative historic lighting and possibly an interactive kiosk to inform and entertain visitors.
The city of Pittsburgh, which has owned the wall since 1971, awarded a $25,615 contract to Franco Construction to repoint the brick, replace missing terra cotta caps, resurface the concrete pilasters that divide sections of the wall and refurbish and paint the flag pole.
Organizers also are considering installing a clay gravel warning track at the base of the wall to prevent mud from splashing up on the brick and make it easier for visitors to get closer to the wall.
Most of the restoration cost is covered by a state Department of Community and Economic Development grant Ferlo helped obtain on behalf of the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation.
Last June, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission placed a marker near the wall dedicated to Barney Dreyfuss, the Pirates owner who built Forbes Field in 1909. Dreyfuss also is credited with “inventing” the World Series in 1903, when the Boston Pilgrims, champions of the newly formed American League, accepted a challenge to meet his National League champion Pirates in a postseason tournament.
The Pirates lost.
A marker also is imbedded in the spot where Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski’s bottom of the ninth home run sailed over the wall at 3:36 p.m. Oct. 13, 1960, to defeat the Yankees in Game 7 of the World Series.
Since 1985, members of the Society for American Baseball Research have gathered each Oct. 13 to celebrate Mazeroski’s legendary home run.
The home plate from the last game played at Forbes Field June 28, 1970, is preserved under Lucite in nearby Posvar Hall on the University of Pittsburgh campus.
Tony LaRussa can be reached at tlarussa@tribweb.com .
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review © Pittsburgh Tribune Review
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Eminent domain clarified
By staff and wire reports
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
Friday, May 5, 2006Gov. Ed Rendell signed into law a measure that generally protects property owners against the loss of their land for private development, unless it is declared a danger to public health and safety. The law allows Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Norristown, Delaware County and some other areas to seize land that already is designated as blighted until 2012 for development projects. Since a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Kelo vs. City of New London case, saying local governments have the right to seize property for private development, 18 states, including Pennsylvania, have enacted eminent domain reform laws.
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Restoration completed on Great Hall at Hartwood
By Jerome L. Sherman,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Thursday, May 04, 2006Last summer, several tons of molded plaster fell from the ceiling of the Great Hall at Hartwood mansion and crushed dozens of valuable antiques. The debris-filled room, a centerpiece of Allegheny County’s Hartwood Acres Park, resembled the aftermath of a powerful earthquake.
The bizarre incident pushed county Chief Executive Dan Onorato to start devising a wide-ranging plan for funding capital projects in the county’s 12,000 acres of public green space.
Yesterday, he said, was a first step in that process, as he and other officials unveiled an almost fully restored Great Hall, with an exact replica of the room’s Renaissance-style ceiling now in place. The restoration, including repairs of antiques, cost about $260,000 and involved a team of skilled craftsmen.
“This is really the beginning of a lot of park investment that we’re going to be rolling out soon,” Mr. Onorato said.
The chief executive gave few details, but all nine county parks — North, South, Settler’s Cabin, Deer Lakes, Round Hill, Boyce, White Oak, Harrison Hills and Hartwood — are likely to benefit.
Mr. Onorato hopes to use some money from Growing Greener II, a program that will provide $625 million in state funds over the next six years for environmental cleanup and conservation projects throughout Pennsylvania.
A top priority in Allegheny County, Mr. Onorato said, is to find funding for a $7.7 million dredging project in North Park Lake. The federal government had promised to cover the bulk of the cost, but, so far, it hasn’t followed through on that promise.
Mr. Onorato said he has been working with state officials to find the money. He thinks the county will be able to start the project, which would remove 400,000 cubic yards of sediment from the lake, by the end of the year.
The chief executive also said he would soon unveil a plan for raising money from private foundations, corporate entities and individual donors.
The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy already taps similar funding sources for the city’s public park system.
A sizeable chunk of the cost for restoration work at Hartwood mansion came from insurance money, county officials said.
