Minutes of BELLEFIELD AREA CITIZENS ASSN. MEETING on July 2, 2013

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by president, Holly Dick. Those in attendance identified themselves.

 Holly made the following announcements:

1. Construction of the new CVS building on the site of the former Giant Eagle is proceeding. The old structure has been removed.
   
2. The AVA Lounge, currently located in East Liberty, will be moving in September to the N. Craig St. location formerly occupied by the Luna Bar. Justin Strong, its manager and part-owner, will  be the main speaker  at the BACA meeting on August 7 at the CLASS* building @ 7:00 p.m. Holly told the group that she had already expressed to Mr. Strong its concerns about parking for his business in that area.   He plans to utilize public parking in the area and to do a primarily walk-to business.
   
3. Guy Totino of Polaris Realty continues to tell Holly that he will be ready to speak to BACA about his proposed Chelsea building @ Craig and Centre at one of    its  next 2 meetings.
   
4. Tara Sherry Torres from Oakland Planning & Development (OPDC), told the group about Re-Energize PGH. Interested people can call her @ OPDC to find out how to assess the energy usage of their various appliances and ways to conserve electrical energy
   
5. Harris Parklet at the intersection of Bigelow Blvd. and N. Craig St. has been transformed into an attractive gateway to North Oakland. Volunteers from BACA, OPDC, and the University of Pittsburgh student population labored on 2 recent Saturday mornings to remove brush & weeds and replace them with beautiful perennial plants (donated by Sestili Nursery).   A Love Your Block grant from the City of Pittsburgh & the Home Depot Foundation helped to make this project possible.  Under this grant, tools and irrigation materials were purchased from Home Depot.
   
6. Resident-Student Relations: Kannu Sahni from Pitt’s Office of Community Affairs told the group about the new Student Guide Book which has just been published and will be given to all new students. Among other goals, it seeks to promote student understanding that they live in a residential neighborhood and must respect the needs of their permanent residential neighbors.
   
7. The second annual North Oakland Block Party for students and residents will be held on September 19 on N. Dithridge St. between Bayard St. & Centre Ave. Every effort will be made to give advance notice to occupants of Dithridge House. Kannu will work with BACA to prepare a letter announcing this event to North Oakland dwellers.  The group decided to invite CMU students to attend the event this year.
   
8. Oakwatch: Hanson Kappelman BACA’s representative to Oakwatch talked about that group’s efforts to observe student parties during the early weeks of the upcoming semester so as to discourage excessive noise during the late night and early morning hours. He is seeking volunteers to act as observers in neighborhoods other than their own.  Oakwatch continues to work on enforcement of current housing and parking regulations.
   
9. COR: Hanson and Holly spoke about the work of Coalition of Oakland Residents’ work to deal with over-occupancy and parking issues throughout Oakland.  COR hopes to have its first Oakland-wide meeting on October 17th, 2013. They asked the Pitt representative to check upon the use of Pitt’s Alumni Hall for this gathering
   
10. Baum/Centre Initiative: Hanson reported from BCI that Bloomfield residents are pleased with the plans for the new hotel @ the intersection of Baum & Cypress?
    
11. Transit Funding: Holly & Jonathan Robison reported that the PA Legislature failed to pass Senate Bill 1, which would have provided more nearly adequate, predictable, and growing funding for both public transportation and maintenance of roads & bridges throughout PA. That body has adjourned for the summer without addressing these vital issues.
    

 

THE NEXT MEETING OF BACA WILL BE HELD TUESDAY, AUGUST 6 @ 7:00 P.M. AT THE CLASS BUILDING, 4638 Centre Ave.

 

*THE former UCP/CLASS building where BACA meets will henceforth be known as the CLASS Building, as the organization has dropped its affiliation with United Cerebral Palsy.