BLOGSKI

The PHCA office is normally open 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Tuesday – Saturday.  But this coming week, we’ll be closed a few additional days.

The office will be closed from Saturday, May 18 through Wednesday, May 21.  We’ll be back open on the usual hours on Thursday, May 22.  In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns, call us at 412.681.1950 and leave a message, or email alexis@phcapgh.org.

There’s a lot going on this Saturday, but if you’ve been thinking of adopting a pet, please consider going to the Animal Rescue League’s Free Fur All on Saturday, May 18th.  The event will feature free adoptions for qualified adopters and free microchips for owned pets.  This special is for all adoptable animals and is on a first come, first serve basis.  Regular adoption qualifications still apply. There will be no holds and no appointments.

Animal Rescue League is located at 6620 Hamilton Avenue in Pittsburgh.  For more information about the adoption process, visit http://www.animalrescue.org/adoptions-information or contact the Animal Rescue League’s Adoption Department at 412-345-7300 x215, or email ghoffmann@animalrescue.org.

March or April is the best time to sign up if you want a produce subscription via a community supported agriculture program (CSA), but some farms might still have subscriptions available.  Carnegie Library produced a couple of articles which highlight CSAs in the Pittburgh area: How to pick a CSA plan that will suit you and  Find a CSA Farm. For more information, here’s a list of local farms that offer CSAs, and here’s an article from the Post-Gazette explaining about how they work.

For those who don’t sign up with a CSA — the farmer’s markets are now open for the season.  Today the Post-Gazette published an interactive map of all the farmer’s markets in and around the city.  Closest to Polish Hill, the Bloomfield (Citiparks) Farmers Market is held in the parking lot of St. Maria Goretti (former Immaculate Conception) school, just off of Liberty Avenue near West Penn Hospital.  The market is open on Thursdays from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m.

And in the Strip, Farmers@Firehouse, at 2216 Penn Ave, is open Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and sells mostly organic and naturally grown produce, local meat and poultry, with chef demos weekly.  Also in the Strip is the Pittsburgh Public Market, open year round with produce, meats, cheese, East End Brewing, and many wonderful food stalls.

(Above:  Farmers @Firehouse, from Taste of Pittsburgh)

Assemble, a community space for arts and technology, is excited to announce its second annual MakerDate fundraising event.  On Saturday, May 18 at 6119 Penn Ave in East Liberty, Assemble will host an action packed evening highlighted by the MakerDate auction.  The event pairs local artists with skill seekers of all ages to further Assemble’s mission of building community through active learning.

Since its inception in 2011, Assemble has been host to a wide variety of learning and creative experiences in Pittsburgh.  It is the organization’s belief that curiosity breeds creativity, and intrigue is best satisfied through hands-on activities.  In true form, the MakerDate event takes the concept of date auctioning and re-dresses it with a purpose, pairing skilled creators with those that want to learn something new.  Attendees will have the unique chance to bid on dates with artists, craft makers, designers, innovators and skill-owners who will work with the winning bidders to make a piece of art, a personalized piece of technology, or teach a new skill.  The dates will take place after the event at a time and place determined by the maker and winning bidder.

The event will feature 15 Makers for the live auction and will also include items donated by a number of local artisans, creators, and businesses for a raffle.  2012′s inaugural event attracted more than 100 attendees and raised over $4,000 to fund educational programs and events at Assemble.  This year’s event promises to be bigger and bolder, raising funds for Assembles community focused initiatives.

Click here for more information, including a list of this year’s Makers.  Contact Assemble here.

Want to learn how to harvest rainwater from your roof and divert it for on-site usage in the landscape?  Learn about it at a Rain Barrel Workshop at Construction Junction this Saturday, May 18 from 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.  The cost for the workshop is $50/person or $55/couple and includes hardware needed (but not the 55-gal. drum) to assemble and install a rain barrel.  The workshop is presented by the Pennsylvania Resources Council.  To register click here or call at 412-488-7490 ext. 247.  Construction Junction is located at 214 North Lexington Street.

