It appears that your Commission liaison, John Bendel has not informed you of plans to remove natural grass from two fields in The Mt. Lebanon Historic District and replace it with artificial turf. Your board chair expressed a concern over preserving the integrity of a brick road in Mt. Lebanon at the June 23, 2014 Commission meeting, and said nothing about preserving the integrity of two historical ball fields. I questioned the Commission during Citizen Comments if the Mt. Lebanon Historic Preservation Board had been informed of the plan to artificially turf Middle and Wildcat Fields. Commissioner Bendel confirmed that your Board had not been consulted.
You may not be aware of this, Board members, but in 2002, $20,000 from a state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) grant was spent on improving facilities at Mt. Lebanon Park, including the replacement of an outdoor basketball court system and improvements to Wildcat Field. Municipality to seek funds for ice rink
In addition, Board members, I posted this on my Lebo Citizens blog, Hey! These fields are in the Historic District! On Page 10 of the National Register of Historic Places application, you note that Main Park is considered as a contributing site to the Mt. Lebanon Historic District.
I want to thank you for your polite June 18, 2014 response to my previous email to several of your Board members.
Thank you for your message, Elaine. As chair of the HPB, I am responding on behalf of the several members of the board you contacted. We appreciate your input.I hope your passion for preserving brick roads in Mt. Lebanon will also carry over to maintaining the integrity of Middle and Wildcat Fields located in Mt. Lebanon's Historic District by keeping those fields natural grass.
Yvette
Respectfully,
Elaine Gillen
June 30, 2014 4:28 PM From State Rep. Dan Miller's newsletter:
Mt. Lebanon Historic District Hearing
This month, I was able to speak at the State Historical and Museum Commission in support of the Mt. Lebanon Historic Preservation Board's application for listing a large part of Mt. Lebanon in the National Register of Historic Places. I was joined by Bill Callahan, Michelle Zmijanac, and Senator Smith who were also there to voice their support.
22 comments:
The linked Trib article indicates that $20,000 in DCNR grant funds were to be used to enhance the basketball court, and improvements to WILDCAT FIELD !
Elaine - Susan Morgans is staff liaison, HPB.
This is such a nightmare. Susan Morgans has been known to intimidate the boards, claiming that since they are appointments of the commission, that they must not challenge any commission majority vote.
Oh, this is good. According to the May 19, 2014 HPB meeting minutes, "Susan Morgans suggested that we should have some sort of a public celebration that will attract media attention when we receive the designation." I could probably help with that. I would love to attract media attention when we receive the National Register designation. From what I remember, it should be around Labor Day. We can tie in with the degradation of Middle and Wildcat Fields.
Elaine
Truth will do well enough if left to shift for herself. She seldom has received much aid from the power of great men to whom she is rarely known & seldom welcome. She has no need of force to procure entrance into the minds of men. Error indeed has often prevailed by the assistance of power or force. Truth is the proper & sufficient antagonist to error. - Thomas Jefferson (October 1776)
Here's how incrediably ass backwards our municipal offices work.
On Lebomag, there is a poll asking what feature is your favorite at the new pool.
Really! Like that matters now that we spent over $3 million on it!
How about a question like--
Now that our pool is open which area pool is your favorite and why?
1. Dormont Pool
2. Bower Hill Swim Club
3. South Park Wave Pool
4. South Hills Country Club
5. Scott Township
6. MTL
So DCNR grants were used to conserve recreational activities at Wildcat and now Wildcat is being demolished?
This. Is. Not. Good.
Especially, since Mt Lebanon isn't exactly high on DCNR's "Good Municipality" list.
http://www.post-gazette.com/local/south/2011/09/08/State-wants-composting-to-stop-in-Robb-Hollow-Park-in-Mt-Lebanon/stories/201109080228
Local historians should know that DCNR has invested a lot more than $20,000 into Middle and Wildcat fields. A brief search of the internet reveals several sequential grants in 2000, 2001, and 2002. What happened before and after with DCNR?
Maybe this explains why the SAB isn't pursuing any grants for their synthetic turf fields.
Here's some info from 2000 (Lebo Magazine):
"M T . L E B A N O N o a r o u n d IN THE SPOTLIGHT M t. Lebanon had the ear of national, state and county government in September, with visits from Republican vice-presidential candidate Dick Cheney, Pennsylvania Secretary of Conservation and Natural Resources John Oliver and Allegheny County Executive Jim Roddey—all in the same week.... Oliver and Roddey stayed longer, asked plenty of questions and got a crash course in Mt. Lebanon’s plans for the future from Mt. Lebanon’s Economic Development Officer, Kurt Ferguson. Accompanied also by Commis- sioner Dale Colby, Recreation Director Bill Moore, State Sen. Tim Murphy and State Rep. Tom Stevenson, Oliver’s tour began at Middle Field along Cedar Boulevard, which two years ago benefited from a $30,000 matching grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR). The money was used to install four light stan- dards. The new lighting has increased field availability for teams, which are constantly competing for space; they now can play on Mt. Lebanon garnered praise and t o w n Middle Field at night. Mt. Lebanon’s $30,000 went toward additional field improvements, including fencing, raising the field level, reseeding and better drainage. Mt. Lebanon hopes to receive another $30,000 DCNR matching grant next March. That grant would be used to pave Middle Field’s parking lot, install guard rails and improve landscaping. Oliver visited the wooded area near Pennsylvania Boulevard to hear about Mt. Lebanon’s plans to acquire 8.4 acres of pri- vately owned land there for a park. His final stop was Washington Road at Alfred Street, where he learned about plans for Clearview Common, a midtown parklet. “This gave Oliver a chance to look over some of our pending projects, and he react- ed very positively,” says Ferguson. “I think our subsequent grant requests may be viewed differently, since the secretary had a chance to look at the areas and get a sense of their importance to the community.”
