Category Archive: Threatened Historic Resources
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Downtown church moves forward after fire
By Candy Williams
FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, March 4, 2007The colorful stained-glass windows bordering the sanctuary are obscured by intricate pillars of scaffolding, on which members of a restoration crew hover overhead. The pews are concealed by black plastic sheets, a day after the protective coverings were temporarily removed to allow parishioners to gather for another Sunday worship service.
On a cold Monday morning in February, the historic Smithfield United Church of Christ on Smithfield Street in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh is still recovering from a Jan. 1 fire. The fire destroyed the social hall and its centerpiece, a stained-glass window depicting Jesus and the children, and caused extensive smoke and water damage to the rest of the building. The Pittsburgh Fire Bureau ruled the fire an accident, and it was said to have been sparked by an electrical malfunction, according to church officials.There were no injuries in the fire, and for that the congregation is thankful. But it obviously was not the way they wanted to kick off the church’s 225th anniversary year celebration. But the Rev. J. Douglas Patterson, senior minister of the city parish, sees the recovery efforts as a temporary inconvenience.
“This is not the church,” he says.
Indeed, the ministry of the church’s people goes beyond the boundaries of its soot-covered walls. It will be at least a month before the cleanup and rebuilding project will near completion, Patterson says, yet the daily business of the church goes on. In addition to regular services at 11 a.m. Sunday and at 12:10 p.m. Wednesdays, the church welcomes students from Northside Urban Pathways Charter School, who take physical-education classes in its gymnasium during the day, and as many as 90 homeless men and women who sleep there at night as part of the Emergency Cold Weather Shelter program operated by Allegheny County’s Community Human Services Corp.
With windchills dipping below zero several times in February, the shelter has been a popular respite, the minister says, offering the poor and destitute hot meals, warm showers and protection from the elements.
Along with four other downtown Pittsburgh churches — First Lutheran Church, First Presbyterian Church, St. Mary of Mercy Roman Catholic Church and Trinity Episcopal Cathedral — Smithfield also participates in a Walk-in Ministry that provides groceries and other assistance to those in need in the downtown community. Every fifth week on a rotating basis, each church opens its food pantry and supplies the needy with packaged and frozen food, along with household cleaning products and health and beauty supplies bought from the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.
Rena Thomas, business administrator at Smithfield United Church of Christ, oversees the program at Smithfield and makes sure the pantry and freezer in a room off her office are well-stocked. She says she serves 55 families on a regular basis each month in addition to new people who hear of the service from others. Most of the men and women who take advantage of the Walk-in Ministry live within a mile of the church.
In one of her reports to the church council, Thomas noted that in 2006, 641 individuals were served through the food-distribution program. Some 61 percent of them were 60 years old or older; 38 percent were ages 35-59; 68 percent were women, and 90 percent lived alone.
Thomas has worked for the Smithfield church since 1999 doing bookkeeping and office duties. She says that when the previous person in charge of the food pantry left, “Doug (Rev. Patterson) asked me if I’d take over. For most of (the people she serves), a lot would go without food if it wasn’t for us. I saw one woman who had a can of soup she was eating from for two or three days.”
Fellow parishioners have nothing but praise for Thomas’ abilities to seek out grants and donations for the program and to customize meals for her families.
“She is so extremely good at being able to talk to these people and see what their needs are,” says John Canning, a North Side resident and 30-year member of the congregation.
Nan Foltz, of Mt. Lebanon, who serves as president of the congregation, agrees. “Rena does such extraordinary work. Her reports at council meetings are incredible. I’m extremely respectful of the caliber of her leadership,” Foltz says.
Patterson says that since taking on the additional duties of administering the food ministry five years ago, Thomas has been instrumental in bringing in almost $20,000 in outside donations for the program.
The Walk-in Ministry is part of being a good neighbor, the pastor says, and that is a reputation that Smithfield United Church of Christ has worked hard to achieve. Patterson likes to refer to their outreach efforts as “extravagant hospitality.” It’s a commitment to community that members expect from being associated with “a downtown church,” he says.