The ceiling collapsed on the afternoon of Aug. 11, just 20 minutes after a tour group had passed through the room. Initially, parks officials estimated the ceiling’s total weight to be about 2 tons. But Dan McClelland, of McClelland Plastering, said as many as 6 tons of plaster fell to the floor.
It took him and his employees more than five months to recreate the ceiling at a workshop in Washington Township, Westmoreland County, and affix it to the 20-foot-by-40-foot hole in the mansion’s main hall.
They used pieces of the original ceiling to match molds of elaborate nature patterns. In total, Mr. McClelland’s company created about 700 molds.
The new ceiling is more secure, he said, because it weighs much less than the original and is anchored to the second floor with materials that weren’t available when the mansion was constructed almost 80 years ago.
More than a dozen other contractors helped restore some of the room’s antiques, including a Steinway grand piano from 1901 and an Aeolian pipe organ.
A textile conservator in Ohio is repairing two rare Georgian folding walnut game tables and a 17th-century Flemish tapestry, items worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The 31-room Hartwood mansion, built in the Tudor style of Elizabethan England, was the home of John and Mary Lawrence, who sold it and 400 acres of property in Hampton and Indiana Township to Allegheny County in 1969 for a little more than $1 million.
On Saturday, the Hartwood mansion will be open to the public, at no charge, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Some craftsmen will be available to discuss the repairs.
(Jerome L. Sherman can be reached at jsherman@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1183. )
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. © Pittsburgh Post Gazette
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Developer pitches plan to return Market Square to its roots as a marketplace
By Mark Belko,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Thursday, May 04, 2006A local developer is reaching into Pittsburgh’s past as part of his bid to bolster the future of the Fifth and Forbes retail corridor Downtown.
In a meeting with Mayor Bob O’Connor yesterday, Ralph Falbo pitched the idea of returning Market Square to its roots as a marketplace as part of an elaborate plan to transform the downtrodden Fifth and Forbes corridor.
The “Market at Murphy’s,” an independent marketplace featuring “many of Pittsburgh’s finest purveyors of food,” would be one component of a broader plan that features construction of a 280-unit residential high-rise on the south side of Forbes Avenue, conversion of the upper floors of the G.C. Murphy’s store into 36 apartments and creation of a destination-type outlet for diamond wholesalers and retailers.
“We see a revitalized neighborhood in the city, young and energetic in character with careful consideration to the historic buildings in the area,” Mr. Falbo said in a statement after meeting with the mayor.
“The plan, in addition to vision and concept, is one of action — we need to draw the right uses and users into the area as quickly as possible to spark the greater revitalization of the area.”
The proposal uses nearly 20 city-owned buildings in the corridor, including Murphy’s and the old National Record Mart, one of the structures likely to be cleared to make way for the high-rise. The developer did not say whether he would seek exclusive rights to develop the parcels.
Mr. Falbo is one of at least three developers interested in the corridor. Two weeks ago, Millcraft Industries Inc. of Washington County presented a $217 million plan to revive the district. It also was heavy on the residential side, with 805 units proposed, plus 200,000 square feet of retail and 45,000 square feet of office space.
Washington, D.C.-based developer Madison Marquette has pitched a $50 million to $60 million plan to the city, featuring a mix of residential and retail on lower Fifth Avenue. It wanted to court trendy retailers like Crate & Barrel. However, Mr. O’Connor balked at the $24 million in proposed public subsidies involved. He said yesterday he’s waiting to see if Madison Marquette intends to make another bid for the work.
Like Mr. Falbo’s, the Millcraft and Madison Marquette plans use the Murphy’s building and other city Urban Redevelopment Authority parcels in the corridor as the building blocks for the development.
Mr. O’Connor said Mr. Falbo’s plan totaled about $90 million in all. He described it “very interesting” and said Mr. Falbo was not seeking public subsidies.
“There’s a lot of good points there,” he said.
Mr. Falbo, developer of the 151 First Side condominium tower under construction on Fort Pitt Boulevard, could not be reached for comment after the meeting.
