"Allegheny Grows" More Urban Farms

 

Allegheny County officials announced Monday that they are looking for applications from more municipalities and neighborhood groups interested in participating in the third year of the "Allegheny Grows" program.  Communities and organizations selected will get gardening supplies and technical support for two years. 

The program's benefits extend beyond providing a source of vegetables for food banks.  "Allegheny Grows" teaches communities how to develop and operate urban farms and community food gardens. They create a catalyst for community development, job training, environmental stewardship and youth education. Such gardens also reduce urban storm water runoff, minimize erosion, absorb carbon dioxide and reflect as much as 25 percent of the sun's heat, according to the county. They also can provide shelter for wildlife and support migratory bird species.

During the first two years of the program, gardens and urban farms have been set up in Millvale, McKees Rocks, Penn Hills and Wilkinsburg in addition to Bellevue. Plans call for expanding the program to at least two more communities next spring. Allegheny Grows programs are limited to municipalities and organizations operating in communities where at least 47 percent of residents qualify as low- to moderate-income families.  More information is available by calling 412-350-1198 or visiting the Economic Development Department Web site at economic.alleghenycounty.us. Click on the "Allegheny Grows Application" under the "Features" listing on the right-hand side of the page.

Potential applicants must attend one of two information sessions scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. Sept. 7 in the Millvale Community Center or 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Sept. 12 in the Wilkinsburg Housing Resource Center.  Completed applications must be postmarked or submitted in person by Sept. 30. Interviews and site visits will take place during October with awards announced in November.

Allegheny Grows

Bellevue

McKees Rocks

Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate

Penn Hills

Wilkinsburg

McKees Rocks Gets "Jiffy" Park

Volunteers "create" Third Street Park in McKees Rocks

The flat 3.2-acre Third Street Park in McKees Rocks received a mountain of mulch on Friday morning but was otherwise barren except for a picnic pavilion that had been erected earlier this summer by 25 corporate volunteers.  But by 3 o'clock, the park had a KaBOOM! playground with slides, swings, ladders and other climbing devices in vivid shades of orange, yellow and blue.

More than 200 corporate and community volunteers -- including Pittsburgh Penguins coach Dan Bylsma-- labored mightily to excavate the mulch mountain. That was after they dug holes, mixed and poured cement, installed playground equipment and built a gazebo, a horse shoe pit, eight picnic tables and four benches. The workers used shovels to load mulch into wheel barrows and big sheets of plastic and rakes to spread mulch around the swings and slides and into a winding walkway. Though a mid-morning storm with thunder and lightning mandated a 30-minute halt to construction, workers beat the 3 p.m. completion deadline by 10 minutes.

The Pens sent 45 employees from the front office and Mr. Bylsma. They worked the entire playground construction shift, with the coach wearing a purple do-rag on his head and the same grey teeshirt worn by all the volunteers.

The corporate sponsor of this endeavor was the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group. The group is spending $15 million over three years to build or fix up 2,000 playgrounds across the country.  About $75,000 went to the Third Street playground. Forty Snapple Group employees worked on the McKees Rocks project. Other volunteers include elected officials and employees of McKees Rocks, the McKees Rocks Community Development Corporation and organizers from KaBOOM! as well as borough residents. Duquesne Light Co., which sent volunteers in June to build the pavilion, returned on Friday to help with the playground.
 

Neighborhood children were consulted about what equipment should go into their park. Some of them even showed up to help, including Andy Cochran, a fourth-grade student. "This is like my second home," he said of the park that is within walking distance of his house. "I've been here since 10:30 and I've done a little bit of everything, including hauling mulch."

Future improvements are planned for Third Street Park, including the installation of bocci courts.

McKees Rocks
Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate

Dargate Auction Gallery Moves To The Rocks

New home in former sanctuary of St. Mark Slavish Roman Catholic Church

Dargate Auction Gallery had to move more than 10,000 square feet of art and antiques when they moved from North Point Breeze to the former St. Mark Slavish Roman Catholic Church on Munson Avenue in McKees Rocks.  It was a herculean task .... One marble sculpture weighed 800 pounds as did a marble fireplace.

Taris Vrcek, executive director of the McKees Rocks Community Development Corp., pointed Dargate toward the closed Catholic church that was owned by its neighbor, St. Nicholas Orthodox Church.  The inside had the look of a museum because of its pillars, curves and its ceiling.  It was a perfect setting for the Gallery.

At present, new wheelchair-accessible bathrooms have been installed, along with new signage and emergency lighting.  A sign out front directs visitors to a wheelchair ramp and leads to the passenger elevator.  With the former church and rectory, Dargate now has about 15,000 square feet of space.  Renovations to the rectory will be made over time.

The Rev. Tom Soroka, pastor of St. Nicholas, said parish members made a decision three years ago to stay and do literally everything they could to transform the neighborhood.  Dargate's arrival turns out to be the beginning of their vision to revitalize the "Bottoms".

