Reminder! Meeting @ The Union Project

COMMUNITY MEETING – DEVELOPMENT IN EAST LIBERTY

Monday, MARCH 31,2008
6:30-8:30pm

The Union Project will host a Community Meeting to discuss the recent and upcoming residential and commercial development in the East Liberty area. This event will act as an open forum for community members to ask and answer questions about this important community change. Community organizations, partners and housing advocacy groups will be in attendance for this event to help answer question that community members may have. Attendees will aid in the creation for the discussion topics for the Monday Night Conversation Series held every Monday night in the month of April.

The free event will be held at the Union Project.

For more information contact hilary@unionproject.org or 412-363-4550 x 26.

HELP US "CLEAN UP" APRIL 19

The Great PA Cleanup and the Citizens Against Litter are once again encouraging folks to do a cleanup in their areas.

Cleanup day for Mellon and Jackson Streets is scheduled for Saturday, April 19th, from 9 am to Noon. Everyone please meet at the intersection of Mellon and Jackson.

Just come---bags and gloves will be provided.

Cleanup will cover the area between Hampton, N Euclid, Stanton, and Heths Run. The more people that participate the bigger area that gets cleaned up!

The plan is to leave all the trash at the same intersection (Mellon and Jackson) for the City to pick up.

This is a great opportunity to not only pick up trash, but get to know others in the neighborhood as well as to see what our part of the neighborhood looks like.

The City should pick up most everything, even tires and an effort will be made to recycle too.

Beware Always!

From an email sent through the Highland Park Community email list.

Just want to give everyone a heads up about an incident that occurred at my house in Morningside – which is only 6 houses in from the border with Highland Park, about a 3 block walk from the Union Project. Ultimately, nothing criminal occurred – but it was very suspicious.

Between 9:30 and 10:00 pm on Easter Sunday (3/23/08), I heard a loud knock at my front door. The man at the door introduced himself as “Oliver” and described himself as a neighbor whose car had broken down and he just needed some help – just $3 would do it. As if to prove his case, he pressed a drivers license up against the window of my front door (I never opened the door). When I said I couldn’t help him, but I’d be happy to call the police to come and help him out, he said “No, please don’t do that, there’s no need for that.” By the time I had gone to grab my phone and come back to the front door, he was gone. I called 911 to report the incident and an officer came by within 15 minutes or so, spotlighting my property first and then coming to the front door to talk with me before further patrolling the area.

“Oliver” was African American, medium to light complexion, in his 30’s or 40’s, with a mustache and wearing a gray hat (an “ivy cap” style hat according to my search online). I was not able to read his drivers license through my window. His obvious panic when I said I’d be happy to call the police to come help him was the most striking thing about the conversation

Very Disturbing Event

A Highland Park resident writes that this happened in the 5500 block of Wellesley Avenue:

Just wanted to let everyone know about a very disturbing event that
happened on Thursday. When I arrived home at around 5 pm, my neighbor had
just come out to scare off 4 young men who came up on my porch. (Perhaps
to urinate?) There were no signs of break-in. I had just missed them, but
my neighbor told me what the boys were wearing. I drove around the block
and saw them only a block away. A police car was in the neighborhood so I
pulled up and explained the situation and where I saw the young men. Just
a little while later four police cars had the four boys cuffed. On his way
home my husband stopped to ask the police about it (after I had phoned
him.) It turned out one of the boys had a gun.

Again, I haven't heard anything more about it, but I wanted to alert
everyone in the neighborhood.

Source: Highland Park Neighborhood Group Email list---to get on this list go to: Highland Park Community website.

Volunteers Needed to Pass Out Flyers!

Flyering for Community Meeting & Monday Evening Conversations: "Owning
Your Community"

We will need volunteers to pass out flyers throughout East Liberty to
local residents.There will be a community meeting on Monday, March 31st to preface a series called Monday Evening Conversations at the Union Project in East Liberty.

These are held as a platform for local residents to discuss important issues such as race and community ownership. This volunteer opportunity is extremely important to getting the community involved in an important educational events.

