01/22 2015
Community
12/19 2014
Peggy at SOCD 2013
One of our neighbors, Virginia “Peggy” Johnson passed away Wednesday morning. She was a regular attendee to SONG meetings and her help and contributions were invaluable to a number of activities and events including South Oakland Community Day. She will be greatly missed. Please check back for more info as we get it on arrangements.
- Viewing at 2-6 pm Sunday is at White Memorial Chapel 7204 Thomas Boulevard, Pittsburgh, PA 15208
- Funeral is Monday a 11:00 am at White Memorial Chapel
- Repast after the service is at St Benadict The Moor Church at 1500 Centre Ave (at Crawford Street)
12/18 2014
Topics include:
- American Eagle Outfitters supports OPDC’s School 2 Career program through education tax credit
- Joncaire Street to benefit from federal grant, community beautification project
- Mellinger Beer Distributor joins Oakland “Good Neighbor” effort
- Oakland landlords organize
- Development updates: Skyvue Apartments, Schenley High School redevelopment, UPMC’s master plan, and former Oakland School
- New stop signs enhance safety in Central Oakland
- Oakland Green Team updates: A new orchard, hundreds of daffodils, and a rain garden
- Oakland property spotlight: 241 Meyran Avenue
- Oakland façade grant recipients complete home restoration projects
- West Oakland’s The Corner looks to renovate cafe and performance space through crowdfunding
- Board spotlight: Meet Abass Kamara
- Eye on elected officials: An update from Pennsylvania District 19
- We’re hiring a Financial Coach
Allegheny County and the City of Pittsburgh — working in conjunction with the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University — will build joint technology infrastructure that will provide leaders and citizens with data-driven tools to improve the effectiveness of local government.
The Richard King Mellon Foundation has awarded $1.8 million to fund the first 18 months of the effort, supporting three major initiatives.
The city and county will create a Government Solutions Engineering team of data experts to seek ways to spur local government modernization and supply data-driven management tools to government leaders. The team will work on ways to make government more efficient and customer-friendly for residents; standardize data formats; better track public spending via performance-based budgeting; and synthesize data on tax delinquency and code enforcement to better track problem property owners.
Read the full press release:
City of Pittsburgh offices will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow and Friday, Nov. 28.
There will be refuse collection Friday however.
The Department of Public Works advises that there will not be any refuse, bulk waste or recycling collection on Thursday in observance of Thanksgiving Day.
The schedule will proceed as follows: If your scheduled day of collection is Thursday, Nov. 27, you will be serviced on Friday, Nov. 28. If your collection day is Friday, Nov. 28, you will be serviced Saturday, Nov. 29.
If you should have any questions concerning your collection, you may contact Environmental Services at 412-255-2773.
Update from Massaro regarding demo and construction of Skyvue, 3333 Forbes. I'll post the project sheet in the file section of this basecamp site. The email from massaro is as follows:
· We are still in the midst of demolition for the ACHD site. We expect to complete ACHD demo by the end of November. We are currently sifting through the now demolished building,completing foundations removal, and then will start demo to the 2 neighboring houses. They should be done by mid-December
· Shoring of the site is expected to begin in December.
· As for impacts to pedestrians and vehicle traffic, we will close the Fifth Avenue sidewalk in November to allow for water and gas services to 3342 Fifth to be relocated. This will result in detouring pedestrians to the opposite side of the street. When excavation starts, probably in December, we will close the Forbes Ave sidewalk and the Forbes Ave parking lane. This seems to be the safest and most efficient way to keep the project moving with minimal disruption to pedestrian and vehicle traffic. An MPT plan (maintenance and protection of traffic) has been prepared and approved for both closures by Pgh DPW.
10/29 2014
The City of Pittsburgh is in the process of preparing its 2010-19 Five-Year Consolidated Plan, Fiscal Year 2015 Annual Action Plan, and its Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice. The City has retained a planning consultant firm, Urban Design Ventures, LLC, to assist in the preparation of these plans. The City needs to prepare these documents in order to access CDBG, HOME, ESG, and HOPWA funds.
Public meetings will be held in order to get feedback and comments from the community. The following four (4) meetings will be held in the upcoming weeks. If you are able to, please attend any/all the meetings:
Larimer Kingsley Association (EAST)
Wednesday, November 12th, 2014
6:00 PM
6435 Frankstown Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15206
Shelter at Banksville Park (WEST)
Monday, November 17th, 2014
6:00 PM
1500 Crane Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15220
Knoxville Library (SOUTH)
Wednesday, November 19th, 2014
6:00 PM
400 Brownsville Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15206
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh – Allegheny (NORTH)
Monday, November 24th, 2014
6:00 PM
1230 Federal Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Next meeting: Wednesday, August 20th, 6pm. Location: Oakland Career Center, 294 Semple Street (enter from Louisa Street door). Please contact 412.621.7863 ext. 21 oroakwatch@opdc.org
For more information, go to
Next Meeting: Thursday, October 16, 6pm, The Oakland Career Center, 294 Semple Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213. Contact greenteam@opdc.org or 412.621.7863 ext. 14
For more information, go to
The UPMC Institutional Master Plan is scheduled for Planning Commission action on Tuesday, October 21, 2:00 PM, 200 Ross Street, First Floor hearing room.
