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NON-PROFIT U.S. POSTAGE PAID PITTSBURGH, PA Permit No. 2403 Volume 32, No. 5 Serving Bloomfield, Friendship, Garfield, East Liberty and Lawrenceville since 1975 May 2007 District 7, 9 City Council Candidates Address Friendship Residents at Candidate Forum Friendship holds a unique place in the city financial issues similar By Mandy Kendall feels the city must such as the Horoscope in Garfield and JK’s of Pittsburgh, having the honor of being to what the city now The Bulletin set to improve its in Lawrenceville, as well as helping to represented by three different Council faces. Dowd says that future. establish neighborhood block watches to members. he feels that tackling the city’s financial Dowd’s opponent, Councilman Len curtail violent and criminal activity. With two of those seats essentially up for issues should absolutely be a top priority. Bodack, says that he was not able to attend Bodack also brought resources that led to grabs in the upcoming May primary (there “If we don’t get our finances under con- the candidate’s forum due to a personal drug arrests and the confiscation of over are no Republican or third party challengers trol,” Dowd said, “we will have to deal with conflict. In comments submitted to The 300 bags of heroin at the corner of Stanton for either of the seats) Friendship it five, ten years down the road.” Bulletin, Bodack pointed to accomplish- and Negley Avenues. Development Associates and Friendship “It’s time to throw out the playbook and ments during his time in office that he feels Bodack also points to recently introduced Preservation Group hosted a candidate start to rethink how we do things here.” reflect his ability to provide his constituents city legislation, which he co-sponsored, to forum on April 18 to allow all candidates a Dowd also said that, if elected, he plans to with the city leadership they need. eliminate property blight and hold absentee chance to present themselves and audience make sure that city services are distributed In reference to city finances, Bodack landlords accountable. members a chance to question the candi- based on a system of “performance,” not refers to a history of restoring essential city Bodack says that his staff has a good his- dates. The forum was moderated by State “patronage.” services like rodent control and re-opening tory of working with constituents and com- Representative Lisa Bennington. “Your street should not be paved based on pools and recreation centers, as well as munity groups, and that his “daily interac- District 7 Council Candidate Patrick who you know,” Dowd insisted, “or what working to provide funds for crossing tion with residents provides invaluable Dowd started the night by reinforcing to the position you hold.” guards for the city. insight for community revitalization.” audience his experience on the Pittsburgh Dowd also said that he feels that he has Public safety has also been a priority of District 9 Council Candidate Leah Public School Board. Dowd says that when the ability to work hand-in-hand with other his time in office, Bodack says, as he par- he joined the school board, the PPS had Council members to reach the goals that he ticipated in the closing of nuisance bars See CANDIDATES, Page 10 Façade Collapse Brings Neighborhood Academy Students Lawrenceville Neighbors Together Volunteer in New Orleans Rebuilding By Paula Martinac By Paula Martinac The Bulletin The Bulletin When part of the façade of her centu- Five neighborhood high school stu- ry-old brick rowhouse collapsed, dents got a close-up look at the Loretta Jennis didn’t realize that the destruction wrought by Hurricane calamity would actually strengthen her Katrina, when they traveled to New ties with her Lawrenceville neighbors. Orleans during the first week of their On the morning of February 23, March spring break to volunteer in the Jennis’s neighbor, Ray Halyak, a retired city’s reconstruction. PennDot worker, had just finished shov- Teens from the Neighborhood eling the snow from Jennis’s walk and Photo courtesy of Emily Baldwin Academy, a private school of 60 stu- returned to his home four doors up dents located at 5231 Penn Avenue in Buettner, tenth graders Raisaunya Holmes Street. What he heard next Garfield, spent two and a half days Jones and DonQuia Snowden, and “sounded like a big peal of thunder, like gutting houses in Hollygrove, one of ninth graders Leyland Foizey and in the summer,” said Halyak, who has the New Orleans neighborhoods hit Cevian Williamson. Faculty members lived on the block for 40 years. hardest when the levees failed and Emily Baldwin, Alexis Book, and Jennis, a lifelong Lawrenceville resi- Photo by Ray Halyak flood waters surged. The deadly John McClelland supervised the dent who has been in her house for 10 August 2005 storm