The overall plan includes:
*The Market at Murphy’s, an independent marketplace operated by Mr. Falbo and his partners and featuring Pittsburgh’s “finest purveyors of food.” There was no additional detail. Mr. Falbo said in the release that he and his partners also envision bringing Strip District food merchants to the marketplace to operate kiosks. He said similar ventures have been successful in Seattle, Columbus, Ohio, and Portland, Ore.
The Market at Murphy’s is something of a throwback. Starting as early as 1815, Market Square featured a market house. For years, the massive Diamond Market, built in 1914, was a fixture in the square. It was demolished in 1961. Another venture, Market on the Square, a meat and food market attached to Murphy’s, closed in 1994.
*The Market House, a 36-unit apartment complex using the upper floors of the Murphy’s building. The development would feature balconies along Forbes Avenue, underground parking, and a central courtyard.
*Diamond Tower, a new 280-unit high-rise on Forbes Avenue. It would offer 200 rental units and 80 condos, along with first- and second-floor retail.
*Diamond Market, designed “to restore the grandeur of Pittsburgh’s Diamond District” by creating a destination spot for retailers and wholesalers to sell their gems.
If he gets the go-ahead from the mayor, Mr. Falbo said he could start construction of the market, apartment complex and high-rise by the end of the year. He is teaming with EQA Landmark Communities and architectural and engineering firm Burt Hill.
Mr. O’Connor said he will work with the URA and others in coming weeks to determine which of the proposals is “most doable.”
“You still have to look at the financial situation, who has the capability of delivering, and how soon,” he said.
He said he hopes to have a developer selected in two to three weeks. He added he also is open to giving each developer pieces of the corridor to work on rather than having one do the entire project.
(Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262. )
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. © Pittsburgh Post Gazette
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Can Strip District’s historic produce terminal start fresh?
By Amy McConnell Schaarsmith,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Thursday, May 04, 2006Poke your head into one of the open bays in the Strip District’s Pennsylvania Railroad Fruit Auction Building sometime during your lunch hour. You’re likely to feel as if you’ve stepped back into the days when the produce terminal, all five city blocks of it, was still the heart of the city’s shipping center.
Last week, dusty sunlight streamed down, cathedral-like, from the building’s high windows onto bag after 50-pound bag of sweet onions, their earthy scent rising and mingling with the odor of damp cement and the diesel smell of tractor-trailers. Wooden pallets lay stacked along the wall next to boxes of lettuce, broccoli, limes, strawberries, beans and cantaloupes.
The floor was calm in the daylight; all the action, all the loading and haggling and money-making, happened hours ago, between midnight and 7 a.m., much as it always has.
What has changed, dramatically changed, is the scale of activity at the terminal. Where 40 families once sold wholesale produce out of the terminal building in the late 1940s, just five now remain in business, and the local farmers who once sold fruit and vegetables to the public in front of the terminal’s loading docks on Smallman Street have disappeared.
“The families drifted away,” said Billy Carson, a manager for Coosemans Produce who has sold wholesale fruit and vegetables at the terminal since 1948. “The demand for us no longer existed in the same way.”
Now the grand old auction house and produce terminal may have reached an even more dire point in its 80-year history, as a local community group and a developer seek to overhaul — and in the developer’s case, partially demolish — a building owned by the city’s publicly supported Urban Redevelopment Authority and therefore by you and me, the taxpayers.
The Buncher Co., which owns a about 12 acres between the terminal and the riverfront that it would like to develop, has been discussing plans to extend at least one cross street — possibly 18th Street — through the building and back to its property, cutting the long building into sections, according to Buncher’s general counsel, Joseph Jackovic. The company’s riverfront property is accessible only by 16th and 21st streets, on either end of the produce terminal.