Please dress for the weather, as you will be outside.

Date: Saturday, March 22nd
Time: 12pm-2pm
Location: 801 N. Negley Ave, Pittsburgh. PA 15206

Here is a little blurb about The Union Project, if you don't already know:

The Union Project is located at 801 N. Negley Avenue at the corner of Stanton Avenue and is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing community space to connect, create, and celebrate. The Union Project brings Pittsburgh communities together through mission-based businesses and community events for youth and adults. The Union Project's businesses include stained glass restoration, a ceramics studio and co-op, office and events space rental, and Eat UP café and catering. The Union Project also provides a teaching environment that allows individuals with barriers to employment to attain specialized job skills, take pride in their work, and connect with the local community.

OBSERVE AND REPORT

We attended the monthly Zone 5 Public Safety Meeting Tuesday evening, March 11th---attendance was small. Libby and I were the only two from Highland Park. Fran E. came in later. Representatives from Patrick Dowd, Bill Peduto and the Mayor's office also attended.

After the usual order of business---a speaker from the Center for Victims of Violent Crimes spoke then Commander Brackney. The Commander told us there has been "a serious decrease in crime in Zone 5" since last year." She attributes this decline to more people reporting and calling 911. She also told us because of her connections in other cities, like New York and Chicago---she gets from them advice on programs and ideas to initiate in our own community.

Someone asked the Commander what she thought of the Friendship neighborhood using private security guards. Brackney suggested first to start a neighborhood walking group to see what happens. Not a big group, just get four to five people together, walk your blocks and she offered

"...if you get a walking group together, I will have a beat officer walk with you two times a week. Not forever but for a while..."

(Let's get this idea started on our block soon! We can be first to get an officer to walk with us. Let's try this out next week? Ok?)

The Commander also advised everyone that if you are going to be away from your home for any extended time to call Zone 5 so a 911 Alert can be placed on your house.

Later in the meeting, Cmdr. Brackney introduced two narcotic officers to the group. The officers reported that over the last two months seven arrests were made at the pay phone in front of Negley Drugstore at the corner of Negley and Stanton Avenues. These were drug arrests and according to the officers are related to activities on Portland and Mellon Street.

Libby asked the officers if anything was being done about the suspicious activities in the 900 block of Portland. She was told "it's in the works."

Cmdr. Brackney says to email her with any concerns you have in your neighborhood. And when doing so to be as detailed as possible. Addresses with house numbers, time of day, type of car, etc.

So...that is pretty much the extent of this Zone 5 Public Safety meeting.

Update from Councilman Patrick Dowd

This is from Elaine at Councilman Dowd's office concerning the idea of parking permits:

There are two minimums any permit parking area must meet: it must
include 10 block faces and 100 spaces, and it must result in the
issuance of at least 100 permits.

The first step in the process would be for a resident of the area to
call the administrator (Richard Meritzer -- 412.255.2102) and ask to be
put on the consideration list. Once the neighborhood comes up for
consideration, Mr. Meritzer will go out and do an evaluation.

The bad news: there is currently a 5 year waiting list to be added to
the program. It is possible, however, that if there is a reasonably
contiguous area already on the list, you could add yourselves to that
application. The only area that really comes close right now is the
triangle between Friendship, Negley, and Baum. Mr. Meritzer would be the
one to determine if the streets in consideration are reasonably
contiguous.

Community Meeting March 31, 2007

From The Union Project

COMMUNITY MEETING – DEVELOPMENT IN EAST LIBERTY - MAR. 31
Monday, March 31st, from 6:30-8:30pm the Union Project will host a Community Meeting to discuss the recent and upcoming residential and commercial development in the East Liberty area. This event will act as an open forum for community members to ask and answer questions about this important community change. Community organizations, partners and housing advocacy groups will be in attendance for this event to help answer question that community members may have. Attendees will aid in the creation for the discussion topics for the Monday Night Conversation Series held every Monday night in the month of April. The free event will be held at the Union Project. For more information contact hilary@unionproject.org or 412-363-4550 x 26.