For more information about gardening in the city, check out Grow Pittsburgh.  They have workshops and other learning opportunities, publicize resources for gardeners.  They have a great email newsletter as well — sign up on the Grow Pittsburgh website.

The other day, we got a few complaints from residents on Melwood Avenue whose cars were ticketed for being parked on the sidewalk.  Of course, you see cars on the sidewalk all over Polish Hill, on Melwood in particular.  Many of our streets are very narrow, and parked vehicles are regularly hit and damaged by speeding cars.

Unfortunately, it’s actually illegal to park on the sidewalk in the City of Pittsburgh.  Speaking at a community meeting in February, Zone 2 Community Relations Officer Marlease Porter told us that police don’t generally issue tickets for sidewalk parking unless they get a complaint.  But if someone  does call the police, the responding officer may ticket every vehicle on that block that has wheels on the sidewalk.

It’s understandable that residents would want to park where their car will be out of harm’s way, but  this does not override other concerns.  Sidewalks are intended to create a safe space for pedestrians.  We heard today from another resident who reported that she was walking on the sidewalk on Melwood Avenue and narrowly missed being hit by a car as the driver swerved up onto the sidewalk to park.

Another issue is that over time, the weight of vehicles parking on a sidewalk causes damage — and property owners are legally responsible  for the maintenance and repair of any sidewalks adjoining their property.  If there are cracked, sunken or raised areas, Building Inspection can issue a citation ordering that the sidewalk be repaired or replaced — work that would be done at the homeowner’s expense, and which can easily run into the thousands of dollars.

Everyone can agree that residents should be able to park their cars without worrying about getting hit — or ticketed.  The solution is to slow and reduce traffic on Melwood, not to allow vehicles to take over the sidewalks.  The PHCA is working on getting traffic calming and traffic reduction measures into place and to do that, we need residents to add their voices to ours.   If you want traffic reduction and traffic calming, please tell the City directly,  thru their 311 system.  This is the sort of thing 311 is there for.  And if there’s a particular solution that you support, tell them that too.  Here’s the 311 online form.

(We didn’t want to target anyone, so this photo of sidewalk parking is not from Polish Hill — it’s from this blog)

City Environmental Services crews will hold a special yard debris collection on Sat., May 18.  Bagged leaves, tree branches and bushes will be picked up and recycled for compost.  The following items will only be accepted if properly packaged:

Bagged leaves: Residents must bag leaves in paper bags only and place them out at your normal refuse collection site.  Bags should not exceed 35 pounds. Leaves in plastic bags will not be accepted.

Tree branches and bushes: Cut, bundle and tie branches and bushes in lengths not exceeding five feet.  Tree branch diameter should not exceed four inches.

City residents must place materials out for residential collection by City refuse/recycling crews on Friday, May 17.  Please note that City crews will not collect dirt, rocks, stones or cement.  Yard debris left at the curb by contracted lawn care workers or independent contractors will not be collected by City crews.

Here’s more information about the yard debris pickup from the Post-Gazette.

Residents on Melwood Street in Polish Hill will have no water from 6 p.m. to midnight Wednesday.

The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority will replace two water valves on Melwood during that time. Most other residents in Polish Hill will experience low water pressure and possible interruption of service.

In the event of a water or sewer emergency, residents should call PWSA at 412-255-2429 or 412-255-2409.

The monthly Polish Hill Community Meeting is at 6:30 p.m. on the lower level of the West Penn Recreation Center at 450 30th Street.  All residents are welcome to attend.  For more information, email us or call 412.681.1950.

The Polish Hill May Day parade is four years old, and it’s one of the best neighborhood events.  The parade travels from Gold Way down to West Penn Park.  We caught it as it came up to Brereton Street.

Some members of a wedding party were in Sarney’s bar getting pre-ceremony beers.  As the parade approached Brereton Street, they rushed out to get some photos as the marchers came up behind them.

Some of the marchers graciously agreed to pose with them.  The motorcycle girl at the end of the parade probably didn’t imagine that she was going to end up in somebody’s wedding album.