“A downtown congregation is a different breed of people. They have to pass by a lot of churches that are more convenient to get here. Their expectations of a downtown church are higher. They expect more in the way the worship service is conducted, in the music and sermons, which is wonderful. People should have high expectations of their church,” Patterson says.
Unlike most houses of worship, Smithfield’s membership does not consist of a group of neighbors who live close enough to walk or drive a short distance from their homes to church. Because of the distance some members travel, the church has its business meetings and choir rehearsals before or after the Sunday church service to spare members the inconvenience of making another trip to town on a weekday evening. Patterson says he also uses e-mail and the church Web site, www.smithfieldchurch.org, to communicate with members.
“The Internet has been a wonderful tool for us,” Patterson says. “We’re surrounded by corporate Pittsburgh. Most people that I see on Sunday morning, I don’t see again during the week.”
Although his church doesn’t own a parking lot, parking usually isn’t an issue on weekends, Patterson says. The city Parking Authority has an arrangement with the Downtown Ministerium, of which Smithfield United Church is a member, to allow churchgoers Sunday parking in its garages for a $1 fee. Members must have their parking tickets stamped at church.
Patterson feels that diversity is one of his congregation’s biggest assets. The church was founded on the belief that everyone is welcome, as emphasized by their credo: “Ours is an inclusive congregation, committed to oneness in Christ across all boundaries of race, social class, culture, gender, sexual identity and disability.”
“It’s a non-issue; it’s just who we are,” he says.
Smithfield United Church of Christ, the oldest organized church Downtown, has been part of Pittsburgh since before it became a city. When the congregation was founded in 1782, Pittsburgh was a small village of about 250 people, mostly German immigrants.
In “Landmark Architecture of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania,” a book written by James D. Van Trump and Arthur P. Ziegler Jr. and published by Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation (1967), the authors note that in 1787, the heirs of William Penn granted to the German Lutheran and Reformed congregations a plot of land along Smithfield Street between Sixth Avenue and Strawberry Way, but a building was not erected there until 1791.
The German Evangelical Protestant Church was formed by the two groups in 1812, and three consecutive churches were built in 1815, 1833 and 1875-77, each one bigger than the one before it. The church united with the Congregational fellowship in 1925 and is affiliated with the United Church of Christ.
The current church building was designed in 1925 by noted New York architect Henry Hornbostel, who designed many other Pittsburgh landmark buildings, including Rodef Shalom Temple in Oakland, Soldiers and Sailors National Military Museum and Memorial in Oakland and the City-County Building, Downtown.
Albert Tannler, historical collections director for Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, says the Smithfield church is one of the few churches designed by Hornbostel. The Gothic Revival-style building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a contributing structure in the Downtown District National Register of Historic Places.
Tannler says the church’s design is unique in that its 80-foot-high spire was made from steel and cast aluminum, representing the first use of aluminum in building architecture.
“The architect wanted it to be all aluminum, but the Building Code people wouldn’t allow it to happen,” Tannler says. “People weren’t sure in the 1920s about how strong aluminum was. The city required that the frame be built of steel and the panels made of aluminum.”
Another artistic feature of the church is the sanctuary’s elaborate stained-glass windows, created by Von Gretchen Studios. Several themes are represented in their design, including the chronological story of the life and teachings of Jesus, people and places with special meaning to the church heritage and scenes related to Pittsburgh’s history. Two additional stained-glass windows near a staircase leading to the sanctuary depict Moses and Paul, and the Lord’s Prayer written in German and in English. At the rear of the sanctuary, in the narthex, are the Faith, Love and Hope windows inspired by Scripture verses.
At a time when some churches are dealing with declining membership and dissatisfaction with traditional worship services, Smithfield United Church of Christ — which has not abandoned its conventional service in favor of trendy contemporary formats — continues to grow.
Church membership is about 230 members, with average attendance at the 11 a.m. Sunday service totaling 110. Members come from as far as Cranberry and Saxonburg in Butler County, Murrysville in Westmoreland County and Washington in Washington County.
Canning attributes the church’s staying power to “the worship experience and the strong commitment this church has to serving the city. This church operates 24/7,” he says.
Foltz says that even new members feel comfortable taking leadership positions alongside men and women who have been with the congregation for years. She is especially proud of women who have stepped up to serve when needed.
