Cleaning up Rockwood Park axed again UPDATED AGAIN

Our commissioners will be rejecting the bid for the Rockwood Park Greening Project on Monday night.

The upper parking lot at Rockwood Park has been a disgrace since I moved to this house in 1985. This is what my neighbors have been posting on Nextdoor since December. Our previous commissioner told us not to walk there. That was her solution.

From Nextdoor December 2015:

The Mt. Lebanon commissioners will be voting on the budget for 2016 tomorrow night (December 8). 

The commissioners agreed to a plan to remove the deteriorating parking lot area and seed it to allow for more green space. (In case you are not familiar with the park, there is a small, lit parking lot at the bottom, that is more than adequate for the size of the facility.) 

In recent weeks, however, our parking lot renovation was bumped down in priority and will not be included in next year's budget. 

The entryway to the upper parking lot has crumbled to the point that it is dangerous to walk on and has caused several people to fall. (It's happened to my family on numerous occasions). In addition, and in my opinion more alarming, is the fact that cars are pulling into this lot after dark (it's not lit) and using it for inappropriate activities. Used condoms and broken glass are regularly found in the lot. The police have had to be called on several occasions but the lewd behavior continues. 

If you have a couple of spare minutes tomorrow, and have enjoyed using this little gem of a park, please contact the following commissioners (below) to tell them that you would like the renovation included in next year's budget. 

Thanks so much!! 

Commissioners' contact information: 

John Bendel 412-559-2571
David Brumfield 412- 596-4095
Kelly Fraash 412-580-7665
Steve Silverman 412-491-3794
Coleen Vuono 412-862-5422

From Nextdoor June 25, 2016:

I hear it through the grapevine that the one (or two? After only listing it on the post gazette, i guess that was the expectation??) bids for this project are "too high" for what the commission estimated for this job and are planning to be rejected on Monday, stopping the process altogether (at least for this year?). If this is the case, it is completely ridiculous. If this crumbling, underlit parking lot were on "Upper Hoodridge", and multiple neighbors insisted that it was completely unnecessary, unsafe and a magnet for after hours shenanigans, does anyone really think that the commission would have sat on it this long, or in the end caved over a few thousand dollars? Take a look at this picture for yourselves if you haven't seen it yet..total disgrace. Here are the minutes from the meeting:

http://mtlebanon.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2662 

From another neighbor on Nextdoor:

Thanks...! We plan on attending the meeting on Monday.

Our 20 month old daughter literally tripped on the rubble (AGAIN!) and nearly face planted on a used condom.

At the very least, the lot needs to be blocked off until they get the bid they want/need to see.

These delay tactics are brought to you by the same people who discuss "Gillen Litigation" month after month in Executive Session and...

Put me through hell when I was trying to get a dead tree removed in Rockwood Park.

Update June 26, 2016 12:39 PM I provided a little background on Nextdoor.

Congrats! You've officially become the third generation to fight for this. When I moved to this neighborhood in 1985, my back neighbor, Gertrude Patti lived in the old chicken coop which once stood next to the upper lot. Her car, which she always parked in that lot since she had no driveway or garage, had been set on fire more than once. MLPD used our back porch as a stakeout in 1988, trying to catch the culprits. After she passed away, my generation picked up the fight. I have been told that our neighborhood is in the ghetto. Nice, huh? Now you know how I have become so cynical. Good luck!

Update June 28, 2016 1:00 PM I talked with a friend who went to the meeting last night. The final outcome, I believe, is that Mt. Lebanon will not fix the upper lot, but have agreed to block off the driveway leading to the parking lot. I am livid with that decision. My friend said that the commissioners were acting like this was the first time they heard of this. When I interviewed for the Ward 3 vacancy on April 27, 2015, I raised this issue. It starts at the 8:50 time stamp. I asked the four commissioners, who are also current commissioners, for something to be done about our park. It is not the first time they have heard this.

Thank you to those of you who attended. I am livid because Mt. Lebanon takes the easy way out and never does the right thing. We are Mt. Lebanon residents and deserve more than a crumbled parking lot which will be blocked off. This is not the ghetto as some like to believe.

Update June 28, 2016 2:01 PM I stand corrected. It is a neighbor's understanding that they are sending the proposal out for a re-bid and that they would "look into" blocking the upper lot as a stop gap measure. "Look into" is never good. Just like when parents say, "We'll see."