“It’s an issue we think the city ought to address because it is a barrier to development,” Jackovic said. “They always talk about connecting the neighborhoods to the riverfront — that’s one of the barriers to connecting them.”The URA’s executive director, Jerry Dettore, said no decision has been made on whether to cut a street — or streets — through the building, but that something needs to be done to make the Buncher property more accessible.“The question here is how you open the area behind the terminal so more development can occur — do you have to extend the streets and separate the building?” Dettore said. “Maybe a new building that’s more technologically advanced can be built on the Buncher property for [the produce wholesalers].”
Such talk, though, has the building’s tenants buzzing — and none too happy about the prospect of Buncher and the URA partially demolishing a building that, although it lacks official designation as a historic site, is nevertheless a local landmark.
“If it’s a landmark and you cut it into pieces, how is that a landmark anymore?” said Del Lansing, owner of Triangle Homebrewing Supply.
The building’s shape — and in particular its length — is what makes it marvellous and unique, said Arthur Ziegler, president of the nonprofit Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.“That building is impressive because of its continuous sweep along Smallman Street,” Mr. Ziegler said. “It’s really a marvelous building, and I can’t think of another building in the city like that — it helps define the Strip.”
Meanwhile, the community group, Neighbors in the Strip, has a vision of remaking a 25,000-square-foot, vacant portion of the warehouse into a smaller version of the country’s successful historic markets, such as West Side Market in Cleveland, Findley Market in Cincinnati and Pike Place Market in Seattle.
Their proposed market, which would include about 50 vendors (who have yet to be recruited), would open Thursday through Sunday and would combine stalls for produce, pottery, wood carvings, metalwork, African textiles, prepared food and other goods with a stage for live entertainment.
Architectural drawings of the proposed marketplace (and photographs of Reading Terminal in Philadelphia, a potential model) in the group’s promotional materials show a mall-like penchant for scrubbed and painted surfaces, glass display cases and faux-historic signs.
The group, which announced its plan in July, has yet to raise any private donations, however. For now, it is using a $150,000 state grant to pay for reworking its original feasibility study, which was based on creating a much larger market — a proposal that’s not feasible in a building with just 25,000 square feet lying vacant.
In the original study released last year, the community group would have rented the space from the URA and then re-rented it to the vendors. And although “those numbers are pretty much out the window,” according to the group’s economic development director, Cindy Cassell, the original numbers projected the 50 vendors paying the community group $400,000 a year in rent by the third year of operation.
That’s $8,000 a year in rent per vendor — a hefty sum for your average local farmer. Even if those original numbers are “out the window,” as Ms. Cassell says, the fact that they were ever proposed raises serious questions about whether the group will be able to recruit farmers, who can rent space at six city farmer’s markets each week between mid-May and mid-November — when they actually have something to sell — for a grand total of $1,000.
Neighbors in the Strip hasn’t taken a position on whether streets should be extended through the building. But the group does support adding more housing to the Strip District, Ms. Cassell said.
“We’re not sure what the plans are for that,” she said, referring to the Buncher property between the terminal and the riverfront. “But having residential development in the Strip District just seems good for everybody. Wouldn’t it be nice to show there’s a riverfront there?”
Maybe so. But to the extent that Buncher gains from breaking up the terminal, the public loses.
Although it lacks official historic designation, the produce terminal nevertheless was central to the city’s history for decades, and that deserves respect. Its vast expanse is a crucial part of its appeal, along with its forklifts and its tractor-trailers and its sacks of bulk onions and its pallets of watermelons.
They combine to create the sense that you have stepped into a warehouse, not a shopping mall, that somehow you have stepped into a piece of the past that developed without a feasibility study, a piece of Pittsburgh that is slipping inexorably away from us.
A new market could be wonderful, giving shoppers the locally grown fruit and vegetables that aren’t so easy to find in the rest of the Strip District, where a lot of produce is shipped in from California and Florida and often looks no better — and sometimes much worse — than what you’d find in any Giant Eagle.
Under the right management, a marketplace in the terminal building could provide an inexpensive entry point into the retail market for local farmers, both old and new, for cheese makers, beekeepers, bakers, chocolatiers, coffee roasters, butchers, pickle- and sauerkraut makers, wine makers, flower sellers and scores of other businesses that need refrigeration, want to operate year-round and would rather put a solid roof over their heads than set up a leaky tent at seasonal markets.
