Thursday, September 27, 2012
At Swissvale Council's public hearing: "... there's a field there instead of an eyesore."
Swissvale Borough's public hearing this evening was sparsely populated—with only one Swissvale resident in attendance—but action items were set for next week's council meeting. Among the voting items previewed: Receiving land, giving land away, a new police car, a new fire truck and a polar plunge. Give it away now If Resolution 12-21 passes next week, the borough will cede a parcel of land to Barbara Ondik at 1710 Hays St. The property adjacent to her—a former apartment complex torn down by the borough earlier this year at 1714 Hays St.—is now mostly vacant with a few garages remaining on the property. Councilman Darrell Rapp said the property owner planned to turn it into a "fenced side yard." Council President David Petrarca …
Friday, September 21, 2012
Washington Avenue again is the focus of Swissvale’s business community as a streetscape program to add essentially decorative touches along most of Washington.
Did you know that until a century ago there were two Swissvales? The western portion, centered on Monongahela Avenue, and the eastern section, based on Noble Street, were separated by the railroad tracks. You could get from one side to the other all right, by walking, giddying-upping your horse or driving your motorcar across the grading that crossed the tracks, but it was a risky business. In those days, there were a lot of trains. Then, in 1907, a two-lane bridge was built to extend Washington Avenue above the tracks to join Monongahela and Noble, and a cohesive “downtown Swissvale” was created. It’s not much of a bridge, even by 1907 standards, only about 100 feet long and built with simple beam construction. Still, it’s done the job of…
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
The race was uncontested for three candidates in Swissvale.
Sharon Kuhn-Hanchett, Patricia Gionta and Darrell Rapp all won the Democratic nominations for Swissvale Council in the primary and all secured seats in Tuesday's general election. Rapp, a newcomer in the election, initially became involved in the improvement of Swissvale while working on activities with the Nine Mile Run Watershed Association. The organization was completing a street tree inventory in Edgewood, and he helped to bring that program to Swissvale in 2006. Rapp has been attending borough council meetings for the past five years. "I am excited that it will finally be official," Rapp said Tuesday night. "It has been a foregone conclusion, but it’s nice to have the day over and I am looking forward to getting started helping …
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Visibility for drivers is a cause for concern for leaders and residents.
The Swissvale public works department soon will be installing no parking signs in already designated areas near the corner of Sanders and South Braddock avenues to help increase visibility for drivers. Swissvale Council discussed the possible danger posed by illegally parked cars in the area of the Regent Square intersection at its regular meeting Wednesday. Public works also will paint the new curb near Typhoon Lighting to further enforce the nonparking areas there. Darrell Rapp, a candidate for Swissvale Council and a member of the Regent Square Civic Association, said those changes are much needed. "When you look up the street to the left, there are marked spaces, and frequently cars are parked beyond that area," he said. "The …
William McCloskey
8:37 am on Monday, September 24, 2012
... the appearance of the bridge is odd and it's not even obvious that it IS a bridge when viewed from the surface. Todd Anderson is correct that some vertical element would better define and adorn the bridge, and distract from the horrendous Filmet building, that is the very definition of visual blight right there at the highest, most visible point of Washington. more ›