“Women of our congregation historically have been so strong and have been such role models for their participation and caring,” she says. “We have a nice blend of people who understand hospitality, or to use the phrase Doug uses ‘extravagant hospitality.’ ”
That kindness has been returned by others in the community, especially during the tenuous days after the fire in January, Foltz says. Owners of the nearby Smithfield Cafe opened their doors to the congregation so that a Mardi Gras celebration could go on as planned, and the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh branch on Smithfield Street arranged for Patterson to use their Internet service.
Members continue to gather at the Smithfield Cafe for a fellowship meal on the first Sunday of each month after a service that celebrates the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Church members prepare and serve the meals and clean up afterward. A free-will offering is taken, and all worshippers are welcome.
During a Sunday morning worship service two weeks after the Jan. 1 fire, the congregation paid tribute to the stranger who discovered and reported the blaze, a Jesuit priest named James Conroy, who noticed the smoke while walking past the structure.
Church member Mariruth Stoecker-Keebler shared her gratitude toward Conroy with fellow parishioners in The Spire, the church newsletter:
“I am a fourth-generation Smithfielder,” she writes. “My great-grandparents, immigrating from Germany on both the Finder and Stocker sides, worshipped here at Smithfield. This is where my parents met as teenagers in ‘Pilgrim Fellowship.’ They married here. Our family has served on many committees/church councils and taught many Sunday school classes — proud to be part of this church’s history. The City of Pittsburgh could have lost an important part of its history New Year’s Day, but thanks to someone who saw and cared, the building and its congregation are still very much alive.”
Patterson assures his congregation and the Downtown community that cleanup efforts will continue — and so will the mission of the church. Plans are under way for several special events to coincide with Smithfield’s 225th anniversary. On April 15, John Thomas, the general minister and president of the church’s governing body, the United Church of Christ, is scheduled to deliver the sermon. The Rev. Pete Weaver, who served as pastor from 1977-88, has been invited to return to the pulpit for a worship service on Oct. 28. Co-chairs of the 225th Anniversary Committee are Glenn Callihan and Conway Keibler.
Canning, who serves as the congregation’s unofficial historian, says that if church leaders learned anything from the fire, it’s to be more protective of records that document church history.
“We have archives dating back to the late 18th century,” he says. “None were damaged, but the fire made us more conscious of being a little more careful to better protect them.”
The message inscribed on one of the stained-glass windows, “For we are saved by Hope” (Romans 8.24), seems to speak to the church’s rebuilding efforts.
Foltz says she has thought a lot about the fire recently and its effect on church members. Even before the incident, the church council was preparing a facilities-needs study and a strategic plan to guide its future ministry.
“In the Bible story of Moses and the burning bush, some interpreters talk about the bush burning, but it was not consumed. It was God’s message to Moses that ‘You can have a fire, but not have it consume you,’ ” Foltz says. “We did have a fire and our social hall did burn, but it has not and will not consume us. I believe it is clarifying us, helping us to understand where we go from here.”
About the church
* Bethlehem Haven, a Pittsburgh women’s shelter that celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2006, was started at the Smithfield church in December 1981, where it remained for 18 years before moving to new facilities Uptown in April 2000.
* Henry John Heinz, founder of the H.J. Heinz Co. and great-grandfather of the late U.S. Sen. John Heinz, was baptized in Smithfield church in 1844, the year he was born.
* The church bells were refurbished in 2000 and ring every day at noon.
* The sanctuary’s baptismal font was carved from a piece of pure Italian marble.
* Although women were not granted the right to full voting membership in the congregation until 1921, members of the church’s Ladies Aid Society led the way for the creation of an orphanage in 1888 and a home for the aged in 1891. In the 1920s, they spearheaded a crusade to provide funding for widows. The group today is known as the Women’s Fellowship.
* Jim Donovan, drummer for the band Rusted Root, facilitates a drum circle at the church for interested participants. Drums are provided, and beginners are welcome. The cost is $10. The church owns several djembes, which are small African hand drums. For more information, call 412-281-1811.
* The massive cleanup effort after the Jan. 1 fire will include refurbishing the church organ console and organ pipes — all 3,743 of them. The organ was custom designed by William Mellor in 1967.
