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Last link in Great Allegheny Passage

By Jon Schmitz, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Allegheny County and Sandcastle Waterpark are expected to announce an agreement within days that will allow completion of the last missing piece of a biking and hiking trail linking Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.

“I really expect we’ll have a formal announcement in the next couple days,” said James Judy, vice president of operations for Palace Entertainment, owner of the park.

“I believe that is probably going to be the case,” agreed county spokesman Kevin Evanto.

The deal would cap years of negotiations aimed at finding a way to accommodate the trail on the park’s narrow strip of land between a railroad line and the Monongahela River.

The roughly one-mile stretch is the last link in the 150-mile Great Allegheny Passage from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, Md., where it connects to the C&O Towpath to Washington.

When all is complete, it will be possible to bike about 335 continuous, mostly flat miles from Pittsburgh to the nation’s capital without interference from motorized traffic.

The former owners of Sandcastle for years resisted efforts to build the trail through the park, saying there wasn’t enough room.

“The next time you visit Sandcastle take a close look at the tight access road and try to visualize a 10-foot-wide trail running between the road and the railroad tracks. I hope you will conclude that not having the available land wide enough for a trail does not make us stubborn,” said Peter McAneny, then-president of Kennywood Entertainment, in a 2008 letter to the Post-Gazette.

[ Full story available at: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10194/1072356-455.stm?cmpid=HBEHTML#ixzz0tZOYFJWt ]

Parents and community leaders plan after-school program for middle schoolers

By Vivian Nereim, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The aging gymnasium is an unlikely place to hold the hopes of a community. The walls are faded orange and the basketball hoops have long been out of service, bare backboards with painted-over graffiti. It is cold in the winter and stuffy in the summer. The floor is uneven, coated with dust.

But parents and stakeholders in Homestead believe that with enough money and hard work, the empty gymnasium off 17th Avenue could become a haven for their children, who have little to do after Steel Valley Middle School lets out except sit in the Carnegie Library or wander the streets.

“If they’re not somewhere safe, then they’re on the corner, or they’re watching somebody fighting,” said the Rev. Terry Groce, the mother of a 12-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl.

For more than six months, the Rev. Jim Cannistraci has been formulating a plan to give Steel Valley Middle School students a safe space to stay after school, supervised and well-fed.

“None of us want to have to go through another school year and not have a place for our kids,” said Rev. Cannistraci, executive director of the Methodist Union of Social Agencies (MUSA), an organization that has provided services for the Mon and Steel Valley for eight decades.

With the school year fast approaching, Rev. Cannistraci and his allies are searching for enough funding to turn the gymnasium into a state-licensed facility where MUSA can host an after-school program for middle schoolers until 7 p.m., Monday through Friday.

[ Full story available at: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10193/1072156-55.stm#ixzz0tTPLbNty ]

By Michael DiVittorio,
McKeesport Daily News (via Trib)

Steel Valley School District property owners should expect to pay more in real estate taxes next year.

School directors at Tuesday night’s meeting unanimously approved a proposed 2010-11 budget with a tax hike of 2.86 mills, setting the millage at 24.07 mills.

The increase is the maximum allowed by the state, with a .86-mill increase through the Act 1 index and 2 mills allowed through special exemptions. Expenses are listed at $27,570,375 and revenue at $27,950,668, leaving an expected surplus of more than $380,000.

“I don’t like it, but I had to approve it,” school director Donald Bajus said.

The budget will be available for public review June 9, advertised for final adoption June 19, and up for a final vote June 29.

District business manager Mark Cherpak said the proposed budget contains all the revenue and expenses as listed at the last finance committee meeting.

Those figures are $11.2 million in local property taxes, $1 million from delinquent real estate collection, $800,000 from earned income tax, $100,000 from realty transfer tax and $200,000 in other local revenue.

[ Full story available at: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/dailynewsmckeesport/s_683022.html ]

By Michael DiVittorio,
McKeesport Daily News (via Trib)

Homestead police have identified a Steel Valley Midget Football Association coach who is facing gun and drug charges in connection with a raid of his borough home.

Police Chief Jeff DeSimone identified Terrence Waddell, 26, of 314 W. Twelfth Ave., Monday morning as the suspect who jumped from a second-story window and landed on his head in an attempt to elude officers executing a search warrant on Friday.

Waddell suffered wrist, head and back injuries as a result of that attempted escape. He was transported to UPMC Presbyterian, and was transferred over the weekend to Allegheny County Jail, where he is being held on $500,000 bond, DeSimone said.

Waddell faces charges of possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession with intent to deliver, felony weapons charges, two counts of receiving stolen property, and possibly other charges in connection with the Friday incident, police said.

DeSimone said a collaborative effort among Munhall police, Homestead police and informants led to the investigation that ended with Waddell’s arrest.

[Full story available at: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/dailynewsmckeesport/s_675108.html]

By Michael DiVittorio,
McKeesport Daily News (via Trib)

Steel Valley High School football players got the man they wanted as their new head coach.

The school board on Tuesday unanimously approved the hiring of West Homestead resident Rodney R. Steele II to replace Ray Braszo, who resigned as the Ironmen’s head coach after being hired as West Mifflin Area’s football coach last month.

Steel Valley players Delrece Williams, Jared Juristy and Nolan McGuire, all heading into their senior season, came to the February workshop meeting to lend their support for Steele before the new coaching position even had been posted.

Their request was honored Tuesday night, and Steele was welcomed with a round of applause.

“It’s good getting a fresh start here,” Steele said after the meeting. “It’s an honor and a privilege to be able to come back home and serve as a head football coach where you reside and where you’re employed. I’m familiar with the kids in the area. I look forward to working with the faculty and administration, and also helping these young men achieve their goals in football and in society as being well-rounded citizens.”

Steele coached many of the team’s current players when he served as Steel Valley Youth Football Organization’s offensive coordinator in 2003 and defensive coordinator in 2004.

[Full story available at: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/dailynewsmckeesport/s_673148.html]