This would be a continued hearing from May 13.
The plan and a recently-added appendix can be found here, left side of the page:
09/30 2014
9/26 Freestyle Friday Open Mic *RESCHEDULED*: Enjoy music, spoken word, and poetry on Friday, October 10th at 7pm. This is guaranteed to be a great time! $5 admission. Tasty refreshments provided.
The next meeting of the West Oakland Neighborhood Council is Tuesday, October 7th from 6:30-8:00.
Corner Café OPEN for Fall: Come visit us Monday through Thursday from 7:30am to 10:30am. Stop in before work or school for a warm cup of coffee, tea or hot chocolate! We also have a tasty breakfast menu: butter cake, homemade muffins, cookies, breakfast bars and sandwiches! Free Wi-Fi and a friendly atmosphere!
Dollar Bank’s inaugural MORTGAGES FOR MEN homebuyers workshop is on Saturday, October 11, 2014 beginning at 9am. Held at the Convention Center, this workshop will focus on Dollar Bank’s free Home Ownership Program available to all first-time homebuyers. The workshop will also focus on homeownership opportunities, addressing credit issues, budgeting and savings tips, downpayment and closing cost assistance options and special mortgage products. Call 1-800-345-3655 for reservations.
***
AROUND THE CORNER is sponsored by The Corner, 200 Robinson Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, a program of Friendship Community Church. Please forward this email to neighbors, friends, and family who’d be interested in these events.
Corner Café OPEN for Fall: Come visit us Monday through Thursday from 7:30am to 10:30am. Stop in before work or school for a warm cup of coffee, tea or hot chocolate! We also have a tasty breakfast menu: butter cake, homemade muffins, cookies, breakfast bars and sandwiches! Free Wi-Fi and a friendly atmosphere!
Dollar Bank’s inaugural MORTGAGES FOR MEN homebuyers workshop is on Saturday, October 11, 2014 beginning at 9am. Held at the Convention Center, this workshop will focus on Dollar Bank’s free Home Ownership Program available to all first-time homebuyers. The workshop will also focus on homeownership opportunities, addressing credit issues, budgeting and savings tips, downpayment and closing cost assistance options and special mortgage products. Call 1-800-345-3655 for reservations.
***
AROUND THE CORNER is sponsored by The Corner, 200 Robinson Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, a program of Friendship Community Church. Please forward this email to neighbors, friends, and family who’d be interested in these events.
For more information:
New information on the development at the former health department site. It is known as Skyvue – address: 3333 Forbes Ave.
Demolition will commence Oct 6th and will take four weeks for the main building and one week each for the two adjacent houses. Asbestos abatement is under way now. There will be 6 – 10 trucks per day to/from the site during demolition. Trucks will enter through the existing driveway on Forbes and either exit there or exit via Euler Way. The sidewalk will remain open during demolition except when work is happening close to Forbes.
Tentative construction start will be excavation in November. During construction, there will be more trucks to the site; they will instruct them to enter and exit from the driveway on Forbes and not to use Euler Way.
For both demolition and construction, they will instruct workers not to park on residential streets.
ACHD-Demo-Logistics-Plan.pdf
ACHD-Demo-Plan-Rev-2014.09.25.pdf
Skyvue-Logistics-Plan.pdf
Thanks to the Western PA Conservancy and Phipps Conservatory, the Oakland Green Team has free daffodil bulbs to beautify Oakland neighborhoods.
Planting sites should be viewable to the public.
For more details:
Check with SONG to volunteer to help plant these bulbs this fall.
Two Oakland cases will be heard in Housing Court on September 18th at 10am:
3275 Parkview Avenue:
Violation: Failure to repair/replace sidewalk or driveway
Owner: Marie A. Drak
and
3325 Parkview Avenue:
Violation: Garbage and debris throughout property/ Incorrect handrails on front entry steps, exterior steps and interior basement steps/ Deteriorating roof drains, gutters and downspouts
Owner: Peter Kamaras
Magistrate Ricciardi’s courtroom is located at 1700 Carson Street.
If you are able to go, please confirm attendance with Oakwatch: The Oakland Code Enforcement at Oakwatch @ opdc.org or (412) 621-7863 x27
Wednesday, September 17, 12pm, at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, located at 234 McKee Place. Please RSVP by contacting 412.621.7863 ext. 21 or oakwatch@opdc.org
For more information, go to