Source: Smithfield United Church of Christ
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Support sought for ‘pure’ Dormont park
By Rick Wills
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, March 2, 2007Opponents of opening Dormont Park and its landmark 1920s-era pool to private developers will stage a rally Sunday amid fears that borough officials’ consideration of development is undermining efforts to raise money for pool restoration.
“It’s very hard to raise funds when people think the pool might be bulldozed next year,” John Maggio, president of Friends of the Dormont Pool, said Thursday. “Council is being disingenuous and sending mixed messages.”One developer would renovate the borough’s landmark 87-year-old pool in exchange for the ability to do townhouse and retail development in the park. The other would build a smaller pool and a community center in exchange for retail development in the park.
The rally will be at 2 p.m. in the pool’s parking lot at Banksville Road and Dormont Avenue.
So far, the group has raised about $30,000 for refurbishing the pool, Maggio said.
Since last year, the borough has received $287,000 from the state and Allegheny County, money Maggio says could be in jeopardy if the park is opened to development.
Raising suspicions
The council’s next voting meeting is at 7:30 p.m. Monday in the borough building, 1444 Hillsdale Ave. Borough Manager George Zboyovsky said there are no plans to vote immediately on development proposals.
Still, others are wary of the council’s intentions.
“They have been deceptive every step of the way, so we are very suspicious about what council plans,” said Gary Young, chairman of the Dormont Republican Party. He said he plans to file a complaint with the state Attorney General’s Office about borough officials’ dealings with developers Cozza Enterprises Inc., of Squirrel Hill, and JRA Development Inc., of Lawrenceville.
“The council did not follow any kind of process here,” said Young, who faults borough officials for meeting privately with developers and failing to take competitive bids for the project.
The two developers, who made public presentations last month, previously made several presentations to Dormont Mayor Thomas Lloyd, council President Linda Kitchen and Zboyovsky. Other council members said they did not know about the private meetings.
Defending the actions
Thomas Ayoob, the borough’s solicitor, said that the meetings were not improper and no bids have been taken.
“There have been no secret meetings, and no bids have been made or solicited,” he said. “And the general public knows about the two proposals.”
Young, Councilwoman Ann Conlin and others question Ayoob’s representation of Cozza in another development project.
“This just looks awful, whether it’s legal or not. The solicitor should have the best interest of borough, council and citizens at heart, which he does not,” Conlin said.
Ayoob said there would be no conflict unless Cozza’s proposal is picked.
“I have offered no legal advice to borough or Mr. Cozza on this matter,” Ayoob said. “It’s an attempt to raise issues where there are none.”
Rick Wills can be reached at rwills@tribweb.com or (724) 779-7123.
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Diocese sells Tarentum, McKeesport church properties
By Andrew Johnson
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, February 16, 2007Two shuttered churches in Tarentum and McKeesport have been sold to the Manhattan real estate firm, The Follieri Group LLC, according to the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.
The properties are the St. Clement Church owned by the Holy Martyrs Parish in Tarentum and St. Stephen Church owned by St. Pius V Parish in McKeesport. The St. Clement deal also involves school buildings and a parking lot, said diocesan spokesman Rev. Ronald Lengwin.The Allegheny County Recorder of Deeds has no record of the Tarentum transaction. But St. Stephen Church, located on Beacon Street in McKeesport, sold in January for $60,000, part of a “package deal” that includes a rectory, school building, and two parking lots, said Rev. Edward Litavec, pastor of the St. Pius V. He said St. Stephen Church closed in 2002 and merged with St. Pius V.
Litavec said money from the sale would go to care for St. Stephen Cemetery on Westinghouse Avenue in North Versailles.
Lengwin said The Follieri Group is interested in several other properties, and sales agreements on three have been reached, including one for the historic St. Nicholas Church on the North Side. Lengwin refused to give the price and also declined to name the other two churches.
He said a fourth church is for sale, but declined to name it.Messages left for The Follieri Group were not returned, but on its Web site, the company says that church properties it acquires “are converted to uses that would continue to serve and contribute to their respective communities in a socially responsible fashion consistent with the ideals of the Church.”
