Mayor To Hold Meeting on Libraries

Below is an article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. There will be a meeting in Lawrenceville discussing the closing of the West End Library and 4 others. If you find this cause close to your heart, then please show up.

You can also read Brian O'neill's opinion on this matter HERE.

Mayor to hold community meeting on library closings
Monday, October 19, 2009
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Mayor Luke Ravenstahl announced today that he will be holding a community meeting at 11 a.m. Saturday in Lawrenceville to hear residents concerns about Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's board's decision to close five libraries.

The meeting will be at St. Mary's Lower Lyceum, 321 45th St.

The Mayor has invited the library board and Director Barbara Mistick to the meeting.

"I have spoken with residents from all impacted communities and have answered as many questions as I can in regard to the board's decisions," Mr. Ravenstahl said in a statement issued today. "Residents deserve to have all of their questions answered concerning these very unfortunate circumstances."

The board has approved closing the Lawrenceville, Beechview, West End and Hazelwood branches and merging Knoxville and Carrick branches.



Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09292/1006721-100.stm#ixzz0UQurxCP4

Thank You Pittsburgh Hoagie

If you're a resident of Elliott, please read the most recent blog post from the pittsburgh Hoagie. This is something that really bothers me about the neighborhood. I hope the city does something about these properties. The worst part about this is, it's only a fraction of the run down, abandoned properties in the neighborhood.

PITTSBURGH HOAGIE

EWEAA SCHOLARSHIPS

Two $500 College Scholarships to be awarded

The Elliott West End Athletic Association is now accepting applications for our College Scholarships. This year, due to generous donations, we are able to award two $500 scholarships for the fiscal year.

Applicants may complete the application process listed below and mail the complete application packet to the Scholarship Committee Chairperson, Courtney Glass, at:

EWEAA College Scholarship

1745 Barr Ave

Pittsburgh, PA 15205

A. Purpose: To provide financial aid to students attending technical, undergraduate or graduate programs at colleges, universities, or technical schools in the United States of America.

B. Eligibility requirements:

1. The applicant must have played at least four years of sports in the EWEAA in one or more of the following: baseball, softball, and/or soccer.

2. The applicant must be accepted to, or already attending the institution to which this scholarship money will be sent.

C. Application Procedure:

1. No formal application form is used.

2. The application letter and documentation shall be submitted no earlier than January 1 and no later than April 15. Scholarships will be awarded in May and applied to the fall school year.

3. The application shall consist of a typed letter in which the applicant will discuss the following subjects:

a. The sport and year the applicant participated in EWEAA and elaborate how the participation affected the applicant

b. Community service/personal achievements

c. Intended career field the applicant will pursue

d. Any subject the applicant considers relevant pertaining to scho

ol or the scholarship

D. Required Documentation:

1. A high school transcript if the applicant has not completed one year of college, university, or technical school. If the applicant has completed one year of college, university or technical school then a transcript from this institution is required in lieu of a high school transcript

2. An acceptance letter or other documentation showing the applicant is attending or planning to attend an accredited school

3. A reference letter from an accredited teacher or professor

4. One or more of the following: a photo copy of the applicants Student Aid Report (SAR) containing the Estimated Family Contribution (EFC) number, a photocopy of the Financial Aid Package letter from the institution the applicant will be attending, or a statement detailing how family income or circumstances has kept the applicant from receiving other scholarships, grants, or loan funds

E. Criteria used for awarding the EWEAA Scholarship:

1. Overall academics of the applicant

2. Reference

3. Essay

4. Community involvement, personal achievements, awards, leadership, in addition to school related involvement and extra-curricular activities

5. Financial need

6. Participation within EWEAA

Dog Fighting in Elliott????

Scarred pit bulls seized in Elliott; dog fights suspected
Thursday, June 11, 2009
By Jerome L. Sherman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Animal control officers removed two pit bulls from a home in Elliot last night after receiving reports of dog fighting.
The owner of the dogs likely will face criminal charges, said Gerald Akrie, a supervisor with Pittsburgh's animal control department.
The dogs both had scars "all over" their bodies from fighting, Mr. Akrie said. They were taken from a home on Navajo Way around 5 p.m. yesterday.
Police are investigating, Mr. Akrie said.

Here is a VIDEO from WPXI.

Trying to Get Back

Well it’s been about 2 months since my last post. I’ve been so busy with work, trying to coordinate and raise funds for the Cystic Fibrosis great strides walk that took place in May, and then there are these damn Penguin games taking up all my time.

I would love it if more people would like to contribute to this Blog. My vision for this is to be a TRUE neighborhood website, not just one person’s ideas and opinions. Kinda of a “by the people for the people” kind of thing. Please let me know what ideas you might have. I am going to try and keep this blog updated the best I can.

