3 Meeting Black & Minutes White to Cover Article: Union Project 4 Stained Glass VIVID Windows
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April 2011 Community Council Newsletter Highland Park IN THIS ISSUE: A Letter from 2 the President From HPCC February 3 Meeting Black & Minutes White to Cover Article: Union Project 4 Stained Glass VIVID Windows Around COLOR 8 St. Andrew’s THE STORY OF UNION PROJECT’S COMMUNITY Citizens RESTORED STAINED Against Litter GLASS WINDOWS 9 Rooted in Highland Park magine a nearly Trees for condemned century-old Highland church building at 10 Park: Many Ithe crossroads of Hands Make several diverse urban Light Work neighborhoods. It’s dark: stained glass Update from windows broken and the Office of 11 Councilman boarded... Patrick Dowd Continued on page 3 ello, everyone! I’d like to congratulate The Listserv. The e-mail list has served us you for holding in your hands the first… well for a long time, and it’s not going no, wait a minute. What I mean is that, mailed anywhere. You can continue to use it for keeping to your very door is this inaugural… no, no, no… 3.in touch, buying and selling, announcing events, H finding contractors, announcing lost keys, and Well, we’ve done it. With this issue of our anything else you can convince supermoderator newsletter, the Highland Park Community Bob Staresinic to post. However, in addition to Council (HPCC) is marking the beginning of the listserv, I’d like to make those of you who a significant expansion into the world of spend significant portions of your life on online stuff. This comes in several parts: Facebook (Cityville, anyone?) aware of the Highland Park Pittsburgh Facebook page at The HPCC Newsletter. Like many other www.facebook.com/highland.park.pittsburgh. organizations with a history of sending out This is an additional venue for sharing thoughts print material to other folks via snail mail, and photos, and initiating community discussions. 1.we’ve had to confront some very real issues The Facebook page also easily supports over the last few years. Changes in the way discussion forum threads, which can help with people get their information and connect with focused conversations on a specific topic. others, budgetary issues, and an ongoing dialog within the HPCC about what best serves our We are committed to providing the best mission have all led to the decision to start services we can, and to reaching out to as electronically distributing our newsletter via many members of our community as possible. the Highland Park Neighborhood E-mail list (or We also are continuing to work to make listserv). We’ll be reaching more people, saving Highland Park the best neighborhood it can printing and mailing costs, and enjoying greater be. We hope you like the changes you see flexibility with our newsletter’s content. We here and elsewhere. We also hope to see you also have re-designed the newsletter and will be soon, either at HPCC meetings (third Thursdays able to easily distribute it in gorgeous color. My of most months, 7 PM at St. Andrews - thanks to Monica Watt, Lisa Williams, and others www.standrewspgh.org/site/Welcome.html), who have labored to bring this to reality. We online, or around the neighborhood. Until then… look forward to keeping you informed about the many wonderful events and opportunities in our Eric D. Randall part of the city. We also hope that this will help President you to connect better with our neighborhood! Highland Park Community Council Our website. HPCC Board superguru David Atkinson has been spearheading a complete overhaul of our website, with serious 2.input from Monica Watt and some benevolent nods from yours truly. We’re not quite ready to unveil it yet, so consider this my modest attempt to generate some buzz… great photos, details of local businesses, events, and (drum roll please…) the opportunity for you to make your mark on it as well. There will be a contest for you to participate in. There will be a fabulous prize. A The winner will have their winning entry featured prominently on our new web real estate. And that’s all I can tell you for now - the HPCC agents with sunglasses and concealed weapons are even now motioning that I should be quiet. from the But be on the lookout for a big announcement sometime in the not-too-distant future. 