Such a market could draw more people to the Strip during the week, when many shops are in a lull. And it could attract more business to the few retail businesses that now operate in the building.
Sam Patti, who owns La Prima Coffee Roasters in the terminal, said he would like a retail market, but only if it’s done right.
“I’m all for change, I’m all for growth, but still keeping intact the integrity [of the terminal],” Mr. Patti said. “This building is a wonderful asset, so what do we do with it? That’s why we have to control this and make sure it doesn’t make it another Station Square.”
To remain true to the original spirit of the building, a few things need to happen. First, this unique, irreplaceable part of the city’s history should be officially designated as a historic landmark and protected from demolition .
And if Neighbors in the Strip is serious about organizing a retail market, the group needs to leave the building its gritty dignity, understanding that its roughneck warehouse feel is a big part of what makes it an exciting place to visit. The group’s members should restrain their urge to emasculate that atmosphere by plastering, painting, paving and gilding the building into submission.
To keep the building’s local touch, vendors should be required to grow, raise or make the products they sell, from locally grown fruits and vegetables to pasture-raised meat, homemade cheese and home-baked pies.
That requirement would set sellers apart from most shops in the Strip District, creating an additional draw and keeping them from competing directly with the established stores on Smallman and Penn. To prevent an invasion of knick-knacks, any crafts should also be locally produced and of high quality.
Neighbors in the Strip would have to pay for improvements such as handicap accessibility and an upgraded sewer system to accommodate the hordes of shoppers that hopefully will arrive, but cosmetic “improvements” should be kept to a minimum. That way, the group could pass through the relatively low rent available from the URA at about $3.50 a square foot.
And instead of imposing their vision, the group should let the vendors add their own individual personalities to the market. Give them a chance to work together to make the improvements they think are necessary, that they believe will appeal to customers and ultimately help them make more money.
Most of all, give the marketplace and its business owners a chance to evolve on their own, naturally becoming as unique, as colorful and as irreplaceable as the building in which they are located.
(Food editor Amy McConnell Schaarsmith can be reached at aschaarsmith@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1760. )
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. © Pittsburgh Post Gazette
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Preservationists hope UPMC respects history in Baum corridor expansion
By Christopher Snowbeck,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Wednesday, April 26, 2006The medical giant last month spent $10 million to buy a 91-year-old building at the corner of Baum and Morewood Avenue that was built as a combination assembly plant and showroom for the Ford Motor Co. Preservationists say they’re working with UPMC in hopes that the health system will be mindful of the structure’s historic character in any renovation.
For now, the health system isn’t talking much about its plans for the building, saying only that it “will eventually house programs and personnel from UPMC Shadyside or the Hillman Cancer Center,” said Eric Cartwright, vice president of construction and corporate real estate for UPMC. “If the ultimate use for the building allows it, we will preserve as much as possible.”
UPMC has been active lately in its quest for research space near its hospital in Shadyside.
In January, it spent $1.3 million for property at 5200 Baum Blvd. that is the home to a Boston Market restaurant. Spokeswoman Jane Duffield said there are no immediate plans for the property because the restaurant has a long-term lease.
Last month, Ms. Duffield also said UPMC wanted a 350,000 square-foot- building in the area to “provide for continued rapid growth” of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute’s cancer research program and related biomedical research programs at Pitt and UPMC. Ms. Duffield declined to say whether that building would incorporate the old Ford assembly plant or involve new construction elsewhere on the Baum corridor.
Transforming the area into a center for biomedical research would represent a far cry from its historical roots.
The Ford Motor building was located within blocks of the world’s first company-owned gas service station, operated by Gulf Oil. Nearby, at 4709 Baum, also was a dealership for the old Packard Motor Car — one of many dealers, manufacturers and repair shops that cropped up along the corridor during the early 20th century.