Some uses include “low and middle income housing, community centers, day-care facilities, senior citizen housing, places of worship, offices and retail spaces,” according to the company.
“We have confidence that they will live up to their promise,” Lengwin said.
Litavec said he has no idea what The Follieri Group intends to do with the empty McKeesport church.
“We were just so happy it sold,” he said. “There was always somebody breaking into the place.”
Since 2002, 15 vacant church buildings, including St. Stephen and St. Clement, have been sold, Lengwin said. All money made from selling church properties goes to the parish selling the individual church, Lengwin said.
Andrew Johnson can be reached at ajohnson@tribweb.com or 412-380-5632.
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X marks $1.1M spot for North Side theater, URA
By Bonnie Pfister
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, February 16, 2007A decade of legal battles over the Garden Theatre ended Thursday with a $1.1 million agreement between the owner of the North Side X-rated cinema and the Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority.
The settlement, announced at the URA’s monthly board meeting just an hour after it was signed, comes almost two months after the state Supreme Court ruled that the city of Pittsburgh could seize the theater by eminent domain.The board unanimously approved the deal, and the city could be in possession of the theater along West North Avenue before the end of the month.
“This is a great day for the city of Pittsburgh,” said state Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park, a URA board member. “It certainly elevates the overall development potential of the area.”
The dispute began in the mid-1990s, when then-Mayor Tom Murphy initiated the seizure of 47 buildings along and near Federal Street west of Allegheny General Hospital as part of a redevelopment program called “Federal North.”
But theater owner George Androtsakis refused the URA’s $214,000 buyout offer, saying the city was trying to squelch his First Amendment right to show pornographic films.
“Mr. Androtsakis would have loved to have a theater showing other kinds of film, but he couldn’t attract an audience because of the demographics of that neighborhood,” said James Sargent, the attorney who argued on Androtsakis’ behalf before the court and negotiated yesterday’s deal.
“He loved the Garden Theatre because it was a remarkable edifice, a real testament to our evolution as a culture,” Sargent said. “But, in the final analysis, he agreed to this without bitterness. It’s a business decision.”
URA general counsel Don Kortlandt said he first reached out to Androtsakis soon after the Supreme Court’s ruling, but negotiations broke down in mid-January. Androtsakis reconsidered about a week later, and negotiations resumed in earnest 10 days ago, Kortlandt said.
While Androtsakis initially was asking for far more than double the price finally agreed upon, Kortlandt said, “We got to a number that we both could stand, high enough for them, low enough for us.”
Last month, the URA sent out requests for proposals for redevelopment of 10 parcels surrounding the theater, but URA officials said many expressed skepticism as long as the theater continued to show pornography. The requests now will be amended to include the 92-year-old movie house, which began showing adult films in 1972.
Bonnie Pfister can be reached at bpfister@tribweb.com or 412-320-7886.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.
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Judge rules for developer in Oakland hospital plan
by Ben Semmes
Pittsburgh Business Times
February 15, 2007A judge has ruled in favor of a local developer and health care provider who hope to build an 80-bed specialty hospital in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood, the first new hospital proposed in the city in decades.
Uptown-based The Elmhurst Group, the project’s developer, and Mechanicsburg-based Select Medical Corp., the hospital’s proposed operator, had appealed a decision by the City of Pittsburgh Historic Review Commission rejecting their proposal for an eight-story hospital in the parking lot of the First Baptist Church, near the intersection of Bigelow Boulevard and Bayard Street in Oakland.
The Elmhurst Group’s plan calls for Select Medical Corp. to run the hospital — to be called Schenley Place — as a long-term, acute-care center that would receive patients from the city’s trauma and tertiary care hospitals.
The six-page decision, issued by Allegheny County Common Pleas Court Judge Joseph James on Wednesday, is a stinging defeat for the Historic Review Commission, which twice ruled against the proposal, citing concerns about the size and height of the building.
Bill Hunt, president of The Elmhurst Group, said he is planning to proceed with a plan for an eight-story building, which was presented to and rejected by the Historic Review Commission in the beginning of October.
“Our sense is that it was the right decision,” Hunt said. “We have every intention now to move forward. It does shows that we were right from the beginning.”