2 HPCC February Meeting Nancy Arnold announces that The next meeting is Thursday, Minutes Portland Street is the next April 21 at 7:00 p.m. at The location for street tree planting, Union Project. Guest speakers by Bob Staresinic which will be happening this include Mr. Kevin L. Bivins, Spring. She has submitted an principle of Pittsburgh Fulton Eric Randall, HPCC President, application for Heberton and PreK-5 and Jessica McNally called the meeting to order at Winterton Streets to have trees of the Western Pennsylvania 7:08 pm with a quorum present. planted in Fall 2011. The Conservancy who’s project flower beds at the entrance objective is to reconnect Zone 5 Commander O'Connor to the Park need volunteers students and school communities spoke about activities in High- to help maintain them. to nature by enhancing the land Park since he became the grounds of all Pittsburgh Public commander in June 2010. With Glen Shultz reported on the cell Schools with greenery and the exception of 2 shootings in phone tower that the Zoo and outdoor spaces. We hope to the Summer of 2010, much Verizon spoke about at the see you there! of the crime in Highland November meeting. The Park have been car break-ins. zoning board gave approval There are about 70 officers to the project contingent available for street patrol on a review of the landscaping in Zone 5. He is working on plans by the community. increasing patrols, and the officers have begun ticketing Kelly Vitti announced that cars parked against the flow planning has begun for activities of traffic. on Bryant St for the Marathon, and for the Bryant Street Festival. Jana Finder introduced Teri Rucker as the new Children's The meeting adjourned at Street Cleaning starts April 1st. Committee Chairperson. 8:15 p.m. Please make sure you check to see when street cleaning starts on your street! 3 Continued from cover. A hundred dead pigeons on the sanctuary floor, fallen from gaping holes in the roof. Inside From there’s no heat and outside it’s overgrown with vines slowly deteriorating architectural details. It’s become a magnet Black & for drugs and prostitution and frightening to passersby. Time and neglect have stripped this once prominent civic building White of its dignity, leaving it wearing a coat of black dust. Perhaps if you lived in they purchased Highland Park long the building and formed a enough, you knew new non-profit preserving this place. It was the part of the church’s Union Baptist Church, original name: The located at the corner Union Project was born. of North Negley and Stanton Avenues. From day one, the renovation effort was In 2001, a new vision infused with creativity for this building took and innovation – initially shape. Jessica King drawing on the Mennonite and Justin Rothshank, and Amish Barn-raising then members of the concept, where a Pittsburgh Urban community comes Leadership Service together to build up Experience (PULSE), their neighbor’s barn stood at the corner bus or home. One of the stop and dreamed a biggest renovation new kind of community challenges facing Union gathering place here. Project was figuring In fact, with the help out how to restore all of Dr. John Stahl-Wert, 155 original stained glass founder of PULSE windows, an estimated and the Pittsburgh $1,000,000 project. Leadership Foundation, Early on Dr. John Stahl-Wert met with Mr. Bruce Seiling, Director to of Institutional Advancement at Carlow College and Rev. Mike Wurschmidt, pastor of Shepherd's Heart Fellowship in the spring of 1999. Mr. Seiling VIVID gave Dr. Stahl-Wert a tour of St. Agnes Church and showed him the church's stained glass COLOR restoration needs. It was Mr. Seiling's vision to restore By Jeffrey Dorsey, the church’s valuable stained Union Project Executive Director glass by offering stained glass 4 restoration classes in the Catherine expressed immediate Catherine also introduced us community, thus reviving a dying interest (and quiet skepticism to her friend Sasha Dizdarevich art and getting the expensive about the potential for success) who has been able to assist us work done by students in in helping us formalize a class with carefully removing old training from a master. structure that would allow class windows, reinstalling the Dr. Stahl-Wert enthusiastically members to learn skills and restored windows, and preparing passed this exciting idea on to use the Union Project windows and installing plate glass and the rest of the founding Union as class material. Classes started aluminum storm frames to Project board of directors. in 2003, some of them even protect the new windows being held at Construction from further vandalism or Several stained glass Junction as Union Project was weather damage. professionals were also undergoing major renovations consulted for bids on the project to build out office spaces. including Willets Stained Glass Studios in Philadelphia and Peter Boucher and Dick Lynn of Pittsburgh. But the $1,000,000 made hiring the job out prohibitive. UP board and staff continued talking with artisans and organizations about their interest and ability to help us with this project including Renaissance Glassworks Inc., Penn Avenue Arts Initiative, the Pittsburgh Glass Center, and Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, and eventually met glass artist Catherine Berard, owner of Prism Stained Glass in Lawrenceville.