Indeed, the affluence of Pittsburgh’s East End in 1907 could be measured by the approximately 3,000 cars being driven by city residents, said Donald Doherty, the founder of a neuroscience company in Shadyside. He has studied the history of the area and developed a presentation designed to help preserve the Ford building. Many of those automobiles were purchased or tended to along Baum and most of the owners were quite wealthy, he said.
Henry Ford’s plan with the assembly plant he built here was to offer his Model T cars at a reasonable price. The factory on Baum was one of about 28 around the country that would provide the ultimate one-stop car shopping experience — vehicles would be assembled, sold and subsequently serviced all in one building.
Three hundred workers used a vertical feed hand-assembly method to build about 40 Model Ts per day at the Pittsburgh plant, Mr. Doherty said. Assembly operations continued until 1932, and the building remained a Ford sales and parts branch until at least the early 1940s. It was subsequently used as a manufacturing plant for clothier Reidbord Bros. Co. until 1995, and currently houses a PaperMart store.
Annie O’Neill, Post-Gazette
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s plan to make Baum Boulevard in Shadyside a corridor for cancer care and research is running up against the strip’s historical legacy as “automobile row.”All of the Ford buildings were designed by architect John Graham in red brick with large windows and cream terra cotta tile accents. The renovation of a similar building by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for biotechnology labs and companies could serve as an example of what UPMC might do, Mr. Doherty said.
“When you look at the materials used, the details in the design — this is a fabulous building,” he said.
The building “clearly” could qualify for the National Register of Historic Places, said Rob Pfaffman, president of Preservation Pittsburgh. But community groups have refrained from seeking that designation, he said, so that they can work cooperatively with UPMC.
City Councilman Bill Peduto said UPMC initially intended to demolish the building, but he and other community representatives opposed the plan.
“UPMC hasn’t reported back to me on what their goal is for that building,” Mr. Peduto said.
(Christopher Snowbeck can be reached at csnowbeck@post-gazette.com or 412 263-2625.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. © Pittsburgh Post Gazette
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Second day of gambling hearings more sedate
By Andrew Conte
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, April 19, 2006Fewer celebrities and surprises greeted state gambling regulators as their second day of public hearings on Pittsburgh’s casino proposals opened this morning.
There was no campaign-style rally outside the Omni William Penn Hotel. Casino applicants prepared to listen rather than dazzle with slick presentations.Only former Steelers Hall-of-Fame running back Franco Harris — not Motown legend Smokey Robinson nor the parents of former Steelers soon-to-be-enshrined-in-the-Hall-of-Fame running back Jerome Bettis — turned out.
But one thing remained the same: Talk of a new arena colored hearings on the city’s slots proposals. Eleven of the 19 people who spoke on behalf of community groups this morning supported using gambling money for an arena.
“It’s now clear the team’s fate is directly tied to the issuance of a slots license,” said Michael Mooney, creator of a Web site called SlotsforMario.com, claiming that 36,000 had signed a petition to support using gambling money for an arena.
Four out of five young people who participated in a casino survey by the Pittsburgh Urban Magnet Project favored the Isle of Capri Casinos, the only bidder that would pay the full cost of an arena, said Belinda Yeager, the group’s representative.
“It is now time to replace the Mellon Arena,” said Barbara McNees, president of Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce. “A modern arena would be a significant economic benefit to this region.”
Not everyone spoke in favor of the arena, however.
Arthur Ziegler Jr., president of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, praised the backers of Harrah’s Station Square Casino, which would give his group a $25 million endowment.
“It’s easy to say our organization benefits,” he said, “but our benefit goes to all of the parties involved in revitalizing our city through our historic assets.”
Mark Fatla, executive director of the Northside Leadership Conference, said his group negotiated a letter of agreement with Majestic Star Casino, which would locate on the North Shore. The letter addresses the community’s concerns about potential negative effects, he said.
“We found them to be desirous of a true partnership with the community,” Fatla said.
Restaurants need protection from casinos, said Kevin Joyce, owner of Downtown’s Carlton Restaurant. He asked the board to ensure casino restaurants do not give away food or drinks or sell them below cost.