The next step, Hunt said, is to bring the project before the city’s Planning Commission.
Jeffrey Ackerman, executive vice president at Downtown-based CB Richard Ellis/Pittsburgh and broker for Select Medical, was not immediately available for comment.
Judge James’ ruling is not his first against the Historic Review Commission’s decision to reject the project.
In July, the Historic Review Commission voted 5-2 rejecting the initial proposal for a 10-story, 140,000-square-foot building after a public hearing where some residents from the bordering historic neighborhood Schenley Farms complained about the size of the proposed building.
In response to an appeal by Elmhurst, Judge James overturned the decision and ordered a rehearing, based on a lack of documented public testimony, according to Wednesday’s ruling.At the rehearing in October, the Historic Review Commission again rejected the plan, splitting the votes 3-3, this time for an eight-story structure with a 10-foot set-back from nearby Ruskin Hall, with one member abstaining.
Opposing members said at the time they would be amenable to a six-story structure, which would match the roof-line of the First Baptist Church, and a larger set-back.
According to Wednesday’s ruling, the Historic Review Commission’s second decision was overturned because, Judge James wrote, “the height and set-back of structures is specifically governed by the Zoning Code of Pittsburgh” not the Historic Review Commission.
Edward Kabala, a vocal opponent of the project and resident of Schenley Farms, was not immediately available for comment.
Cleda Klingensmith, a representative of the Historic Review Commission, did not immediately return a call requesting comment.
bsemmes@bizjournals.com | (412) 208-3829
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Battle over houses heats up – Group says council went against the law when it repealed subdivision OK
By Jan Ackerman,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Thursday, February 08, 2007Emotions are running high between historic preservationists and a nonprofit organization that wants to build seven houses on a vacant parcel behind Munhall’s historic library.
Officials of the Mon Valley Initiative are convinced that Munhall council violated state zoning law when it voted to repeal its approval of a subdivision they want to build in the Library Estates neighborhood.
John Bixler, executive director of Mon Valley Initiative, said the organization had gotten legal advice and believed borough council erred when it rescinded approval of the subdivision Jan. 26.
“The rescission was illegal. We have the right to build,” Mr. Bixler said.
Munhall Councilman Michael Terrick doesn’t think that is the case. He said council approved the subdivision, with the understanding that Mon Valley Initiative would comply with historic district standards that were part of a separate ordinance.
“They are hanging their hat on a technicality,” he said.
Munhall’s solicitor, Louis Silverhart, is researching the issue and will have a legal opinion for council, probably this month.
Mr. Bixler cited a letter from George Janocsko, an Allegheny County solicitor, which was read to Munhall council before its vote.
Mr. Janocsko’s letter said Pennsylvania’s municipal planning code prevents local governments from changing local zoning, subdivision and land use ordinances once a subdivision has been approved.
Mr. Janocsko said any attempt by council to amend the borough’s historic district ordinance to include the MVI property would contradict the “plain and clear prohibitions of the municipal planning code.”
As a result, he said, the adoption of the ordinance would provide Mon Valley Initiative with strong legal grounds to sue the borough for a denial of permits and other authorizations.
At a rancorous Jan 26 meeting, council took two actions, voting to expand an existing historic district to include the two-acre tract where Mon Valley Initiative wants to build the houses and to repeal the subdivision approval it had given to MVI.
Several days before the meeting, MVI officials applied for the building permits for the four-bedroom, 21/2-bath houses, which will sell for about $130,000. Mr. Bixler said his organization had every legal right to do so, given that the subdivision had been approved.
That action angered some members of Munhall council, who accused the principals of Mon Valley Initiative of trying to circumvent the desires of council to impose historic requirements on the new development.
The controversy centers on a vacant tract in lower Munhall, behind the historic Carnegie Library of Homestead in a neighborhood called Library Estates which used to be home to mill superintendents.
The neighborhood is mixed. In recent years, some people have bought some of the old mansions around the library, fixed them up and installed globe outdoor lighting. The neighborhood now has its annual Christmas house tour.
Mr. Bixler said the new houses that MVI plans to build would be more expensive than most of the existing houses and would not harm the historic quality of the neighborhood.