demolished more group. ground. “You couldn’t believe how fast years, said there had been no forewarn- than 200,000 Louisiana homes, many The students said they had seen it came down,” noted Halyak. ing of trouble, just the giant boom that of which are still in ruins. Katrina’s damage in the paper and on signaled disaster – the lintel and top The Neighborhood Academy stu- television, but the visit brought the portion of her façade had crashed to the See FACADE, Page 8 dents included eleventh grader Abby See NEW ORLEANS, Page 9 The FINAL DEADLINE for the June 2007 issue of The Bulletin is Friday, May 15, 2007 This JUNE includes ALL classified ads, Bulletin Board announcements, story submissions and ad space DEADLINE! reservations. Information is accepted on a space-available basis. For more information, call 412- 441-6915. Page 2 • The Bulletin • May 2007 PUBLIC SAFETY TASK FORCE REPORT Citizen Observer Links Police, Public to Protect Neighborhoods An important new pub- By Paula Martinac years, Zone 1 com- lic safety initiative is The Bulletin munity leaders coming to Pittsburgh! raised $11,000 in Citizen Observer delivers free citizen small grants from local banks and in alerts and crime prevention informa- district funds from City Council tion to the community, providing an Members Tonya Payne and Darlene effective Internet communication tool Harris. to protect neighborhoods. More than An additional $44,000 is needed to 300 communities throughout the cover expansion of the program country are currently plugged into the throughout the city for two years. On system. April 23, members of the Committee Here’s how it works. By registering on Public Safety Services of the at the Citizen Observer website Pittsburgh City Council took up the (www.citizenobserver.com), individu- issue of funding Citizen Observer als and businesses can get up-to-the- citywide, hearing a presentation by minute information and alerts on police and community leaders from recent crimes, wanted fugitives, and Zone 1. The program, said Rhonda crime prevention from the police in Brandon of Northside Leadership their neighborhoods – like having per- Conference (NSLC), is a good way sonal access to a police radio. In addi- for “people to begin to trust and work tion, Citizen Observer posts photos with the police” to improve their and descriptions of missing persons, neighborhoods. such as children or Alzheimer’s “We can’t sell houses or attract busi- patients who have wandered off. nesses to our community if people Users stipulate how they want to don’t feel safe,” added Mark Fatla, of receive their alerts - via the Internet, NSLC. “This is a way to combat igno- Courtesy of Citizen Observer / Used with permission e-mail, fax, pager, or text messaging. rance and fear, and an important com- SAMPLE PAGE FROM WWW.CITIZENOBSERVER.COM, SHOWING PITTSBURGH The speed of the system’s technology munity development strategy.” ZONE 1 INFORMATION means that alerts may arrive in as lit- The Council committee moved to tle as 45 seconds after the police bring a bill before the full City Neighborhood release the information. Council on May 1 to fund the imple- Registered users can also provide mentation of Citizen Observer “Demolition” Watch! anonymous tips to the police to help throughout the city. Councilmember Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation solve local crimes, becoming part of a Payne called the program “a pro- (BGC) has become aware of two-way communication system active way for citizens to participate” an illegal contractor who has between the public and law enforce- in the public safety of their communi- been stripping vacant houses in ment. The program bolsters the work ties. Council President Doug Shields this area, claiming that he is done by neighborhood watch groups, praised it as “a comprehensive tool for preparing them for demolition. If making their efforts even more effec- our citizenry” and said he could fore- you see a demolition in tive. see other valuable uses for the system, process in any of the neighbor- Citizen Observer began in Pittsburgh such as issuing reports on water main hoods covered by The Bulletin in March as a pilot program in Zone 1 breaks, landslides, and mass evacua- (Bloomfield, Friendship, (the Northside communities), and will tions. Shields vowed that Council Garfield, East Liberty, or be available soon in Zones 2 through would fast-track the funding of the Lawrenceville), please call 5. To fund the pilot for the first two system. Aggie Brose at 412-441-6950 with the location of the building so that BGC and the city can verify Zone Meetings If you would like to stay up-to-date with police efforts in your area, then please attend one of the monthly zone meetings, held by each zone’s police dept. The Zone 5 Meeting is held the 2nd Wednesday of every month at 7 p.m.