“You need to ensure they don’t unfairly compete,” Joyce said.
Harrah’s and Isle of Capri have agreed to allow union workers in their casinos, said Edward Nassan, a union leader with UNITE HERE Local 57, representing service industry workers. Dozens of the group’s members sat throughout the hotel ballroom Tuesday but not today.
“The creation of good quality service jobs is the most important economic benefit of gaming,” Nassan said. “There’s no other way for Pittsburgh to ensure good service jobs unless these jobs are unionized.”
The public is taking its turn today with 77 people — speaking for themselves or more than two dozen community groups — giving testimony to the state Gaming Control Board. Each of the three casino applicants will get time at the end of today’s hearings to make its case one last time.
Fewer than 100 people sat in the audience as today’s hearing started, less than half the number when the sessions opened Tuesday.
Isle of Capri Casinos has agreed to pay $290 million for a new arena, while Majestic Star Casino met Gov. Ed Rendell’s challenge to ante up $7.5 million a year for the arena if it wins the license.
Only Harrah’s Station Square Casino has not said what, if anything, it would contribute toward an arena. Its backers said Tuesday they support Rendell’s proposal but want a commitment from the Penguins to stay in Pittsburgh.
The Gaming Control Board wraps up testimony on the proposed Pittsburgh casino today. It expects to award the license for a slots parlor to one of the three applicants by mid-December.
Andrew Conte can be reached at aconte@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7835.
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Thunderbolt rips library
By Thomas Olson and Tony LaRussa
TRIBUNE REVIEW
Sunday, April 9, 2006A ferocious lightning bolt that struck the clock tower of the historic Allegheny Regional branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Friday evening hurled massive chunks of granite through sections of the building’s roof.
The structure, at 5 Allegheny Square, North Side, was the first of 19 public libraries built by steel magnate Andrew Carnegie.
A pyramid-shaped portion of the tower’s peak weighing several hundred pounds ripped through the roof of the second-floor lecture hall, imbedding itself — point first — in the floor where speakers typically stand for presentations.
“What’s most amazing is that none of our collection was damaged,” said Barbara Mistik, the Carnegie’s executive director, who was at the library Saturday surveying the damage. “I’d say we were pretty lucky.”
The library has about 60,000 pieces in its active collection and another 100,000 pieces in its archives, she said.
The impact caused steel roof joists to punch through the lecture hall ceiling — one resting inches from a Steinway & Sons baby grand piano, which appeared to escape damage.
Twisted metal lath and sections of galvanized steel air-conditioning duct work hung from the lecture hall ceiling, and plaster dust settled throughout the room.
Right below the lecture hall in the first-floor children’s section, a roughly 3-foot by 5-foot portion of the plaster ceiling crashed to the carpeted floor, scattering debris and dust. Chunks of stone also damaged the wire-reinforced glass skylight above the library’s main room on the first floor.
Nobody was in the building when the lightning struck at about 8 p.m.
By Saturday afternoon, workers had sopped up water from broken pipes and rain that had streamed down a 3-story metal spiral staircase.
The carved granite cornices that adorned the top edges of the clock tower — each weighing a hundred pounds or more — and shards of razor-edged stonework were littered around the outside of the building, some imbedded several inches in the sodden grass.
“We’re bringing in a crane (Sunday) to get above the roof to assess the damage and begin pulling the pieces of granite and other debris out,” said Suzanne Thinnes, a spokeswoman for the library. “We really won’t know how long the library will be closed or how much repairs will cost until we determine the extent of the damage.”
Thinnes said library officials will be meeting with representatives of its insurance company to determine if any of the repairs will be covered.
Customers can return books to the library’s book drop outside the library’s main entrance or to other branches. The closest branch is at 612 Smithfield St., Downtown.
The Romanesque-style building was designated a historic landmark by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation in 1970. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
The library was dedicated in 1890 by President Benjamin Harrison.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review © Pittsburgh Tribune Review