In the mean time, let’s see what’s been going on the last few months in our community.

From May 7th, a nice little video discussing the research of the history surrounding the Old Stone Tavern

http://www.post-gazette.com/multimedia/?videoid=101790

Also from May 7th, an Elliott man gets sentenced 15-30 years in a stabbing death.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09127/968477-100.stm

Here’s is a link to the story of the garbage truck accident that happened directly in front of the above mentioned Old Stone Tavern
http://kdka.com/local/fatal.garbage.truck.2.1005530.html

Here is a great blog excerpt about Townsend Park in Elliott from the Pittsburgh Hoagie. I couldn’t agree with him more. I would actually like to walk around the neighborhood with my digital camera and find similar stories. Great Job Matt.

http://matth614.blogspot.com/2009/06/townsend-park.html

Create Your Own Religion......

Well it looks like there is a church for sale in our neighborhood. If you’ve ever though about creating your own church, this may be the right time to go through with it.

The church on the corner of Chartiers and Bucyrus is for sale for the low price of $175,000. This is a really good price for such a big building. The basement and kitchen alone may be worth that much. The local Meals on Wheels actually works out of the basement.





There have been many different types of churches and religions that have operated in the past. Catholicism, Scientology, Hindu temples, Hare Krishna, The Peoples Temple, The Church of Latter Day Saints, and maybe the most important of all, The Church of Fonzi.

Well here’s my idea if I had $175,000 to start a church.

THE YINZER CHURCH OF SAINT COPE

This church will be the place to pray and worship for all fans of local sports teams. Steelers, Penguins, Pirates, Pitt Panthers, Pittsburgh Passion, and very reluctantly, Penn State. West Virginia fans will not be welcome at this church. Regardless of what the local media tries to tell us, WVU is not a local team. It’s about an hour and a half to two hours away in a different state. It’s also the Pittsburgh team’s #1 rival. If you follow this logic, the Cleveland Browns would be considered a “local” team. Just ridiculous. Something's telling me that the Morgantown Newspaper does not consider the Pitt Panthers a "local" team.

Every week, just before mass starts, there will be a moment of silence for all of the fallen Pittsburgh Sports teams. Pittsburgh Maulers, Pittsburgh Gladiators, Pittsburgh Bulls, Pittsburgh Crossefire, Pittsburgh Spirit, Pittsburgh Hornets, Pittsburgh Condors, Pittsburgh Pipers, Pittsburgh Xplosion, Pittsburgh Piranhas just to name a few. Which brings me to…

MASS

Mass will be held every Sunday from 11:00 to 12:00 (tailgating permitted)

Instead of the Holy Bible, the minister will be reading excerpts from Double Yoi, The Chief, and anything else by Jim O’brien.

Holy Water will be placed in a replica Stanley Cup at the back of the church.

Traditional pews will be replaced by old Three Rivers Stadium seats.

Everyone will be welcome to participate in communion. It will consist of a shot of Iron City Beer and a nacho.

We will not have an organist. We will play recordings of the late great Vince Lascheid. Hey it works for the Pirates.

Until we get a full time Ordained Minister, we will be going with guest celebrity ministers. Bob Pompeani, Mike Lange, Mark Madden, Gene Collier, Bill Hillgrove, and Sam Nover are just a few that have been rumored to be interested.

CONFESSION

Instead of the traditional confession booth, there will be a replica Penalty Box, where you can confess your sins to a wax likeness of Dan Marouelli. You may not receive a response, but you’ll feel a whole lot better by getting things like how you once rooted for WVU in a BCS game because you thought it would be “good for the Big East” if they won. That’s a true sin.

HOLY GAME ROOM

During Football season mass will be immediately followed by lunch in the Holy Game Room, where we will prepare to watch the 1:00 Football games. (This will be regardless of if the Steelers play at 1:00 or not).

The Holy game room will have the NFL Ticket on multiple big screens. (What do you think we do with the offerings you give us every week.)

The Holy Game Room will be open for all Pittsburgh Sports games being shown on television.

There is a stage in the game room that will be used for plays and re-creations. We are trying to get an annual running of “The Chief”. Every December 23rd, local actors will recreate the Immaculate Reception. Every October 13th, they will recreate Maz’s Game Winning Home Run from the 1960 World Series. (I’m currently writing a play specifically for our stage called “Cobra: The Dave Parker Stories”, from his MVP year, to the Drug Trials, to the “battery” throwing incident.)

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

We will still operate the Meals on Wheels program out of the church. We will have volunteers deliver items to those in need with a better menu that ever. What senior citizen wouldn’t love some Buffalo Wings(11 flavors), homemade pierogies, grilled kielbasa, Bucco Tacos, Uncle Charley’s Hot Sausage, and much more.