According to the DCNR grant guidelines, "The Bureau of Recreation and Conservation encourages communities and grant applicants to develop “green/sustainable” recreation, park and trail projects that are practical and facilitate the conservation of natural resources."
As the ESB told the commission, turfing Middle and Wildcat Fields is neither green or sustainable.
Elaine
Here is another reason why they did not pursue any grants from the DCNR, as written in the Grant Agreement
"Grant funds may not be used to benefit, either directly pursuant to this GRANT AGREEMENT or indirectly pursuant to a subcontract or any other means, any elected state official or employee of the DEPARTMENT, any family member of such official or employee, or any entity owned or controlled by such official, employee, or family member. “Family member” means parent, spouse, child, or sibling."
That would include any children of commissioners who would be vying for, let's say, lacrosse scholarships.
Elaine
Elaine Do you realize it would be so much cheaper to just pay the college education of C..... B.... to Duke for 4 years than turfing these fields so we need some yard signs saying such.
Whatever became of the plan to acquire the acreage along Pennsylvania Avenue for a park?
I'd think $750,000 would easily purchase the land then the $250,000 would probably cover building a natural grass field.
Improving this space would be a bigger, more prominent "crown jewel" than turfing MWC by far.
I think acquiring the land along Pennsylvania Blvd is a great idea. A passive park with maybe some walking and biking trails would be wonderful. Lebo is sorely lacking in that area and Peters and USC are way, way, WAY ahead of us.
Instead, mtl buys land that no one uses-McNeilly and Twin Hills.
If the hold up on the Pennsylvania Avenue property was profiteering by the land owner that could be overcome by invoking eminent domain.
Based on our current demographics and the rational behind the TOD doing something at Pennsylvania Avenue would serve the biggest number of residents and do far more for property values and attracting private development money.
Instead, our myopic commissioners fixated on their personal lacrosse/soccer agenda will keep the community stuck with these unsightly vacant lots.
Raising the prospect of higher taxes, neccesitated by the need for expensive turf replacement every 8 years will assure the Pennsylvania/Castle Shannon corridor ever gets developed.
Correction:
Raising the prospect of higher taxes, neccesitated by the need for expensive turf replacement every 8 years will assure the Pennsylvania/Castle Shannon corridor NEVER gets developed.
Google map the satelite view of Pennsylvania Blvd to Cooke Lane.
There is no need to acquire the Pennsylvania property for recreation because a perfectly good, but undeveloped walking trail already exist in the T line right-of-way.
If PAT was really interested in bring residential development here they shouldn't tear up the area ariund the tunnel T stop, but instead make the Cooke Lane Pennsylvania corridor attractive for condos or businesses.
That would spur ridership.
I have not heard from any of the Historic Preservation Board members. I only had email addresses for three of the members. I had copied John Bendel and the rest of the commission. Naturally, i never heard from any commissioner.
I have requested, on several occasions, for municipal email addresses be assigned to every board and authority, but that has never happened. At least one board member's address can be Googled, thanks to this post. Appeasing a select few? unfortunately, it would be his work email, but he did put it out there.
Elaine
I am cross posting some comments and adding them under this post.
Elaine
Here is the first one:
Anon said...
Does our $4.2 million pool still discharge into the creek? I'm just curious because it did for over 20 years. And I dont recall seeing that changed in the "renovation". But maybe I missed it. (Oh I ask because if it still drains directly into the creek, that's kind of a sticky environmental legal issue and the problem will be exacerbated when the fields are torn up to install turf).
June 28, 2014 at 9:04 PM
Second one:
9:04 PM, I am told that during the pool "renovation," the hillside was dug from the pool leading to the already overburdened field. I may have a photo of that somewhere.
Elaine
June 29, 2014 at 9:54 AM
Third one:
Anonymous said...
Yeah, it was reportedly an additional storm sewer pipe discharge for stormwater from the park pool area higher elevation (45+ ft.)to the storm sewer system pipes along the fist base line of much lower elevation Wildcat, which will add to the overload.
Nice job Gateway ! Another stealth move.
June 29, 2014 at 10:24 AM
Fourth one:
1024: can you put write that in English? Are you saying they did install new drainage?
June 29, 2014 at 11:15 AM
In a word, 11:15 AM, yes.
Elaine
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