Roxanna Way (800 block)

Elaine Zelmanov emailed me yesterday, she's the Chief of Staff for Councilman Patrick Dowd, Pittsburgh City Council District 7. Elaine told me she put in a request to get Roxanna Way paved this year. Hopefully we won't have to buy a load of slag to combat the holes and divots caused by all this rain, snow and years of driving up and down the alley. I'll keep you posted when I get more information.

311

Don't forget the City of Pittsburgh has a 3-1-1 line. Please call 311 for any requests, complaints, suggestions or services you may need from the city of Pittsburgh. It is a great way to get your voice heard.

It is a NEW Day in the neighborhood!

Ok friends it's been a long time since I've updated this blog but I am back now! I will try to be better about updating this site. I've let it lag a bit because it was getting frustrating ranting about the same issues all the time. But in the last couple of months we've gotten to know more of our neighbors and there seem to be a keen interest in helping to make this little quadrant of Highland Park a nicer and safer place for all.


Check out this article from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette about security cameras .

City eyes widened security camera coverage
Hires N.C. company to help buy system, develop a timetable
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
By Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The city of Pittsburgh has taken a step toward deploying many more security cameras by hiring a North Carolina firm to guide it through the surveillance world and setting a six-month timetable to pick a system.

N.W. Getz and Associates, of Charlotte, N.C., will be the city's sherpa through the high-tech world of surveillance cameras, the computer networks that guide them and the rules that prevent their abuse. By early June, the firm and the city expect to have chosen a company to build a system backbone and put in enough cameras to watch the port facilities and nearby areas.

Then comes a phased deployment that starts with port facilities and the integration of existing public and private camera systems. It then expands into neighborhood business districts and the creation of mobile surveillance systems for temporary deployment to crime hot spots, city Public Safety Director Michael Huss said yesterday.

"We know that it's not the end-all, but it's another tool our police can use to make our city safer," he said.

The city's contract with N.W. Getz started Dec. 20, and runs through May. The firm will get $36,832, or slightly more than 1 percent of the $3.45 million the city expects to spend on the initial phase of its effort.

The firm was picked by an internal city committee after 21 companies responded to a request for information on their experience in the security camera industry. N.W. Getz has served as a consultant to the University of Pittsburgh campus police and to Heinz Field, as well as other sports venues and developments, and Mr. Huss said it got good reviews from its clients.

By late February, the firm and city expect to release a request for proposals from camera firms. A series of evaluations and interviews will follow. By May 28, the city plans to notify the winning firm, and then start negotiating the details of a contract.

The city's initial plan called for integrating "several hundred" cameras already owned by governments and businesses into one, centrally-monitored system. Atop that technological backbone would sit several dozen new cameras on bridges, tall buildings and in Point State Park. License plate reading devices and gunshot-detection systems might also be part of the first phase.

In a later phase, the city would spread cameras over six-square-block sectors in high-crime areas, and create a movable system that could follow crime shifts from neighborhood to neighborhood, Mr. Huss said. Funding for that phase hasn't been identified.

The initial focus on port areas is driven by the source of the available money: a $2.59 million Department of Homeland Security grant for port security, plus $862,000 in city matching funds.

"In guarding the port, we're actually covering our major corridors and routes," said Mr. Huss. Port security, he noted, can be construed to include the bridges that carry most of the traffic into and out of Downtown.

"We do want to eventually secure additional funding and get it out in our neighborhoods," he said. That, of course, is where privacy concerns could become most acute.

"These cameras are going to be in public areas, and in public areas there's not a high expectation of privacy," he said. Avoiding misuse is "going to be something that we're always going to have to monitor."

Rich Lord can be reached at rlord@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1542.
First published on January 1, 2008 at 12:00 am

Also a reminder the next monthly Zone 5 Public Safety Meeting is March 11th at 7:00 p.m. It's held at the Union Project

The Union Project is located on the corner of Stanton and Negley.

We'll see you there!