We will have a monthly Monte Carlo/Night at the Races to raise money for the church, Meals on Wheels and other Local Charities.

There will be a monthly sports memorabilia auction. If you’ve been looking for a place to get rid of that autographed Billy Tibbetts Jersey or the Mike Diaz autographed baseball you’ve had since 1987 then this is for you.

Well this is my church. If you’ve got a $175,000, I’d like to hear your ideas.

Another Tavern Article

Thanks to my friend Matt H over at the Pittsburgh Hoagie. He brought my attention to an article from the Trib yesterday that I completely missed..........

West End tavern Old Stone Inn might have played role in Whiskey Rebellion
By Tony LaRussaTRIBUNE-REVIEWThursday, April 2, 2009

An accounts ledger from the late 1790s indicates that some of the legends associated with a West End tavern that preservationists are trying to protect might be true.
The city's Historic Review Commission on Wednesday took public comment on whether the former Old Stone Inn — believed to be the second-oldest building in Pittsburgh — should be designated as a historic landmark. Doing so would require the building's owner to get the commission's permission before tearing it down or altering its exterior.
Katherine Molnar, the city's historic preservation planner, told the commission the ledger, which covers the years 1793-96, contains possible evidence that the Greentree Road tavern played a role in the Whiskey Rebellion, a late 18th-century uprising by people across Western Pennsylvania who opposed a federal excise tax on liquor.

Read the rest of the article here....

Tavern Update.....

West End tavern may have been built in the 1750s
Thursday, April 02, 2009
By Diana Nelson Jones, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Historic Review Commission heard testimony yesterday that the West End's Old Stone Tavern, 434 Greentree Rd., may predate a 1793-1796 ledger book that's confirmed to be authentic.
Katherine Molnar, the city's historic planner, said the historic book indicates 13 account ledgers came before it, which could date the building back another 40 years. Until about two years ago when it closed, it had operated continuously as a bar and/or restaurant.
John DeSantis, a preservationist who lives in Allegheny West, nominated the old tavern, which has also been called the Old Stone Inn, for historic status earlier this year when it was awaiting a demolition permit.
A vote on that nomination, which would preclude demolition, is expected at the May 6 meeting of the commission. The owner of the building, Lee Harris, could not be reached yesterday. He also owns Harris Masonry, which is beside the tavern.

West End Revitalization

A few days ago, the Tribune Review had a really promising article on the plan to revitalize the West End Valley. Much of the article talks about local real estate mogul Rick Hvizdak. Mr. Hvizdak has done some wonderful things for the West End area, but I'm just wondering if this is all just dreams and hope that we have seen before, but without any real substance.

Here is another article from 2006, detailing some of Mr. Hvizdak's ideas. He really does provide a lot of promise to the residents of the area.

Just about a year ago, an article came out explaining that West End was picked for "Mainstreets Funding" by the Urban Redevelopment Authority. Did anything actually get completed with this money?

We've heard all of this many times before. Remember when the Chapel of Blues opened, and around the same time, another bar/restaurant was supposed to open across from the West End ParkHouse/Grill 424/Temperanceville Tavern. I believe that building is torn down now.

Here's an article from about 3 years ago getting everyone pumped up for a new revitalization plan. How many of the businesses featured here are still in business? I remember being down in the West End a few years ago, eating lunch at an outside table at the ParkHouse. Mainstreet was closed, and there was a big party launching the plan to develop the entire building across the street. There were huge posters featuring artists renderings of what it would look like. I wonder what happened to those plans? Believe me, I was excited for while, but not anymore.

Here's another article from about 3 years ago.

Read this article from the City Paper, about how and why some of the plans may have failed. Granted, it's 4 years old, but has some pretty good stuff in it.

Being a life long West End resident, I am really hoping all these ideas come to fruition. There are already some really good business that I wish more residents utilized. I try to do my part. I order from Nikki's Pizza(I think they have the best Gyros's around), I get my taxes done at the Black Agency, I do Happy Hour at Tramp's every once in a while, I take my daughter to the Carnegie library. Carol's Restaurant is very good, I highly recommend it.

Mudslide

The West End enjoyed a big day in the local news yesterday due to a Mudslide that came down onto Steuben Street, from Elliott Street. Here is a video from the Post-Gazette. Here is the corresponding article.

The Pittsburghchannel.com has a good story on the mud slide, with a nice helicopter video. And another from WPXI.

Obituary

Just in case any of you remember Mr. Sites from Langley.