Neighbors disagree, saying the new vinyl homes are not appropriate for the area.
Opinions aside, it looks as if the real issues might have to be resolved by the courts.
(Jan Ackerman can be reached at jackerman@post-gazette.com or 412-851-1512. )
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Turtle Creek Mayor to School District: Redistrict; don’t consolidate junior highs
By ADAM R. FORGIE
Mayor, Turtle Creek
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Pittsburgh Post GazetteThis letter is in response to the comments made by Colleen Filiak, of the Woodland Hills school board, who, at the Jan. 10 board meeting, said the students of East Junior High in Turtle Creek were not receiving the same level of education as a student at West Junior High in Swissvale.
As an alumnus of Woodland Hills School District who spent my junior high years at East Junior High, as a social studies teacher of six years at East Junior High, and as the mayor of Turtle Creek, I believe I am highly qualified to voice my opinion and express my disappointment in Mrs. Filiak’s comments.
The children of East Junior High have had and will continue to have an excellent education, which is being taught by a very professional and highly qualified staff. The opportunities and curricula being taught are the same as what is being taught by my outstanding colleagues at West Junior High. If anything, the learning environment at East is much more conducive to learning because it is a smaller and more controllable student body. Consolidating junior highs will create a chaotic atmosphere that will lower PSSA scores and promote a horrible educational atmosphere.
I believe the solution is to redistrict 150 students from West to East. This will lighten the load on both the West staff and the borough of Swissvale and, furthermore, equalize the student populations in both schools. Turtle Creek and its citizens also will get to keep their historic, treasured and beautiful high school operational.
Mrs. Filiak makes me wonder, if I had not gone to East, would I still have ended up just a teacher and mayor? Her comments suggest that if I had gone to West, that I would be a superintendent and our governor.
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Parents worried about historic school buildings
By Karamagi Rujumba,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Thursday, January 11, 2007After celebrating a quarter century of growth in Woodland Hills schools, district officials are worried about the next 25 years.
That’s what lead Superintendent Roslynne Wilson to propose a building consolidation plan that she had hoped would save the district nearly $2.5 million a year.
The school board last night, though, voted down that proposal as well as a last-minute plan pitched by board member Colleen Filiak that targeted the same three schools — Shaffer Primary, Rankin Intermediate and East Junior High schools.
Their votes were in reaction to district taxpayers’ concerns with the closings.
In Turtle Creek, school board members and about 40 people from the community met last Thursday night at Palmieri Restaurant to discuss what the school district’s plan would mean to the community.
Some parents said the superintendent’s plan, in particular, would have lead to the closing and eventual abandonment of historic school buildings in some communities.
The key question for many district parents and others at the meeting was what the school district would do with buildings such as East Junior High School when it is closed. East Junior formerly was historic Turtle Creek High School, and a group has been working for about two years to prevent it from being razed or having its facade renovated.
“That building is very important to many of us,” said Robert Mock, of Turtle Creek, who has been trying to save the school.
“We believe that, if the building is closed, it should be repurposed. What we don’t want to happen is to have the building abandoned,” Mr. Mock said.
Dr. Wilson told the group that the next quarter century would see a much smaller school district, noting that a number of factors such as Act 72 and Act 1 restrictions, declining enrollment and potential teacher retirements would force the district to trim its size, especially the number of buildings it can maintain in tight budgetary times.
“This makes an opportune time to consolidate our buildings,” Dr. Wilson said .
That is why the school district has proposed a three-year building consolidation plan, which would see the closing of three schools in three years: Shaffer, Rankin Intermediate and East Junior High School .
Dr. Wilson said the district’s plan ultimately would save the district about $2.5 million from a reduction in property, personnel and benefits expenses. Without the implementation of the plan or some other cost-saving steps, the district will be faced with some very hard decisions, including possible teacher layoffs, the superintendent said.
School board President Cynthia Lowery said she supported the building consolidation plan because, if it is not implemented, the district would have to consider making cuts somewhere else in its $80 million budget.
“We have to stop deficit spending,” Ms. Lowery said. “We have tried to listen to the community about what they want to see, but there will never be a consensus on this issue.”
(Karamagi Rujumba can be reached at: krujumba@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1719. )