Munhall
By David Whipkey
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Some parents of children attending Steel Valley middle and high schools will be seeking alternative methods of getting the students to class later this spring.
Beginning April 4, the Port Authority will discontinue the 55D West Run-Brierly Lane and 61F Homestead Park bus routes as part of the agency’s Transit Development Plan. According to Steel Valley Superintendent William Kinavey, about 60 students from both the middle and high school use Port Authority service to get to and from school.
Resident Gerry Hawkins asked the school board last week if anything can be done to help those students affected make it to school in a safe manner should no bus service be available.
“This has been reported all through the media,” Ms. Hawkins said of the service changes in Homestead, Munhall and West Homestead. “I know we do not have school buses in the district.”
Board officials said they planned to contact Port Authority to explore possible alternative transit options for affected students.
“I think that we should definitely have a meeting with the Port Authority to see what we can do,” school director Michael Terrick said. “We need to give the parents tools that can help secure some kind of transit to school for their children.”
[Full story available at: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10063/1040014-55.stm]
Two administrators in the Steel Valley School District learned a lesson last week about social media and the eyes it can provide to the public.
On Feb. 9, someone took photos of Steel Valley director of facilities Dennis Keesecker supervising the plowing – with the use of a school district truck – of the driveway at the Munhall home of Mark Cherpak, director of operational services for the district.
The event was captured several days after a major snowstorm dumped about 2 feet of snow on the area and at a time when many homeowners in the district were still digging themselves out.
The photos, nine in all, were taken from a vantage point across from and above Mr. Cherpak’s home. Some appear to have been shot through a screen.
They were posted on the Facebook page that is linked to the Munhall News Watch website. The website is maintained by Munhall resident Larry Rettger and is not affiliated with the municipality.
No one is sure who posted the photos; the posting name could not be verified.
[ Full story available at: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10049/1036526-55.stm?cmpid=neighborhoods.xml ]
By Mary Niederberger
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The president of the Steel Valley school board and the district’s superintendent walked out of last night’s meeting as a resident was attempting to discuss a citizen coalition she is trying to form to work with the board and administration on district projects and programs.
The abrupt end came after a meeting during which the board, at the recommendation of Superintendent William Kinavey, eliminated three administrative positions and created another without much explanation.
After the board’s actions and during the citizen comments portion at the end of the meeting, resident Sharon Ford had used the three-minute time limit the board has imposed on public comments. She wanted to continue, but board President Joseph Ducar announced her time had expired and immediately gaveled the meeting to a close. Then, he and Dr. Kinavey abruptly walked out of the meeting.
The rest of the board, with the exception of school director Edward McCallister who was absent, remained and continued a discussion with Ms. Ford for approximately 20 more minutes. Several board members explained to Ms. Ford that it is common practice for public bodies to impose time limits on comments.
Ms. Ford has exceeded the time limit during previous addresses to the board and has tried to maintain that it is not legal for the school board to enforce the limit.
In the end, board members encouraged Ms. Ford to prepare and deliver a written report to board secretary Mark Cherpak to be included in the packets that they receive on the Fridays before board meetings. The hope is that would eliminate the need for long presentations by Ms. Ford.
[ Full story available at: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09175/979489-100.stm ]
By Ken Fibbe
Tribune-Review
The Carnegie Library of Homestead receives “horrendous” support from government and is seeking more money to combat the effects of the recession on the library’s music hall and fitness center, board president Dan Lloyd said.
“We aren’t in dire straits, but we still need more money,” Lloyd said.
Marilyn Jenkins, executive director of the Allegheny County Library Association, said the four municipalities the library serves gave it about $25,000 last year, far less than the $5 per capita the state requires. Munhall, Homestead, West Homestead and Whitaker have a combined population of about 19,000 people.
The Regional Asset District, funded by an extra 1 percent on the county’s sales tax, supports 44 libraries in Allegheny County and gave $67,000 to the Homestead library last year. The library could get more RAD money by 2010 if the library association approves a funding formula that would lessen emphasis on municipal support, Executive Director David Donahoe said.
[ Full story available at: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_625426.html ]
By Karamagi Rujumba
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
In a field of knee-high grass behind the hulking frame of what is left of Carrie Furnace — an expanse of blast furnaces that once produced as much as 1,200 tons of iron per day for the former Homestead Works of U.S. Steel mill — sits a rusted torpedo car.
The cylindrical container made of steel, together with hundreds more, was at one time an indispensable tool in the steel producing days of the Mon Valley. Back when massive steel factories still churned plumes of smoke over much of the region, torpedo cars didn’t sit rusting away.
They were used to treat and transport iron via a hot metal rail bridge that runs across half of the Carrie Furnace site in Rankin and Swissvale, over the Monongahela River, and into Homestead where it was made into steel.
That era is long gone, but Allegheny County, which in 2005 bought the 168-acre land parcel where the Carrie Furnace had operated for 102 years, is in the final stages of environmental cleanup and expects to start marketing the land for redevelopment this year.
[ Full article available at: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09138/970906-56.stm ]
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A collection of news articles focused on the communities of Pittsburgh’s Steel Valley.
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