Obituary: Harry J. Sites / Carpentry teacher at Pittsburgh high schools

July 2, 1932 - Feb. 15, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
By Gary Rotstein, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Harry J. Sites, who taught carpentry for two decades in Pittsburgh high schools and tackled tough jobs for customers for longer than that, died of a heart attack Sunday in his Baldwin Township home. He was 76.
Mr. Sites was a self-taught craftsman and a keen thinker with an intuitive sense of how to get a job done without relying on detailed plans on paper. A Carrick native who lived most of his life there, he took on home addition and remodeling jobs for many years throughout the South Hills and occasionally beyond. In his own garage, he made fine furniture for his family.
From 1972 to 1993, Mr. Sites taught carpentry at Langley, Allegheny and South high schools in the city and at the Ridge Avenue vocational-technical center. He was a graduate of the city school district's Connelley vo-tech center who obtained bachelor's and master's degrees in vocational education in the 1970s from the University of Pittsburgh.
He was a U.S. Coast Guard veteran who served on ships in the Pacific during the Korean War.
Mr. Sites is survived by his wife, Mildred M. Sites; a son, Joseph H., of Canonsburg; a brother, James, of New Kensington; and a sister, Anna Schuler, of Overbrook.
Friends will be received from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. today at John F. Slater Funeral Home, 4201 Brownsville Road, Brentwood. A prayer service will be held at 9:15 a.m. tomorrow at the funeral home, followed by a 10 a.m. Mass in St. Bernard Church, 311 Washington Road, Mt. Lebanon.
Memorial donations may be made to the Animal Rescue League, 6620 Hamilton Ave., Pittsburgh 15206.
Gary Rotstein can be reached at grotstein@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1255.

Old Stone Inn UPDATE

Old Stone Inn nominated for historic status

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

By Diana Nelson Jones, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Old Stone Inn in the West End has been nominated for city historic status, which stalls the progress of demolition plans and calls for hearings of the city's Historic Review Commission.

The prospective owner, Harris Masonry Inc., had applied for a permit to demolish the building and was due one within days of John DeSantis' nomination of the property last week. The property is at least 209 years old.

The first hearing on the matter could be at the commission's March meeting.

The owner of Harris Masonry did not return a call for comment, but Mr. DeSantis said he talked to a representative of the masonry company and the current owner, Mario Peticca, about his motive. "And they both get it," said Mr. DeSantis. "They understand the historic importance of the building."

He said he heard last week that the building might be demolished and "was shocked, stunned that this could be happening. I called the historic review staff for an application because I thought this [demolition] just can't happen."

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

First published on February 10, 2009 at 12:29 pm

Langley Wrestling Benefit

The Langley Wrestling Team benefit dance is just one week away!

Tickets will be available at the door for 12.50 per person!

Pizza and Beer is included, but you are welcome to bring your own dishes and drinks as well to enjoy with your group!

Any questions, please feel free to call me 412.583.7109

SAVE THE OLD STONE TAVERN

A local man by the name of Art Merrell is running a campaign to have the Old Stone Inn saved from demolition by petitioning the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. Let's hope the foundation delays the demolition long enough to review the historical importance of this structure. It is reported that the tavern once served Charles Dickens and George Washington. The research hopefully will show if that's true or not.

The building has historical importance for me. My Jeep once had electric problems and it stalled coming down Greentree Rd. I was stuck in the intersection in friont of the tavern during rush hour. 2 very good samaritans came out the tavern during Happy Hour and helped me push the vehicle to the side of the road. (Thank you Jimbo Evans). For this reason alone the building should be saved.

Please check out the following articles about this. Post Gazette and Tribune Review

Baseball / Softball Signups

The Elliott West End Athletic association will be Holding signups for TeeBall, Baseball, and Softball on February 7th, 11th, and 21st. If your kids want to play, make sure get up there on one of the above dates. I can't say enough good things about this program.

March 17th

Aldi's will be opening in the McKees Rocks plaza on March 17th. I know it's not opening in West End or Elliott, but it's still going to be great addition that that residents of our neighborhoods can utilize.

Here is a nice article from the PG West.

It's Been a While!

Well it's been a while since I was able to post anything on here, but I really don't think I missed too much. Let's see what's been going on:

*Theresa Smith won the Special Election to replace Dan Deasy on Pittsburgh City Council. Please read this ARTICLE in the Post-Gazette about her.


*Here in another ARTICLE for the PPG, she says that the West End Neighborhoods need to help themselves.


* There was nice little Police Chase through the West End after shots were fired near Sanctus Street, near the West End Police Station. Here are the DETAILS.


* Please log onto the West End Elliott Citizen Council website weec.org and read the article from the 1904 Pittsburgh Leader. It's located in the box on the right hand side of the page. Really Good Stuff.