McKees Rocks has a population of 6,100 according to the 2010 census.  The Bottoms are accessed by the McKees Rocks Bridge, the longest span in Allegheny County.  Dargate owner Dan Zivko says the neighborhood reminds him of Coventry, an artsy section of Cleveland's East Side that has book shops, music stores, fashionable boutiques and restaurants.  Noting that his brother is a chef, he said he has been looking at other neighborhood property with an eye toward opening a restaurant years from now.

Mr. Vrcek believes the Bottoms can become a magnet, noting that 22,000 vehicles cross the McKees Rocks Bridge daily.  He knows the neihborhood well because his paternal grandparents emigrated from Croatia and ran the V&R Lounge as well as Vrcek's Restaurant on Helen Street.

"You have committed lifelong residents here.  You have newcomers and the first wave of what we call pioeers," said Mr Vrcek.

Sounds like that could be the right recipe for success.

Dargate Auction Galleries

McKees Rocks

Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate

More "Allegheny Grows" Gardens Sprouting Up

Millevale's Uban Garden

"Allegheny Grows" is itself growing with urban-agriculture projects spreading to three more communities:  Bellevue, Wilkinsburg and Penn Hills. This year is the second for the program designed to dress up empty lots, build community spirit, encourage local organizing, aid the environment and provide fresh produce for local food pantries.  The source of the money is federal community development block grants.  Allegheny Grows has a budget this year of about $75,000, and in addition to setting up the three new agricultural projects, the funds will be used to cover second-year costs for garden projects begun last year in Millvale and McKees Rocks.

Bellevue's project will be an urban farm on Davis Avenue on a 1-acre vacant tract owned by North Hills Community Outreach. The land had been donated in 2008 to the faith-based North Hills Community Outreach by the Amelio family for an organic garden. Most of the labor for the organic farming effort will be provided by volunteers, supervised by a part-time agency employee. Produce grown there will be donated to food pantries.

Wilkinsburg's urban farm is a 2-acre site in the city's Hamnett Place neighborhood. The land is owned by Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, which already is involved with several housing renewal projects in the community. Allegheny Grows will be working with a citizens organization called Hamnett Place Community Garden Association to plant and care for the site.

Penn Hills officials are providing a water truck and leaf-mulch compost for its community garden on the site of a former municipal ball field. The tract had been planted as a garden last year by a youth group. Produce grown through this year's effort will benefit up to three local food pantries.

Second-year Allegheny Grows' assistance to gardens in Millvale and McKees Rocks will include providing both seedlings and some technical advice from Grow Pittsburgh. Millvale also will receive several rain-collecting barrels and McKees Rocks will get help in edging its garden beds and making them accessible to people with disabilities.

Grow Pittsburgh

Bellevue

McKees Rocks

Millvale

Penn Hills

Wilkinsburg

Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate

McKees Rocks' Miles Bryan School May Become Condos

Miles Bryan School

The McKees Rocks Development Corp (MRDC) is hoping to have a developer on board in the next 12 months to turn the vacant Miles Bryan School into 20-30 luxury loft condos.  The former school has a spectacular view of the Pittsburgh skyline as well as unique terraced grounds.  Miles Bryan was built in 1927 and served as a high school to McKees Rocks' youths until 1966 when McKees Rocks School District merged with Sto-Rox.  It then continued on as Sto-Rox Middle School until 1997 when its doors were closed because expensive renovations needs proved too costly for the district.  It was sold to a developer in 2001 where MRDC holds an option.

"We see Miles Bryan as a viable and marketable property," said Taris Vrcek, director of MRDC.  "We're seeking a developer with the imagination to share our vision of what is possible."  Read more ....

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New Roxian Theater Revitalizes The Rocks!

Left vacant for years, McKees Rock’s “Roxian Theater” on Chartiers Ave is now scheduled for a total restoration which will bring the venue back to its Art Deco roots. Built in 1928, it served as a movie theater until the late 1970s. Old film reels and movie projectors, circa 1931, are still sitting in the projector room and its original stage …. believed to be used for vaudeville acts ….. is still intact.

After its closing in the 70s, it re-opened as “The Emerald Room”, a 1500-seat concert and banquet hall facility, but was subsequently shut down again about four years ago. The McKees Rocks Community Development Corporation was eager to take this project on as it felt the Roxian was a central piece to the successful revitalization of the lower Chartiers Ave business district.

When the new-and-improved Roxian does open in the spring of 2010, it will fill a much-needed concert venue hole in the Pittsburgh area …… That of the “smaller” concert house. Our entertainment options will be greatly expanded as we now have a place for acts and artists which have not yet achieved mega-star status. This is great news for McKees Rocks and very exciting news for Pittsburgh as a whole

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